I woke up every morning in a panic. My friends said I screamed in my sleep, and I stopped breathing. I went to doc, took a sleep test, and was diagnosed with sleep apnea. I was put on oxygen at night for too low oxygen levels. After 3 years, one morning the panic slowed down, and I saw and re experienced dying as an infant. I realized this is why I woke up in a panic, and why I stopped breathing at night. Panic stopped, sleep apnea stopped. (edit cause I dropped my phone and it posted before I was done)..
@@sxfnlc - In my 60s, the amnesia I didn’t realize I had became severe, and simultaneously cptsd flashbacks started. So I began to feel/ remember some long ago experiences. I was NOT digging or trying to remember. Ugh
when I was in DBT, we did a lot of Mindfulness every session. That mindfulness helped pull down some of the dissociation... which led to me become suddenly aware of the fact that I was in full-body pain, ALL the time. And for a while, this was brushed off as fibromyalgia and psychosomatic pain. It became so unbearable that I couldn't attend DBT groups because the chairs in the meeting room would have me close to tears by the end or crying in the car after before I could drive home. My therapist seemed to think I was making up the severity and so I was basically made me lie about feeling like I should graduate DBT and that I felt it was time for EMDR *just* so I could get out of the groups without being kicked out of therapy entirely.🙃 Well, one session and a blowup later, I got discharged anyway. Turns out, I have an autoimmune disorder and hypermobility syndrome. I was dissociating SO MUCH that I didn't even realize I was in pain until i had spent 5 or 6 months working really hard to improve my mindfulness. I have had chronic pain since elementary school, but until the last couple of years of self-work and some random memory recall, I had NO IDEA i had had chronic pain even as a child! I used to complain about joint aches and then immediately dismiss my own pain. I had no idea the denial I was in was so all-encompassing. NOTHING made it through to the "me" of those years :( I endured so much not even realizing I was enduring anything at all.
This is almost exactly the backstory of what I'm struggling with right now. I personally don't have any good treatment (because that's currently the best treatment that won't destabilize me) and .. I lost my track entirely during this sentence, sorry. I've been staring at the screen trying to pick it back up but nah. It's gone. My bad.
Complex trauma can also wreak havoc on the immune system which can lead to autoimmune disorders and/or repeated infections. Thank you for covering this topic. 💜
@@thectadclinicPossibly more accurate to call it the inflammation effect. Autoimmune is not caused by exhaustion per se, but genetic predisposition, infection, poor digestion, gut inflammation and permeability, toxin exposure, and possibly injury to the neck that impinges on the vagus nerve.
Yup. Chronic Fatigue syndrome, brain fog, severe cognitive decline, ibs, I suffered from all of these and was so bad i basically had baby-dementia or a traumatic brain injury. I was nearly non functional and worsening until earlier this year when a major event allowed me to face and process some horrible trauma going all the way back to the age of 2 (I'm 34). It was terrifying to do so, but the health benefit from doing so has been so worth it and most of those conditions I mentioned are negligible now. I'm actually going to go back to college now I've improved so much! Also learned that poetry is the way my brain likes to process emotions.
Thanks Dr. Mike and CTAD for validation of trauma and somatoform presentations. That “we” are not “crazy” / “ making it up”. Thanks for encouraging understanding difference between organic and inorganic causes 💞💙🙏🏻👊
Oh boy, im currently dealing with unknown chronic issues so this is weird timing. I have some trauma in childhood but not as much as severely traumatized people. I’ve had many doctors tell me that there is a non-physhogoical causes but they aren’t sure what. I’ve had stiffness, soreness, and tension for a while and issues with the body parts related to trauma But then I have unexplained nerve pain and issues that seem to be caused by something physical but made worse by anxiety. It’s important to remember that these things can be linked. You can get an autoimmune disorder because of trauma, and you can have a combination of mental and physical causes of physical issues Medical gaslighting is so, so common. Any symptom you have is valid, even if you don’t know where it’s coming from
I go through cognitive shutdowns on a daily basis. It’s like when a computer crashes and needs to reboot. Sometimes it can be small where I will have like a micro sleep. Other times it can last for hours and I’m not even in my body, just curled up in a dissociative like trance going in and out of sleep. Once it passes I’m me again, so weird.
I called them sleep attacks. But cogntive shutdowns like a computer. Is so much a better way of explaining it. Feelings of overwhelm tuning out. Thankyou I dissacotiate quite a lot as well. I will be telling this to my psychiatrist when I next speak to him.
I am not sure that i dissociate a lot (I think- always a dangerous assumption to say never) but I do get these! Like I suddenly feel extremely sleepy and sluggish for seemingly no reason. If I try to stay awake it's a struggle for hours until it goes away, and if i let myself go I just pass out for a couple minutes before jerking awake. My mom once got really mad at me for wanting her to drive instead of me since I was really struggling. idk why you'd want a microsleeper at the wheel but i guess she did. I definitely wouldn't call it a nap, maybe involuntary micro nap. I've thought for a while that it was related to my intake of caffeine though, so it might not be the same.
@@sachab6098 sounds like what I go through. From my research it is a cognitive shutdown. The brain shuts down much like when a computer has not enough ram and you have to restart it. Our brains have little capacity to cope with things and need to “reboot”.
Went to chiropractor for chronic shoulder and neck pain that had been with me my whole life. He sent me for x-rays and ultrasound, they found no cause. My chiropractor then suggested it could be trauma related, he was familiar with somatic pain.
Ps people have said that my episodes of dissociation seizures are me faking. But it’s my brain and body shutting down. My brain just can’t handle any more. It’s as you said it’s just not caused by an organic cause … people underestimate the mystery of the brain and how it works.
But I think it may have an organize cause. That’s my opinion anyway. Because formative trauma damages the hypothalamus and the vagus nerve, and then there can be psychological triggers for physical vagus nerve reactions
There are two types of experts in trauma - those who study it, and those who experience it. I know because I have a lifetime of experience with Anxiety, worry,panic and needing to be alone , why do I feel calm and happy when I'm alone? Because if there are no people there is no stress ! Know people , know stress...No people No stress...
Honestly besides one other person you are the only one who really understands. Please keep making videos. 🙏 I'm so scared you will stop and leave us. It's YOU and your personality, compassion sincerity, knowledge, love of animals and so much more that keeps me coming back. I actually trust you.
Since 1982 I have had stomach issues that were ultimately described as "functional dyspepsia" by the gastroenterologist in 2004, after being tagged as "nervous stomach" when no medication would touch the pain and discomfort. Today I realised that it may be tied to a bad car accident when I was 7. It wasn't until discussing it with my sister (who has just undergone EMDR for flashbacks) who told me that I (dissociative amnesia) was alternating screaming and vomiting from the impact until the ambulance arrived. Now I can raise the issue with my therapist and hopefully we can work on it and finally lose the stomach issues. Thank you for these videos.
Not being able to understand physiological needs is a big one for us. We can go so long without experiencing hunger or thirst… if you couple that with ADHD hyperfocus, we can sometimes work for 12h without any breaks or water intake at all. Then when we come to we feel dizzy and extremely weak and don’t know why since we never felt hungry or thirsty or anything. We also have a hard time understanding “sleepy” and when we realize it we’re so exhausted that we can’t even move to go to bed. These are super helpful, thank you
ADHD + autism. This is the 1st time I've come across lack of hunger or thirst as trauma related. I'm not so bad with hunger but with you on thirst. So many times I've had to work out that I feel so bad because of dehydration. Thanks for drawing our attention to 'sleepy' also being in this category. I've great trouble with that too.
@@denicejackson4839 I used to do this. An alarm to tell me it was time to make lunch (and then eat it!) and another to tell me it was time to make dinner. I definitely need to drink more though! I can go 12 hours without water and never notice.
Thank you for your continuously powerful content! “The Body Keeps the Score” is not about DID, but is another educational source on trauma stored in the body. Health and happiness to all ✨
Thank you, Dr. Lloyd! Today I had a hearing test and for the first time since I had the first test showing bad hearing it had gotten better! I was convinced that my hearing was getting worse, the same with my eyesight, but both is actually better now. This is a very confusing thing about having dissociative disorder, that I'm so convinced of one thing, and then tests shows the opposite. This was how I first was diagnosed with dissociation too: I had neurological symptoms for years and suddenly I couldn't even walk or lift my arms anymore, but the neurologist couldn't find anything wrong on tests. I'm so happy I didn't listen to people around me (f.ex my mother) that said I had some kind of mystery illness, but instead listened to the neurologists that suggested dissociation. From just staying in bed and needing help from nurses to get to the toilet, now 5 years later I manage on my own. I'm still on welfare money and can't work, but I understand myself so much better.
hello! we've had nonepileptic seizures (thankfully, diagnosed as part of OSDD) for many years now. super relieving to see a professional talk about it. huge sympathies to everyone else in the comments with their experiences.
I feel like my therapy experience is keeping pace with your videos 😅 I just started EMDR and it did a number on my body. I was at dinner a couple of days after therapy and was overheating. I had a raised temperature for hours even with the air-conditioning turned up. As soon as I got home it went away. The guests were bewildered. And now today I've woken up with my back muscles almost completely siezed up. I also haven't been able to feed myself more than one meal a day for a few days because I haven't felt hunger at all. It's exhausting
Thank you, again. I had been accused of hypochondriac in my past by adults in my life who did not understand me. I also did not understand myself, and it took years to realize I had been so dissociated from my life and myself that when I healed well enough to feel, my feelings exhibited themselves through my body in hard to understand ways. I have come to accept my body/mind connection is very sensitive and I can have healing occur by accepting and treating all my ills. Again, thank you for your insights.
I get non epileptic seizures , I have fibromyalgia and Chronic pain. I sometimes get chronic pain but sometimes I don’t feel pain or heat in my hands so can touch things and don’t realise it’s hot . However recently I’ve been unwell and the doctor is not convinced that these symptoms are not caused by dissociation. It’s tough because sometimes my health symptoms can be dismissed because they know I have DID or have experienced trauma. I have a new gp recently and she is taking my symptoms seriously. I’m getting the right referrals and tests now.
Really good video dr thankyou! Oof i wasnt expecting a cry today but this sure did do it as a reminder of every doctor who hasnt listened, and doctors who still dont 😅 i hope one day to find a local dr as empathetic and well spoken as you Dr Mike, keep up the good work both clinically and with videos!
Chronic pain diagnosed in late teens, followed by FND and nonepileptic seizures have brought me to realise how much of these physical symptoms are connected to trauma. I didn’t realise that my lack of understanding of when I’m hungry, whether I’m hot/cold or not and whether I’m tired or not are also related.
I’m only just understanding this in myself I get dental pain all the time, but my dentist can’t find anything wrong. As a child, my parents neglected my dental care so my teeth hurt.
Oh wow. Again, thank you. For the information, the for the kindness, everything. I’ve often wondered about times the body seems to freezes up tense and I can’t move anything. I’m inside, I can think, but can’t move anything physically. Sometimes we even switch inside, but the body is frozen. And all this time I’ve thought I do this on purpose. Sometimes sitting there while it’s happening, berating myself.
Thank you for your videos and dedication to explaining and empowering us all to healing and change. I so appreciate what you are saying here and the recognition of the realness of it not simply the ‘crazies’ Tho the ‘crazies’ aren’t so simple. As a survivor and overcomer of SRA/DID it has been a huge learning curve to know the difference between what is past coming back in body memories or parts, and what is happening now from cult access. It sure can be complicated at times but I’m grateful for how you break things down and explain. Thank you for your work and for caring for a group of us that many would rather discard than understand or stand with.
Thank so, SO MUCH for your channel and all the support you're giving us! I've learned so much thanks to u and realized I'm not just "weird". My former therapist acknowledged my dissociative symptoms, but she didn't have enough experience yo help me. She also suggested I might be autistic, but again she had no experience in therapy with such people. I've been diagnosed with ADHD and autism a few months ago, being 26 yr. I started treatment for ADHD and finally could function again. I've decided to go back to therapy, but this time to someone with experience and knowledge about women with autism and ADHD. I finally found a perfect therapist and I even managed to telle her about my dissociative symptoms. I was so positively surprised when she understood me, she didn't judge me, she even started asking great questions and plans to evaluate me for some dissociative disorders like OSDD (I've suspected having OSDD for years now, but thought maybe I'm just faking it). She also was the first person acknowledging and saying out loud I have cPTSD. She's incredible and I only had one meeting with her! Firt time I've managed to say so much in just one meeting, trust someone enough to talk about everything. She asks the right questions, gives right judgment and advice, doesn't doubt me, doesn't say something I feel is weird or unimportant.
Difficulties in interoception will not be massively and suddenly affected by trauma triggers in the ways that somatoform dissociation would be. They won't be emotionally connected with abuse and will be amenable to sensory processing treatments. Psychotherapy will reduce dissociation but have minimal effects on the sensory processing deficits seen in ASD. Hope that helps. Treating sensory processing for +25 years. Treating sensory issues in DID for about 5.
I went to a chiropractor for chronic migraines and neck pain as a teenager. She did x-rays and found something strange with my neck, but she couldn't see it clearly enough for her to feel safe adjusting my neck and upper back. She sent me for an MRI with a neurologist, and he found that I have two natural fusions and a hemivertebra within my cervical spine. They both told me I cannot ever have my neck and upper back adjusted by hand by a chiropractor, but I can have them adjusted using an instrument. These adjustments usually helped but never resolved the problem completely. Updosing on the gabapentin given to me as a sedative two years ago, coincidentally, coincided with finding out about my system and then pursuing a full neruological and psychological assessment to confirm the diagnosis of DID. It seemed as if the rise in dose helped my chronic migrianes and neck pain, but as it turns out, being kept unaware of my headmates and my status as our host alter is what was actually causing the symptoms. Since being aware, the chronic migraines and neck pain have ceased, and they remain gone despite being off of gabapentin and other anticonvulsants or nerve blocking agents for the better half of a year at this point. - Noah
Pseudo seizures. Thank you for helping me connect yet another dot in my self reclamation process. ❤ I've been reverse engineering my inevitable but unacceptable nervous system collapse since 2017...step by informed step and with your help❤
Very interesting and informative, thank you. I have a diagnosis of DID and experience a lot of somatic symptoms. I use hot water bottles to ground me a lot and when dissociating I often stop feeling pain and have in multiple occasions not realised I’ve been missing the water bottle and pouring boiling water directly onto my hand. When triggered my entire core can freeze up and the muscles in around my jaw and throat and stomach freeze up and make it hard to move or breathe. My sister has been diagnosed with CPTSD and recently her mental health team have acknowledged they believe she may also have DID and she has full blown seizures. She will collapse on the floor, usually as a response to a trigger, and can spasm for over and hour. Just some of the not so fun physical symptoms we experience… I used to get very scared of the physical symptoms before understanding what they were
weirdest physical function loss weve had is not being able to shiver when cold anymore, the oldest (been around the longest) alters still can but the newer ones since maybe 15 yrs old cant. we thought it was neurological damage from stopping ssris cold turkey until the system discovery/older alters bubbled up
Thank you so much. Your timing is quite perfect. I have a mixture of physical effects of abuse that years later are now causing huge problems, for instance, my hip and pelvis have been fractured twice from abuse as other bones as well. Have always dissociated from the pain, but seasonal changes and age make this harder to do. Over the years there has been a large list of somatoform symptoms that have caused problems from witnessed epilepsy seizures leading to being overmedicated on awful epilepsy medication that later on when scans were down showed no epilepsy. Thankfully that all lessened once heard. The other main one is we would go in and out of having hearing issues, also noticed by people who said we couldn't hear properly (we had no idea), had lots of hearing tests, and all showed no hearing loss. The numbness and the ability to dissociate from pain have caused issues with things like teeth, not feeling the pain has meant teeth get pulled out as the hole is too large for it to be fixed. My dentist now has wrapped his head around my DID and works with it so I don't have to go through that anymore. My new psychologist wants me to have mir scan for the physical issues to help get help, I nearly cried when he said that as I haven't felt so heard in a long time. So the mix of having somatoform symptoms and other physical symptoms does cause major issues that do need to be looked at carefully. Over the years this has been horrible, as what is real and what isn't real adds to the feeling quite nutty. That is why I feel so grateful for the work you are doing and videos like this that shine a light on these issues.
I experience vision loss, paralysis, severe dystonia, mutism, unintelligible speech, feels like a stroke in my brain at times, it’s wild. I also experience agonistic muscle pair contractions which can be severely painful.
Hearing you say all that has brought a smile to my face, despite it not really being the happiest of topics. I have struggled most of my life because I could not connect all the symptoms I was having, especially when medical doctors kept telling me there was no reason for it. My most recent experience with that came through involuntary spasming, although I have also experienced the paralysis, I have a tremor so for the longest time I just kept putting the spasms down to an extension of that. However, I finally got to see a neurologist and they told me that wasn't linked to that and after having a MRI they also told me there wasn't any sign of anything abnormal, that being said they haven't stopped and it just seemed to completely confuse the doctors, so no further action was able to be taken at least on their part. I also suffer with back pain and fatigue, which was recently diagnosed as chronic for which I do physio and was prescribed painkillers, but remained unexplained. And I have been a long-time sufferer of head and neck pain, which I have come to recognise comes with the dissociative symptoms and has been more active since my system became active. However, I was diagnosed recently with autism spectrum disorder, so I was wondering if you could clarify the differences, if there are any, between the sensory and perception issues experienced and the dissociative somatic experiences, because I can relate to the comments you made with regards to temperature and hunger and thirst, but I assumed they were sensory issues related to autism, but it would be interesting to know if they are more dissociative related, or if it even matters because they could be overlapped. Thank you for this video. 👍😄
Also the comment you made about temporary blindness and deafness etc shocked me because I literally went deaf, for no reason other than stress, on the day I was supposed to be taking my listening GCSE exam, which doctors put down to eczema of the ear and even an abnormal ear drum, although that has not been officially confirmed, but to this day it has not happened again, even with the eczema flare ups, so remains unexplained. Gosh I am a medical marvel. 🤣
Literally got frostbite on my toes WHILE AT HOME because I turned off the heating system trying to save some money because "it's not cold at all!". Didn't realise how "bruised", cold and numb my feet were until I left the shower. Didn't even think it could be related... that's interesting!
Sometimes your timing is so ridiculous that I wonder if my therapist is in contact with you 😂 I was very very young when I had an episode of shaking, nausea, and crying seemingly for no reason. My parents took me to the doctor and he proposed that I might be hypoglycemic. My parents refused to have me tested (I was, tbf, hysterical around needles) and just went with that. They told me I was hypoglycemic. In adolescence and as a teen, they actually told me not to tell new doctors and always advised me against listing it on paperwork. It always confused me but I trusted them. I was really old before they admitted it wasn't an official diagnosis but at that point I had presented so many classic symptoms that it seemed like the only explanation anyway. I finally got bloodwork done on my own. Recently- I'm talking last Tuesday- I went in to hear the results. I got a pristine bill of health and the realization that almost two decades spent convinced I had this condition have permanently altered my life in ways that were... SO avoidable. Apparently the guise of hypoglycemia was a cover for a panic disorder and years of daily attacks going back to when I was a toddler that I always thought only eating would solve. I can't help but imagine what my life could've been like if it had been recognized early and I had been treated for the severe anxiety instead. Now, though, I have the consequences of ignorance I had no control over. Two short-notice therapy appointments in one week, several extra panic attacks, a few bouts of crying, and a lot of support later, and it's still gonna be a while before I can accept the real explanation. I've been assigned a symptom tracking spreadsheet by my doctor, and the results have been... revealing, in just a week. The attacks can usually be linked to factors that cause me anxiety, and when they can't, they seem to be triggered just by registering that I'm hungry and, I guess, expecting hypoglycemia. I secretly hoped that knowing it was PTSD would make it suddenly go away, but it didn't. The difference is that, now that I know it is panic, I can use previously learned coping mechanisms to ease it. My anxiety tricks are sometimes able to make the episodes go away Before, I always thought only food could help. They still hit me a lot, but I've managed to actually stop a few and just. Sit on my hunger and not feel the pressure of a life-changing condition that I functionally had for years but no longer need to dwell on. And it has kind of helped prove what is going on. The doc also let me keep the blood test results to look at for reassurance. That helps too. The other bright side is that Dissociation and PTSD explains so much more than hypoglycemia ever did. It wasn't hunger-blindness induced by chronic lows, it was dissociating away the anxiety. They weren't "random" crashes, they were triggered panic attacks. Changing my diet never helped because my diet was fine. The severity of them increased lately not because I finally hit T1 Diabetes, but because of the life changes and trauma I've been working through. I still have a fast metabolism but the way my stomach handles food is years of internet-advised habit rather than a condition. I realized I have A LOT more anxiety than I thought, but now I can apply what I've learned in therapy to something I never thought I'd be able to heal from. My life is devastated at the moment and a large part of myself uprooted, but I can finally see the path toward getting these attacks under control, now. That's exciting. Thank you for addressing the physical symptoms of trauma and how powerful "psychosomatic" really is. I needed this video right now.
I stuck to "my" for coherence, and I'm the alter that experiences it the most anyway. But beyond that... The therapist has us really connecting to physic sensations recently, INCLUDING emotions. Apparently emotions are meant to tell you things rather than overwhelm you, who knew? 😅 I'm in another phase of constantly overwhelming emotions and a lot of crying since I've once again taking a step well over my threshold toward feeling things, but it's all for the better. For all of us. I've got this 💪
Great video Mike, our system was diagnosed with FND in Dec 2021 and it still bamboozles us, I'm very grateful our FND doesn't include seizures but a lot of nerve pain we have are linked to parts of the body where SA happened. Having to come to terms with chronic illness in addition to trauma has been very difficult as chronic pain can set off flashbacks and then somatic flashbacks can then flare up FND symptoms.
I love this channel! Thank you! In analyzing the neurological symptoms I experience and the circumstances (when I can understand them) that bring them on... I DO believe there may be a physical cause. Like what Vanderkolk described in the Body Keeps the Score that the hypothalamus and vagus nerve are damaged and the environment is triggering a dorsal vagal freeze
Great video as always! Just took the SDQ-20 (hadn't heard of it before, but somatic issues are my biggest concern). Felt more like a wishlist when I was checking off Yes! to everything and in the 4-5 range for most. I get the whole gambit, night seizures, night paralysis, dissociative seizures, fugue states and the body pain is extraordinary. It is not just "pain" it is much more than that, hard to explain to somehow who hasn't experienced it. It's not like pain - but just really ramped up pain or anything like that.
I almost didn't watch this because I thought the title meant physically abusing another person. So glad I watched. Explains a few things. Thank you, so informative. Now I understand a lot more.
I have depersonalization and general amnesia that turned into physical symptoms, i had my first symptoms in 2007 and i am still fighting DP disorder to this day. But here in Portugal dissociation is not well understood, and the treatments is based on medication
Thank you for covering this topic. It might happen that a DID person can't walk properly anymore, starts to cry for no reason or laughs in an exaggerated way, has spasms and fasciculations in the muscles, all without finding a medical cause. I hope this is correct?
I occasionally pass out, vasovagal syncope, during particularly bad panic attacks. It almost always happens in public situations, classes, auditoriums, etc. So, I do actually faint, which looks very scary to anyone who sees me do it. I once was taken to the emergency room by ambulance and given oxygen. At the extreme, my anxiety causes my brain to shutdown and reboot, almost like a computer that's malfunctioned. I'm curious if you've ever encountered a situation similar to mine...
Hi Kate, yes, this is actually quite common. Sorry to hear you are going through this. It is treatable, and hopefully you have help to work out what to do (therapeutically).
@@thectadclinic thanks, I typically just avoid situations that would elicit that response. Staying hydrated and compression socks is helpful, as is the occasional Xanax.
Thankyou so much for this - this is only the second time i have heard anyone talk about this at all - and the other time was from a young woman i know that has DID . I wondered about certain things that started happening to me physically - and remembered that they also happened when i was young when i put some thought to it.These do not have a 'medical ' base - but they are on that list.
I just realised why i need to replay a part. My back/spine randomly herts and i cant get up/like being old. And i just got my left side herting near/before christmas. I do randomly get it.
I do get the random paralysis/and when awake/not near sleep. 7:08 1/8/2024,i did need my jacket/i didnt feel cold/i dont know why i was just randomly forced to put it on.
Thanks again for another great and helpful video. You manage everytime to put some tough theorie in a very understandable way in your videos. Very helpful and it normalises some experiences. Your other videos with your birds in it are also appreciated. Thanks for your effort.
I have dissociation and also diagnosed fibromyalgia 10 years ago and i know its got to do with childhood trauma. I switch alot and get headachs when i am switching .am in thearpy
First.. love your videos and the help and hope they give to many. Would you have any insight on the thought that the energy of unresolved trauma actually manifests in our bodies with actual physical illness that is diagnosable? I have had multiple issues with my throat/ neck over the years , , the latest being cancer. I’ve tried forever years to hide my trauma and finally went to seek assistance . I was told by a therapist that I have had stuck trauma energy in my throat chakra which predisposed me to this cancer. That’s concerning to me. Is this a thing you see? If so.. Could you do a video on trauma and physical manifestation of illness and how we can help ourselves to avoid that if possible.
Thanks, Beth, it is well known that chronic stress can lead to actual illnesses due to compromised immune system damage. This isn’t specific to trauma, happens in stressful workplaces etc.
Were you ever choked or strangled? Were you tortured while being prevented from screaming or crying? Were you highly threatened, so you never told anyone about the trauma? I was, and I ended up with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and papillary carcinoma (thyroid cancer).
Valid questions. Simply bringing out possible ways in which trauma which happened in the throat and neck could be manifested as conditions in the throat and neck.
So, "Body Memories"... Would that be like, say, Phantom Limb Syndrome, in some way? I have DID with Somatiform Symptomd, with Comorbid Features. I have been in the hospital over a hundred times, with thr same outcomes. It feels, abd shows like in having a heart attack. My blood pressure is usually around 205/115 or higher eirh other duagnostic c testing showing real issues, pain resisting to key arm, narrowing vision, confusion, slurred speech, etc, only to have then go away, basically without a trace. Di testing DIES does show it! I haven't had that particular issue happen as nuch, since my environment has changed, but there safe ither issues. Thank you for educating us with this. In the end, just knowing there is a reason for the unexplainable things, helps a lot
8:09 my body shakeing like a seiser isnt from weed then? Specifically says for me=feels like your falling. I randomlly see in my brain/mind, me falling towars a sky/up, but it doesnt like real life when in it.
Great explanation. Do you think aphantasia (lack of visual imagery / inability to form images with the mind's eye) could be some kind of dissociation as well? Much like the episodic blindness. On my side I believe this was my mind's way of protecting me from reliving traumatic childhood experiences visually... But this is quite frustrating since it is harder to break the amnesia...
Oh another big one we have is not experiencing asthma 😅 the body has (mild?) asthma but most of us don’t experience it so we don’t know to puff and don’t feel the shortness of breath even though it’s there. Or maybe there’s someone who always comes to front when we start to have an asthma attack so that they’re the only ones who actually experience it and for everyone else it’s “just anxiety”. We’re still figuring things out.
This is extremely common. There is fear of being viewed, being touched, being told bad news, and being in pain from invasive procedures. And that is the simple ones off the top of my head. Take a look at the book "Staying in the Room".
I"ve had a few seizures in my life and once my parents took me to the ER. I told the doctors that these seizures come with intense flashbacks and this kind of like "adrenaline rush" feelings, but they didn't seem to believe me. They checked my heart and said there's nothing wrong with me, I don't have epilepsy and I'm fine. I have no idea where to go with this, because if doctors don't belive my simptoms are real then who will?
Your symptoms are VERY real. Those seizures are psychological in origin but physical in their expression. Remember that they have examined your brain and your heart, and it is unlikely they missed a tumor or a blockage. This is wonderful news. Again, symptoms totally real. Causation not physical. Treatment is psychological. You deserve to get the right treatment for this and go on to have a terrific healthy life!!
Flashbacks occur because sensory experiences have not been processed into narrative memory. Check out what Pat Ogden has to say about completing the action.
Mines like overstimulated. Happens in social situations, when I have a lot of expectations At one point my resting heart rate was 100BPM My eyes feel funny and I feel like passing out but never do. Same thing happened Drs are like "youre young youre fine" urgent cares would send me home no resources.
Hi Dr Mike. Could you enlighten me more about somatoform and physical manifestations and talk about possible muscle contractions in the body, or the body trying to hurt itself by lets say dislocating the jaw by forcing the host to over extend joints or hurt host. Or throwing neck back or squeezing shoulder blades together type of torment? Many talk about outside factors hurting the body but my neurological and muscular system self harm. Is this a persecutor alter? I have also experience talking in a language I don’t understand, nor does anyone else but it has emotional/intentional feeing behind it when triggered. When it wants to come forward it tightens my mouth/cheek muscles or platysma. When I allow it to come forward I am witnessing this alter jibberjabber nonsensical words that sounds like a language but no idea what I am saying. It forces my mouth to move and enunciTed sounds and sometimes I can control it but other times I have no control and cannot quiet it. Sometimes it mutes me too clasping my lips shut. Is this familiar to you? Sometimes it causes me to walk like I have Cerebral palsy or closes my eyes or avoids looking at a person no matter how hard I try to look directly at them. I am always conscious and witnessing what is hPpening so it feels like my body is hijacked/possessed. Sometimes no one is up front and I have a blank stare and cannot express myself although I am consciously alert on the inside hearing and seeing what is happening outside, my body becomes limp too. Please please please help me understand what os happening?
🌌 Could this grant explanation as to why some of us have experienced instances of mild to intense sensations, or what we have entitled "sensory echoes" regarding past experiences that occur outside of one individually going through a flashback at the time? Would it also tie into instances where one of us is individually experiencing a flashback or panic attack on the inside and simultaneously who ever is out, or fronting, is also having a diminished version of the exact same experience as a set of physiological sensations and or experiences?
What if you’re dysregulated the other way when it comes to temperature? Cold to the core when it’s not cold and burning up when it’s not warm? Thank you for everything you do ❤
Hello dr Lloyd, im watching your videos every time i get the chance and i want to ask you a question, what do you think about tuning in the Universe via our pineal and pituitary glands?
I’m sure not Dr Lloyd, but lots of my trauma came through gnostic cult abuse. I would invite you to consider the possibility that you would risk encountering negative spiritual entities if you follow the path you describe. The universe is created and it loves no one
High frequency sounds are often irritating to people under stresses of any kind. Think of the music from Hitchcock's "Psycho" shower scene. The composer used a very high pitched sound to heighten the terror in that scene for the audience quite effectively.
Cathy, do you know a never-fail re-regulating means of getting back to normal? The ones I use didn't help during this past 3-1/2 days of the outdoor high-pitched noise.
Maintaining different emotional/personality parts and the hypervigilance about who to be when unconsciously, this is surely exhausting I would think. I was more aware of being fatigued when I realised what was happening, before I used just to bail out by sleeping and then I’d wake up as a different part. Looking back, I’m sure the bailing out was exhaustion because I was in such stress.
I find after a dissociated episode or period of stress that I am extremely exhausted and fatigued. I also fiend the “6 tv’s on different channels in my head at times very tiring.
Unfortunately, a Dr made me see a social worker because he couldn't figure out what my physical therapist did. I had plantars fasciitis displasure and the lumps and tenderness I imagined were real😮 Ughhh
What would it be classified as when you hyperfocus on a “good” situation or new item when you rub your fingers together whilst focusing on the “good”? Many thanks.
Do you guys see people from canada ?? I was doing very well over the summer but now the dpdr has hit very very intensley now and i just dont know what to do anymore
@@thectadclinic oh that super sucks. I'm in therapy and I have been for over a year now. It seems my dpdr is getting worse lately and I'm not sure why. Is there anything else I can do that could help me? Do you guys know of anyone over here who could help?
Would somatic therapy be useful for DID? Wondering if you can also work directly through the body, if dissociation/rapid switching makes conversation difficult in therapy. My daughter finds it almost impossible to remember things from one moment to the next and no one in the system seems to have a steady continuity of consciousness. She has shown interest in somatic work, so wondering if it would help.
Dr. Mike in your opinion is it better to tell a therapist straight away that you believe you have a dissociative disorder or not mention it outright and let them come to that conclusion on their own?
This will vary from person to person. The same applies with autism, and the relationship with the therapist should point to the answer. Perhaps find out first what they might know about dissociation from their resume etc?
You should perhaps retitle the video; "When dissociation becomes physiological". If you say when dissociation becomes physical, it sounds like you're eluding to violence...
I woke up every morning in a panic. My friends said I screamed in my sleep, and I stopped breathing. I went to doc, took a sleep test, and was diagnosed with sleep apnea. I was put on oxygen at night for too low oxygen levels. After 3 years, one morning the panic slowed down, and I saw and re experienced dying as an infant. I realized this is why I woke up in a panic, and why I stopped breathing at night.
Panic stopped, sleep apnea stopped.
(edit cause I dropped my phone and it posted before I was done)..
Until the amnesia barriers started crashing, I felt physically “ fine.” Now headaches and pretty much hurt from head to toe. Ugh!
It will get better. Hang in there!
yep! the dissociation got broken down and next thing I knew my body was informing me it had multiple chronic conditions
What does that mean? “Amnesia barriers started crashing”? Curious
@@sxfnlc - In my 60s, the amnesia I didn’t realize I had became severe, and simultaneously cptsd flashbacks started. So I began to feel/ remember some long ago experiences. I was NOT digging or trying to remember. Ugh
when I was in DBT, we did a lot of Mindfulness every session. That mindfulness helped pull down some of the dissociation... which led to me become suddenly aware of the fact that I was in full-body pain, ALL the time. And for a while, this was brushed off as fibromyalgia and psychosomatic pain. It became so unbearable that I couldn't attend DBT groups because the chairs in the meeting room would have me close to tears by the end or crying in the car after before I could drive home. My therapist seemed to think I was making up the severity and so I was basically made me lie about feeling like I should graduate DBT and that I felt it was time for EMDR *just* so I could get out of the groups without being kicked out of therapy entirely.🙃
Well, one session and a blowup later, I got discharged anyway. Turns out, I have an autoimmune disorder and hypermobility syndrome. I was dissociating SO MUCH that I didn't even realize I was in pain until i had spent 5 or 6 months working really hard to improve my mindfulness. I have had chronic pain since elementary school, but until the last couple of years of self-work and some random memory recall, I had NO IDEA i had had chronic pain even as a child! I used to complain about joint aches and then immediately dismiss my own pain. I had no idea the denial I was in was so all-encompassing. NOTHING made it through to the "me" of those years :( I endured so much not even realizing I was enduring anything at all.
This is almost exactly the backstory of what I'm struggling with right now. I personally don't have any good treatment (because that's currently the best treatment that won't destabilize me) and .. I lost my track entirely during this sentence, sorry. I've been staring at the screen trying to pick it back up but nah. It's gone. My bad.
Complex trauma can also wreak havoc on the immune system which can lead to autoimmune disorders and/or repeated infections.
Thank you for covering this topic. 💜
Yep, the exhaustion effect.
That's what I needed to know.😊
Hashimoto's thyroiditis, adrenal insufficiency, fibromyalgia.
@@thectadclinicPossibly more accurate to call it the inflammation effect. Autoimmune is not caused by exhaustion per se, but genetic predisposition, infection, poor digestion, gut inflammation and permeability, toxin exposure, and possibly injury to the neck that impinges on the vagus nerve.
Yup. Chronic Fatigue syndrome, brain fog, severe cognitive decline, ibs, I suffered from all of these and was so bad i basically had baby-dementia or a traumatic brain injury. I was nearly non functional and worsening until earlier this year when a major event allowed me to face and process some horrible trauma going all the way back to the age of 2 (I'm 34). It was terrifying to do so, but the health benefit from doing so has been so worth it and most of those conditions I mentioned are negligible now. I'm actually going to go back to college now I've improved so much! Also learned that poetry is the way my brain likes to process emotions.
Thanks Dr. Mike and CTAD for validation of trauma and somatoform presentations. That “we” are not “crazy” / “ making it up”. Thanks for encouraging understanding difference between organic and inorganic causes 💞💙🙏🏻👊
You are welcome!
Oh boy, im currently dealing with unknown chronic issues so this is weird timing. I have some trauma in childhood but not as much as severely traumatized people. I’ve had many doctors tell me that there is a non-physhogoical causes but they aren’t sure what. I’ve had stiffness, soreness, and tension for a while and issues with the body parts related to trauma
But then I have unexplained nerve pain and issues that seem to be caused by something physical but made worse by anxiety.
It’s important to remember that these things can be linked. You can get an autoimmune disorder because of trauma, and you can have a combination of mental and physical causes of physical issues
Medical gaslighting is so, so common. Any symptom you have is valid, even if you don’t know where it’s coming from
I go through cognitive shutdowns on a daily basis. It’s like when a computer crashes and needs to reboot. Sometimes it can be small where I will have like a micro sleep. Other times it can last for hours and I’m not even in my body, just curled up in a dissociative like trance going in and out of sleep. Once it passes I’m me again, so weird.
I called them sleep attacks. But cogntive shutdowns like a computer. Is so much a better way of explaining it. Feelings of overwhelm tuning out. Thankyou I dissacotiate quite a lot as well. I will be telling this to my psychiatrist when I next speak to him.
I am not sure that i dissociate a lot (I think- always a dangerous assumption to say never) but I do get these! Like I suddenly feel extremely sleepy and sluggish for seemingly no reason. If I try to stay awake it's a struggle for hours until it goes away, and if i let myself go I just pass out for a couple minutes before jerking awake. My mom once got really mad at me for wanting her to drive instead of me since I was really struggling. idk why you'd want a microsleeper at the wheel but i guess she did. I definitely wouldn't call it a nap, maybe involuntary micro nap. I've thought for a while that it was related to my intake of caffeine though, so it might not be the same.
@@sachab6098 sounds like what I go through. From my research it is a cognitive shutdown. The brain shuts down much like when a computer has not enough ram and you have to restart it. Our brains have little capacity to cope with things and need to “reboot”.
i used to have those all the time in a day... i thought it was narcolepsy... was i wrong??
Went to chiropractor for chronic shoulder and neck pain that had been with me my whole life. He sent me for x-rays and ultrasound, they found no cause. My chiropractor then suggested it could be trauma related, he was familiar with somatic pain.
Yes, stress-related stiffness and spasm is really common. The more the chronic stress, the worse it can be.
Have had so much dismissal from GPs over the years about this. I wish all medical doctors could watch this video. So much stigma still.
Ps people have said that my episodes of dissociation seizures are me faking. But it’s my brain and body shutting down. My brain just can’t handle any more. It’s as you said it’s just not caused by an organic cause … people underestimate the mystery of the brain and how it works.
But I think it may have an organize cause. That’s my opinion anyway. Because formative trauma damages the hypothalamus and the vagus nerve, and then there can be psychological triggers for physical vagus nerve reactions
someone please make me stop scrolling and reading comments while i'm watching videos because on god i miss everything and have to keep rewinding :'D
I do exactly the same thing!
There are two types of experts in trauma - those who study it, and those who experience it. I know because I have a lifetime of experience with Anxiety, worry,panic and needing to be alone , why do I feel calm and happy when I'm alone? Because if there are no people there is no stress ! Know people , know stress...No people No stress...
Honestly besides one other person you are the only one who really understands. Please keep making videos. 🙏 I'm so scared you will stop and leave us. It's YOU and your personality, compassion sincerity, knowledge, love of animals and so much more that keeps me coming back. I actually trust you.
Since 1982 I have had stomach issues that were ultimately described as "functional dyspepsia" by the gastroenterologist in 2004, after being tagged as "nervous stomach" when no medication would touch the pain and discomfort. Today I realised that it may be tied to a bad car accident when I was 7. It wasn't until discussing it with my sister (who has just undergone EMDR for flashbacks) who told me that I (dissociative amnesia) was alternating screaming and vomiting from the impact until the ambulance arrived. Now I can raise the issue with my therapist and hopefully we can work on it and finally lose the stomach issues. Thank you for these videos.
Sorry to hear about your experience but I'm so glad you've made that realisation! Knowing the connection is half the battle.
Not being able to understand physiological needs is a big one for us. We can go so long without experiencing hunger or thirst… if you couple that with ADHD hyperfocus, we can sometimes work for 12h without any breaks or water intake at all. Then when we come to we feel dizzy and extremely weak and don’t know why since we never felt hungry or thirsty or anything. We also have a hard time understanding “sleepy” and when we realize it we’re so exhausted that we can’t even move to go to bed.
These are super helpful, thank you
ADHD + autism. This is the 1st time I've come across lack of hunger or thirst as trauma related. I'm not so bad with hunger but with you on thirst. So many times I've had to work out that I feel so bad because of dehydration. Thanks for drawing our attention to 'sleepy' also being in this category. I've great trouble with that too.
True.
Omg YES! All that!!
Have you considered setting an alarm to remind you to have lunch?
@@denicejackson4839
I used to do this. An alarm to tell me it was time to make lunch (and then eat it!) and another to tell me it was time to make dinner.
I definitely need to drink more though! I can go 12 hours without water and never notice.
Thank you for your continuously powerful content! “The Body Keeps the Score” is not about DID, but is another educational source on trauma stored in the body. Health and happiness to all ✨
It’s an excellent book!
Thank you, Dr. Lloyd!
Today I had a hearing test and for the first time since I had the first test showing bad hearing it had gotten better! I was convinced that my hearing was getting worse, the same with my eyesight, but both is actually better now. This is a very confusing thing about having dissociative disorder, that I'm so convinced of one thing, and then tests shows the opposite. This was how I first was diagnosed with dissociation too: I had neurological symptoms for years and suddenly I couldn't even walk or lift my arms anymore, but the neurologist couldn't find anything wrong on tests.
I'm so happy I didn't listen to people around me (f.ex my mother) that said I had some kind of mystery illness, but instead listened to the neurologists that suggested dissociation. From just staying in bed and needing help from nurses to get to the toilet, now 5 years later I manage on my own. I'm still on welfare money and can't work, but I understand myself so much better.
hello! we've had nonepileptic seizures (thankfully, diagnosed as part of OSDD) for many years now. super relieving to see a professional talk about it. huge sympathies to everyone else in the comments with their experiences.
Can you advise a little bit more of your symptoms & diagnosis please?
I feel like my therapy experience is keeping pace with your videos 😅 I just started EMDR and it did a number on my body. I was at dinner a couple of days after therapy and was overheating. I had a raised temperature for hours even with the air-conditioning turned up. As soon as I got home it went away. The guests were bewildered. And now today I've woken up with my back muscles almost completely siezed up.
I also haven't been able to feed myself more than one meal a day for a few days because I haven't felt hunger at all.
It's exhausting
Thank you, again. I had been accused of hypochondriac in my past by adults in my life who did not understand me. I also did not understand myself, and it took years to realize I had been so dissociated from my life and myself that when I healed well enough to feel, my feelings exhibited themselves through my body in hard to understand ways. I have come to accept my body/mind connection is very sensitive and I can have healing occur by accepting and treating all my ills. Again, thank you for your insights.
You are most welcome!
I get non epileptic seizures , I have fibromyalgia and Chronic pain. I sometimes get chronic pain but sometimes I don’t feel pain or heat in my hands so can touch things and don’t realise it’s hot . However recently I’ve been unwell and the doctor is not convinced that these symptoms are not caused by dissociation. It’s tough because sometimes my health symptoms can be dismissed because they know I have DID or have experienced trauma. I have a new gp recently and she is taking my symptoms seriously. I’m getting the right referrals and tests now.
Really good video dr thankyou! Oof i wasnt expecting a cry today but this sure did do it as a reminder of every doctor who hasnt listened, and doctors who still dont 😅 i hope one day to find a local dr as empathetic and well spoken as you Dr Mike, keep up the good work both clinically and with videos!
Thank you so much!
Chronic pain diagnosed in late teens, followed by FND and nonepileptic seizures have brought me to realise how much of these physical symptoms are connected to trauma. I didn’t realise that my lack of understanding of when I’m hungry, whether I’m hot/cold or not and whether I’m tired or not are also related.
I’m only just understanding this in myself
I get dental pain all the time, but my dentist can’t find anything wrong. As a child, my parents neglected my dental care so my teeth hurt.
First time in my life knowing the name for this. Always such a relief having these moments. Thanks!
Oh wow. Again, thank you. For the information, the for the kindness, everything.
I’ve often wondered about times the body seems to freezes up tense and I can’t move anything. I’m inside, I can think, but can’t move anything physically. Sometimes we even switch inside, but the body is frozen.
And all this time I’ve thought I do this on purpose. Sometimes sitting there while it’s happening, berating myself.
I've had this many times I'm happy to hear it from someone else
I experience vision loss, paralysis, severe dystonia, mutism, unintelligible speech, feels like a stroke in my brain at times, it’s wild.
Thank you for your videos and dedication to explaining and empowering us all to healing and change.
I so appreciate what you are saying here and the recognition of the realness of it not simply the ‘crazies’ Tho the ‘crazies’ aren’t so simple.
As a survivor and overcomer of SRA/DID it has been a huge learning curve to know the difference between what is past coming back in body memories or parts, and what is happening now from cult access. It sure can be complicated at times but I’m grateful for how you break things down and explain.
Thank you for your work and for caring for a group of us that many would rather discard than understand or stand with.
Thank so, SO MUCH for your channel and all the support you're giving us! I've learned so much thanks to u and realized I'm not just "weird". My former therapist acknowledged my dissociative symptoms, but she didn't have enough experience yo help me. She also suggested I might be autistic, but again she had no experience in therapy with such people. I've been diagnosed with ADHD and autism a few months ago, being 26 yr. I started treatment for ADHD and finally could function again. I've decided to go back to therapy, but this time to someone with experience and knowledge about women with autism and ADHD. I finally found a perfect therapist and I even managed to telle her about my dissociative symptoms. I was so positively surprised when she understood me, she didn't judge me, she even started asking great questions and plans to evaluate me for some dissociative disorders like OSDD (I've suspected having OSDD for years now, but thought maybe I'm just faking it). She also was the first person acknowledging and saying out loud I have cPTSD. She's incredible and I only had one meeting with her! Firt time I've managed to say so much in just one meeting, trust someone enough to talk about everything. She asks the right questions, gives right judgment and advice, doesn't doubt me, doesn't say something I feel is weird or unimportant.
How to know when it's interoception ( i'm Autistic ) and when it's physical dissociation ( i have D.I.D ) ?
Difficulties in interoception will not be massively and suddenly affected by trauma triggers in the ways that somatoform dissociation would be. They won't be emotionally connected with abuse and will be amenable to sensory processing treatments. Psychotherapy will reduce dissociation but have minimal effects on the sensory processing deficits seen in ASD. Hope that helps. Treating sensory processing for +25 years. Treating sensory issues in DID for about 5.
@@Cathy-xi8cb Thank you Cathy, yes that helps a lot. Have a better understanding now about the difference between them.
I went to a chiropractor for chronic migraines and neck pain as a teenager. She did x-rays and found something strange with my neck, but she couldn't see it clearly enough for her to feel safe adjusting my neck and upper back. She sent me for an MRI with a neurologist, and he found that I have two natural fusions and a hemivertebra within my cervical spine. They both told me I cannot ever have my neck and upper back adjusted by hand by a chiropractor, but I can have them adjusted using an instrument. These adjustments usually helped but never resolved the problem completely.
Updosing on the gabapentin given to me as a sedative two years ago, coincidentally, coincided with finding out about my system and then pursuing a full neruological and psychological assessment to confirm the diagnosis of DID. It seemed as if the rise in dose helped my chronic migrianes and neck pain, but as it turns out, being kept unaware of my headmates and my status as our host alter is what was actually causing the symptoms. Since being aware, the chronic migraines and neck pain have ceased, and they remain gone despite being off of gabapentin and other anticonvulsants or nerve blocking agents for the better half of a year at this point.
- Noah
Pseudo seizures. Thank you for helping me connect yet another dot in my self reclamation process. ❤ I've been reverse engineering my inevitable but unacceptable nervous system collapse since 2017...step by informed step and with your help❤
I really appreciate how this topic is explained. It's so easy for people to creep into invalidation even when they don't mean to.
Very interesting and informative, thank you. I have a diagnosis of DID and experience a lot of somatic symptoms. I use hot water bottles to ground me a lot and when dissociating I often stop feeling pain and have in multiple occasions not realised I’ve been missing the water bottle and pouring boiling water directly onto my hand. When triggered my entire core can freeze up and the muscles in around my jaw and throat and stomach freeze up and make it hard to move or breathe. My sister has been diagnosed with CPTSD and recently her mental health team have acknowledged they believe she may also have DID and she has full blown seizures. She will collapse on the floor, usually as a response to a trigger, and can spasm for over and hour. Just some of the not so fun physical symptoms we experience… I used to get very scared of the physical symptoms before understanding what they were
weirdest physical function loss weve had is not being able to shiver when cold anymore, the oldest (been around the longest) alters still can but the newer ones since maybe 15 yrs old cant. we thought it was neurological damage from stopping ssris cold turkey until the system discovery/older alters bubbled up
Thank you so much. Your timing is quite perfect. I have a mixture of physical effects of abuse that years later are now causing huge problems, for instance, my hip and pelvis have been fractured twice from abuse as other bones as well. Have always dissociated from the pain, but seasonal changes and age make this harder to do. Over the years there has been a large list of somatoform symptoms that have caused problems from witnessed epilepsy seizures leading to being overmedicated on awful epilepsy medication that later on when scans were down showed no epilepsy. Thankfully that all lessened once heard. The other main one is we would go in and out of having hearing issues, also noticed by people who said we couldn't hear properly (we had no idea), had lots of hearing tests, and all showed no hearing loss. The numbness and the ability to dissociate from pain have caused issues with things like teeth, not feeling the pain has meant teeth get pulled out as the hole is too large for it to be fixed. My dentist now has wrapped his head around my DID and works with it so I don't have to go through that anymore. My new psychologist wants me to have mir scan for the physical issues to help get help, I nearly cried when he said that as I haven't felt so heard in a long time. So the mix of having somatoform symptoms and other physical symptoms does cause major issues that do need to be looked at carefully. Over the years this has been horrible, as what is real and what isn't real adds to the feeling quite nutty. That is why I feel so grateful for the work you are doing and videos like this that shine a light on these issues.
I experience vision loss, paralysis, severe dystonia, mutism, unintelligible speech, feels like a stroke in my brain at times, it’s wild. I also experience agonistic muscle pair contractions which can be severely painful.
Hearing you say all that has brought a smile to my face, despite it not really being the happiest of topics.
I have struggled most of my life because I could not connect all the symptoms I was having, especially when medical doctors kept telling me there was no reason for it.
My most recent experience with that came through involuntary spasming, although I have also experienced the paralysis, I have a tremor so for the longest time I just kept putting the spasms down to an extension of that.
However, I finally got to see a neurologist and they told me that wasn't linked to that and after having a MRI they also told me there wasn't any sign of anything abnormal, that being said they haven't stopped and it just seemed to completely confuse the doctors, so no further action was able to be taken at least on their part.
I also suffer with back pain and fatigue, which was recently diagnosed as chronic for which I do physio and was prescribed painkillers, but remained unexplained. And I have been a long-time sufferer of head and neck pain, which I have come to recognise comes with the dissociative symptoms and has been more active since my system became active.
However, I was diagnosed recently with autism spectrum disorder, so I was wondering if you could clarify the differences, if there are any, between the sensory and perception issues experienced and the dissociative somatic experiences, because I can relate to the comments you made with regards to temperature and hunger and thirst, but I assumed they were sensory issues related to autism, but it would be interesting to know if they are more dissociative related, or if it even matters because they could be overlapped.
Thank you for this video.
👍😄
Also the comment you made about temporary blindness and deafness etc shocked me because I literally went deaf, for no reason other than stress, on the day I was supposed to be taking my listening GCSE exam, which doctors put down to eczema of the ear and even an abnormal ear drum, although that has not been officially confirmed, but to this day it has not happened again, even with the eczema flare ups, so remains unexplained. Gosh I am a medical marvel. 🤣
We have a blind part!! Yes, helps hearing
Can you please please please make a video about the protector alter doing harm to the host and/or loved ones? This topic is very important to me
Thanks for the topic idea, Emily.
Literally got frostbite on my toes WHILE AT HOME because I turned off the heating system trying to save some money because "it's not cold at all!". Didn't realise how "bruised", cold and numb my feet were until I left the shower. Didn't even think it could be related... that's interesting!
Sometimes your timing is so ridiculous that I wonder if my therapist is in contact with you 😂
I was very very young when I had an episode of shaking, nausea, and crying seemingly for no reason. My parents took me to the doctor and he proposed that I might be hypoglycemic. My parents refused to have me tested (I was, tbf, hysterical around needles) and just went with that. They told me I was hypoglycemic. In adolescence and as a teen, they actually told me not to tell new doctors and always advised me against listing it on paperwork. It always confused me but I trusted them. I was really old before they admitted it wasn't an official diagnosis but at that point I had presented so many classic symptoms that it seemed like the only explanation anyway.
I finally got bloodwork done on my own. Recently- I'm talking last Tuesday- I went in to hear the results. I got a pristine bill of health and the realization that almost two decades spent convinced I had this condition have permanently altered my life in ways that were... SO avoidable. Apparently the guise of hypoglycemia was a cover for a panic disorder and years of daily attacks going back to when I was a toddler that I always thought only eating would solve. I can't help but imagine what my life could've been like if it had been recognized early and I had been treated for the severe anxiety instead.
Now, though, I have the consequences of ignorance I had no control over. Two short-notice therapy appointments in one week, several extra panic attacks, a few bouts of crying, and a lot of support later, and it's still gonna be a while before I can accept the real explanation.
I've been assigned a symptom tracking spreadsheet by my doctor, and the results have been... revealing, in just a week. The attacks can usually be linked to factors that cause me anxiety, and when they can't, they seem to be triggered just by registering that I'm hungry and, I guess, expecting hypoglycemia.
I secretly hoped that knowing it was PTSD would make it suddenly go away, but it didn't. The difference is that, now that I know it is panic, I can use previously learned coping mechanisms to ease it. My anxiety tricks are sometimes able to make the episodes go away Before, I always thought only food could help. They still hit me a lot, but I've managed to actually stop a few and just. Sit on my hunger and not feel the pressure of a life-changing condition that I functionally had for years but no longer need to dwell on. And it has kind of helped prove what is going on. The doc also let me keep the blood test results to look at for reassurance. That helps too.
The other bright side is that Dissociation and PTSD explains so much more than hypoglycemia ever did. It wasn't hunger-blindness induced by chronic lows, it was dissociating away the anxiety. They weren't "random" crashes, they were triggered panic attacks. Changing my diet never helped because my diet was fine. The severity of them increased lately not because I finally hit T1 Diabetes, but because of the life changes and trauma I've been working through. I still have a fast metabolism but the way my stomach handles food is years of internet-advised habit rather than a condition.
I realized I have A LOT more anxiety than I thought, but now I can apply what I've learned in therapy to something I never thought I'd be able to heal from. My life is devastated at the moment and a large part of myself uprooted, but I can finally see the path toward getting these attacks under control, now. That's exciting.
Thank you for addressing the physical symptoms of trauma and how powerful "psychosomatic" really is. I needed this video right now.
I stuck to "my" for coherence, and I'm the alter that experiences it the most anyway. But beyond that... The therapist has us really connecting to physic sensations recently, INCLUDING emotions. Apparently emotions are meant to tell you things rather than overwhelm you, who knew? 😅 I'm in another phase of constantly overwhelming emotions and a lot of crying since I've once again taking a step well over my threshold toward feeling things, but it's all for the better. For all of us. I've got this 💪
Could there be a part two, specifically on parts that can only communicate through those physical symptoms?
That’s a really good idea!
Tommy can you hear me!?
(really great video, super informative. thank you for taking the time to explain this)
Great video Mike, our system was diagnosed with FND in Dec 2021 and it still bamboozles us, I'm very grateful our FND doesn't include seizures but a lot of nerve pain we have are linked to parts of the body where SA happened. Having to come to terms with chronic illness in addition to trauma has been very difficult as chronic pain can set off flashbacks and then somatic flashbacks can then flare up FND symptoms.
I love this channel! Thank you! In analyzing the neurological symptoms I experience and the circumstances (when I can understand them) that bring them on... I DO believe there may be a physical cause. Like what Vanderkolk described in the Body Keeps the Score that the hypothalamus and vagus nerve are damaged and the environment is triggering a dorsal vagal freeze
Great video as always! Just took the SDQ-20 (hadn't heard of it before, but somatic issues are my biggest concern). Felt more like a wishlist when I was checking off Yes! to everything and in the 4-5 range for most. I get the whole gambit, night seizures, night paralysis, dissociative seizures, fugue states and the body pain is extraordinary. It is not just "pain" it is much more than that, hard to explain to somehow who hasn't experienced it. It's not like pain - but just really ramped up pain or anything like that.
I almost didn't watch this because I thought the title meant physically abusing another person. So glad I watched. Explains a few things. Thank you, so informative. Now I understand a lot more.
I have depersonalization and general amnesia that turned into physical symptoms, i had my first symptoms in 2007 and i am still fighting DP disorder to this day.
But here in Portugal dissociation is not well understood, and the treatments is based on medication
Sorry to hear that, each country certainly has a different viewpoint on all of this!
I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia several years ago.
Interesting topic, thank you.
Hope your having a nice weekend.
So far so good, thank you!
I have fibromyalgia also and I believe it's to do with childhood trauma
Thank you for covering this topic. It might happen that a DID person can't walk properly anymore, starts to cry for no reason or laughs in an exaggerated way, has spasms and fasciculations in the muscles, all without finding a medical cause. I hope this is correct?
Some of those things have been reported as part of dissociation, yes.
I occasionally pass out, vasovagal syncope, during particularly bad panic attacks. It almost always happens in public situations, classes, auditoriums, etc. So, I do actually faint, which looks very scary to anyone who sees me do it. I once was taken to the emergency room by ambulance and given oxygen. At the extreme, my anxiety causes my brain to shutdown and reboot, almost like a computer that's malfunctioned. I'm curious if you've ever encountered a situation similar to mine...
Hi Kate, yes, this is actually quite common. Sorry to hear you are going through this. It is treatable, and hopefully you have help to work out what to do (therapeutically).
@@thectadclinic thanks, I typically just avoid situations that would elicit that response. Staying hydrated and compression socks is helpful, as is the occasional Xanax.
Thankyou so much for this - this is only the second time i have heard anyone talk about this at all - and the other time was from a young woman i know that has DID . I wondered about certain things that started happening to me physically - and remembered that they also happened when i was young when i put some thought to it.These do not have a 'medical ' base - but they are on that list.
I just realised why i need to replay a part.
My back/spine randomly herts and i cant get up/like being old.
And i just got my left side herting near/before christmas.
I do randomly get it.
Thank you for this. I really struggle understanding my somatic symptoms. Muscle armoring is no joke.
You are most welcome!
I do get the random paralysis/and when awake/not near sleep.
7:08
1/8/2024,i did need my jacket/i didnt feel cold/i dont know why i was just randomly forced to put it on.
How did I miss a video from months ago? I would love to see a video on body memories!
My hand used to randomly seize up and move on its own. No nerve damage or anything.
Thank you for validation.
Thanks again for another great and helpful video. You manage everytime to put some tough theorie in a very understandable way in your videos. Very helpful and it normalises some experiences. Your other videos with your birds in it are also appreciated. Thanks for your effort.
Another starling one is on the way!
I totally get the physical inability to feel pain. It's so weird.
I been suffering with dpdr for 7 years now it sucks.
I have dissociation and also diagnosed fibromyalgia 10 years ago and i know its got to do with childhood trauma. I switch alot and get headachs when i am switching .am in thearpy
I’ve never been able to explain why I’ve NEVER had any pain after gallbladder and appendix surgery. I just felt like I had been laughing too hard.
First.. love your videos and the help and hope they give to many.
Would you have any insight on the thought that the energy of unresolved trauma actually manifests in our bodies with actual physical illness that is diagnosable? I have had multiple issues with my throat/ neck over the years , , the latest being cancer. I’ve tried forever years to hide my trauma and finally went to seek assistance . I was told by a therapist that I have had stuck trauma energy in my throat chakra which predisposed me to this cancer. That’s concerning to me. Is this a thing you see? If so..
Could you do a video on trauma and physical manifestation of illness and how we can help ourselves to avoid that if possible.
Thanks, Beth, it is well known that chronic stress can lead to actual illnesses due to compromised immune system damage. This isn’t specific to trauma, happens in stressful workplaces etc.
Were you ever choked or strangled? Were you tortured while being prevented from screaming or crying? Were you highly threatened, so you never told anyone about the trauma? I was, and I ended up with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and papillary carcinoma (thyroid cancer).
@@faithwalker5196 okay let's not trauma dump on other peope's comments, Faith
Valid questions. Simply bringing out possible ways in which trauma which happened in the throat and neck could be manifested as conditions in the throat and neck.
So, "Body Memories"... Would that be like, say, Phantom Limb Syndrome, in some way? I have DID with Somatiform Symptomd, with Comorbid Features. I have been in the hospital over a hundred times, with thr same outcomes. It feels, abd shows like in having a heart attack. My blood pressure is usually around 205/115 or higher eirh other duagnostic c testing showing real issues, pain resisting to key arm, narrowing vision, confusion, slurred speech, etc, only to have then go away, basically without a trace. Di testing DIES does show it! I haven't had that particular issue happen as nuch, since my environment has changed, but there safe ither issues. Thank you for educating us with this. In the end, just knowing there is a reason for the unexplainable things, helps a lot
8:09 my body shakeing like a seiser isnt from weed then?
Specifically says for me=feels like your falling.
I randomlly see in my brain/mind,
me falling towars a sky/up,
but it doesnt like real life when in it.
Great explanation. Do you think aphantasia (lack of visual imagery / inability to form images with the mind's eye) could be some kind of dissociation as well? Much like the episodic blindness. On my side I believe this was my mind's way of protecting me from reliving traumatic childhood experiences visually... But this is quite frustrating since it is harder to break the amnesia...
Try and put on some raise your vib vibrations that are over 800, then close your eyes and see if anything comes up.
Oh another big one we have is not experiencing asthma 😅 the body has (mild?) asthma but most of us don’t experience it so we don’t know to puff and don’t feel the shortness of breath even though it’s there. Or maybe there’s someone who always comes to front when we start to have an asthma attack so that they’re the only ones who actually experience it and for everyone else it’s “just anxiety”. We’re still figuring things out.
Great informative video, thank you, it made me cry
Excellent as always.
Is it common for people with D.I.D to be terrified of going to see medical doctors?
I’m not sure, but I see people who say they have been abused by doctors, so there is that to take into account as well.
This is extremely common. There is fear of being viewed, being touched, being told bad news, and being in pain from invasive procedures. And that is the simple ones off the top of my head. Take a look at the book "Staying in the Room".
@@Cathy-xi8cb Thank you,will do.
@@thectadclinic Thank you.
Absolutely!
I"ve had a few seizures in my life and once my parents took me to the ER. I told the doctors that these seizures come with intense flashbacks and this kind of like "adrenaline rush" feelings, but they didn't seem to believe me. They checked my heart and said there's nothing wrong with me, I don't have epilepsy and I'm fine. I have no idea where to go with this, because if doctors don't belive my simptoms are real then who will?
Sounds like more of a psychological thing for work out than a medical one. Good there is nothing wrong with your heart, though!
Your symptoms are VERY real. Those seizures are psychological in origin but physical in their expression. Remember that they have examined your brain and your heart, and it is unlikely they missed a tumor or a blockage. This is wonderful news. Again, symptoms totally real. Causation not physical. Treatment is psychological. You deserve to get the right treatment for this and go on to have a terrific healthy life!!
Flashbacks occur because sensory experiences have not been processed into narrative memory. Check out what Pat Ogden has to say about completing the action.
@@denicejackson4839 Pat Ogden doesn't know a lot about DID and switching. She is terrific for CPTSD though.
Very helpful! Thank you!
Mines like overstimulated.
Happens in social situations, when I have a lot of expectations
At one point my resting heart rate was 100BPM
My eyes feel funny and I feel like passing out but never do.
Same thing happened Drs are like "youre young youre fine" urgent cares would send me home no resources.
Where does FND fit in here? i was diagnosed with that but now DID.
Hi Dr Mike. Could you enlighten me more about somatoform and physical manifestations and talk about possible muscle contractions in the body, or the body trying to hurt itself by lets say dislocating the jaw by forcing the host to over extend joints or hurt host. Or throwing neck back or squeezing shoulder blades together type of torment? Many talk about outside factors hurting the body but my neurological and muscular system self harm. Is this a persecutor alter? I have also experience talking in a language I don’t understand, nor does anyone else but it has emotional/intentional feeing behind it when triggered. When it wants to come forward it tightens my mouth/cheek muscles or platysma. When I allow it to come forward I am witnessing this alter jibberjabber nonsensical words that sounds like a language but no idea what I am saying. It forces my mouth to move and enunciTed sounds and sometimes I can control it but other times I have no control and cannot quiet it. Sometimes it mutes me too clasping my lips shut. Is this familiar to you? Sometimes it causes me to walk like I have Cerebral palsy or closes my eyes or avoids looking at a person no matter how hard I try to look directly at them. I am always conscious and witnessing what is hPpening so it feels like my body is hijacked/possessed. Sometimes no one is up front and I have a blank stare and cannot express myself although I am consciously alert on the inside hearing and seeing what is happening outside, my body becomes limp too. Please please please help me understand what os happening?
🌌 Could this grant explanation as to why some of us have experienced instances of mild to intense sensations, or what we have entitled "sensory echoes" regarding past experiences that occur outside of one individually going through a flashback at the time?
Would it also tie into instances where one of us is individually experiencing a flashback or panic attack on the inside and simultaneously who ever is out, or fronting, is also having a diminished version of the exact same experience as a set of physiological sensations and or experiences?
It could be, yes.
What if you’re dysregulated the other way when it comes to temperature? Cold to the core when it’s not cold and burning up when it’s not warm?
Thank you for everything you do ❤
Hello dr Lloyd, im watching your videos every time i get the chance and i want to ask you a question, what do you think about tuning in the Universe via our pineal and pituitary glands?
I’m sure not Dr Lloyd, but lots of my trauma came through gnostic cult abuse. I would invite you to consider the possibility that you would risk encountering negative spiritual entities if you follow the path you describe. The universe is created and it loves no one
Dr. Mike, do a lot of us suffer physical agitation on hearing specific frequencies? Especially high pitched noise?
Not sure about that, sorry!
High frequency sounds are often irritating to people under stresses of any kind. Think of the music from Hitchcock's "Psycho" shower scene. The composer used a very high pitched sound to heighten the terror in that scene for the audience quite effectively.
I find that my low frequency tinnitus comes when I am more stressed, clenching my jaw doesn't help 👍
This is NOT tinnutis. This is an intermittent outdoor noise that is shoulder scrunching, nerve wracking, and totally dysregulating.
Cathy, do you know a never-fail re-regulating means of getting back to normal? The ones I use didn't help during this past 3-1/2 days of the outdoor high-pitched noise.
Would fatigue come into this category?
Studies would generally indicate not, though many have dissociation and fatigue. The underlying cause remains in debate.
Maintaining different emotional/personality parts and the hypervigilance about who to be when unconsciously, this is surely exhausting I would think. I was more aware of being fatigued when I realised what was happening, before I used just to bail out by sleeping and then I’d wake up as a different part. Looking back, I’m sure the bailing out was exhaustion because I was in such stress.
I find after a dissociated episode or period of stress that I am extremely exhausted and fatigued.
I also fiend the “6 tv’s on different channels in my head at times very tiring.
Unfortunately, a Dr made me see a social worker because he couldn't figure out what my physical therapist did.
I had plantars fasciitis displasure and the lumps and tenderness I imagined were real😮
Ughhh
I hope you got it sorted!!
@@mikelloyd3055 yes thanks
can did/osdd cause body dysmorphia as well?
What would it be classified as when you hyperfocus on a “good” situation or new item when you rub your fingers together whilst focusing on the “good”? Many thanks.
TY
I wish I could have my brain scanned. Then I would know for sure if my trauma is actually in my head, or if it's just in my head. 😂🙃
Do you guys see people from canada ?? I was doing very well over the summer but now the dpdr has hit very very intensley now and i just dont know what to do anymore
Hi Ariel, we would like to, but Canada’s licensing laws stop us from doing so.
@@thectadclinic oh that super sucks. I'm in therapy and I have been for over a year now. It seems my dpdr is getting worse lately and I'm not sure why. Is there anything else I can do that could help me? Do you guys know of anyone over here who could help?
Would somatic therapy be useful for DID? Wondering if you can also work directly through the body, if dissociation/rapid switching makes conversation difficult in therapy. My daughter finds it almost impossible to remember things from one moment to the next and no one in the system seems to have a steady continuity of consciousness. She has shown interest in somatic work, so wondering if it would help.
Yeah, lots of people access this kind of therapy where available.
Can dissociation-depersonalization be cured completely? With medication?
Dr. Mike in your opinion is it better to tell a therapist straight away that you believe you have a dissociative disorder or not mention it outright and let them come to that conclusion on their own?
This will vary from person to person. The same applies with autism, and the relationship with the therapist should point to the answer. Perhaps find out first what they might know about dissociation from their resume etc?
It would help if family members were not being abusive and controling.
😊spot on 😊
We have three alters, so far, that cause PNES with the body. Not fun.
So psychosomatic.
I love your dragon. : )
Ccptsd does worse.
You should perhaps retitle the video; "When dissociation becomes physiological". If you say when dissociation becomes physical, it sounds like you're eluding to violence...
Hopefully not!