Maybe you’ve been suffering from a chronic illness for some time now. You can’t help but notice that your symptoms began shortly after you survived a traumatic event. Or perhaps dealing with so many failed treatment attempts for your illness has left you with symptoms of trauma or even post-traumatic stress disorder.

Your mental and physical health are deeply connected. If you’re feeling physically unwell, it may be partially due to your mental health. The idea that trauma and chronic illness could be linked isn’t just in your head. Here’s why trauma and chronic illness can go hand in hand.

Trauma Can Lead to Physical Symptoms

If you’ve been suffering from strange physical symptoms ever since you experienced trauma, you’re not imagining things. Trauma can cause symptoms like stomachaches and nausea, headaches and muscle tension, insomnia, a loss of appetite, and even a higher susceptibility to illness.

This is because chronic stress can weaken your immune system, making you more vulnerable to germs. Sometimes, these symptoms can be so severe that the trauma survivor ends up living with a chronic illness.

Living with a Chronic Illness Can Be Traumatic

On the other hand, the experience of living with a chronic illness can easily be traumatizing. Someone with a chronic illness may have had their symptoms dismissed over and over again by medical professionals.

They may have gone through with physically difficult treatments or tried medications that came with awful side effects, leaving them feeling even worse. Being repeatedly poked and prodded in stressful medical settings for years on end can certainly be traumatizing.

Trauma Triggers Exacerbating Illness Symptoms

Perhaps you didn’t develop a chronic illness in conjunction with a traumatic event. But you have been diagnosed with an illness. Later, you experienced a separate trauma that left you dealing with triggers. Now, when you encounter these triggers, your symptoms tend to flare up.

You might try to avoid triggers to dodge these flare-ups, but doing so might cut you off from activities and places that you used to enjoy. You may feel like you can’t fully live your life because you’re trying to keep all of your symptoms under control by eliminating triggers.

Hypervigiliance and Trauma

If you’ve lived through trauma, it can be hard to feel truly “safe” in your body. Even if you’re not in a dangerous situation, your body might be on high alert, and you may feel like part of you is always on the lookout for threats. This can contribute to chronic illness.

Simply put, chronic stress takes a toll on your body over time. Worse, if you do have a chronic illness, it can be difficult for you to trust that treatment is genuinely working. You’re constantly waiting for your symptoms to return, and one bad day can send you reeling with stress.

Struggle to Adhere to Treatments

Finally, living with trauma can make it harder to seek treatment for any physical issues that might arise, whether or not they are specifically connected with your trauma. You may not trust medical professionals because of past negative experiences, so you could end up hesitating to seek help—and all the while, your symptoms get worse. Furthermore, if you’ve living with the effects of past trauma, it can be harder to stick to a medication regimen or treatment protocol. It’s not easy to commit to healthy routines when you’re grappling with trauma symptoms day in and day out.

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Are you struggling to overcome trauma while living with a chronic illness? Working with a therapist can help. Reach out to discuss your options for scheduling your first session for trauma therapy.