Those who think these illnesses are only psychosomatic are ignorant. Trauma causes epigenetic changes that can also be passed down through long rna. There are now studies that show that CFS/ME is a mitochondrial dysfunction that stops energy being utilised by the cell, new fibromyalgia studies are showing that the inter muscular pressure in patients is up to 3 times more than average people. Cortisol levels irritate and eventually destroy the gut lining, as do some medications. We could go on for days with all the ways trauma effects the body. Trauma also causes early death through heart attacks, diabetes etc… yet those get treated as medical issues, when for those without trauma are often victims of their own life style choices. All of theses illness pathways are evidence that trauma is stored in the body. Why can’t physicians just accept this fact? Stop treating what someone else did to us as our lifestyle choices or imaginary suffering! Even the term psychosomatic is stigmatising, it should be traumatic injury. You can go to therapy to learn how to manage you flight, fight, freeze responses and reduce your acute stress but until you deal with the chronic stress in the body you can’t recover. 90% of what improved my health were physical changes, not psychological intervention.
All I know is a lot of doctors dismiss symptoms because they assume it’s psychosomatic. My friend has a 10 year old daughter who came to the ER multiple times with rib pain and got dismissed as having a pulled muscle & being dramatic, when she actually had a rare cancer all around her lungs. She just survived 7 months of chemotherapy & radiation and is in remissions thankfully
Thanks for sharing, that sounds absolutely horrible also I'm grateful to hear there were finally some competent doctors she got to see who didn't gaslight her and got extremely lucky to survive. She may have had a rare cancer, however dismissal of patient's physical symptoms as mental is extremely common. As much as I generally enjoy HealthyGamerGG's content, how many people need to live with chronic physical illness dismissed by doctors or worse die cause allegedly "it's just dramatic thoughts in your head". Bias in medicine is practised daily, it's time to address that
@@lucheeese definitely!! Children and women get dismissed the most. There’s so many things wrong with US healthcare. My friend now owes 1.5 million dollars for the medical care her daughter received 😭
@@Livfree33 As someone who have experienced medical neglect/mental gaslighting both to me and others close to me, I just wanted to appreciate and share that it means a lot to many that you share your friend and her daughter's story. You guys are not alone (unfortunately). The insane indeed isn't the patients, it's a dysfunctional healthcare system that for many blocks them from receiving medical rare or bankrupts them when they do 😪 I have no words, really hoping for all the best for your friend and her daughter
@@Tanmay.s689afaik. in the US. that can happen to you, even if you have insurance :/ glad to live in europe tbh. Not that the freedom in the US is bad. But the social support is god awful
I’ve had chronic IBS for years. Doctors tried to tell me it was psychosomatic. I paid out of pocket for testing and found I had a gut infection of SIBO and H Pylori, which left untreated can cause Stomach Cancer! I’ve been treating the H Pylori and other parasitic bacteria’s and my symptoms are going away. Doctors failed me by saying it was Psychosomatic. I will repeat one more time: My IBS is not caused by trauma. It is not caused by stress or anxiety. It is not caused by a dysregulated nervous system. It was caused because of multiple rounds of antibiotics that destroyed my gut. It was caused by food poisoning that exposed my damaged gut to parasitic bacteria. Everyone story is different, but I’m living proof that IBS is not just a Psychosomatic illness, but rather a real dysbiosis of the gut that can be fully addressed.
"is not just a Psychosomatic illness" is literally what he said. The physical causes are real, the psychological and behavioural impact of the illness on you is real and very physical, too. The problem is that many medical doctors still do not know that. Hence, they do not understand that their job would be to help you tease apart which instances of you need addressing e.g. also in order to rule out causes. Think about it, even if they were aware, they still might fail you, cause there are way too many causes on all layers AND the causes differ in rarity. And your case doesn't sound like a standard case. And then some systems - like the American one - kind of discourage testing without a solid proof for it's necessity, too. If you had e.g. tracked it in a diary, you may have found inconsistencies with "it's just in your head", so to speak. Because when you're pychologically comfy, eat well etc. and then your gut still acts up, then that's evidence pointing at a undetected physical component within that system. It's not that we're abandoned. It's just that we're sometimes mutually helpless in the face of too many possibilities and our resources to tease things apart are not always there. I'm really really glad you found a solution!!!
@@KxNOxUTA thanks for your comment! I totally agree with you on the resources part…To actually heal IBS you need access to a lot of resources to tease out the root cause. The resources are hard to find and even harder to access reliably and consistently to make a real difference. And indeed I hear that he’s making a more nuanced point on the psychosomatics. I’m just bitter, as many other IBS patients are about being told this is psychosomatic and something I’ll have for life and there’s nothing the medical doctors can do about it. But I appreciate you explaining his points more clearly, you definitely are right about how doctors discourage testing too!
@@louisegriffin6672 I took the GI Map test and it came back positive for blastocystis hominis parasite. From my experience the GI Map test is one of the most comprehensive tests for IBS patients and I highly recommend.
The issue I have with the idea that IBS is hypersensitivity to normal processes is, okay, if bowel processes are normal where do the two extra inches on my waistline during an IBS attack come from? Because that never happened before IBS. I’m not picking on this guy specifically, that’s the pitch Nerva gives as well and yet, hypnotherapy gives no joy either.
The great majority of individuals dx with POTS or other symptoms ALSO have autoimmune or medical conditions, so as you’re trying to bridge the gap, we still need to look at the whole body system. Our brain is connected to our body and now medical trauma is a PTSD qualifier. We cannot separate. I’m a therapist that specializes in this intersection of chronic illness and trauma. I appreciate this lecture.
I'm only 20min into the video and my teenage years now make so much more sense. I was so stressed out from being bullied at school that I had several stomuch ulcers, lost weight to dangerous levels and I had no emotional support after my best friend died. My parents are a doctor and a pharmacist, there was an external solution to EVERYTHING while all I needed were hugs and affirmations. They themselves had emotionally unavailable parents since both had lived through WW2 and other brutal things. I have a three year old daughter now and I try SO HARD to learn about myself to heal the trauma that is instilled into me by the two previous generations. It's so hard. I cry, a lot, learning through my own pain how much pain my own mother must have bottled up inside of her. Dr. K, you have no idea how much you're helping our wee little girl by helping her gaming parents to understand themselves better and be there for her, with all our hearts.
I suffered an extreme case of psychosomatic illness, where I basically lost function of my hands for half a year, due to extreme pain. It manifested at first as cubital tunnel syndrome, then carpal tunnel syndrome, then went through all diseases imaginable as each one was ruled out medically. My family and I were terrified that I might never regain full use of my hands (based on a diagnosis of fibromyalga). Finally, a psychologist posited a crackpot theory how my mind was causing all this to escape the stress I was getting from Uni and work. The moment I took this seriously, the extreme, constant pain went away within a week. This experience has changed my entire perspective on the medical system, my mind and life in general. The mind-body connection is so much more powerful than you believe
Thanks for sharing! I only read such things about people who went to war. The more you know. [A great motivation to not slack on mind's health.] There is no spoon, ha-ha.
@@danielabrunovska5039 Sure. First step was putting immediate hold on all stressful work related to my hands, so no more uni homework. Reduced my workload for next semster to half. I started going to ergotherapy, where I learned tasks that strengthened my hand-mind connection. The first few days, I had to push through the pain. It went really fast after that, as I gained hope for the first time in months and got confident it was actually working. My hands now crackle and pop a lot, maybe as a result of being inactive for so long, but the pain is probably gone forever. I feel in control, knowing what to do if it ever happens again
I've had a similar experience where the mind-body connection was strong although not as bad as yours. A year ago I started to see white flashes on the right and left side of my eyes kind of like when the sun is at your peripheral vision. I didn't give it much importance and some weeks passed. It got to a point in which my condition evolved and it wasn't white flashes anymore, it was like a white tear that would go up or down my eyeball. At that time i panicked and rushed to a ophthalmologist thinking it was a broken blood vessel or so it said on the internet. After some medical examinations, they found nothing and said it was a symptom of stress. I bought eye drops, took some time off and i was fine the next week. Realizing that my stress was so high and i didn't even notice it, helped a lot
@@danielabrunovska5039 check out this book called the mindbody prescription by john sarno. i had a similar thing where i was more or less disabled and unable to do the most basic tasks without extreme pain and just as this person wrote, it went away completely in a very short period of time and now im back to normal. genuinely life changing stuff as utterly INSANE as it sounds.
ASTROLOGY helped me think systematically and accurately assess my physical health signals! just by becoming aware of all of the different "ruler ships" of the body.
Had GI problems for 6 years doctors were convinced it was cuz of my anxiety. turns out I got bit by a tick and now I am allergic to beef and pork. Worst part is its condition i had asked my doctor about 3 years ago that only required a blood test. I ended paying out of pocket for a immunologist. I did get it recompensated by insurance when i tested positive, but it still sucked that i basically had to go behind my GPs back to get the test.
Over 100,000 cases of Alpha-Gal Syndrome (meat allergy from Lone Star tick bites) have been identified since 2017, and they expect the numbers to keep increasing. Doctors should be on the lookout for this.
Me too! Unfortunately I'm allergic to all mammalian byproducts now on top of a lot of other food sensitivities D: Which is really hard to explain to people (I get a lot of blank stares) so I tend to just say I eat vegan/kosher... I've learned a lot about how many foods have mammal byproducts in them (even some cane sugar!) but red meat and dairy is definitely the worst.
WOW, learnt so much from this, thank you, I'm gonna try fix myself. This is an eye opening for something that's bothering me for years because my stress is chronically high.
I think also it's a cascade effect: we are sick, therefore we fall behind, therefore we have to do more work, to catch up again, therefore we get stressed... because we are stressed we take less care of ourselves, we eat unhealthy, we don't do fitness exersizes, we don't meet friends, therefore we get more stressed and fall behind more, because we get unhappy... At some point you don't have proper muscles anymore that will support your weak body, which gives you crippling pain. You also overexcert them by working for too long. You wrecked your immuno system and your friendships with this ongoing stress and everything starts falling apart like a house of cards... at least that's my experience. Makes me feel good that my way of diet and exersize ( diet is still lacking, but oh well) is the way to go.
I hope this reaches Dr. K. I watched this video right when it came out. It helped me so much, I can't even describe. Realizing that I am not mentally weak, but strong. But the biggest one was realizing I have IBS. I have been struggling with underweight for my whole life. I started eating and gained 12kg in the 6 month. My mood is stable, I have the energy to seriously lift now. I went from barely holding it together as a worker to talking about taking over the firm I work at. Just this one simple change, realizing I starved my whole life. Thank you Dr. K. and everyone involved.
When Dr. K said that its not mental weakness that causes psychosomatic illnesses, but instead too much mental fortitude I felt so heard. Many nights I find myself super stressed, to the point of almost feeling sick and having chess pain, at the end of the day, and I thought of it as a mental weakness, that I got worn down too easily. Now I realize that I need to be more mindful of how tired I am, and how stressed during the day to make sure I'm not ignoring these things.
I was told by a doctor to quit wasting my mother's and his time. I was 10 and got stomachaches when I was upset or nervous. Since then I have been hesitant to go to doctors
I had to vomit nearly every morning from 5th grade to 12th grade (BC I was extremely nauseous the first few hours of the school day) nobody was able to diagnose me or help me with anything, somewhere around the 10th grade a doctor told me it was probably psychosomatic, nice I had a name for it, but still no help. These were some bad times which led to depression and much more, i'm happy that I got through it alive :)
I had a similar thing - turned out to be acid reflux. Usually I'd wake up super nauseous, dry heave while brushing my teeth, let out a big burp and instantly feel better. But, on the other hand, a friend of mine had really bad stomach aches in high school which was "just" a physical manifestation of her anxiety. Took her years to get diagnosed with anxiety because her main symptom was nausea.
I don't know if this relates to your vomiting or not, but this is what worked for me. Maybe it will help you too. Or not. I used to gag and throw up every time I brushed my teeth in the morning. Then I started making and drinking my own probiotic beverages, and I don't throw up any more. I make beet kvass and drink 1-2 mouthfuls at a time.
@@ononono7016As someone who is going through this, the front look perfectly fine- I even get compliments on them- molars are RUINED! They chipped while I was eating popcorn and I'm terribly afraid they'll get infected. Once I save up enough money, I'm scheduling that appointment though! I can promise you that.
IBS Ruined my late 20 life.... No one beleived me that I need to stop what I'm doing, they all think that I'm just an ungreatful person with little tolerance.
I feel like we need a new term for psychosomatic illness. It's just used so frequently as a get out of jail free card for doctors who don't understand or can't be bothered to investigate illness that it no longer means the complex, nuanced way of understanding the body that you describe in the video. And to be told that your illness is psychosomatic no longer feels like a useful piece of information that can be used to figure out a holistic treatment plan, but a complete dismissal of your symptoms because of the misuse of the term.
I had psychosomatic syncopy in high school for months and internalized it really hard when we finally figured out it was psychosomatic, and not a heart, blood pressure, or iron deficiency problem. Years later, I can have some sympathy for my past self and understand my body's reactions to severe and persistent untreated mental sickness much more.
Currently dealing with this. Under high financial stress from my business had a panic attack for the first time and now I constantly feel odd and "dizzy" and constantly think im going to faint. Never actually fainted but now I get dizzy when standing from lying down and it scares me really bad. Very annoying.
A new term I've heard that I really like is "Psychobiological Illness." The term psychosomatic has unfortunately been tremendously misunderstood as being "all in your head," when in fact, it's very much not! Sometimes I just term it as "stress related" to my massage clients, although even that can feel blamey to some, like, "oh you're just not managing your stress well enough." And in this vein, let's not forget that alexithymia was a survival adaptation for those of us who have it. It's not that we were born defective or we have been purposely suppressing our emotions. Nobody saw and reflected our emotions and taught us what they were -- and/or our emotions weren't responded to with co-regulation. Maybe we were even threatened, or punished for having them ("I'll give you something to cry about!") So we had to "rip out the dashboard wires" because having these emotions we had no way to regulate, was far worse than the misattunement/abuse/neglect we were already experiencing. We had to do it to survive, because the emotions were overwhelming.
I quite like the term Psychosomatic. Ill push back on the bastards muddying the waters on it's terminology. *shakes fist I think The Body Keeps the Score introduced me to a lot of this stuff. I quite dislike that people are so dismissive about any of this more hollistically centered stuff.
I'm not sure if they were but they can be if i don't express myself adequately. Anyway PDA (associated with autism) is another thing with a terrible name
A friend who had it very rough, from the very little he has told me, is so obviously disconnected, aloof, angry, and sad (I know that's a weird mix to put together). I've been doing cptsd and disorganized attachment work over the last year and with passion bc, FINALLY it all makes sense, and he has been my closest person and I've tried so hard to get him on board bc it was obvious once I could actually feel my body and emotions again that I didn't feel good around him bc I can't ever really know him since he doesn't seem to know or want to know hisself. I didn't want to be another person to leave his life and that's where we are now. He would just say he was gonna work on it or learn at least but would never follow through and my heart is so broken for him. I know he is alone now 😔 idk if anyone has any tips I could send to him to help but I don't think he is willing to look underneath or try to begin feeling, I don't think he even remembers what he had to disconnect because of in the first place. It hurts to think of him living out the rest of his life alone bc of this. Except for mostly users coming and going. Ref the alexithymia comment.
thank you for making this. I was about to ask for some discussion on this topic. I've been suffering from chronic symptoms for 10+yrs and it's destroyed my life. I'm the 3rd generation of this. All that was told to my grandmother and mother was "hysteria". I normalized this my entire life and blamed myself not making progress on my depression. Only when I matured did I realize I didn't just have physical symptoms due to my depression, I was depressed because I felt so fucking helpless and desperate from my symptoms and no professional took me seriously. At 12 y/o, the pediatric explanation was "growing pains" + "kids do anything to laze around and skip school". The solution provided to me was vitamins and "drink espresso at least once a day". At 12 years old. I also realized I did not spend my days playing videogames because I was addicted or lazy, I did it because it was my only distraction from my fucking suffering when I couldn't go out in the world and do everything everyone else my age could do. Stop dumping everything into "it's all psychology/psychiatry's job", "it all gets fixed with therapy", "drink water live laugh love do yoga and pray". ESPECIALLY when there is physical evidence - specific autoimmune antibodies, imaging anomalies, etc. It's no wonder people go to the most bizarre potential non-scientific treatments when modern medicine treats them this way.
As a Psych-RN and spouse of a partner struggling with a laundry list of these disorders, I want to thank you for this deep-dive. It provides a framework for both practitioners and sufferers. This is an invaluable video and needs to be broadly distributed. It is a truly remarkable piece of content. Thank you Dr K.
I've struggled with IBS and Pots, as well as an immunological condition, kind of like rheumatoid, and mood disorders, for 25 years. This is my whole life in this video.
You still suffering from it? I have ibs too. Really badly. Ive had broken bones over 10 times because i was a really active kid, but my ibs hurts even more, you just kinda learn to accept and live with it. If youre still having problems, please try probiotics, theyre expensive but its the medication for us man. Been taking them for 2 months now and it took some time but now im shitting in the mornings which is a fucking huge relief (im chronically constipated since 4 years)
What the heck? I have several "unspecified illness." There's something wrong with my gut, my reproductive system, and I get random unexplained fainting spells/seizures even tho my blood work always comes back normal. My mom literally yesterday suggested that it might be POTS and IBS. Is this common?
This has to be the single most comprehensive yet precise, amazing video that I have ever seen explaining my entire experience with the medical system the last 5 years and my traumatic life up until this point. I have said so many times over the years that "doctors don't connect things they just focus on what symptom is in front of them right now." This video is real help, and I'm so grateful that you took the time to put this content out there into the world.
I have a family member with an extreme chronic psychosomatic illness. It is almost impossible to get people to understand. Thank you so much for helping me and others understand it better. Much love for you doc
Are you sure it’s truly psychosomatic?! I think the term bullshit. So many people have died because they have a physical illness doctors couldn’t find and blamed it on the psych. Even when long term stress does damage to the body , there is physical damage! Doesn’t mean someone can think their way out of it.
I grew up parentified, and i honestly don't have a memory of my mom where she was not sick. She promised to attend graduations, then few days before them she would say she is sick. That happened in everything when it comes to my life so i was the caretaker, taking her to hospital, reminding her to take medicine, and not getting parental care. While talking to my therapist last year, i mentioned how I don't think my mom's sicknesses were just sicknesses, i said i felt like they were giving her free pass from parenting, and getting her the pity she got from people which she seemed to love especially cause she grew up in a house with many siblings so it was hard to get attention if you were healthy. That was the first time i heard about psychosomatic illnesses, and I'm so glad you made this video as it helped me to understand more about this subject.
That must have been terribly difficult for you growing up. I can imagine as a kid you would despise your mom and question her love for you, because you didn't know and couldn't understand. I hope you manage to process this and forgive your mom, and be able to move on without the past impacting your life.
0:00: 🧠 Psychosomatic illness is a condition where there is a psychological and physical component, but Western medicine fails to treat it effectively due to the separation of mind and body. 7:44: 💡 Psychosomatic illness is not caused by a weak mind, but by a strong mind that suppresses emotions and ignores physical signals, leading to somatic problems. 16:22: 🧠 Psychosomatic illness, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), is not purely psychological but involves a complex interplay between mind and body. 25:30: 🔬 People with IBS experience a hyperactivation of the sympathetic nervous system, leading to prolonged periods of high stress and symptoms such as diarrhea. 37:02: 🧠 IBS and POTS are physiological conditions that can cause various symptoms, including nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, sleep disturbance, weakness, palpitations, lightheadedness, dizziness, and chest pain. 42:59: 🧠 POTS is a condition characterized by paradoxical vasoconstriction, dysregulation of the sympathetic nervous system, and hypersensitivity to visceral sensory input. 53:40: 🧠 Fibromyalgia involves abnormal nervous input and low-level inflammation, leading to widespread pain throughout the body. 1:02:21: 🧠 The speaker discusses the limitations of Western medicine in treating complex conditions and emphasizes the importance of considering genetic, social, and psychological factors in psychosomatic illness. 1:11:42: 🧠 Psychosomatic illness is a result of the mind and body connection, and can be influenced by stress and trauma. 1:21:07: 💡 Psychosomatic illness involves various factors such as brain, sensory attention, rewiring, and diet. 1:29:18: ⚕ The mind-body connection is crucial in treating psychosomatic illnesses, and various approaches like psychotherapy, neuroplasticity, mind-body practices, and diet can be effective. 1:37:00: 💊 Western medicine is not equipped to address the underlying causes of health problems and doctors often dismiss patients' symptoms. Recap by Tammy AI
A few weeks ago, after having slept later at night than usual for several months, a sudden and dreadful thought came into my mind and freaked me for no particular reason. That was the thought that I and everyone I know will eventually die. I found it so suddenly terrifying and began to have a series of severe panic attacks for about 10 days. I could barely eat, was getting diarrhea, sweating, vomiting, and just living in fear. I never realized how much mental health could affect your physical health.
I've watched an unbelievable amount of Dr K in the past and this video is one of the most valuable ones I've seen yet. My mindset towards all my physical and psychological discomfort has switched completely. I've recently been going to a chiropractor for this burning shoulder pain I've been experiencing every so often. After several weeks, nothing really changed. It kept coming back. But since watching this video, I've been looking more and more into psychosomatic stuff, and how the body throws out these defence mechanisms in the form of physical discomfort. And since I've started paying attention to the pain with this perspective (that it's my body trying to distract me), It's almost disappeared. I've also gone beyond that initial shoulder problem, investigating other discomforts I've had physically and psychologically: When they strike, What I might be trying to avoid. What the discomfort is trying to distract me from. Bringing my awareness to these kinds of things. Overall, it's brought me a whole new understanding of mindfulness, and what it's all about; and I'm optimistic that it'll be of great help.
I have been throwing up 3-4 times a day at least with extreme fatigue and an almost constant headache for around 6 months and no answers except for this thank you dr. K great video helped me out a lot
PMDD isn't psychosommatic, if you get a hysterectomy the pmdd is gone and the surgeon didn't surgically remove the psyche in that process. PMDD has treatment options, please seek help from a gyn who has experience on it.
All illnesses are psychosomatic. The problem is that if you experience great stress you are more prone to all ( auto-immune) diseases, while doctors actually treat it as a disqualifying factor. Growing up in poverty, losing a parent etc… anyway. My ‘psychosomatic’ illnesses turned out to be very somatic. I do believe, however, that the genes for these illnesses were all triggered during periods of stress. Maybe, had I ever received proper healthcare, my “psycho” somatic illnesses would not have progressed into permanent damage.
Thanks for all of this, Dr. K-I'm a health and CBT coach (clinical med and psych background) and this is so valuable and helps me to make the bridge with my patients. SO many people have crossover/comorbidities-- we gotta keep educating. You're an amazing teacher!
Thank you so much Dr. K for sharing your knowledge with us. I've been suffering from severe depression and anxiety in addition to psychosomatic illness (IBS, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue). I have to admit that I went back through your lecture because as my depression has become slightly better, I realized that most of it didn't sink in the first time around. But it gives me hope that I may be able to do somethings to start feeling better.
My older sis has IBS, so this was useful for me to listen to. She also has ADD, fibromyalgia, endometriosis, PCOS (which a doctor thought was gallbladder issues and wrongly removed it), and she seems to have less stomach issues when she avoids gluten, though we don't know if it's a gluten allergy or just an intolerance from her other issues. SOMEHOW, she manages to work 4.5 days a week and keeps a tidy home with 4 cats, 1 dog, and she cooks for her bf. Idk how she powers through every day but it's amazing. I can agree with psychosomatic illnesses usually coming from trauma/abuse, as we came from the same messy upbringing and I have had issues with anxiety, panic attacks, and depression for years. I used to have stomach issues before school/work, but it has calmed down in recent years. The body and brain are definitely connected!
Your sister sounds amazing! The systems involved in those things are quite complex, and I love this video for helping dig into the systems involved. I also noticed that the particular diagnoses you mentioned she has are often comorbid with the Hypermobility spectrum too. Reading up on Hypermobility and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome might be very interesting to her. 😊
You are genius! 🎉And a good teacher. It is so kind and generous of you to share your knowledge in a way that we can all understand. We need to know this stuff for ourselves and our loved ones. I wish all the doctors and counselors knew this too. The mind and body and spirit connection is so intertwined and you explain it so well. I thank you and I will listen to this whole seminar again. It seems that we should all buy very expensive tickets to hear this kind of seminar. Thank you, Professor!
This is another where I'm the polar opposite. I have psychosomatic IBS, and the whole point is I can say I have a bad stomach and no one cares. I ignore it til the point I shit blood and I'm looking for external approval is that sick enough? I go to the doctor and literally tell him, "there's so much blood it's like my period is coming out my asshole". I was told if stress is the cause just stop being stressed and then charged me $300 (with insurance).
That ending...."Good Luck", ironically perfect, after finally hearing a doctor, a psychiatrist amazingly, being honest about the complexity of some illnesses and that we don't actually know all that much, it was a breath of fresh air to be wished luck, because we certainly will need it. But seriously, it's gonna take me a while to settle down after hearing a psychiatrist talking about yoga, meditation and diet. Maybe there is still hope for the profession. Thank you for this lecture, it has confirmed a few things which I had figured out for myself.
Love this presentation. In Ayurveda: heavy metals are not given, but rather in the form of a Bhasma where the original properties of certain metals have been transformed. Not accessible in the US. I especially appreciate your recommendation of asana.🙏🏻
I can relate with how youre introducing yoga because yesterday, i feel like im not thinking a lot when im in public, outdoor, seeing plants, coordinating my body to support myself during this weird vehicle ride in the philippines called tricycle.
The problem is defining the extent that psychology plays into any illness which is almost always based on a fallacy of ignorance as opposed to any direct evidence. In other words, I was once diagnosed with somatization disorder for what was later diagnosed by a neurologist as probably small fiber neuropathy. If anyone is not familiar with small fiber neuropathy it is literally a neuropathy of the nerves that transmit pain and temperature and is only confirmed by biopsy which means that naturally the pain (which is about as excruciating as pain comes) is out of proportion with the findings (of which there are none unless you do a biopsy which is rarely done). Just one example of how a fallacy of ignorance essentially becomes a tool for medical gaslighting. CFS is another great example as many of the prominent research centers such as Stanford operate on the hypothesis that it is driven by low level neuroinflammation or even low grade viral infection, though this is almost impossible to directly measure in living humans and is a well known limitation of infectious disease research. Any disease including cancer can be said to have a psychological component. But medicine needs to be careful how much of an influence it’s ascribes to psychology because it is nearly impossible to tests those hypotheses and it is a great way to cause distrust in patients. Mental health should always be a component of disease care and if it helps the physical symptoms that’s great. But I question the need for defining illnesses as “psychosomatic” when a clear etiology isn’t known.
I am going through really rough time at the moment and I really appreciate the HealthyGamer content. I am so devistated but I've never seen so much hope in such dark times. Thank you from all of my heart.
Thank you for sharing this! As someone who works as a PA previously in Hospitalist Medicine and now in Psychiatry and Geriatrics, this is very helpful with understanding pathophysiology of so many illnesses that are so perplexing and it really helps to be able to break this down/be affirming to patients who are struggling so they can recover and know that their experience is real. I really appreciate the work that you do, Dr. K!
The whole argument around psychosomatic illnesses seems to stem less from what is scientifically understood and more from what is culturally acceptable.
I hate it when any damn physician says (well re-up take goes up/down) without ALSO saying, "therefore this hormone/neurotransmitter goes up/down") because the whole 'reuptake goes down' makes it that much harder for the layman/patient to understand mechanistically what is going wrong!!!
this is basically a meme at this point, but i was *just* at the doctor’s office talking about my chronic pain/fatigue, systemic inflammation, IBS, and potential fibromyalgia. this video is helpful for understanding more about this very complex and important subject, thanks!
If you've been fatigued for over six months and don't meet the criteria for fibromyalgia, look into chronic fatigue syndrome. Because many doctors are ignorant of it, I recommend learning about it yourself and seeking a support group if you believe you have CFS.
Check out you don't have Asperger's ADHD hypomobility I have all these didn't no until my son's diagnosis check out Dr lenz ADHD fybromyalgia connection if so the clue hypomobility
@@Truerealism747: To me, the telltale sign of ME/CFS is post-exertional malaise. I don't know tons about FM, but if you get tired from exerting yourself (even 24-48 hours later), and don't recover with rest, you've likely got ME/CFS.
@@MichaelNerman but I've had that from birth bas when I was born I slept 23 hrs a day but it really put it's game at 17 when u broke my tailbone but now it's more muscle pain had so many symptoms over last 26 years yes pem been bad but ldn has helped that and minerals today though been bad fatigue day but it's pain worst for me now with fatigue second.ribbose helps fatigue though
The very idea that there is a meaningful division separating “physical” and “psychological” is so wrong. Often it seems like the only purpose of such a distinction is to dismiss things modern physiology does not yet understand. To someone neurodivergent like me, its extremely obvious that there is no teal dividing line between “physical” and “mental”.
My knees started swelling and locking in place for hours at a time to the point where I had to get around hopping on whichever leg was better that day. This lasted weeks, and doctors had no idea what was wrong. I left my abusive parent's home not long after and it all went away. 15 years later and it has never happened since.
I had pylori and had really bad episodes of vomiting and whatnot. Every doctor I saw told me I had IBS and I was like I used to have that when I was younger and this doesn't feel like that!!! And I finally had an endoscopy and got my antibiotics. A doctor even told me I was bulimic for god's sake. In my experience dr say "psychosomatic" when they have no clue what is wrong with you.
Definitely true and it is so unscientific to say something is imaginary when you can’t find an easy explanation yet it’s standard medical practice. Psychosomatic can be a death sentence for people with anything hard to spot because once they are labeled nobody is going to take the time to order more tests because they presume they will only be wasting their time. The irony is the mental damage that being labeled psychosomatic can do is so huge especially when you don’t accept it because you know something is wrong but when everyone else is pretty much laughing you out of their office, it’s like torture and only the very strongest can survive it without giving in to the gaslighting of literally everyone else around them.
At least one person in the comments figured this out. I was losing hope in humanity while reading the other comments. In reality there is no existing evidence for any of the "psychosomatic diseases", just absence of evidence which is then reinterpreted and relabeled in order to not embarrass the medical profession. In comparison to mathematics, physics and chemistry and even biology the vast majority of medicine and psychology/psychiatry are intellectually lazy and not following scientific principles.
Interstitial cystitis, pelvic pain, fibro…all started from injuries/infections but stayed chronic because of psychosomatic issues. At their worst, i DID need meds to keep working. Once i figured out the mind body connection, the thing that helped me most was regular exercise and not catastrophizing or over analyzing.
Absolutely healing just from understanding the process of the mind and it’s answered much of my chronic pain- my mind forced me to go onwards without processing traumas-
Thx. I'm coping with some kind of chronic fatigue syndrom (three years at least, but even getting a diagnosis is rather difficult), and are sent from doctor to doctor. Those with a somatic background just claim it's a purely psychatric problem (preferably "it's a depression") and thus they can't help me. My psychatrist meanwhile can only send me back to somatic experts, because the psychological front is not the main culprit and under control. It's so frustrating, and honestly: it's the ignorance by many doctors I encounter is sometimes more depressing than the disease itself.
I have a similar issue. I’ve had chronic fatigue for years, since I was a teenager. But there’s nothing physically wrong with me, sleeping disorders were ruled out, and I’m not depressed (according to my therapist). Yet I’m so tired all the time. It is relentless. But no one has an answer as to what is wrong. I hope you find some solutions that work for you, or at least a health professional that will truly listen.
@@chelseatomkowiak4207 My GP does listen, but he doesn't like the CFS diagnostic. He got a point though, for many doctors this is just another way to say: I can/don't want to help you. Still I need to somehow get a diagnosis, as this is required for anything following. My current approach is to listen carefully to my body, and hit the brakes at the slightest signal. Which is pretty hard for me, as I've got a duracel bunny temperament. Honestly, I think it'smostly a waiting game, until research has found a way to identify and maybe even cure CFS.
its strongly tied to iron deficiency, which then secondarily causes dysregulation of the nervous system. Psychiatrists often ignore that physical and neurodevelopmental illnesses can easily cause "psychiatric" symptoms
@@croissant4131 yep, very true, i grew up with iron deficiency and a few years back I descovered I have Ehlers-Danlos Dermatosparaxis, which safe to say makes everything collagen based go downhill, POTS is also a big part of it and frequent comorbidity, so is mast cell activation that can be considered psychosomatic but more often than not they have a clear physical underlying condition that is usually never looked for, as rare diseases/syndromes are. Think horses not zebras, but sometimes it is a zebra 🥴
I've had anxiety since my teens, thanks to a really narc father. Got burnout from doing both retail and engineering studies in 2018. Graduated just on the start of the pandemic, and the only job i managed to get was from the same place i burned out. I tried for a year to do my job but the ever increasing demands and even kind of getting isolated from other workmates by doing webstores pickups i started to show signs of fibromyalgia. It felt like you had the flue but with only having your body be really sore and it would flare up even worse as the stress increased. Quit that shit five months ago. I'd rather be poor and healthy than grind the fuck out my mind and body for pennies and disrespect. Fuck retail.
All of my illnesses that are now finally diagnosed as physical illnesses, after id been saying it for years and years, were labelled "psychosomatic" by psychs before and dismissed. difficulty urinating due to a urethral stricture, neck and back pain due to polyradiculopathy on 10 nerve roots, tinnitus tied to an ASD (im a woman..) that i got perpetually gaslit on and only got tested for at 22 after i paid out of pocket and found the testing place myself, headaches due to familial hemiplegic migraine, Digestive issues due to Intestinal methanogen overgrowth (ok that one is complicated, but theres no utility to treating it as psychosomatic, and no treatment is received that way). all of that had been labelled as "psychosomatic", and ignored. 4 of of these could have been diagnosed with a single test, and my diagnosis was delayed by 6 whole years, and i had to pay all of it out of pocket. This long term dismissive treatment has left me with a complex bundle of medical trauma that builds upon my previous trauma that i sought help for from psychs in the first place. Had i never sought help from psychs, id be less traumatised than i am now, they did not help with trauma, but did cause me more trauma. This label is of such a nature (unfalsibiable) that its so damagimg it shouldnt even be used, because it systemically _prompts_ patient dismissal and unserious treatment. It is often used as a euphemism for "hypochondriasis" as well. Just no. In reality there are no real distinction between "psychosomatic" and "physical" because your brain is a physical organ, as is your gut. None of that actually really makes sense. All that remains is that strong dismissal potential
I hear you. The tendency of the medical field to neglect physical reality and biological causes of illnesses is astonishing. I wonder if it's some sort of post-modernist mind-over-matter ideology or if it goes all back to Rousseau and Spinoza. Psychology is the death of science-based medicine. Astrology does even less harm.
My concern will the notion that illness is psychosomatic is this. Many doctors call it psychosomatic without investigating, especially concerning absominal issues. My brother and sister almost had ruptured appendix because no investigation was done until they had high fever. I went with abdominal problems until I found out peppers were from the nightshade family. I'm allergic to tomatoes which are nightshades. Once I stopped eating peppers, my stomach problems cleared. I'd been told all my life my stomach problems were psychosomatic. Investigate first.
That's my concern - especially for women, trans, and nonbinary people. Our pain often just gets brushed to the side and we're told to go to therapy when some of us actually have real solvable time sensitive health issues that are just harder to diagnose. It took years for me to get diagnosed with biliary chronic pancreatitis and it was only until I became jaundiced that anyone took me seriously. By then, permanent damage to my pancreas as well as damage to my liver was already done.
17:53 in favor of social support, it is worth mentioning that "having someone to take care of you after surgery, and preferably a network" is one criteria that is actually evaluated when considering if that patient is a good candidate for treatment
Thank you so much for having these long videos on youtube. Playing them in the background really helps when I am trying to study or get school work done,
I have ignored my GI symptoms my entire life because I refuse to be officially diagnosed with IBS. If I were ever to get a serious illness, I wouldn't know the difference unless I collapsed completely
I was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder by a neurologist specializing in epilepsy in 2014. Two years ago I ended up in the ER with a separate issue. The stress from that issue caused me to have a seizure in the ER. When I finally came to I had a nurse standing over my bed yelling at me that I was faking and to stop it. Literally had to beg her to bring up my medical records and do some research. Even told her my diagnosis. She told me that FND isn't real, that I'm a faker, that I made it all up for attention. Now I'd rather risk death than to back to the ER
This genuinely means so much to me as someone who has been struggling with this most of my adult life. This is the first comprehensive video about psychosomatic illness I've seen and God, it is such a breath of fresh air. All the thanks and blessings to Dr K and the team.💗💗💗
really fascinating....thank you
Thank you for your videos and knowledge 🙏
Those who think these illnesses are only psychosomatic are ignorant. Trauma causes epigenetic changes that can also be passed down through long rna. There are now studies that show that CFS/ME is a mitochondrial dysfunction that stops energy being utilised by the cell, new fibromyalgia studies are showing that the inter muscular pressure in patients is up to 3 times more than average people. Cortisol levels irritate and eventually destroy the gut lining, as do some medications. We could go on for days with all the ways trauma effects the body. Trauma also causes early death through heart attacks, diabetes etc… yet those get treated as medical issues, when for those without trauma are often victims of their own life style choices. All of theses illness pathways are evidence that trauma is stored in the body. Why can’t physicians just accept this fact? Stop treating what someone else did to us as our lifestyle choices or imaginary suffering! Even the term psychosomatic is stigmatising, it should be traumatic injury. You can go to therapy to learn how to manage you flight, fight, freeze responses and reduce your acute stress but until you deal with the chronic stress in the body you can’t recover. 90% of what improved my health were physical changes, not psychological intervention.
One Love!
Always forward, never ever backward!!
☀️☀️☀️
💚💛❤️
🙏🏿🙏🙏🏼
I have irritable bowel syndrome
All I know is a lot of doctors dismiss symptoms because they assume it’s psychosomatic. My friend has a 10 year old daughter who came to the ER multiple times with rib pain and got dismissed as having a pulled muscle & being dramatic, when she actually had a rare cancer all around her lungs. She just survived 7 months of chemotherapy & radiation and is in remissions thankfully
Thanks for sharing, that sounds absolutely horrible also I'm grateful to hear there were finally some competent doctors she got to see who didn't gaslight her and got extremely lucky to survive. She may have had a rare cancer, however dismissal of patient's physical symptoms as mental is extremely common.
As much as I generally enjoy HealthyGamerGG's content, how many people need to live with chronic physical illness dismissed by doctors or worse die cause allegedly "it's just dramatic thoughts in your head". Bias in medicine is practised daily, it's time to address that
@@lucheeese definitely!! Children and women get dismissed the most. There’s so many things wrong with US healthcare. My friend now owes 1.5 million dollars for the medical care her daughter received 😭
@@Livfree33 As someone who have experienced medical neglect/mental gaslighting both to me and others close to me, I just wanted to appreciate and share that it means a lot to many that you share your friend and her daughter's story. You guys are not alone (unfortunately).
The insane indeed isn't the patients, it's a dysfunctional healthcare system that for many blocks them from receiving medical rare or bankrupts them when they do 😪 I have no words, really hoping for all the best for your friend and her daughter
@@Livfree33Wait, $1.5 MILLION ???
jesus, I can't even imagine that being an indian
they didn't have insurance?
@@Tanmay.s689afaik. in the US. that can happen to you, even if you have insurance :/
glad to live in europe tbh. Not that the freedom in the US is bad. But the social support is god awful
I’ve had chronic IBS for years. Doctors tried to tell me it was psychosomatic. I paid out of pocket for testing and found I had a gut infection of SIBO and H Pylori, which left untreated can cause Stomach Cancer! I’ve been treating the H Pylori and other parasitic bacteria’s and my symptoms are going away. Doctors failed me by saying it was Psychosomatic.
I will repeat one more time: My IBS is not caused by trauma. It is not caused by stress or anxiety. It is not caused by a dysregulated nervous system.
It was caused because of multiple rounds of antibiotics that destroyed my gut. It was caused by food poisoning that exposed my damaged gut to parasitic bacteria.
Everyone story is different, but I’m living proof that IBS is not just a Psychosomatic illness, but rather a real dysbiosis of the gut that can be fully addressed.
"is not just a Psychosomatic illness" is literally what he said. The physical causes are real, the psychological and behavioural impact of the illness on you is real and very physical, too. The problem is that many medical doctors still do not know that. Hence, they do not understand that their job would be to help you tease apart which instances of you need addressing e.g. also in order to rule out causes.
Think about it, even if they were aware, they still might fail you, cause there are way too many causes on all layers AND the causes differ in rarity. And your case doesn't sound like a standard case. And then some systems - like the American one - kind of discourage testing without a solid proof for it's necessity, too.
If you had e.g. tracked it in a diary, you may have found inconsistencies with "it's just in your head", so to speak. Because when you're pychologically comfy, eat well etc. and then your gut still acts up, then that's evidence pointing at a undetected physical component within that system.
It's not that we're abandoned. It's just that we're sometimes mutually helpless in the face of too many possibilities and our resources to tease things apart are not always there.
I'm really really glad you found a solution!!!
@@KxNOxUTA thanks for your comment! I totally agree with you on the resources part…To actually heal IBS you need access to a lot of resources to tease out the root cause. The resources are hard to find and even harder to access reliably and consistently to make a real difference.
And indeed I hear that he’s making a more nuanced point on the psychosomatics. I’m just bitter, as many other IBS patients are about being told this is psychosomatic and something I’ll have for life and there’s nothing the medical doctors can do about it. But I appreciate you explaining his points more clearly, you definitely are right about how doctors discourage testing too!
SIBO suffered here to which parasites did you have?
@@louisegriffin6672 I took the GI Map test and it came back positive for blastocystis hominis parasite. From my experience the GI Map test is one of the most comprehensive tests for IBS patients and I highly recommend.
The issue I have with the idea that IBS is hypersensitivity to normal processes is, okay, if bowel processes are normal where do the two extra inches on my waistline during an IBS attack come from? Because that never happened before IBS. I’m not picking on this guy specifically, that’s the pitch Nerva gives as well and yet, hypnotherapy gives no joy either.
Okay, now I get you. Agree 100%
The great majority of individuals dx with POTS or other symptoms ALSO have autoimmune or medical conditions, so as you’re trying to bridge the gap, we still need to look at the whole body system. Our brain is connected to our body and now medical trauma is a PTSD qualifier. We cannot separate. I’m a therapist that specializes in this intersection of chronic illness and trauma. I appreciate this lecture.
This is what long covid is. I healed myself understanding this. I talk about it on my channel. Hope it helps anyone ❤
I'm only 20min into the video and my teenage years now make so much more sense. I was so stressed out from being bullied at school that I had several stomuch ulcers, lost weight to dangerous levels and I had no emotional support after my best friend died. My parents are a doctor and a pharmacist, there was an external solution to EVERYTHING while all I needed were hugs and affirmations. They themselves had emotionally unavailable parents since both had lived through WW2 and other brutal things. I have a three year old daughter now and I try SO HARD to learn about myself to heal the trauma that is instilled into me by the two previous generations. It's so hard. I cry, a lot, learning through my own pain how much pain my own mother must have bottled up inside of her.
Dr. K, you have no idea how much you're helping our wee little girl by helping her gaming parents to understand themselves better and be there for her, with all our hearts.
Sounds like you've had basically the same childhood as me with all of that.
i’m rooting for you 🥹🙏
Always love to see a cycle breaker. Proud of you. Cry all you need without feeling guilty. All the best!
Have you tried counseling? That might help. It might take you faster to where you wanna be with your child.
The body will keep screaming at "the owner" until what hurts is resolved.
I suffered an extreme case of psychosomatic illness, where I basically lost function of my hands for half a year, due to extreme pain. It manifested at first as cubital tunnel syndrome, then carpal tunnel syndrome, then went through all diseases imaginable as each one was ruled out medically. My family and I were terrified that I might never regain full use of my hands (based on a diagnosis of fibromyalga).
Finally, a psychologist posited a crackpot theory how my mind was causing all this to escape the stress I was getting from Uni and work. The moment I took this seriously, the extreme, constant pain went away within a week. This experience has changed my entire perspective on the medical system, my mind and life in general. The mind-body connection is so much more powerful than you believe
Thanks for sharing! I only read such things about people who went to war. The more you know. [A great motivation to not slack on mind's health.] There is no spoon, ha-ha.
If you don't mind, could you explain some steps you took to make it go away? What did you do for it to disappear in a week?
@@danielabrunovska5039 Sure. First step was putting immediate hold on all stressful work related to my hands, so no more uni homework. Reduced my workload for next semster to half. I started going to ergotherapy, where I learned tasks that strengthened my hand-mind connection. The first few days, I had to push through the pain. It went really fast after that, as I gained hope for the first time in months and got confident it was actually working.
My hands now crackle and pop a lot, maybe as a result of being inactive for so long, but the pain is probably gone forever. I feel in control, knowing what to do if it ever happens again
I've had a similar experience where the mind-body connection was strong although not as bad as yours. A year ago I started to see white flashes on the right and left side of my eyes kind of like when the sun is at your peripheral vision. I didn't give it much importance and some weeks passed. It got to a point in which my condition evolved and it wasn't white flashes anymore, it was like a white tear that would go up or down my eyeball. At that time i panicked and rushed to a ophthalmologist thinking it was a broken blood vessel or so it said on the internet. After some medical examinations, they found nothing and said it was a symptom of stress. I bought eye drops, took some time off and i was fine the next week. Realizing that my stress was so high and i didn't even notice it, helped a lot
@@danielabrunovska5039 check out this book called the mindbody prescription by john sarno. i had a similar thing where i was more or less disabled and unable to do the most basic tasks without extreme pain and just as this person wrote, it went away completely in a very short period of time and now im back to normal. genuinely life changing stuff as utterly INSANE as it sounds.
ASTROLOGY helped me think systematically and accurately assess my physical health signals! just by becoming aware of all of the different "ruler ships" of the body.
Had GI problems for 6 years doctors were convinced it was cuz of my anxiety. turns out I got bit by a tick and now I am allergic to beef and pork. Worst part is its condition i had asked my doctor about 3 years ago that only required a blood test. I ended paying out of pocket for a immunologist. I did get it recompensated by insurance when i tested positive, but it still sucked that i basically had to go behind my GPs back to get the test.
Over 100,000 cases of Alpha-Gal Syndrome (meat allergy from Lone Star tick bites) have been identified since 2017, and they expect the numbers to keep increasing. Doctors should be on the lookout for this.
@stephsteph4503 really!?? That's so weird! I wonder if anything else is going on for some other sensitivities people have
Me too! Unfortunately I'm allergic to all mammalian byproducts now on top of a lot of other food sensitivities D: Which is really hard to explain to people (I get a lot of blank stares) so I tend to just say I eat vegan/kosher... I've learned a lot about how many foods have mammal byproducts in them (even some cane sugar!) but red meat and dairy is definitely the worst.
@@GriffinHuntresseww why cane sugar have that!!
So sorry you had to go through that and that this kind of malpractice is so common.
WOW, learnt so much from this, thank you, I'm gonna try fix myself. This is an eye opening for something that's bothering me for years because my stress is chronically high.
im in the first 5 minutes and you just said everything I wish a dr could have said to me 4 years ago
'This Playlist will be available for a limited time!'
Why?
I think also it's a cascade effect:
we are sick, therefore we fall behind, therefore we have to do more work, to catch up again, therefore we get stressed...
because we are stressed we take less care of ourselves, we eat unhealthy, we don't do fitness exersizes, we don't meet friends, therefore we get more stressed and fall behind more, because we get unhappy...
At some point you don't have proper muscles anymore that will support your weak body, which gives you crippling pain. You also overexcert them by working for too long. You wrecked your immuno system and your friendships with this ongoing stress and everything starts falling apart like a house of cards...
at least that's my experience. Makes me feel good that my way of diet and exersize ( diet is still lacking, but oh well) is the way to go.
I hope this reaches Dr. K. I watched this video right when it came out. It helped me so much, I can't even describe. Realizing that I am not mentally weak, but strong. But the biggest one was realizing I have IBS. I have been struggling with underweight for my whole life.
I started eating and gained 12kg in the 6 month. My mood is stable, I have the energy to seriously lift now. I went from barely holding it together as a worker to talking about taking over the firm I work at. Just this one simple change, realizing I starved my whole life. Thank you Dr. K. and everyone involved.
You didnt like what people think of psychosomatic so youre in the act of working hard and thoroughly elaborating everything about it.
When Dr. K said that its not mental weakness that causes psychosomatic illnesses, but instead too much mental fortitude I felt so heard. Many nights I find myself super stressed, to the point of almost feeling sick and having chess pain, at the end of the day, and I thought of it as a mental weakness, that I got worn down too easily. Now I realize that I need to be more mindful of how tired I am, and how stressed during the day to make sure I'm not ignoring these things.
The pain when they promote their pawn
I was told by a doctor to quit wasting my mother's and his time. I was 10 and got stomachaches when I was upset or nervous. Since then I have been hesitant to go to doctors
" if you want to look good Take a picture and put a filter. Everyone else is doing it anyways". 😂😂😂😂😂
I had to vomit nearly every morning from 5th grade to 12th grade (BC I was extremely nauseous the first few hours of the school day) nobody was able to diagnose me or help me with anything, somewhere around the 10th grade a doctor told me it was probably psychosomatic, nice I had a name for it, but still no help. These were some bad times which led to depression and much more, i'm happy that I got through it alive :)
I had a similar thing - turned out to be acid reflux. Usually I'd wake up super nauseous, dry heave while brushing my teeth, let out a big burp and instantly feel better.
But, on the other hand, a friend of mine had really bad stomach aches in high school which was "just" a physical manifestation of her anxiety. Took her years to get diagnosed with anxiety because her main symptom was nausea.
How are your teeth after all this?
I don't know if this relates to your vomiting or not, but this is what worked for me. Maybe it will help you too. Or not.
I used to gag and throw up every time I brushed my teeth in the morning. Then I started making and drinking my own probiotic beverages, and I don't throw up any more. I make beet kvass and drink 1-2 mouthfuls at a time.
@@ononono7016As someone who is going through this, the front look perfectly fine- I even get compliments on them- molars are RUINED! They chipped while I was eating popcorn and I'm terribly afraid they'll get infected. Once I save up enough money, I'm scheduling that appointment though! I can promise you that.
@julietardos5044 that sounds psychosomatic
IBS Ruined my late 20 life.... No one beleived me that I need to stop what I'm doing, they all think that I'm just an ungreatful person with little tolerance.
The quality of free information being given out here is incredible. Very thankful for you sharing your knowledge.
I feel like we need a new term for psychosomatic illness. It's just used so frequently as a get out of jail free card for doctors who don't understand or can't be bothered to investigate illness that it no longer means the complex, nuanced way of understanding the body that you describe in the video. And to be told that your illness is psychosomatic no longer feels like a useful piece of information that can be used to figure out a holistic treatment plan, but a complete dismissal of your symptoms because of the misuse of the term.
"it turns your brain from read only to edit mode" is the best analogy i have ever heard.
You are a wonderful human Dr.K
Pots isn't psychosomatic
I had psychosomatic syncopy in high school for months and internalized it really hard when we finally figured out it was psychosomatic, and not a heart, blood pressure, or iron deficiency problem. Years later, I can have some sympathy for my past self and understand my body's reactions to severe and persistent untreated mental sickness much more.
Currently dealing with this. Under high financial stress from my business had a panic attack for the first time and now I constantly feel odd and "dizzy" and constantly think im going to faint. Never actually fainted but now I get dizzy when standing from lying down and it scares me really bad. Very annoying.
A new term I've heard that I really like is "Psychobiological Illness." The term psychosomatic has unfortunately been tremendously misunderstood as being "all in your head," when in fact, it's very much not! Sometimes I just term it as "stress related" to my massage clients, although even that can feel blamey to some, like, "oh you're just not managing your stress well enough."
And in this vein, let's not forget that alexithymia was a survival adaptation for those of us who have it. It's not that we were born defective or we have been purposely suppressing our emotions. Nobody saw and reflected our emotions and taught us what they were -- and/or our emotions weren't responded to with co-regulation. Maybe we were even threatened, or punished for having them ("I'll give you something to cry about!") So we had to "rip out the dashboard wires" because having these emotions we had no way to regulate, was far worse than the misattunement/abuse/neglect we were already experiencing. We had to do it to survive, because the emotions were overwhelming.
I quite like the term Psychosomatic. Ill push back on the bastards muddying the waters on it's terminology. *shakes fist
I think The Body Keeps the Score introduced me to a lot of this stuff. I quite dislike that people are so dismissive about any of this more hollistically centered stuff.
I'm not sure if they were but they can be if i don't express myself adequately. Anyway PDA (associated with autism) is another thing with a terrible name
@@ChaoticNeutralMatt I agree! Both medicine and psychology name things in the WORST possible ways.
It already has the word “somatic” in it though
A friend who had it very rough, from the very little he has told me, is so obviously disconnected, aloof, angry, and sad (I know that's a weird mix to put together). I've been doing cptsd and disorganized attachment work over the last year and with passion bc, FINALLY it all makes sense, and he has been my closest person and I've tried so hard to get him on board bc it was obvious once I could actually feel my body and emotions again that I didn't feel good around him bc I can't ever really know him since he doesn't seem to know or want to know hisself. I didn't want to be another person to leave his life and that's where we are now. He would just say he was gonna work on it or learn at least but would never follow through and my heart is so broken for him. I know he is alone now 😔 idk if anyone has any tips I could send to him to help but I don't think he is willing to look underneath or try to begin feeling, I don't think he even remembers what he had to disconnect because of in the first place. It hurts to think of him living out the rest of his life alone bc of this. Except for mostly users coming and going. Ref the alexithymia comment.
Not only are you extremely fucking intelligent with this shit, you’re so funny too 😆
Loving these videos !
thank you for making this. I was about to ask for some discussion on this topic.
I've been suffering from chronic symptoms for 10+yrs and it's destroyed my life. I'm the 3rd generation of this. All that was told to my grandmother and mother was "hysteria".
I normalized this my entire life and blamed myself not making progress on my depression.
Only when I matured did I realize I didn't just have physical symptoms due to my depression, I was depressed because I felt so fucking helpless and desperate from my symptoms and no professional took me seriously.
At 12 y/o, the pediatric explanation was "growing pains" + "kids do anything to laze around and skip school". The solution provided to me was vitamins and "drink espresso at least once a day". At 12 years old.
I also realized I did not spend my days playing videogames because I was addicted or lazy, I did it because it was my only distraction from my fucking suffering when I couldn't go out in the world and do everything everyone else my age could do.
Stop dumping everything into "it's all psychology/psychiatry's job", "it all gets fixed with therapy", "drink water live laugh love do yoga and pray". ESPECIALLY when there is physical evidence - specific autoimmune antibodies, imaging anomalies, etc.
It's no wonder people go to the most bizarre potential non-scientific treatments when modern medicine treats them this way.
26 years for me what do you suffer from.
Man this is frickin amazing - Dr. K 21st century A.D.
As a Psych-RN and spouse of a partner struggling with a laundry list of these disorders, I want to thank you for this deep-dive. It provides a framework for both practitioners and sufferers. This is an invaluable video and needs to be broadly distributed. It is a truly remarkable piece of content. Thank you Dr K.
32:43 Dr. K turned Cajun for a minute there haha
I've struggled with IBS and Pots, as well as an immunological condition, kind of like rheumatoid, and mood disorders, for 25 years. This is my whole life in this video.
He covers IBS in females in one of his videos I believe pertaining to the causes. The body keeps the score does too I believe.
You still suffering from it? I have ibs too. Really badly. Ive had broken bones over 10 times because i was a really active kid, but my ibs hurts even more, you just kinda learn to accept and live with it. If youre still having problems, please try probiotics, theyre expensive but its the medication for us man. Been taking them for 2 months now and it took some time but now im shitting in the mornings which is a fucking huge relief (im chronically constipated since 4 years)
What the heck? I have several "unspecified illness." There's something wrong with my gut, my reproductive system, and I get random unexplained fainting spells/seizures even tho my blood work always comes back normal. My mom literally yesterday suggested that it might be POTS and IBS. Is this common?
M
I. N
If you have IBS _AND_ POTS with mood disturbance then the root cause is likely a thiamine deficiency. You should really look into that.
This has to be the single most comprehensive yet precise, amazing video that I have ever seen explaining my entire experience with the medical system the last 5 years and my traumatic life up until this point.
I have said so many times over the years that "doctors don't connect things they just focus on what symptom is in front of them right now."
This video is real help, and I'm so grateful that you took the time to put this content out there into the world.
I have a family member with an extreme chronic psychosomatic illness. It is almost impossible to get people to understand. Thank you so much for helping me and others understand it better. Much love for you doc
Myself to what have they got
Are you sure it’s truly psychosomatic?! I think the term bullshit. So many people have died because they have a physical illness doctors couldn’t find and blamed it on the psych.
Even when long term stress does damage to the body , there is physical damage! Doesn’t mean someone can think their way out of it.
I grew up parentified, and i honestly don't have a memory of my mom where she was not sick. She promised to attend graduations, then few days before them she would say she is sick. That happened in everything when it comes to my life so i was the caretaker, taking her to hospital, reminding her to take medicine, and not getting parental care. While talking to my therapist last year, i mentioned how I don't think my mom's sicknesses were just sicknesses, i said i felt like they were giving her free pass from parenting, and getting her the pity she got from people which she seemed to love especially cause she grew up in a house with many siblings so it was hard to get attention if you were healthy. That was the first time i heard about psychosomatic illnesses, and I'm so glad you made this video as it helped me to understand more about this subject.
That must have been terribly difficult for you growing up. I can imagine as a kid you would despise your mom and question her love for you, because you didn't know and couldn't understand. I hope you manage to process this and forgive your mom, and be able to move on without the past impacting your life.
you’ve been so helpful in my healing journey. more than most doctors. thank you so much for these videos
The only thing he didn’t explicitly mention is concentric muscle orientations reinforced by a large number of lifestyle factors
0:00: 🧠 Psychosomatic illness is a condition where there is a psychological and physical component, but Western medicine fails to treat it effectively due to the separation of mind and body.
7:44: 💡 Psychosomatic illness is not caused by a weak mind, but by a strong mind that suppresses emotions and ignores physical signals, leading to somatic problems.
16:22: 🧠 Psychosomatic illness, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), is not purely psychological but involves a complex interplay between mind and body.
25:30: 🔬 People with IBS experience a hyperactivation of the sympathetic nervous system, leading to prolonged periods of high stress and symptoms such as diarrhea.
37:02: 🧠 IBS and POTS are physiological conditions that can cause various symptoms, including nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, sleep disturbance, weakness, palpitations, lightheadedness, dizziness, and chest pain.
42:59: 🧠 POTS is a condition characterized by paradoxical vasoconstriction, dysregulation of the sympathetic nervous system, and hypersensitivity to visceral sensory input.
53:40: 🧠 Fibromyalgia involves abnormal nervous input and low-level inflammation, leading to widespread pain throughout the body.
1:02:21: 🧠 The speaker discusses the limitations of Western medicine in treating complex conditions and emphasizes the importance of considering genetic, social, and psychological factors in psychosomatic illness.
1:11:42: 🧠 Psychosomatic illness is a result of the mind and body connection, and can be influenced by stress and trauma.
1:21:07: 💡 Psychosomatic illness involves various factors such as brain, sensory attention, rewiring, and diet.
1:29:18: ⚕ The mind-body connection is crucial in treating psychosomatic illnesses, and various approaches like psychotherapy, neuroplasticity, mind-body practices, and diet can be effective.
1:37:00: 💊 Western medicine is not equipped to address the underlying causes of health problems and doctors often dismiss patients' symptoms.
Recap by Tammy AI
Thank you
A few weeks ago, after having slept later at night than usual for several months, a sudden and dreadful thought came into my mind and freaked me for no particular reason. That was the thought that I and everyone I know will eventually die. I found it so suddenly terrifying and began to have a series of severe panic attacks for about 10 days. I could barely eat, was getting diarrhea, sweating, vomiting, and just living in fear. I never realized how much mental health could affect your physical health.
"come on blud ,come on over"
I've watched an unbelievable amount of Dr K in the past and this video is one of the most valuable ones I've seen yet.
My mindset towards all my physical and psychological discomfort has switched completely.
I've recently been going to a chiropractor for this burning shoulder pain I've been experiencing every so often.
After several weeks, nothing really changed. It kept coming back.
But since watching this video, I've been looking more and more into psychosomatic stuff, and how the body throws out these defence mechanisms in the form of physical discomfort.
And since I've started paying attention to the pain with this perspective (that it's my body trying to distract me),
It's almost disappeared.
I've also gone beyond that initial shoulder problem, investigating other discomforts I've had physically and psychologically:
When they strike,
What I might be trying to avoid.
What the discomfort is trying to distract me from.
Bringing my awareness to these kinds of things.
Overall, it's brought me a whole new understanding of mindfulness, and what it's all about; and I'm optimistic that it'll be of great help.
POTS is not classified as a psychosomatic disease. At least not in Norway
1:36:31 damn DR. K is a savage 😂😂😂😂
I have been throwing up 3-4 times a day at least with extreme fatigue and an almost constant headache for around 6 months and no answers except for this thank you dr. K great video helped me out a lot
People get mad about everything until they're the one experiencing it.
Can you make a video on Fibromyalgia?
This has got to be one of the most important videos on the internet. As someone with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) this hits home so hard.
THIS!! It plagued me for years
PMDD isn't psychosommatic, if you get a hysterectomy the pmdd is gone and the surgeon didn't surgically remove the psyche in that process. PMDD has treatment options, please seek help from a gyn who has experience on it.
@@lucheeese According to Wikipedia PMDD is psychosomatic but surgery is a possible treatment. Don't know how that works
@@mehdihatami3391 it's hormonal and literally only in the luteal phase
Awesome video.
"Don't give up hope". Might sound silly, but I really needed to hear this rn.
All illnesses are psychosomatic. The problem is that if you experience great stress you are more prone to all ( auto-immune) diseases, while doctors actually treat it as a disqualifying factor. Growing up in poverty, losing a parent etc… anyway. My ‘psychosomatic’ illnesses turned out to be very somatic. I do believe, however, that the genes for these illnesses were all triggered during periods of stress. Maybe, had I ever received proper healthcare, my “psycho” somatic illnesses would not have progressed into permanent damage.
Pretty sure i could be this guys biggest case study.
Thanks for all of this, Dr. K-I'm a health and CBT coach (clinical med and psych background) and this is so valuable and helps me to make the bridge with my patients. SO many people have crossover/comorbidities-- we gotta keep educating. You're an amazing teacher!
I thought you said the other type of CBT 💀
@@snoozydoozy0what's the other CBT?
@@Glue_Stick98 Look up "CBT Wikipedia"
@@Glue_Stick98 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
@@Glue_Stick98 🐓 & 🏀🏀 Torture 😶
Thank you so much Dr. K for sharing your knowledge with us. I've been suffering from severe depression and anxiety in addition to psychosomatic illness (IBS, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue). I have to admit that I went back through your lecture because as my depression has become slightly better, I realized that most of it didn't sink in the first time around. But it gives me hope that I may be able to do somethings to start feeling better.
someone gave Dr. K the legendary diamond blade harpe and he's just been spazzing.
My older sis has IBS, so this was useful for me to listen to. She also has ADD, fibromyalgia, endometriosis, PCOS (which a doctor thought was gallbladder issues and wrongly removed it), and she seems to have less stomach issues when she avoids gluten, though we don't know if it's a gluten allergy or just an intolerance from her other issues.
SOMEHOW, she manages to work 4.5 days a week and keeps a tidy home with 4 cats, 1 dog, and she cooks for her bf. Idk how she powers through every day but it's amazing.
I can agree with psychosomatic illnesses usually coming from trauma/abuse, as we came from the same messy upbringing and I have had issues with anxiety, panic attacks, and depression for years. I used to have stomach issues before school/work, but it has calmed down in recent years.
The body and brain are definitely connected!
Your sister sounds amazing! The systems involved in those things are quite complex, and I love this video for helping dig into the systems involved. I also noticed that the particular diagnoses you mentioned she has are often comorbid with the Hypermobility spectrum too. Reading up on Hypermobility and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome might be very interesting to her. 😊
You are genius! 🎉And a good teacher. It is so kind and generous of you to share your knowledge in a way that we can all understand. We need to know this stuff for ourselves and our loved ones. I wish all the doctors and counselors knew this too. The mind and body and spirit connection is so intertwined and you explain it so well. I thank you and I will listen to this whole seminar again. It seems that we should all buy very expensive tickets to hear this kind of seminar. Thank you, Professor!
Thank you for this perspective.
The greatest pain my mind ever caused me was to feel responsible/at fault for having ibs, anxiety and depression.
This is another where I'm the polar opposite. I have psychosomatic IBS, and the whole point is I can say I have a bad stomach and no one cares. I ignore it til the point I shit blood and I'm looking for external approval is that sick enough? I go to the doctor and literally tell him, "there's so much blood it's like my period is coming out my asshole". I was told if stress is the cause just stop being stressed and then charged me $300 (with insurance).
That ending...."Good Luck", ironically perfect, after finally hearing a doctor, a psychiatrist amazingly, being honest about the complexity of some illnesses and that we don't actually know all that much, it was a breath of fresh air to be wished luck, because we certainly will need it. But seriously, it's gonna take me a while to settle down after hearing a psychiatrist talking about yoga, meditation and diet. Maybe there is still hope for the profession. Thank you for this lecture, it has confirmed a few things which I had figured out for myself.
Love this presentation. In Ayurveda: heavy metals are not given, but rather in the form of a Bhasma where the original properties of certain metals have been transformed. Not accessible in the US. I especially appreciate your recommendation of asana.🙏🏻
So bhasma is homeopathy?
I can relate with how youre introducing yoga because yesterday, i feel like im not thinking a lot when im in public, outdoor, seeing plants, coordinating my body to support myself during this weird vehicle ride in the philippines called tricycle.
The problem is defining the extent that psychology plays into any illness which is almost always based on a fallacy of ignorance as opposed to any direct evidence. In other words, I was once diagnosed with somatization disorder for what was later diagnosed by a neurologist as probably small fiber neuropathy. If anyone is not familiar with small fiber neuropathy it is literally a neuropathy of the nerves that transmit pain and temperature and is only confirmed by biopsy which means that naturally the pain (which is about as excruciating as pain comes) is out of proportion with the findings (of which there are none unless you do a biopsy which is rarely done). Just one example of how a fallacy of ignorance essentially becomes a tool for medical gaslighting. CFS is another great example as many of the prominent research centers such as Stanford operate on the hypothesis that it is driven by low level neuroinflammation or even low grade viral infection, though this is almost impossible to directly measure in living humans and is a well known limitation of infectious disease research.
Any disease including cancer can be said to have a psychological component. But medicine needs to be careful how much of an influence it’s ascribes to psychology because it is nearly impossible to tests those hypotheses and it is a great way to cause distrust in patients. Mental health should always be a component of disease care and if it helps the physical symptoms that’s great. But I question the need for defining illnesses as “psychosomatic” when a clear etiology isn’t known.
Right on.
I am going through really rough time at the moment and I really appreciate the HealthyGamer content. I am so devistated but I've never seen so much hope in such dark times. Thank you from all of my heart.
All the best to you... keep fighting don't give up... :)
Keep going ❤
Thank you for sharing this! As someone who works as a PA previously in Hospitalist Medicine and now in Psychiatry and Geriatrics, this is very helpful with understanding pathophysiology of so many illnesses that are so perplexing and it really helps to be able to break this down/be affirming to patients who are struggling so they can recover and know that their experience is real. I really appreciate the work that you do, Dr. K!
The whole argument around psychosomatic illnesses seems to stem less from what is scientifically understood and more from what is culturally acceptable.
You are seriously refreshing!!! Fucking love this!
I hate it when any damn physician says (well re-up take goes up/down) without ALSO saying, "therefore this hormone/neurotransmitter goes up/down") because the whole 'reuptake goes down' makes it that much harder for the layman/patient to understand mechanistically what is going wrong!!!
this is basically a meme at this point, but i was *just* at the doctor’s office talking about my chronic pain/fatigue, systemic inflammation, IBS, and potential fibromyalgia. this video is helpful for understanding more about this very complex and important subject, thanks!
If you've been fatigued for over six months and don't meet the criteria for fibromyalgia, look into chronic fatigue syndrome. Because many doctors are ignorant of it, I recommend learning about it yourself and seeking a support group if you believe you have CFS.
@@MichaelNerman I've had CFS before fybromyalgia but unsure if it's still the me muscle pain fatigue
Check out you don't have Asperger's ADHD hypomobility I have all these didn't no until my son's diagnosis check out Dr lenz ADHD fybromyalgia connection if so the clue hypomobility
@@Truerealism747: To me, the telltale sign of ME/CFS is post-exertional malaise. I don't know tons about FM, but if you get tired from exerting yourself (even 24-48 hours later), and don't recover with rest, you've likely got ME/CFS.
@@MichaelNerman but I've had that from birth bas when I was born I slept 23 hrs a day but it really put it's game at 17 when u broke my tailbone but now it's more muscle pain had so many symptoms over last 26 years yes pem been bad but ldn has helped that and minerals today though been bad fatigue day but it's pain worst for me now with fatigue second.ribbose helps fatigue though
The very idea that there is a meaningful division separating “physical” and “psychological” is so wrong. Often it seems like the only purpose of such a distinction is to dismiss things modern physiology does not yet understand. To someone neurodivergent like me, its extremely obvious that there is no teal dividing line between “physical” and “mental”.
correct.
My knees started swelling and locking in place for hours at a time to the point where I had to get around hopping on whichever leg was better that day. This lasted weeks, and doctors had no idea what was wrong. I left my abusive parent's home not long after and it all went away. 15 years later and it has never happened since.
I had pylori and had really bad episodes of vomiting and whatnot. Every doctor I saw told me I had IBS and I was like I used to have that when I was younger and this doesn't feel like that!!! And I finally had an endoscopy and got my antibiotics. A doctor even told me I was bulimic for god's sake.
In my experience dr say "psychosomatic" when they have no clue what is wrong with you.
Definitely true and it is so unscientific to say something is imaginary when you can’t find an easy explanation yet it’s standard medical practice. Psychosomatic can be a death sentence for people with anything hard to spot because once they are labeled nobody is going to take the time to order more tests because they presume they will only be wasting their time. The irony is the mental damage that being labeled psychosomatic can do is so huge especially when you don’t accept it because you know something is wrong but when everyone else is pretty much laughing you out of their office, it’s like torture and only the very strongest can survive it without giving in to the gaslighting of literally everyone else around them.
You are exactly right. Unfortunately this kind of malpractice is extremely common. I'm very glad you were eventually helped.
At least one person in the comments figured this out. I was losing hope in humanity while reading the other comments. In reality there is no existing evidence for any of the "psychosomatic diseases", just absence of evidence which is then reinterpreted and relabeled in order to not embarrass the medical profession. In comparison to mathematics, physics and chemistry and even biology the vast majority of medicine and psychology/psychiatry are intellectually lazy and not following scientific principles.
Doctors: correlation doesn't equate causation
Also doctors: do you have stomach problems and previous trauma?
Interstitial cystitis, pelvic pain, fibro…all started from injuries/infections but stayed chronic because of psychosomatic issues. At their worst, i DID need meds to keep working. Once i figured out the mind body connection, the thing that helped me most was regular exercise and not catastrophizing or over analyzing.
Absolutely healing just from understanding the process of the mind and it’s answered much of my chronic pain- my mind forced me to go onwards without processing traumas-
Thx. I'm coping with some kind of chronic fatigue syndrom (three years at least, but even getting a diagnosis is rather difficult), and are sent from doctor to doctor. Those with a somatic background just claim it's a purely psychatric problem (preferably "it's a depression") and thus they can't help me. My psychatrist meanwhile can only send me back to somatic experts, because the psychological front is not the main culprit and under control.
It's so frustrating, and honestly: it's the ignorance by many doctors I encounter is sometimes more depressing than the disease itself.
I have a similar issue. I’ve had chronic fatigue for years, since I was a teenager. But there’s nothing physically wrong with me, sleeping disorders were ruled out, and I’m not depressed (according to my therapist). Yet I’m so tired all the time. It is relentless. But no one has an answer as to what is wrong.
I hope you find some solutions that work for you, or at least a health professional that will truly listen.
@@chelseatomkowiak4207 My GP does listen, but he doesn't like the CFS diagnostic. He got a point though, for many doctors this is just another way to say: I can/don't want to help you. Still I need to somehow get a diagnosis, as this is required for anything following.
My current approach is to listen carefully to my body, and hit the brakes at the slightest signal. Which is pretty hard for me, as I've got a duracel bunny temperament. Honestly, I think it'smostly a waiting game, until research has found a way to identify and maybe even cure CFS.
Since when is POTS psychosomatic???
Since it's either caused *_or aggravated_* by a mental factor such as internal conflict or stress.
anything is aggravated by stress @@Idazmi7
its strongly tied to iron deficiency, which then secondarily causes dysregulation of the nervous system.
Psychiatrists often ignore that physical and neurodevelopmental illnesses can easily cause "psychiatric" symptoms
@@croissant4131 yep, very true, i grew up with iron deficiency and a few years back I descovered I have Ehlers-Danlos Dermatosparaxis, which safe to say makes everything collagen based go downhill, POTS is also a big part of it and frequent comorbidity, so is mast cell activation that can be considered psychosomatic but more often than not they have a clear physical underlying condition that is usually never looked for, as rare diseases/syndromes are.
Think horses not zebras, but sometimes it is a zebra 🥴
This feels like a cheat code to learning this all.
Brilliant Presentation!
Pots, ins, ppmd and cfs here
I've had anxiety since my teens, thanks to a really narc father. Got burnout from doing both retail and engineering studies in 2018. Graduated just on the start of the pandemic, and the only job i managed to get was from the same place i burned out. I tried for a year to do my job but the ever increasing demands and even kind of getting isolated from other workmates by doing webstores pickups i started to show signs of fibromyalgia. It felt like you had the flue but with only having your body be really sore and it would flare up even worse as the stress increased.
Quit that shit five months ago. I'd rather be poor and healthy than grind the fuck out my mind and body for pennies and disrespect. Fuck retail.
All of my illnesses that are now finally diagnosed as physical illnesses, after id been saying it for years and years, were labelled "psychosomatic" by psychs before and dismissed.
difficulty urinating due to a urethral stricture, neck and back pain due to polyradiculopathy on 10 nerve roots, tinnitus tied to an ASD (im a woman..) that i got perpetually gaslit on and only got tested for at 22 after i paid out of pocket and found the testing place myself, headaches due to familial hemiplegic migraine, Digestive issues due to Intestinal methanogen overgrowth (ok that one is complicated, but theres no utility to treating it as psychosomatic, and no treatment is received that way).
all of that had been labelled as "psychosomatic", and ignored.
4 of of these could have been diagnosed with a single test, and my diagnosis was delayed by 6 whole years, and i had to pay all of it out of pocket.
This long term dismissive treatment has left me with a complex bundle of medical trauma that builds upon my previous trauma that i sought help for from psychs in the first place. Had i never sought help from psychs, id be less traumatised than i am now, they did not help with trauma, but did cause me more trauma.
This label is of such a nature (unfalsibiable) that its so damagimg it shouldnt even be used, because it systemically _prompts_ patient dismissal and unserious treatment. It is often used as a euphemism for "hypochondriasis" as well.
Just no.
In reality there are no real distinction between "psychosomatic" and "physical" because your brain is a physical organ, as is your gut. None of that actually really makes sense. All that remains is that strong dismissal potential
I hear you. The tendency of the medical field to neglect physical reality and biological causes of illnesses is astonishing. I wonder if it's some sort of post-modernist mind-over-matter ideology or if it goes all back to Rousseau and Spinoza. Psychology is the death of science-based medicine. Astrology does even less harm.
My concern will the notion that illness is psychosomatic is this. Many doctors call it psychosomatic without investigating, especially concerning absominal issues. My brother and sister almost had ruptured appendix because no investigation was done until they had high fever. I went with abdominal problems until I found out peppers were from the nightshade family. I'm allergic to tomatoes which are nightshades. Once I stopped eating peppers, my stomach problems cleared. I'd been told all my life my stomach problems were psychosomatic.
Investigate first.
That's my concern - especially for women, trans, and nonbinary people. Our pain often just gets brushed to the side and we're told to go to therapy when some of us actually have real solvable time sensitive health issues that are just harder to diagnose. It took years for me to get diagnosed with biliary chronic pancreatitis and it was only until I became jaundiced that anyone took me seriously. By then, permanent damage to my pancreas as well as damage to my liver was already done.
He gets so exited about the details love it !
Dr. Szasz once called all mental distresses are problems with living...
Yeah, often i feel like doctors say its all psychosomatic if they don't care to think long enough what the actual problem could be.
Are eating disorders considered psychological? How about compulsive behavior?
17:53 in favor of social support, it is worth mentioning that "having someone to take care of you after surgery, and preferably a network" is one criteria that is actually evaluated when considering if that patient is a good candidate for treatment
Thank you so much for having these long videos on youtube. Playing them in the background really helps when I am trying to study or get school work done,
Is stuttering a psychosomatic illness?
I have ignored my GI symptoms my entire life because I refuse to be officially diagnosed with IBS. If I were ever to get a serious illness, I wouldn't know the difference unless I collapsed completely
get a lactulose breath test
I was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder by a neurologist specializing in epilepsy in 2014. Two years ago I ended up in the ER with a separate issue. The stress from that issue caused me to have a seizure in the ER. When I finally came to I had a nurse standing over my bed yelling at me that I was faking and to stop it. Literally had to beg her to bring up my medical records and do some research. Even told her my diagnosis. She told me that FND isn't real, that I'm a faker, that I made it all up for attention. Now I'd rather risk death than to back to the ER
Damn, that speech at the end was whole TED talk.
'If you want to heal your body, you HAVE TO HEAL YOUR BODY!'
shame this video didnt come out three years ago
This genuinely means so much to me as someone who has been struggling with this most of my adult life. This is the first comprehensive video about psychosomatic illness I've seen and God, it is such a breath of fresh air. All the thanks and blessings to Dr K and the team.💗💗💗