We never really imagine our immune systems could be associated with grief. Most of us are still coming to grips with the idea your immune system largely inhabits the GIT (Gastro Intestinal Tract) so what you eat can end up having an impact on your immune system. Could it then be possible for unresolved stress and/or trauma to have a detrimental effect on how your immune system effectively deals with your environment.
Most of us think of grief as that overwhelming feeling associated with the loss of a loved one. Depending on the person this may only last for a short period of time or in rare cases go on for several years. What about the person who experiences the short term grief, then appears to recover and get back to business as usual, yet has not really moved through the grief, instead pushing it down beyond their conscious awareness for it to manifest as another completely unrelated symptom years down the track. Well, my understanding based on my own clinical experience suggest this could be a reasonable hypothesis.
While we are in the middle of the Covid-19 Pandemic and governments are rushing to create a vaccine, why is it that 80 out of every 100 people who are infected with Covid-19 express little to no symptoms.Can the way we think and feel have an effect on how robustly our immune systems deals with pathogens in our environment. Do we catch these so called pathogens or are they with us, cohabiting with us all the time in a synergistic manner until one day our immune system takes a hit and we end up getting sick.
Research suggests that people with depression have increased levels of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones have been associated with many coexisting illnesses such as stroke, cancer, diabetes and arthritis. Hence, it would be reasonable to suggest biochemical changes in a person with unresolved emotional stress or trauma may in fact experience illness associated with a compromised immune system.
Patient X presented to my clinic with several multiple oral ulcerations, fatigue, inability to recover from physical training, SOB during training, several episodes of head cold/flu's in the past 12 months, several doses of antibiotics etc. Investigation revealed at an early age pre-adolescence Patient X suffered an emotional trauma with the death of a dearly beloved pet. During the session when this information was expressed an unexpected wave of emotion enveloped Patient X suggesting they had yet to fully process the death of the pet and demonstrating grief was still present in the system.
In TCM - Traditional Chinese Medicine, grief is associated with the lungs. The lungs are also on the front line of the body's immune system. Energetically speaking, if the energy to the lungs are compromised due to swallowed un-expressed grief then it stands to reason that over the course of many years following the incident the body may choose to express its disharmony and imbalance through the presentation of signs and symptoms above.
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