I've just read a remarkable book: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk. I wrote about it here on wmtc. I highly recommend it.
Van der Kolk writes convincingly about the link between PTSD and health. With the brain in a constant or prolonged state of emergency, the body reacts in many predictable ways. When he lists the health issues that are associated with PTSD, fibromyalgia is always high on the list.
He also writes of several "pathways to healing," and has a lot of strong evidence of the positive effects of EMDR. As is often the case, this information came to me at the right time. I suddenly feel ready and willing to take another step.
I'm going to try EMDR. Perhaps I will be able to reduce my symptoms through this noninvasive technique.
I now live in a very small town in a remote area. We have basic medical care here, but we lack most specialist care. I felt discouraged, thinking that I've made this decision, and now won't be able to find a practitioner. To my surprise, there are many not far away! Not in our town or region, but in the closest urban centre (well, urban-ish). That's about three hours away, but that'd doable.
(Funny how that now seems like no big deal! It helps that it's a beautiful drive through the woods, with mountain views -- not three hours on the 401 or I-95.)
Right now we are all on COVID-19 lock-down, but when the pandemic is over, I am going to contact some EMDR practitioners.
Treatment and Health Update
I haven't changed any of my medications or supplements, with two small exceptions.
After we relocated, the Fibroplex (which I wrote about here) became prohibitively expensive. I was able to find the ingredients separately, and have been taking those. This is a good sign -- it means more people are aware of the positive effects of malic acid. You can find malic acid as "magnesium malate". I'm taking that plus a high-potency B-complex vitamin, and it seems to have the same effect.
I also stopped taking Exhilarin, for the same reason -- Metagenics products became too expensive after we relocated.
We've lived in our new location more than a year, and my quest for better fitness has been two steps forward, one step back, as I battle a series of mysterious injuries to my wobbly joints.
On the positive side, I am feeling much better from simply doing less.
I will report back about the effect, if any, of EMDR on my symptoms. I'll write about my experiences with EMDR in more depth on my main blog, if you are interested. Those posts will be tagged with "ptsd".
