Anyway, thanks to a doctor who I learned to trust and my therapist I worked through a number of health issues that were causing long term pain; a pain that sat underneath my anxiety and depression and made it "sing" in agony. In the space of about 8 months I had:
- - an endoscopy/gastroscopy which discovered a stomach ulcer - treated
- 2 wisdom teeth removed under general anaesthetic which were constantly getting infected and reaching into my ear and sinus
- a bupoma (a benign cyst) the size of a golf ball under the edge of my left shoulder blade which would ache almost constantly, especially at night - surgically removed
- a hernia correction
My doctor was concerned by my capacity to tolerate pain. Dissociation 'protected' me for so many years but then it kept me from help to which everyone is entitled. Thankfully I am much more sensitive to pain and much more responsive to reducing it and getting it diagnosed.
I wouldn't have been able to do it all without my therapist to listen. I now have a voice around my medical health which is an intense relief. Also, without the combination of painful ailments I have had a few subsequent breakthroughs and reprieves in my mental health.