jumping sideways here, wanted to add this to the mix.
this addresses new research about actual brain injury (affecting the immune system on a genetic level) as a result of PTSD.
i apologize for it's complexity, but it's the nature of the beast to understand what is happening to the immune systems of a lot of people with PTSD. a dear friend of mine suffers terribly with most of these physical symptoms, which prompted my research into it. the words in italic are not consecutive, they are excerpts from this site. (the study was done on soldiers who suffered from PTSD). it's very new research. the early results are showing it's more prevalent in women.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/0...ystem_052010w/
Quote:
This “suggests a biologic model of PTSD etiology in which an externally experienced traumatic event induces downstream alterations in immune function by reducing methylation levels of immune-related genes,” the study stated.....
The researchers said that may be because a person’s most necessary systems respond to danger, while everything else slows. Usually, when the danger is gone, everything goes back to normal. But some people stay at some level of that hyper-alert state.....
In addition to the lack of activation of immune system genes, the researchers looked at levels of antibodies to a normally latent herpes virus — cytomegalovirus — that usually remains symptom-less. But in those with a weakened immune system, it can cause anything from flu-like symptoms to visual impairment, inflammation of the brain, pneumonia, diarrhea and hepatitis.
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i think you hit the nail on the head insightunseen:
"hyper-react to emotional stimuli. that's why the new neuroscience tools (mindfulness, meditation, brain based exercises) are aimed at helping us calm the brain, create new neural pathways, and increase our empathy and compassion thoughts toward ourselves."
