I’m currently dealing with a health issue that’s causing some greater than average physical pain. While this has been going on I feel I’ve been much more well, emotional. I’ll admit in general I do allow myself to feel my emotions however, everything seems to be much more intense right now. To the point of tears at occasionally. So I was wondering if anyone has ever experienced this before or has any insight. Thoughts ?
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Physical and mental pain are closely linked because both are processed in similar areas of the brain. The same brain regions that handle physical pain also respond to emotional suffering, like stress or sadness. Chemicals in the brain, like endorphins and cortisol, play a role in both, connecting the two types of pain. Emotionally painful experiences can make physical pain feel worse, and chronic physical pain can lead to mental health issues like depression. This creates a cycle where each type of pain can make the other harder to manage, showing how interconnected they really are.
Hope this answered your question and I wish you luck with your journey of getting better, anyone can and it is important you never forget to keep going. trust me life is worth so much more!
I feel that they are very interconnected. I find that strong physical pain that goes on for more than three days is exhausting. I suspect that I am constantly tensing muscles against the pain but the tiredness is deeper than that, and then doing any other little thing becomes harder. It’s like all my attention is needed to cope with the pain and I struggle to do other things. Then comes frustration, sadness and irritation and the slide into psychological pain.
Strong physical pain is s treated with anti-depressants too, which makes sense to me.
> So I was wondering if anyone has ever experienced this before or has any insight. Thoughts ?
I’ve experienced it quite a bit, but my situation is a bit outside of normal injury.
Oh yeah, man. My illness is so severe that I just sit in pain all day, every day, feeling an intense sense of tragedy and loss so deep that it makes my gut constantly ache. I’ve had so much attention paid to possible IBS. But it isn’t that. It’s just bad feelin’. My old dad used to say that angry people held their pain in their chest, and that sad people held it in their gut.
They are, and both will make you tired, and being tired will make your physical and emotional pain worse. Break the cycle by any means necessary before it becomes a permanent fixture like mine did.
Meditation can help…
They’re definitely related, some painful conditions can be triggered by stress, and going through a loss or a period of emotional pain can lower your defenses and increase your risk of getting sick.
Absolutely
Absolutely! I’m a hypochondriac for sure and there have been numerous instances where I worked myself up so much I believed I was feeling a physical symptom that wasn’t really there.
Pretty sure they’re two sides on the same coin?
I would recommend reading “The Pain Relief Secret: How to Retrain Your Nervous System, Heal Your Body, and Overcome Chronic Pain” by Sarah Warren if you’re interested in exploring this further. She explains the mechanics and physiology of pain. The whole field of somatics is physical movement to connect, reprocess and release emotions. They are inextricably linked. I hope you feel better soon.
Pain is pain
100%
To explain this, let me share an example from my own life. At the beginning of 2020, I had a serious accident. I ended up with a hairline fracture in my knee, along with ligament damage. My leg was completely in a plaster cast. It was the most severe accident I had ever experienced, and the pain lasted for almost a month. I couldn’t walk properly, and the physical pain started affecting me mentally too.
There were times I felt like I might never fully recover, and I began to lose hope. But then I reminded myself that many people have gone through even worse accidents and still recovered. That thought gave me strength and motivated me to heal faster.
From my experience, I do believe that physical and mental pain are connected. It’s more of a one-way connection—physical pain almost always affects your mental state negatively. On the other hand, mental pain doesn’t usually cause immediate physical effects. However, if mental pain continues for a long time, it can start showing up physically, like through stress-related issues or fatigue. So while the connection may not be direct, it’s definitely there.
I have serious chronic pain issues. I’m on meds for depression anxiety and borderline personality disorder. It’s the feeling of uselessness for me it makes me depressed. The worse my pain gets the worse my mobility gets. Losing my independence is my biggest fear. I see it slowly going away. I have a supportive fiance but I’m just down on bad pain days. The arthritis in my back will one day make my spine unstable and I’ll need surgery the problem is no one knows when. It makes me depressed thinking about it. The meds help I’ve had some therapy. I have learned focusing on the good things I have helps a lot. My kids my grandchild my fiance my cats all make me happy. My dad’s still around and he’s a great grandpa now. I’m visiting my family soon I’m worried about the pain as it’s a long travel time and I have a four hour layover in between flights. I’m doing it for the people who love and support me though and that’s what makes it worth it. Yes pain and mental health go together there are therapists who specialize in chronically ill/pain patients.
Absolutely. Depression can cause physical symptoms. Everything hurts. It’s not imaginary.
There is a book about this that you might find interesting – The Body Keeps Score. It’s written by a psychiatrist.
Overall, this is your body’s way of coping with it
100% I have been beaten, cheated on and all around emotional a physically abused. But nothing could have prepared me for losing my pops. That was a level of pain I’ve never experienced.