It's common for people to face some form of trauma within their lifetime. Whether it be from physical trauma like a car accident or sporting injury, or emotional trauma from childhood, the long term effects of trauma can impact your health.
When that trauma is not dealt with properly, it becomes a huge, long-lasting stressor on your body. This constant stress can contribute to your declining health and make you more vulnerable to Lyme disease, mold repercussions, and chronic diseases.
Trauma can show up as:
- Parental separation or divorce
- Physical neglect
- Emotional neglect
- Witnessing domestic violence
- Physical abuse
- Sexual abuse
- Emotional abuse
- Substance misuse within the household
- Mental illness within the household
Long Term Effects Of Trauma On Your Body
While initial effects of trauma may present as persistent fatigue, sleep issues, fear of recurrence, anxiety focused on flashbacks, depression, and avoidance of emotions. These effects can endure over a long period of time, eventually progressing into more serious consequences.
Your Body Gets Stuck in "Fight or Flight" Mode
When you experience trauma, your body can get stuck in a hypervigilant, "fight or flight" state. Your body stays in this high alert mode, even though these dangers are often not real.
As your body is trying to respond to that perceived "danger," being in that fight or flight mode constantly can contribute to cortisol and adrenaline imbalances. In times of distress, these hormones signal your body to slow down non-life saving bodily functions like digestion, reproduction, hormone production, and metabolism.
Your Bucket is Too Full!
Your trauma is just one stressor in your "stress bucket." Most of us, however, have many more stressors in our everyday lives as well, financial stress, relationship stress, workload stress, loss of a loved one, environmental toxins, poor diet, mental health issues.
Long term trauma can contribute to:
- Mitochondrial damage
- Systemic inflammation
- Weakened immunity
- Increased susceptibility to chronic diseases
- Heightened repercussions to mold toxicity
Impact on Your Immunity
After trauma, the stress can cause Th1 cytokines to be suppressed, which then has permissive effects on production of Th2 cytokines, enhancing Th2-mediated humoral immune response, which could increase your vulnerability to autoimmune and allergic diseases.
More Prone to Illness and Infection
Because your immune system is compromised, you can be predisposed to opportunistic infections, like Lyme disease and inflammatory complications.
5 Steps to Enhancing Your Immunity
- Address the trauma: Work with a trauma-informed therapist or psychologist
- Support the nervous system: Practice vagus nerve exercises, breathwork, and somatic practices
- Address infections: Work with a functional medicine practitioner to identify and address underlying infections
- Optimize nutrition: Address nutritional deficiencies that chronic stress depletes
- Support mitochondria: Use targeted supplementation to rebuild energy reserves and support cellular health