Muscle Tension Crying Relief

[Johnny_]

Hello everyone, Happy New Year!

im hoping someone can help or share a similar story…I am lost on what to do.

My story, I have been off work due to stress for over 6 months. I had a break down, had severe anxiety and muscle tension. 

I see a physio, psychologist, acupuncture and masseuse apart. 

While my progress is going well…and my anxiety is reducing, I get bad tension in the traps/upper back and in my hamstrings. 

When I get deep tissue massages to relieve this, the next day I go through a period of very intense crying for 24/36hrs. When the crying stops, I do feel much better mentally, like my head is really clear and even the tension feels a little less too.

initially, most of my body was like this and over time it has lessened.

My question, has anyone been through anything like this before? Is there an end? I am determined to beat this.. just a hard day today. 

thankyou for reading. 

[Sophie_M]

Dear Johnny_
 
Welcome to the Beyond Blue forums we are so glad that you have made you way here and had the bravery to post. We want you to know that this is a safe space to discuss your thoughts, feelings and experiences and receive honest responses and suggestions from fellow forum users.
 
We just wanted to let you know that we can hear just how debilitating this is for you and can see the strength and resilience in you to keep moving forward with this.  It's great to hear that you are reaching out for support and strategies too.
 
While you wait for our lovely community members to respond, please know that we are also here 24/7 on 1300 22 4636 or via our Webchat.  Our team who answer the phones are ready to have a supportive and non-judgmental chat whenever you need it.
 
We’re sure to hear from some of our lovely community members here on your thread soon. They’re a really amazing community, and will have understanding, advice and kind words for you.  Thanks again for sharing. It’s a powerful and brave first step towards feeling better.
 
Regards 
 
Sophie M
 

[therising]

Hi Johnny

I'm so glad you're able to find relief in a number of ways from what has been a deeply deeply challenging time in your life. While I've never faced exactly the same set of curious circumstances you face (crying after muscle manipulation), I can relate to a sense of wonder when it comes to how the body ticks in highly unusual ways at times.

I'd heard over the years people speak about how incredibly intelligent the body is yet could never relate to this until I started to wonder why it does what it does at times. For a start, it tends to vent in quite a number of ways. In response to mental and/or physical tension, it will sigh it out, stretch it out, scream it out, cry it out etc. May even lead you to want to work it out at the local gym. While some go to the gym before work to work out that relaxed feeling that we can wake up with in the morning, others go after work based on the gym helping to work out the stress from the day. Either way, the gym involves a 'work out'. No need to go into how the body works out the water and food it takes in after it's pulled all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients it needs. The body's designed to work everything out, every thing it doesn't need or can't function well with.

Sounds like the crying could be a part of the process of venting tension/stress, perhaps triggered by the physical release in your muscles, from the day before. It's said that the body stores tension/stress (aka dis-ease). The crying might actually be helping to speed up the process of release.

Not sure if it'll help and this definitely sounds strange, I know, but if you imagine your body had a voice then the question is what would it being saying to you after the crying. If it's saying something like 'I feel so much more relaxed now (aka exhausted of dis-ease)', then you know the crying is really good for it. I'm glad you're not suppressing such a natural form of venting.

[geoff]

Hello Johnny, can you join a swimming program that physiotherapists perform on a weekly basis and once you have learnt what type of exercises you can do in the pool then you can these by yourself.

Geoff.

Life Member.

[Johnny_]

Hi therising,

Thank you so much for your response, I really appreciate it. Reading your response is exactly what I was hoping to hear.

It just confirms my own thoughts this is actually helping me. Like you said, it sounds strange but I’ve always believed the body is capable of fixing itself.

The built up tension is getting better, it’s just slow. it is def tuff during the crying periods..words can’t describe it.. but I feel so much better afterwards so I guess it time, I will be back to normal and will just feel great.

I have booked in a deep tissue massage every two weeks to release the tension. I release a lot of tears the following day leaving me exhausted but I also get another step forward.

thankyou again. 

[Johnny_]

Hi everyone,

I appreciate everyone’s stories who have posted on theses forums..they have been comforting to me in the time of need so thank you.

My question relates to those physical symptoms everyone gets who has depression. 

I have been dealing with stress / anxiety / depression and even when my head is feeling very clear and my anxiety is low to nil, I still have a lot of muscle tension in my body. It is much better than it was 6 months ago but it still cause me grief all the time. 

I practice meditation, mindfulness, get massages, lay on an acupuncture mat, use heat pad and recently started breath work which is great! I still have this muscle tension though. 

When it gets bad, my anxiety gets worse, I feel lightheaded and generally break down in tears which release some of the tension so I can go about my day as long as the world is not too loud.

id like to know if anyone else gets this? I generally don’t feel depressed but when these symptoms flare up…it certainly pulls me down. I feel like it’s just built up tension that is taking time to remove. Any thoughts would be great. 

thanks for reading .

[David35]

You said when your tensions gets bad, your anxiety gets worse. I found with myself, that the muscle tension in my back was due to anxiety. The worse the anxiety gets, the more tense my back is and the more pain I experience moving around. I'm just wondering if there are underlying issues of stress in your life that could be worth addressing...

Hope this helps.

[Johnny_]

Hi David, 

Thankyou for replaying, I do appreciate it. Yes, there is a large amount of stress in my life atm which I am currently working through. It is getting better too. I did think this is the main cause but doubt it at times when it gets worse. I guess I was looking for some reassurance that I am on the right track and it sounds like I am from what you said. Thank you.