PTSD Fatigue, PTSD Exhaustion, and Extreme Tiredness

Written by Roland Bal

I think PTSD fatigue and exhaustion is one of the most common symptoms accompanying post-trauma; to be utterly exhausted, tired, fatigued, not having the will or the energy to do anything, and especially so after a triggering activation, when one’s story, accompanying emotions, and adrenaline get going. It saps the very life force and can take days to become fully renewed, only to be wasted yet again, in a heartbeat.

Suffering PTSD is cyclic: trigger sensitivity or dissociative behavior might increase, leading to more withdrawn periods of reclusiveness, making it harder to connect again to one’s self and others.  So it goes on and on, cyclically, until attended to.

PTSD Fatigue, PTSD Exhaustion as a Symptom of Trauma

It is not uncommon for people living with PTSD to develop ME or fatigue syndrome over time. It is one of the major symptoms accompanying PTSD, as are migraines, fibromyalgic pains, irritable bowel syndrome, depressed immune system, and inflammation.

PTSD fatigue, tiredness, lethargy, and exhaustion can manifest in different forms. It can vary from a flat-out draining attack related to what you are dealing with and suffering from, to a lingering, sullen, but persistently pervasive, exhausted state.

I think PTSD fatigue and exhaustion is one of the most common symptoms accompanying post-trauma; to be utterly exhausted, tired, fatigued, not having the will or the energy to do anything, and especially so after a triggering activation, when one’s story, accompanying emotions, and adrenaline get going. 

The cause of the draining attack is obvious; your flight/fight mechanism has kicked in through a triggering event, and after it has run its course, you will have to pick up the pieces and attempt to build yourself up again as best as you can.

Besides a triggering activation, there’s a lot of energy invested in keeping a traumatic state steadily static, and this is held mostly at an unconscious level.  It is this manifestation of PTSD that leads to the persistently exhausted state.

Rupture of Boundaries and the Nervous System Responses

Post-Traumatic Stress is a maladaptive pattern which was formed in response to an overwhelming experience or period in your life. It breaches your boundaries, healthy containment, and sense of self because you were unable to adjust and integrate the experience and feelings at the time that they occurred.

Feelings and sensations generally manifest through the body. When we judge a sensation or feeling as “good” or “bad” it becomes emotionally polarized and tends to become cyclic, unsteady, and pathological. This inevitably happens when you go through a traumatic experience or period in life.

Emotion residing in the body creates tension, and creates “knots” or concentric tension in body tissue. Emotions affect primarily the nervous and endocrine systems, and organs; from there, the effects travel to the muscular-skeletal system where pain first occurs due to the body’s enervation. These “knots” or “cysts” in the body are holding the emotion, as though frozen, and with deep traumas or early life trauma, they even store the memory of the original, pervasive event.

The Body as Container and the Price to be Paid

The body-mind keeps these emotional tensions–these energy cysts– in place to the best of its ability, at the cost of enormous energy. It might be preferable to choose pain, discomfort, or disease instead of coming to close to the sensation of the overwhelming helplessness in the face of the traumatic residue.

The remainder of your available energy has to compensate for keeping a traumatic state, with accompanying body tensions in place, which can result in lethargy, depression, tiredness, fatigue, ME and many other conditions and diseases.

How are you dealing with PTSD fatigue and exhaustion? Leave your comments below.

• Do you want to reduce anxiety, hyper-vigilance, and being “ON” alert constantly?
• Do you want to move out of a dissociated, fatigued and depressed state?
• Do you want to work with anger and reestablishing boundaries?
• Are you interested in sleeping better, having better relationships, and being able to live a normal life?

I have created The Trauma Care Audio Guided Meditations which address the most fundamental insights into the processes of trauma and dissociation and how you can work through them.