Numerous studies are beginning to come out on past emotional trauma and its effects on people’s current health. Astoundingly, the results seem to be showing a correlation especially in relation to pain. PTSD can be a tragic thing for many. Old memories can be triggered in a number of ways. And in some cases, the PTSD can result in chronic pain and other illnesses. Although the client does not think it’s psychological, the underground root could be strongly connected to a psychological element.
The following post is actually a true story. The Names have been changed to protect those involved. But it is used to illustrate how symptoms such of chronic pain can be a result of PTSD.
A woman – let’s call Sarah – faced chronic pain due to back injury (two herniated discs), magnesium deficiencies and seizures over her adult years starting in her late twenties. Digestive and gastric-intestinal problems later occurred. And anxiety issues relapsed often.
As a small child, she was the oldest of eventually eight children by her father – Gerry. Gerry and his first wife – Mary – ended their marriage after seven years with the fourth child on the way. Sarah was only six years old at the time. Gerry fell in love with the babysitter – Abby – and decided life would be better with her. A vicious love triangle that had the kids caught in the middle.
Sarah’s life was suddenly not what she remembered it to be. But she appeared to adjust. But neither of her parents had good words to say about each other. In and out of the court system and back and fourth over a few years between parents resulted in much mourning and severe heartache for everyone.
In the early years, Sarah did not remember much more than the custody battles. Sarah and her sisters did know about each of their parent’s distaste for each other. They were caught in the middle. Her mother would make her feel small when she would say, “you are just like your father.”
Her stepmother would have nothing nice to say about her mother. And Sarah and her sisters would cringe like they were walking on glass at both homes.
Less than 18 months after the separation, Abby – the stepmother – gave birth to Sarah’s first half brother – Jordan. At eight years old, Sarah was already changing his cloth diapers daily when she visited at her dad’s place. The same thing happened two years later when her second half brother – Craig – was born. But Sarah adored her half brothers. Years later, she taught them to ride horses and barrel race. Those were all special times with them.
At age 14, Sarah came to live full time with her father. This was not a good thing but Sarah loved her horse which was at her father’s farm. But with the horse came adult responsibilities and slave labour. Sarah was a glorified slave for her step mother Abby.
Physical violence now broke out on many occasions. It is funny, Sarah never considered herself an abused child. But Sarah faced many occasions of assault by her step mother. Her hair was pulled and yanked out by the roots as she was flung by it across the room many a time. She was hit on many occasions. Often Sarah went to bed nursing bruises and bumps. Her back was grossly out of alignment already as a young teenager. In fact, at times she could barely bend over for weeks at a time.
There was a little bit of back and forth between her parents over the next few years and she was blamed by both sides for not being loyal to the other. All Sarah wanted was for it to stop.
Sarah was never allowed to go out with friends. She was basically a recluse. When relationships are the most important thing for teenagers, Sarah couldn’t risk having friends. No one could find out what a failure she was. This was the thought process in her mind.
One day, in the spring, after her 16th birthday, the violence became so severe that Sarah was almost killed. Sarah doesn’t even remember what the original fight was about. The only people present was herself and Abby, her stepmother. Somehow, it finally resulted in Sarah being pinned on the floor (on her stomach) by her stepmother. Abby straddled Sarah’s back and sat down so that Sarah could not move. She then pulled up hard on Sarah’s throat and chin attempting to both choke and snap Sarah’s neck.
Just before Sarah was about to black out, a shot of adrenalin rushed through her system. She managed one last attempt to get her breath and to dismount Abby off of her with a kick out and a twist. And with that, she was able to catch a refreshing breath of fresh air she so desperately needed.
Abby jumped up and started yelling at Sarah, “you could of killed my baby.” Abby had not announced to anyone yet that she was pregnant with her third child.
The unborn child was never in danger even if Sara managed to kick Abby since Abby was facing forward. And Sarah would of have had to be a yoga master to bend that far to be anyway near where the baby was. That was something virtually impossible since Sarah’s back was already so sore from the numerous abusive attacks she had already experienced.
However, it was all Abby needed to get at Sarah and for the next several decades, Abby created, re-created, and re-embellished a story that Sarah tried to kill her unborn child. Abby had re-decorated that story so many times that she couldn’t even keep it all straight anymore. Sarah heard the story transform many times.
Abby suffered from a commonly known psychological characteristic of a guilty person. They often try to throw people off their path by blaming the other person of the actions they were guilty of themselves.
Sarah never said a word. After all, was Abby going to make another attempt on her life? And she didn’t want her half-siblings to go without a mother. Or worse yet, have them abused in the same way. Her youngest half-brother would not be alive today if Abby was sent to jail for that crime. Sarah just assumed the role of a protective big sister. And she allowed herself to feel guilty for not allowing Abby to kill her at that time.
Sarah went on years later to have a good marriage and three children. She was lucky to have a comical but sensible husband. And he did help her get through it. He also saw the dangers of her family and the negativities they bestowed upon Sarah!
One of their children had severe special needs. And this was a good strengthening point for Sarah and her husband in their relationship. It strengthened their goals together. And for a while, relations did seem to be restored with her parents for. Sarah continued to try and walk a neutral path between her parents not taking sides but the comments only got more damning on each side. Although the physical abuse stopped, the negative comments did not. And Sarah was always blamed for being a spy between parents. Both sides failed to recognized that there was common friends that had passed on the information and not any of the children.
In Sarah’s early twenties, during her second pregnancy, Sarah’s back increase in severity. That is when she started going to a chiropractor. By her late twenties, her first herniated disc happened. She also started to experience magnesium deficiencies and seizures. Pain often occurred regularly, especially in her back until well into her 40’s.
Digestive and bowel issues occurred. Eventually she learned to modify her diet to work for her. By the time she was 40, she experienced her second herniated disc. At 42 she finally started her journey in Natural BioEnergetics. After about two years, the Natural BioEnergetics treatments started to turn more emotional as deep rooted hurt started to come out from those teenage years. The emotional responses were very PTSD in nature and sometimes they were so severe that it almost kept her from driving home. But she continued to work through it.
Even throughout the next couple of years, her back would have 6 to 8 week bouts of severe pain. Pain that was almost as severe as the original herniated disc. She continued to use Natural BioEnergetics and even in the midst of it all, more deep rooted emotion, pain and trauma came out. But all of a sudden, she started taking less trips the chiropractor and needed less intervention.
Aside from the occasional bouts of stupidity where she forgets that she is not young anymore, her back seems to remain quite stable. Her gastro-intestinal issues are well in control and her anxiety levels are more in check. Natural Bio-Energetics was not an instant fix but over time, it helped her work through the necessary blocks she had thrown up that were negatively affecting her health.
Sarah has done well with the Natural BioEnergetics and will continue to use it. And she is now in a much better place in her life. However, not all is as good on the front with her family. In 2002, her grandmother passed away, the only woman keeping the family together up until that point. Since then, Sarah has not been able to go home. For two years after she called home, only to have her calls unanswered. When her father did answer her, all he said was, “you know what you did.” But Sarah does not know to this day. She suspects another story has been cooked up about her.
Her brother Jordan told her once that she had quit calling and he wanted nothing to do with them. That statement hurt Sarah deeply. Sarah knew that she had been calling continually home for two straight years at that point. Her youngest half sister – the one that Abby was carrying during Abby’s attempt to kill Sarah now does not talk to Sarah. Sarah can only guess that Abby embellished another story telling her sister that Sarah had tried to kill her.
It has been along time but Sarah has left it in the hands of God and has chosen to forgive them regardless. Forgiveness was needed on Sarah’s part to go on in life. And it was never more evident when she recently went home to a funeral and handled her emotions beautifully in front of her family. In a way, it was reunion with other extended family. Sarah was happy she went. She was still rejected by her father and her step mother. But she knows she is in the care of her Heavenly Father.
As for the Natural BioEnergetics, she feels it was a gift from God. And she has become a full advanced practitioner in the area helping others in life choices and problems that they are facing. NB does not just work in areas of emotional trauma but in many other areas. Sarah continues to work through anything that comes up in the Natural BioEnergetics along the way. And she enjoys helping others do the same.
