A couple of years ago, I started experiencing chest pain, sometimes acutely, while refereeing high school soccer matches. After 6 months of EKG, heart cath and specialist testing, it was determined I had acid reflux. As my cardiac specialist put it, you are in excellent cardiac health for a 40yo but you need a stomache doc and to lose about 15-20 lbs.

About last April, shortly after being contacted by my sister which brought my CSA events closer to being recalled from suppression, I experienced an eye injury that refused to heal. At one visit to the emergency room for pain, my blood pressure was logged at 190/120. It was chalked up to the pain, which was extreme. Fairly heavy doses of painkillers were only moderately effective. Finally during a period of relative calm, I experienced excruciating headaches after which the nurse at my doctors office suggested I stop by a pharmacy to verify my blood pressure wasn’t high. I tested at 190/140. I called the nurse and said I knew that was high, should I come into the doctor’s office. Her reply was to stay away because she didn’t want me having a stroke there. She told me to go to the ER. I got there and the intake girl took my name, asked the reason for my visit. I told her headaches, high blood pressure and the readings. That got me immediately into a nurse who took my blood pressure at 216/146 which got me hooked up to an EKG within ten minutes of my walking in the door. That speaks volumes of the state I was in. I was put on blood pressure medication and monitored for six hours. After weeks, my BP was moderately controlled but still high.
Blood tests also revealed a potential for diabetes. I was given a test meter and went to see a dietician. Further blood work was ordered. We were considering another referral to a specialist. They were going to figure out what was going on. The last year or two a guy who only came in for a broken leg and a cold that should have decked most folks over most of a decade, suddenly became a regular.
Finally, in October, my Johnson refused to stand at attention completely. About the same time, the flashbacks started. During a summer trip to an uncle that I had always remembered for the trip to the place and the weird return trip that resembled an escape from a prison camp, what I suddenly remembered was that my brother and I had been brutally raped and essentially tortured. I eventually told my wife who was supportive, overcoming an urge to run like hell and save the children. I went in to the doctor to discuss medicines and my Erectile Dysfunction. He immediately pulled up the med chart and started considering changes when I told him about the memories. He body language spoke volumes. He didn’t really roll his eyes but he put down the med chart like, OK, meds have nothing to do with this and this explains a hell of a lot. My doc talked me into therapy (if your leg were broke, would you just go home, set it yourself and not seek help?) A subsequent visit at which I requested changes in my meds resulted in a referral to a psychiatrist because the doc, doing what he is ethically required to do, admitted his inexperience and lack of professional competence to deal with my mix of psych needs and meds and said he would recommend only staying the course since my vitals seem stable at this point.

My question is this, my doctors seem to feel my whole runup of medical issues is related to my recovered memories. To be fair to them, they have rule out just about everything except bubonic plague and ebola physically. Is it common and typical for PTSD to cause a run of symptoms as memories somehow simmer closer to surfacing after years of good health?

"(if your leg were broke, would you just go home, set it yourself and not seek help?)"

My own mother would and did when I broke my leg skiing when I was age 12 in 1969, of course she prayed about it, unsuccessfully for 3 days, until my dad forced the issue and called an ambulance.

It is possible that your recovered memories could have a health effect on you, though a blood pressure reading that high is very dangerous, and the nurse was right about it being an emergency. Drug addicts and alcoholics often are in pretty poor health and are much more susceptible to disease or getting sick than is the general population at large. I am not saying that you are a drug addict, but taking lots of pre>

hey catfish thanks for the post. I was 18 when I finally fully recalled what had happened to me many years earlier. My body totally fell apart and I could not stop vomiting for almost two weeks. The mind is incredibly powerful and I would have no trouble believing that your medical troubles stem from what had happened to you in your past. Wishing you well in all phases of your recovery. Pete

I talked with my T about it. He said that the chest pains, stomache problems and blood pressure have long been documented as being involved with PTSD. He is not sure about the difficulty in healing from the eye injury but given the range of effects, it is not improbable.