How PTSD Treatment Cured my Back Pain and More on the Mind-Body Connection

I was diagnosed with osteoporosis in my early twenties. Why were my young bones already losing tissue? Women who struggle with anorexia nervosa, like me at the time, are at a higher risk for developing the disease.

I also believe that my eating disorder may have contributed to my sluggish thyroid. Many people don’t realize that the malnutrition in patients with eating disorders can lead to abnormal thyroid function.

An eating disorder is a serious, life-threatening mental illness that directly impacts every part of your body, from the hair on your head to the tips of your toes, and everything in between. After all, an eating disorder impacts eating, and, truly, we are what we eat.

Some additional physical effects of eating disordered behaviors are listed below.

Restricting:
• Hair loss or thinning hair
• Dry and brittle nails
• Menstrual irregularities, which can contribute to bone loss
• Baby fine hair (lanugo) covering the body
Bingeing and/or purging:
• Swollen salivary glands (appearance of “chipmunk cheeks”)
• Sore throats and hoarse voice
• Tooth decay
• Acid reflux
Restricting as well as bingeing and/or purging:
• Gastrointestinal problems like stomach pain and bloating, bacterial infections, and slowed digestion called gastroparesis
• Cardiovascular issues, including heart failure (Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. About half of these are sudden cardiac deaths.)

Our mind impacts our body

Over ten years after entering treatment for my eating disorder, I embarked on my second recovery. This time, I was battling posttraumatic stress disorder, PTSD. Since I no longer struggled with eating (full recovery is possible), I didn’t think that PTSD would impact my physical health quite as much. Boy, was I wrong!

The chronic stress put on my body by PTSD took a serious toll. I developed a laundry list of physical problems, ones that I had never struggled with before, including costochondritis (a fancy word for inflammation of the cartilage in the rib cage), shoulder pain, recurrent high fevers, perturbed thyroid hormones (once again), interstitial cystitis (bladder pain), lower back pain, among many others.

The following are just a few of the physical problems associated with PTSD:
• Musculoskeletal problems like chronic pain
• Gastrointestinal issues like bloating, heartburn, indigestion, gas, acid reflux and other irritable bowel problems
• Cardiovascular problems
• Compromised immune function

When I entered a treatment program for PTSD, I was surprised that, like me, every single patient suffered with back pain. Our group even began informal research, as we’d ask each new person who admitted, “Do you have back pain, too?”

According to one study, the National Center for PTSD reports that 51% of patients with chronic low back pain also have PTSD symptoms.

The National Center for PTSD also shares that approximately 15% to 35% of patients with chronic pain have concurrent PTSD. Interestingly, only 2% of people who don’t have chronic pain have PTSD.

For some with PTSD, the chronic pain is a direct result of their trauma (e.g., car accident or assault). Here, the pain can serve as a reminder of the traumatic event, which can understandably exacerbate PTSD.

Our body impacts our mind

So, in the same way that our mental health can impact our body, our physical health affects our mental health. When I developed all of those physical problems related to PTSD, you can imagine that I became even more depressed and anxious.

Cancer diagnosis and treatment can be accompanied by increases in anxiety and depressive symptoms. Diabetes can do the same. And, let’s not forget about anger and fear, which can come along for the ride with many physical illnesses.

Our mind and body are one

This National Women’s Health Week, let’s not forget that mental health is inextricably linked to physical health. As another example, PTSD and eating disorders both actually change the brain, which is the most complex organ in the body. Research is currently underway that will help us to view mental health disorders through a lens of biological markers, rather than symptoms.

In an attempt to heal my body during PTSD recovery, I went back and forth to doctors. Think cortisone shots, physical therapy, chiropractor adjustments, and more. I spent thousands of dollars on these experts when, for me, what I really needed to focus more on was recovering from PTSD.

In my personal experience, the physical problems, including most of the chronic pain, went away with PTSD treatment and recovery. Essentially, I needed to check myself into mental health treatment in order to heal my lower back. That said, there is, of course, a place for medical doctors and others in healing physical pain. Today, I see a doctor who is helping immensely with a bit of lingering shoulder pain.

Importantly, like eating disorders, PTSD is not a life sentence. While trauma doesn’t go away (it’s history), with treatment, PTSD can heal.

What about my osteoporosis? It’s gone. My doctor said that food was the best medicine. Today, my bones, like my mind, are strong and healthy.

Remembering mind, body, and spirit

Let’s not forget about the spirit, which, for me, was a big part of becoming whole and healthy. Spiritual concepts like a belief in a higher power and letting go are what fueled my hope that healing in all realms—the physical and mental—was possible.

This National Women’s Health Week, what steps can you take to better your health?

A Senior Fellow with The Meadows and advocate for its specialty eating disorders program, The Meadows Ranch, Jenni Schaefer is a bestselling author and sought-after speaker. 

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What is Child Abuse and Why Does Child Abuse Still Matter in Adulthood?

The Meadows specializes in treating trauma.  Abuse is one form of trauma.  Often times, childhood trauma that occurred because of child abuse is overlooked as a core issue when people enter treatment for addictions or other mental health disorders.  Sometimes people minimize what they experienced as children, deny that they were abused, or believe that it happened so long ago that they are (or that they should be) “over it” or it is no longer relevant.

What exactly is child abuse?  

What exactly is child abuse?  There are many definitions out there and most answers to the question are quite complex.  The Meadows uses Senior Fellow Pia Mellody’s simple, yet broad definition: child abuse is any action or inaction, by a parent or other major caregiver, that is less than nurturing or experienced as shaming by a child.  This is my favorite definition since it does not minimize based on intent and it allows for the child’s experience of the action or inaction to be the primary defining factor.  It also eliminates issues around what was “acceptable” in society at any given time.  Just because something was accepted in society, it does not mean that it was healthy or ok.  Society makes many mistakes.

While this is not even close to being an exhaustive list, here are some examples of child abuse (adapted from Pia Mellody’s book, Facing Codependence):

Physical Abuse:

⦁ Hitting, kicking, punching, pinching, burning, etc.

⦁ Failure to provide adequate physical needs (food, shelter, clothing, medical, etc.)

⦁ Lack of appropriate physical nurturing (too much or not enough)

⦁ Forced to watch or listen to someone else being abused

Sexual Abuse:

⦁ Any sexual contact between an adult and a child (or two children with a power differential such as age difference or more than three years) including, but not limited to, sexual intercourse, oral sex, anal sex, touching of genitals or other private areas

⦁ Poor sexual boundaries with children (not monitoring exposure, objectification, rigid or uncontained sexual attitudes, inappropriate sexual talk in front of children, etc.)

⦁ Failure to protect a child from sexual abuse when the risk is known or should reasonably be known (a family member who has been accused of sexually abusing a child is permitted to babysit)

⦁ Lack of sexual information, too much sexual information or sexual misinformation given to children

Emotional Abuse:

⦁ Failure to provide emotional nurturing (ignoring, neglecting, abandoning, etc.)

⦁ Refusing to allow a child to express their feelings (“stop crying or I will give you something to cry about”, “get over it already”, etc.)

⦁ Demonstration of improper expression of feelings by caregivers (yelling, belittling, sarcasm, ridiculing, demeaning, raging, silent rage, side-ways anger, guilting, etc.)

⦁ Overindulging or overprotecting⦁ No accountability or limits set

⦁ Emotional isolation or forced to keep unhealthy secrets

Intellectual Abuse:

⦁ Attacking or shaming a child’s thought process

⦁ Ridiculing for being “too smart” or “not smart enough”

⦁ Failure to provide education

⦁ Failure to support a child with a learning disability or who is gifted

⦁ Demanding perfection

⦁ Over-controlling or forcing religious beliefs

⦁ Hypocrisy

⦁ Failure to provide spiritual nurturing

⦁ Any abuse by a spiritual leader

⦁ Using spirituality to instill fear

⦁ Occult or radical religious practices

Peer or Social Abuse:

⦁ Bullying or being teased by siblings or other peers

Why does it still matter when I am an adult?

Trauma impacts the brain.  Children have brains that are not fully developed.  When children are abused their brains are forced to develop in a stressed or dysregulated state.  This can lead to a lifetime of challenges with self-regulation.  Childhood abuse can lead to an increased likelihood of unhealthy relationship patterns, addictions, anxiety, depression, obesity, suicide attempts, chronic health issues, and sexually transmitted diseases.  That last list could just as easily begin with, “People most frequently seek treatment for…”.  While the majority of people are motivated to therapy or treatment for symptoms, the best treatment also addresses the underlying and historical issues that pre-date the symptoms.  Symptoms are often a result of a person’s maladaptive attempts to cope with stress and dysregulation.  When underlying issues are not addressed, symptoms may return or new symptoms may surface to replace the ones that were treated.

Do I need to seek treatment?

Some people need to seek inpatient or intensive outpatient treatment when their symptoms are so disruptive to their lives that day-to-day functioning is impaired.  Some people require less intensive treatment but still want something that is specialized and focused on how to deal with their core issues and childhood trauma.  The Meadows and its sister programs offer highly individualized treatment services encompass trauma and related mental health conditions on many different levels.  Childhood trauma can be addressed at all of The Meadows’ programs.Survivors is The Meadows signature workshop and an essential component of its inpatient treatment programs.  It is an intensive workshop focused on addressing childhood trauma.  The Survivors workshop is also offered as a stand-alone intensive for people who are not in need of long-term treatment.  Rio Retreat Center at The Meadows offers a five-day Survivors workshop for anyone who is interested and who meets the criteria for admission.  For more information on enrolling in a Survivors workshop experience or for any of our treatment programs, please call our intake department at 1-800-244-4949.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. For more information, go to April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. For more information, go to https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/preventing/preventionmonth/

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