You constantly feel bloated, nauseous, or get stomach pains, and it gets worse when you are anxious or tired. The gut is often called the second brain for a reason. It has its own nervous system called the enteric nervous system, which is directly connected to your brain through the vagus nerve. That means emotional stress directly impacts digestion. When you have been in survival mode for too long, your body shuts down digestion. It stops producing stomach acid, it slows muscle contractions that move food through your gut, your good gut bacteria get thrown off, and suddenly you’re bloated after eating a banana. You feel nauseous for no reason. You get cramps, diarrhea, or constipation that comes and goes without warning. On top of that, most of your serotonin, the hormone that regulates mood, is produced in the gut, so when your gut is inflamed, your mood drops too. It is all connected. If your stomach is constantly off and doctors keep saying it is just stress, they’re not wrong, but they’re not explaining it well either. It is stress that has become biological. It is emotional pain that has gotten stuck in your gut, literally.
Sign 7: Emotional Crashes
Your emotions crash when your energy crashes. Some days you’re okay, you’re functional, then suddenly, out of nowhere, you are weeping or snapping or completely shutting down, and you’re left wondering what even triggered this. Why am I like this? The answer is your energy, or rather, your lack of it. We tend to think emotions are just psychological, but the truth is they’re also deeply physiological. Your brain needs a steady supply of glucose and oxygen to regulate your mood. When your blood sugar drops or even your body is too exhausted to circulate energy well, your mood tanks. It’s like trying to run a software program on a computer with no battery left. That’s why you feel fine one moment and like you are losing it in the next. Your body simply does not have the fuel to keep your emotional stability online. This is why narcissistic abuse survivors can seem so up and down during recovery. It’s not that they are unstable or crazy; it’s that their energy levels are unpredictable. Their body is still trying to find a rhythm that feels safe.
Sign 8: Simple Tasks Feel Impossible
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