When Trauma Starts Within
Often times examples of trauma include combat, sexual assault, violent attack or natural disaster. Trauma can also be experienced due to illness though, and it can be exacerbated via treatment which can be unpleasant and painful, as well as attitudes by medical professionals.
PTSD occurs in 12-25% of those who deal with a life-threating medical episode.
For those who were in the ICU, they may develop PICS - post -intensive care syndrome which includes cognitive, psychological, and physical symptoms. With PICS, trauma can also include things that were not real such as hallucinations or delusions due to delirium, head injury and medications. Sedation is one of the risk factors.
Experiencing such trauma can interfer with properly managing a chronic condition in addition to many of the things that those with PTSD struggle with.
Some resources on Trauma & Medical Episodes:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4048720/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/chronically-me/201905/chronic-illness-and-trauma-disorders
Specific to PICS:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5506407/
https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/ptsd-after-icu-post-intensive-care-syndrome#1
Have you experienced trauma due to an illness?
How has this affected you?
What have you found has helped you cope with this?
mine wasnt due to an illness, it was due to an allergy.
I was unable to eat ice cream for a year, and I still dont feel confident around food and feel nervous eating somewhere not at home
Time
@goldenDog9992 An allergic reaction can certainly be traumatic. It sounds like you've resumed eating ice cream, was it just the time that passed that allowed you to get to that point or have you found some other things that helped?
@AffyAvo
It was mainly time, although I did make a list of foods starting at a popsicle that gradually led to ie cream
@AffyAvo
I didn't even know where were resources for this. I don't know if i have PICS, but i know continual dismissal/minimization of my health issues and previous injuries along with the joke they call pain management have made me give up seeking help altogether. Thank you for the links and i'll go see where and how i fit in, if i do
@BlueJene PICS is something totally new to me that I came across when looking for a bit of background material on this topic. I do hope that this helps you find some useful tools for managing your pain, you will likely need to look beyond the bit I have posted here for that. Would be great if you can also get some medical professionals to work with you, knowing where some issues originate from.