Post Traumatic Stress Injury

  

The other day I was listening to the Huberman Lab podcast, and his guest was Dr. Victor Carrion who was talking about his work with PTSD in children.  

https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/dr-victor-carrion-how-to-heal-from-post-traumatic-stress-disorder

What I really liked about this discussion was that Dr. Carrion had a new phrase that really hit home for me. He called PTSD a Post Traumatic Injury. I really like that description because I feel as though it helps to further explain what CFS/ME/And Long Covid really are. 

The very distressing and debilitating symptoms that sufferers are experiencing, are a reflection of a nervous system that is in a state of Post Traumatic Stress Injury. The sufferer has experienced a physical and or emotional stressor, that has caused the nervous system to go into "overdrive" with no ability to switch into the rest/relax parasympathetic state that is required for our bodies to function normally. The body is unable to achieve homeostasis. That is why PEM is so prevalent in CFS/ME/Long Covid. The body can't recover from exertion. It can't do it's normal functioning of entering the rest and relax state. 

I liked Dr. Carrions' approach to working with his clients as well. He had  ( in this case, children), notice when they were starting to feel hyperactive or anxious or frightened, and had them take one small action in response to those feelings. It felt so validating to me, as this is exactly what I would telly my clients to do as one of the first steps to start the healing process.  It is a great example of how your mind can work with the body in order to heal symptoms.

Although Dr. Carrion was working with children with emotional difficulties brought on by traumatic events, the same dynamic can work with those suffering from physical illness. Your symptoms are your bodies' stress response turned on at a very high volume. So when you feel an increase in symptoms ( say dizziness or fatigue) then, when you are first starting the process, you simply respond to your symptoms in a new and different way. Most importantly, you take action, which can be as simple as walking to the kitchen to get a glass of water. It really, at first, doesn't matter what you do. What matters is that your are engaging your symptoms ( signals of distress) and telling your body you hear it's distress, and are responding to it. In this way you begin to engage in a dialogue with your body...you hear it's voice, you are responding to it. This results in a feeling of having more control over your symptoms, and it builds confidence in your own ability to decrease symptoms. Just like the children in Dr. Carrions' study.