site banner

Ways to address underlying emotions that may be causing physical health issues?

Hi there! So I've had a weird variety of physical health issues for the past several years, and seeing a wide variety of doctors / therapists etc. has not done a lot for me. I grew up in a sort of physically violent / verbally abrasive household (I'm going to step back from using the term "abusive," but probably not that far off) and I've always wondered if there's some connection between that and my current physical health issues.

The tricky thing is... I'm just sort of positive / upbeat / feel good basically all the time, and it's hard for me to really identify any conscious emotions or bodily tension or anything that seems related. It's totally possible it's just all suppressed like 4 layers down, because I'm pretty sure I also do this with anger (eg since I grew up with an insanely angry person in the house, I just couldn't really express anger/upset at all, or they would freak out at me).

So I'm trying to figure out what other kinds of approaches to try, because most of the normal therapists I've seen have come up at a loss.

Any thoughts appreciated!

Thanks.

4
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

So I've had a weird variety of physical health issues

Could you elaborate on the issues in question? It's a bit hard to even begin evaluating you when your only specific complaint is just being a happy go lucky person!

I'm just sort of positive / upbeat / feel good basically all the time

Here, a diagnosis of anti-depression and a prescription to boof an anti-depressant in the hopes that PR administration will reverse the mechanism of action. Then again, if you get hit with ED, then you might as well end up depressed!

You don't sound manic or even hypomanic, and while a dysthymic person like me might wish otherwise from sore grapes, being happy is neither a crime nor a disease.

Could you elaborate on the issues in question? It's a bit hard to even begin evaluating you when your only specific complaint is just being a happy go lucky person!

Haha yeah. So

a) hot showers make me tired and foggy for the next 24ish hours

b) some chronic gi issues, have trouble digesting meat / fatty foods. Have seen a lot of gi doctors, haven't made much progress

c) some kind of weird endocrine-related thing where if I eat "faster" carbs (=sugary foods, white rice, white flour, etc) I feel super fatigued, and heat/cold sensitive for a few days afterward. This is not gluten related, and my blood sugar/a1c numbers are all pretty normal.

d) Chronic tension headaches, which I've been trying to address with various prescription meds.

e) Had bizarrely bad seasonal allergies abruptly pop a few years ago, but allergy shots helped dramatically.

f) I get headache-y from bright screens, so I eg wear sunglasses if I'm watching a football game on a friend's tv at their place.

Here, a diagnosis of anti-depression and a prescription to boof an anti-depressant in the hopes that PR administration will reverse the mechanism of action.

Lol. I'm pretty upbeat / positive despite having all these random issues, but I would still like to address them somehow. It seems plausible to me that there is some underlying emotional issue that is modulating these symptoms.