[emory_]

To what extent does your mental illness have an affect on your physical body? I find that my body and mind are so strongly connected that one cannot be good without the other being good, and one cannot be bad without the other being bad. It isn’t necessarily just my depression that does this, which is a common thing. It’s more that my ADHD-PI and bipolar affect my body. When I’m having uncontrollable symptoms of either, my body seems to feel 100 lbs heavier, I have a really hard time convincing myself to get up to do anything, I’m dizzy, my brain is in a fog as if I’d just woken up regardless of how long it’s been since I woke up, I’m completely uncoordinated, my muscles feel like I’ve just worked out for hours, I have a hard time actually getting words out to speak, and I’m usually so tired that I have to nap throughout the day, or sometimes sleep for literally 48 hours or more. It just looks like I’m being lazy because a lot of people don’t realize how much your mental state can change your physical demeanor, uncontrollably. How does your mental illness play a role in your physical state on a daily basis?

[Pikku Myy]

Right at this minute my anxiety is so bad its affecting my neck!!!! And its makes me shake... day 3. Ohh well, this too shall pass, I hope soon

[Lady Courtesan]

What a great question!

It affects everything! During a 12 year abusive marriage I developed migraines, all the muscles in my neck, upper back and shoulders are covered with scar tissue from the constant tension an I didn't go to the bathroom for 12 years. But after the troll died-literally dropped dead at my feet-not kidding-it was poop city for weeks.

I have to listen to my body more now, because CPTSD can make you very fragile-oh, hell, they all can-so I don't force anything, anymore. If I don't feel well, I don't go out and dishes be damned. I'm takin my meds, popping a root beer and putting my feet for a good movie and a cat nap or two. And a nice ice mask from the freezer and maybe even a reeses.

If I'm good on my meds, eating well, getting enough sleep and staying hydrated I don't do things anymore like call the crisis line and tell them I'm going to blow the house up before I realize I have an electric oven.
That one cost me six days in the whopee lounge.

And I turn my sound machine on a lot. The sound of rain really relaxes me and believe it or not, helps with the hallucinations that are just part of the fun pack of CPTSD.

So yeah, if my crazy is cranked up, I feel like crap. We just have to be kinder to ourselves.

This definitely applies to me. I've been in a depression for quite some time now. Although it has improved to being only mild, I still get really wiped out by 7 p.m. or so and have to go up to bed. I don't sleep at 7, just lie there and think about the day, etc. It is frustrating to me, but my body is the way it is I guess.

My anxiety/ relationship issues cause me constant painful trigger points/knots in my upper back and neck. They cause horrible headaches to the point I can't sleep when I get one. I also have terrible peptic ulcers that lead to hospitalization every year or two, which further triggers my anxiety.

[Lady Courtesan]

Eugenie-It may be from scar tissue, like mine is. They can give you shots for it to loosen it up and flexiril helps as well.

i find that only too often i'm in pain or i'm shaking from my mental issues

i can be really cold and in a lot of pain even if it's really warm

that's 1 thing for me that happens a lot

also random head aches/ stiff kneck baught on by extreme mental switching

[avlady]

i know about the sleep issue. i need over 12 hours a night to feel ok the next day. if i get less i can't function, i used to get terrible headaches, but i was put on propanolol and only get them a few times a year now, compared to once or twice a month that would last for a week.

[The_little_didgee]

My 'illness' causes physical pain, exhaustion, and indigestion. The exhaustion can be overwhelming. Sometimes I need 15 hours of sleep.

[Werewoman]

It's only been recently that I became aware that the physical ailments I've had all my life were a direct result of my MI. I have severe PTSD and suffer from long bouts of depression and disassociation.

When I was a child, I had constant sinus and ear infections. When I was 12, I became practically incontinent as there were many times I couldn't control my bladder and would wet my pants - usually when I was at school. I now realize it was because of my mothers unpredictable fits of rage. I always peed myself when she attacked me, but then it started happening even when she wasn't attacking me. Deciding to play the Good Mother, she took me to a urologist who did some sort of surgery on me to fix it - total shock, it didn't work.

As I got older I started developing stomach problems. Usually, it was just this weird, unpleasant cross between indigestion and a stomach ache, but I couldn't eat - sometimes for days, because food seemed to develop a weird, very unpleasant texture that made me nauseous. I went to a gastrointestinal specialist who put me through all sorts of very unpleasant tests and found nothing wrong.

In my thirty's came the migraines and raging PMS. I was given all sorts of drugs that helped somewhat, but I was still miserable.

Shortly after I turned forty, all hell broke loose. My husband was ready to take our kids and leave. That's when I finally got help. I began EMDR and though it was helping enormously, I would throw up a lot, as though my body was determined to get rid of all the stuff that was coming out of those sessions. I was always underweight and usually anemic.

In 2002, I cut off all contact with my mother, and I continued to progress in my therapy and became much healthier, which told me I was doing the right thing. Everything I did was not for the purpose of hurting anyone, it was purely out of self-preservation - but anyone who knows my mother would tell you otherwise.

In 2009, I tried to re-establish contact with her, hoping that we could talk about the past and perhaps begin a mother/daughter relationship. I can't say 'again' because I knew we had never had a normal mother/daughter relationship, but the inner child in me just wanted her mom and I felt I had to try. Big Mistake. For the next 4 or 5 years I had frequent, uncontrollable diarrhea. I went back into treatment in 2013 and slowly it got better and the diarrhea eventually stopped altogether.

In September, my sister in law, Michelle, passed away. Knowing my mother would be there, I went to her funeral anyway because there was no way I was going to allow her to keep me from being there for my baby brother. My T and I worked hard to prepare me for anything my mom could dish out. What neither of us counted on was that she would change tactics. Essentially, she ambushed me shortly after I walked into the church telling me how sorry she was and what an ogre she had been, etc. etc. etc. Like the desperate idiot I was, I bought it and for the next several weeks, we tried talking on the phone, trying to come together. Again, Big Mistake. Since then, I sleep way too much, either because I'm exhausted from the effort or it's my only escape from the profound disappointment I feel. I'm sure part of it is also because I can't help but feel stupid for falling for her tactics yet AGAIN.

I'm starting to get past this latest episode with her. I need to tell her yet again to leave me alone, but I haven't quite worked up the courage. I'm betting when I do, my sleep patterns will return to normal.

[(JD)]

Good reads about the brain-body connections can be found written by Dr Caroline Leaf, a neurobiologist.
"Who Switched Off my Brain" is one of them.

Another good book on how the brain works is "Your Body Believes Every Word You Say".

And still another, more complex tome is The Owner's Manual for The Brain (Pierce J Howard).

Two more good works are by Martin Seligman, Learned Optimism, and Authentic Happiness.

Truly what I have read and found to be true is that the brain has no opinion of it's own...it goes by what we feed it..positive or negative and produces chemicals for the body to support what it's fed!

While mental illness may have all sorts of causes, positive thinking, believing in good and expressing it and all that good stuff does help heal.

May you find your solutions

[Pikku Myy]

Yes, especially when I start getting anxious. This goes straight to my neck, like I can't relax at all even in sleep. Other good example is panic attacks. You shake, tense, and sometimes with me, I forget to breathe (pass out). Those would be two very clear examples which are just a part of my MI. It does affect me.

[Agarwaen]

When things became physical, I realized I was in big trouble. I would have panic attacks that were devastating. Probably the one reason I still smoke cigarettes is that it gives me an excuse to get away from whatever situation I find uncomfortable.

When things get really revved up, feels like I am on adrenaline. Basically, that happens only when I feel threatened.

Every day life is a grind. I remember a time when waking up in the morning was just that. Now I have to do this internal diagnostic to figure out exactly what will be happening that day.

Mental fatigue leading to physical fatigue is common. One hour talking to people equals 12 hours of hanging around the house. I literally feel like my smarts go down the tubes by the minute. I can't think straight, my coordination goes to hell, my face either turns very hot, or, sometimes, deathly cold. I feel like some freakish marionette being yanked around this way and that.

So, I don't go out much, or for very long. Those times I do I go well fortified. So I became a truck driver. It lasted a year with one company. That, in a nut shell, says it all.

Even with a job that did not require large amounts of time with people, I lasted only a year. And that is the longest I have had a job in my life. Several times, but eventually I can't take the heat, so I get out of the kitchen.

I have a habit of fooling myself in to thinking it won't happen next time, being disappointed, and going in to huge funks that last months. I simply can't seem to pull it together for any real length of time.

But no disability. I have been called lazy. I have been called a dead beat. I have been called everything in the book, except for disabled. I quit trying. I didn't think I could handle another failure.

This is that trapped in a box feeling. No way out.

[CaptainChaos79]

well In my case I have conversion disorder with seizures due to PTSD and repressed memory syndrome...so depending on the person the diagnosis and the severity of the disorder it can have a mild to moderate to severe effect on a person physically

[marmaduke]

I was in an abusive marriage for 22 years. I had constant stomach ache, eczema on arms and legs and a habit of picking spots which got really bad at times.
Got divorced, stomach ache went immediately, eczema disappeared within a week and the spot picking was under control.

[marmaduke]

The mind and body are closely linked. IMO anorexia, fibromyalgia, eczema, depression, etc are all linked to long term stress/abuse.
I know someone with fibromyalgia, and I'm pretty sure its her parents fault. She doesn't blame them, they are 'perfect' parents and 'love' her sooo much.
She is an only child, over protected, controlled they always seem to be there monitoring where she is, who shes with. If she goes out they go too and wait, and wait, to give her a lift home. Shes nearly 30! Let her find her own way home!

People say awww, they love her so much.
I don't think they do, I think they are narcissistic engulfing control freaks that are destroying her.
To keep her caged like that, to live parasitically through her is cruel and selfish.

I want to tell her but will she believe me, she insists 'they only want the best for her' does she even want to know? To be told that your parents only love themselves and not you is not what people want to hear. Will I do more harm than good?
So far I said very little.
I do not like her parents one bit.