Questions about trauma response
Hey @mytwistedsoul, and @LifeIsMyCanvas, I had a question for you and anyone else who has knowledge of dissociation (I've also texted my therapist too, though she doesn't have much formal training in Dissociative Disorders)
I went to a grocery store with a friend, and had to leave them to use the store's restroom. I was dissociated to begin with, and then in the restroom I started to lose strength in my muscles, going weak and almost limp.
It felt between freeze and faint/flop responses. It was hard to pick up grocery bags and stuff and only started getting better when I got home.
Have any of you experienced this? I know I have before somewhere, but can't remember the details clearly. Any thoughts are appreciated.
Hope you're doing well!
@WriteToHeal42 Hi! I can answer from a personal and informed perspective.
It could be a freeze/flop response, as you said. But to know what it was, you could try to find if there was a trigger for such response.
In my case, I found that some people or circumstances make me feel suddenly drowsy, sleepy, like I could fall asleep. This I call my "avoidance" response, more like a mechanism when I'm feeling overwhelmed, and I want to lie down and rest. BUT... other people make me feel weak and even sick, not just sleepy, this is my beyond-flop response, as if I'm about to faint. (Not the same falling asleep than fainting). This more severe weakness is actually a conversion/functional symptom, I can actually faint.
Those are two personal examples. But it can also be:
-You're actually exhausted, and when alone, you allowed yourself to feel it
-You've neglected your body? thirst, hunger, sleep, sickness?
-You're neurodivergent and are forcing yourself to be outside (masking)
-You experienced a semi dissociative switch?
-Do you have another condition that causes these variations? like dysautonomia, anemia or chronic fatigue syndrome?
List other options yourself and write down if this has happened before, and what was happening then.
I hope this helps to find out what it was!
@WriteToHeal42
Hey Write,
Speaking from the perspective of the nervous system. It sounds like you were in hyper freeze in the store (this is the type of dissociation that is a suppression of your fight and flight) and then you switched into hypo freeze where your sympathetic side (fight and flight) was too overloaded and you 'flopped'.
The Autonomic Nervous System has 2 sides: Sympathetic (danger response) and Parasympathetic (Safety). If we spend too long in fight and flight or hyper freeze (aka dissociation) then our heart/blood pressure etc continue to rise. Because we don't feel it due to the dissociation our safety systems don't kick in. The brain will switch the body off to prevent damage to organs, play dead etc (depending on the need of the circumstance).
Hopefully this helps you understand a little. Can you take some time off from work/responsibilities for a while? I don't want to bring up anything that could be personal to you in the forum, maybe we can chat about it at group this week? I used to get this a lot and I have resolved it now. There is hope. If you go to the drs a neurologist might look at FND/dissociative seizures which has an impact on driving etc so if you want to chat it through we are here for you.
@WriteToHeal42 Hey Write :) I'm a little late lol
I was just going to say that this has happened to me a few times but wasn't sure what was causing it. @LifeIsMyCanvas explains things so well and it's something I'll have to look into