The 8 Physical Symptoms That Prove You’re Not Crazy, You’re Traumatized

(And what your doctor keeps missing about why nothing’s working)

Your doctor is wrong. Your therapist is wrong. You’re not just anxious. You’re traumatized. And your body is keeping the receipts.

You’re high functioning. You show up. You close deals, manage teams, pay your bills, answer emails. From the outside, you’re fine.

But your body is screaming.

Your chest gets tight for no reason. Your stomach knots before normal conversations. You’re exhausted but wired. You can’t focus even though you used to be sharp as hell.

And everyone keeps telling you it’s stress. Or anxiety. Or maybe you should try yoga.

But here’s what nobody’s saying: Your body is reacting to psychological warfare that your mind hasn’t fully processed yet.

I know because I spent years thinking I was broken. Thought I had some mysterious illness. Saw doctors who ran tests that came back normal. Got told it was all in my head.

Turns out, it was. Just not the way they meant.

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What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You (Because They Don’t Fucking Know)

You’ve probably heard:

• “It’s just stress”

• “Have you tried meditation?”

• “Your bloodwork is normal”

• “Maybe you need anxiety medication”

Here’s what they’re missing: These aren’t anxiety symptoms. They’re threat response symptoms. And treating them like mental illness instead of nervous system dysregulation is why nothing’s working.

Your body isn’t broken. It’s responding exactly how it’s supposed to when it learned that calm equals dangerous.

When you survive sustained psychological abuse, whether it’s from a narcissist, a toxic workplace, a manipulative therapist, or a fucked up family system, your nervous system doesn’t just bounce back. It stays on high alert. It keeps protecting you from threats that aren’t actively happening anymore.

And it shows up in your body in ways that make you feel insane.

Here are the 8 physical symptoms that aren’t random. They’re proof your nervous system is still fighting a war that’s technically over.

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Symptom 1 of 8: Your Heart Races When Nothing Is Wrong

You’re sitting at your desk. No deadline. No crisis. No reason for your heart to be pounding.

But it is.

What’s actually happening: Your nervous system learned that calm moments can turn dangerous instantly. So it doesn’t let you relax. It keeps you in a state of readiness because the last time you felt safe, the rug got pulled.

The tactical response: This isn’t anxiety you need to medicate away. This is a nervous system pattern you need to interrupt. When your heart starts racing, don’t try to calm down. Name it out loud. “My body thinks there’s danger. There isn’t. I’m safe right now.”

Then do something physical. Push against a wall for 10 seconds. Squeeze your fists tight and release. Give your body a task that proves you’re in control.

Your nervous system doesn’t believe in peacetime. It only knows war and waiting for the next war.

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Symptom 2 of 8: You’re Exhausted But Can’t Sleep

You’re so tired you could cry. But the second you lie down, your brain lights up like a goddamn casino.

What’s actually happening: Your nervous system doesn’t trust sleep. Sleep is vulnerable. Sleep is when bad things happened before. So even though you’re exhausted, your body won’t let you shut down.

I spent two years averaging four hours of sleep a night. Thought I had insomnia. Turns out, my body was protecting me from the version of unconsciousness where I couldn’t fight back.

The tactical response: Stop fighting for sleep. Start building safety signals. Same bedtime routine every night. Lock your door and check it. White noise. Weighted blanket. Your body needs proof that this environment is safe before it’ll let you rest.

And if you can’t sleep, get up. Don’t lie there spiraling. Read something. Do something boring. Reset and try again.

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Symptom 3 of 8: Your Stomach Is a Disaster

Nausea. Diarrhea. Acid reflux. IBS symptoms that come out of nowhere.

You’ve been to gastroenterologists. Changed your diet. Tried elimination protocols. Nothing fixes it.

What’s actually happening: Your gut is directly wired to your nervous system. When your brain perceives threat, your digestive system shuts down. Blood flow redirects to your muscles so you can run or fight.

When you live in sustained stress or trauma, your gut never gets the signal that it’s safe to digest properly.

The tactical response: This isn’t about food. This is about threat response. Before you eat, take three deep breaths. Tell your body it’s safe to digest. Eat slowly. Chew thoroughly.

And stop eating while you’re working or scrolling. Your body can’t digest when it thinks it needs to perform or protect.

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Symptom 4 of 8: You Get Sick All the Goddamn Time

Colds. Infections. Weird illnesses that knock you out for days.

You used to have a strong immune system. Now you catch everything.

What’s actually happening: Chronic stress tanks your immune system. When your body is constantly producing cortisol and adrenaline to keep you alert, it deprioritizes immune function.

You’re not weak. You’re running on a nervous system that’s been in overdrive for months or years.

The tactical response: You can’t think your way out of this. Rest is not optional. Sleep, water, and actual downtime are survival tools, not luxuries.

And stop pushing through. Every time you ignore your body’s signals, you teach it that you won’t listen. Eventually, it has to scream louder.

You’re not weak. You’re running a marathon while everyone else thinks you’re standing still.

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Let Me Say This Clearly

If a doctor, therapist, or well-meaning friend has ever told you “it’s all in your head” when your body is screaming at you, they were wrong.

Not wrong like “different opinion” wrong.

Wrong like “fundamentally misunderstanding how trauma works” wrong.

Your symptoms are real. Your body is reacting to something that actually happened. And the fact that other people can’t see the threat doesn’t mean your nervous system is lying.

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Symptom 5 of 8: You Can’t Focus Like You Used To

Brain fog. Forgetting words. Losing track mid sentence. Staring at a screen for 20 minutes without retaining a thing.

You think it’s ADHD. Or early onset dementia. Or proof you’re losing your edge.

What’s actually happening: Your brain is allocating resources to threat detection, not executive function. When your nervous system thinks there’s danger, your prefrontal cortex (the part that does planning, focus, and decision making) gets less blood flow.

I failed my CFP exam three times before I got diagnosed with ADHD. Turns out, it wasn’t just ADHD. It was unprocessed trauma scrambling my working memory.

The tactical response: Stop expecting yourself to perform at the same level while your nervous system is this dysregulated. Break tasks into smaller chunks. Use timers. Work in sprints. Give yourself permission to be less sharp right now without making it mean you’re broken forever.

And get assessed. ADHD and trauma symptoms overlap, but the treatment paths are different.

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Symptom 6 of 8: Everything Feels Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Much

Lights are too harsh. Sounds are too loud. Textures bother you. Being in public feels overwhelming.

You used to be fine in crowds. Now you need to leave early or avoid them entirely.

What’s actually happening: Sensory overload is a trauma response. When your nervous system is hypervigilant, it can’t filter stimuli effectively. Everything gets processed as potentially dangerous.

The tactical response: This isn’t weakness. This is overstimulation. Lower the stimuli when you can. Sunglasses indoors. Noise canceling headphones. Fewer social obligations.

And stop forcing yourself to “be normal.” Your nervous system needs less input right now, not more exposure therapy.

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Symptom 7 of 8: You Startle Easy

Someone walks up behind you and you nearly jump out of your skin. A door slams and your whole body tenses.

You’re constantly on edge, waiting for the next thing to go wrong.

What’s actually happening: Hypervigilance. Your nervous system is scanning for threats constantly. It’s exhausting. And it makes you react to neutral stimuli like they’re dangerous.

The tactical response: You can’t will yourself to relax. But you can discharge the energy. After you startle, shake it out. Literally. Shake your hands, roll your shoulders, move your body. Don’t let the adrenaline sit.

And let people know. “Hey, I startle easy right now. Just give me a heads up before you walk up.” You don’t owe them the why. But giving them the heads up helps.

Hypervigilance isn’t paranoia when the danger was real.

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Symptom 8 of 8: You Hurt Everywhere

Tension headaches. Jaw pain from clenching. Neck and shoulder pain. Back pain. Muscle aches with no clear cause.

Your body feels like it’s holding weight you can’t put down.

What’s actually happening: Chronic muscle tension from being in fight or flight for too long. Your body is braced. All the time. Even when you’re sitting still.

I didn’t realize how tense I was until my new therapist pointed out that I was clenching my jaw through entire sessions. I thought that was just how my face worked.

The tactical response: Stretching won’t fix this. You need to release the stored tension. Progressive muscle relaxation works. Tense each muscle group hard for 5 seconds, then release. Start with your fists and work through your whole body.

Massage helps. So does heat. But the real fix is discharging the stuck energy your body has been holding.

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The Real Reason You Need to Pay Attention

If you recognized yourself in three or more of these symptoms, your body has been trying to tell you something for months. Maybe years.

And every time you ignored it, minimized it, or pushed through it, you taught your nervous system that you won’t listen until it screams louder.

These symptoms aren’t random. They’re not signs you’re weak or broken or losing it.

They’re proof your body did its job. It kept you alive through something that was genuinely threatening. And now it’s still protecting you, even though the threat is gone.

You’re not crazy. You’re traumatized. And your body is telling the truth your mind might still be trying to minimize.

The good news? Your nervous system can learn safety again. But you have to stop treating these symptoms like they’re the problem. They’re the messenger.

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What You Need to Do Right Now

Stop calling yourself dramatic. Stop apologizing for being “too much.” Stop forcing yourself to function like someone who isn’t carrying the weight of survival in their nervous system.

Pick one symptom from this list. Just one. And try the tactical response for a week.

Don’t try to fix everything at once. Your nervous system didn’t get dysregulated overnight. It won’t regulate overnight either.

But every time you respond to your body with understanding instead of shame, you’re rewiring the pattern.

And forward this to someone who needs to see it.

Because the people in your life who are suffering these symptoms? They think they’re going crazy. They think they’re weak. They think something is fundamentally wrong with them.

They need to know the truth: Their body is telling the truth. The rest of the world just isn’t listening.

—Cody Taymore

Kill The Silence

You’re not broken. You’re just still in the war even though the battle ended.

And it’s time to tell your body it can stand down.

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If you recognized yourself in these symptoms, someone you know is suffering through them right now too. Send them this. Let them know they’re not crazy. They’re just still healing from something that actually happened.

This is Kill the Silence. Where I write about surviving psychological warfare without losing your edge. Subscribe for weekly tools that actually work.