How 2 Heal

When we have trauma, it impacts our appetite and what and how we eat. This has a direct effect on our stomach, intestines and all of our gastrointestinal system (GI tract). Having trauma
decreases the ability of your body to digest food, and may change the kind of foods you want to eat. You may have no appetite, or it may be that all you want is something with a lot of salt and sugar. You might take a bite of your favorite food and just not want it. It's important to get enough calories in, especially if you are healing from a physical wound. When you have a wound, you need twice as much protein as you would normally take in and the equivalent of one extra meal per day in calories. 

Eating is hard when you have trauma, but eating high protein calorie snacks during the day like an extra egg, some chicken or a protein shake can be all you need to give your body the nutrition it needs to heal.

One really simple way to help you settle your stomach and have a better time eating is to use natural remedies. Ginger and Peppermint are helpful ways to soothe your GI track. They are easy to take as tea or candy.  Eating small, frequent (5-6 times per day) high-calorie snacks can make the most of what you are able to eat at any one time. Protein shakes can add helpful nutrients as well. 

Finally, adding foods that are high in magnesium, or taking a magnesium supplement, can help regulate your GI tract and avoid the constipation that can come after receiving pain medications in the hospital.

If you have trauma, it is like your body won’t stop sending an alarm signal up to your brain to be on high alert.  This can make it very difficult to fall asleep.  Pain, discomfort, and worry can also make it hard to stay asleep.  The thing is, sleep is one of the most important ways your body and mind restore themselves and heal. There are many things you can do to help yourself fall asleep and stay asleep. You can start by practicing sleep hygiene.  That means turning off your phone, turning off the lights, not looking at screens, and doing your best to have a quiet or calming sound when its time for bed. As you prepare to sleep, you can use lavender oil to help calm yourself by doing five deep breaths in your nose and out of your mouth.  You can take some magnesium to help relax your muscles and calm your nerves.  You can listen to music to relax. Sometimes you need an over the counter supplement like melatonin to help you fall asleep. Even if you can't get a full night's rest at night, you can take naps during the day. Rest is an important part of how we heal.

One of our trauma responses is to freeze, and when our bodies hurt, it can be hard to move.  But movement is one of the best ways to restore our mobility and flexibility. When we move we release positive hormones in our bodies that can help with relaxation and create positive feelings.  In addition, play is a powerful way to help our minds release their trauma.  This can include simple things like a game of tetris, a coloring page, blowing bubbles, or hitting a punching bag. If you are able, walking, and especially walking on paths, can help clear your thoughts and settle your body.  Whatever it is, movement is a powerful way to help release trauma.

After being physically shot or threatened, or even hearing the unbelievable news that someone we love has been lost, we often move automatically through our fight, flight, freeze and fawn
responses. We may feel an overwhelming need to fight back and scream or yell, to run away, be frozen like we are stuck in time, or even take care of everyone around us.

All of those responses are okay and they're understandable. But here's the problem. When you have trauma, your body holds onto those responses and sends those messages to your brain. The messages are interpreted by the emotional centers in your brain that make you feel unpleasant or painful emotions about that trauma. That's when the anger and the sadness can kick in. That information contributes to memories, and those memories can be playing on a loop - like a broken record, bringing you back to the moment of sadness and pain and putting your body into a trauma response over and over again. After someone has been shot, relationships with other people, relationships inside the home, the ability to work and play and enjoy everyday life can be totally disrupted. It is because you have trauma. It's not your fault, and by taking certain steps, you can recognize the way that trauma is showing up in your body and your life, and you can learn how to heal. 

 One simple way to do that is through breathing. Breathing is powerful and can take your body out of that trauma mode and into relaxation mode. This is why we suggest breathing to help
 with sleep. We know that when you take a deep breath, you turn on the opposite of your fight-or-flight response, stimulating what's called your parasympathetic nervous system and helping
 your whole body relax. When you do those things, your mood and energy usually follow.