Last fall, after trying out a new mind-body therapy, my body was triggered into complex PTSD symptoms. These symptoms included: hypervigilance, disturbing flashbacks and nightmares, irrational fear, irritability, disconnect and distrust in my personal relationships, low self-worth and hopelessness, and an overall sense of waiting for the worst thing to happen.
Due to years of unprocessed, stored trauma, these symptoms were almost debilitating and lasted for close to eight months.
Because I know that trauma is not just in my head, and moving out of trauma involves engaging the whole body, I utilized a handful of tools to find regulation again.
This is a brief description of five things that helped me to restore balance to my nervous system:
- I engaged my body in gentle movements to move the discomfort through my body: yoga, walking, and strength training. I was careful not to get my heart rate up too high, or perform too intense of exercises, which induced panic in my body. Creating movement that felt safe to my body was key.
- I planned for a lot of extra rest and downtime outside of work hours. This meant having an earlier bedtime (sometimes 8:30), reading lighthearted books, and watching low-intensity shows. I utilized NuCalm, red light therapy, and I listened to binaural beats and practiced NSDR (non-sleep deep rest) when I felt particularly off.
- I limited/eliminated foods that would be too excitatory for my nervous system–processed foods, sugar, gluten, or foods that I had an extreme immune reaction to on my sensitivity test. I also reduced/eliminated alcohol beverages, which altered my mood and wrecked my sleep.
- I tailored my supplements to support the nutrient drain that all of our bodies experience under extreme stress. I made sure to have plenty of B vitamins on board, along with magnesium. I took a targeted sleep supplement called Sleep Time to provide my body with amino acids that support neurotransmitter function. I also utilized amino acids like GABA and tryptophan as needed when stress hit.
- I started going to therapy again and did EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to help re-train my brain and find safety again.
I’m happy to say my brain and body are finally clear of the symptoms, and my nervous system feels back to baseline again.
I hate that this happened and that my system felt hijacked for so long. I hate that I didn’t even know what happened to me was trauma, and it took decades to reveal the truth.
But I’m grateful to be able to share more tools and to share my experience in hopes that you, too, can live in freedom from the bondage of trauma and the terrible symptoms it creates.
If you feel that you are experiencing symptoms of PTSD or CPTSD and you’re looking for complementary tools to trauma therapy, I’d love to help you find support that brings healing. Reach out!