Triggers aren’t always obvious and your responses to things that remind of abuse may not be what you expect.
Sometimes you feel bad or uneasy without knowing why. Or you feel overwhelmed and sick out of the blue and it disappears as quickly as it appears, leaving you clueless as to what just happened.
Sometimes the trauma response is stored in your body instead of your mind and you don’t even realize you are being triggered.
Here are some physical sensations that may happen when something reminds you of your trauma or when someone’s words/behaviors remind you of your parents’ abuse style:
You may feel sleepy all of a sudden, as though your body is trying to shut down to escape
Your heart rate, blood pressure, pulse, and breathing rate may increase (fight or flight, adrenaline response)
You may feel hot as though you have a fever or you may feel chilled as though the temperature just dropped
Your palms may become clammy or you may sweat
You may shiver or shake, hands becoming unsteady
Your whole body may ache, your joints might stiffen, a random muscle or body part may hurt or twitch or tingle or go numb for no apparent reason, with the pain going away just as randomly
You may feel dizzy or lightheaded, or have a sudden stomachache or feel like you’re going to throw up
Your throat may feel tight, your lips tingling or quivering, you may feel a lump in your throat as though an object you can’t swallow away is lodged firmly in your flesh
You may feel tearful without tears spilling over, or may cry without noticing any particularly strong emotion
Your surrounding sensory stimulation may become suddenly overwhelming out of all proportion to how you normally process sensory input, without you having overexerted yourself or without any buildup in exposure to strong sensory experiences;
for example, you may be at home, relaxed, when there’s an unexpected knock on your door and suddenly you’re too aware of everything around you noticing things you don’t normally and not able to tune things out
Or conversely, you may go numb, your senses dulled, your mind blank every time you talk to a particular coworker
These are not exhaustive but may help you realize other things that are triggers if you pay attention to signals your body is sending you
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