Although I’ve mentioned the dangers of STD’s in previous letters, there are other effects that I haven’t mentioned. I was reminded of this when a reader wrote “ I was feeling guilty for being ill so often and in pain as areas of my body were not “available”.
You may be sick, ill or feeling run down for a reason. STD’s have ways of making any health concern worse. Your lack of energy, feeling ill and run down may be one of the secondary effects of STD’s.
If you are feeling low energy or sick more often lately, undiagnosed STD’s could be a culprit. The rub is that when you don’t know what to test for, you may not know what’s infected you.
As a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor in Texas, every licensing cycle I’m required to have some hours in STD’s. At times I’ve thought it was redundant, yet the longer I work with affairs, the more I’m reminded of the importance of this issue.
As part of the secondary effects of STD’s guilty feelings for being infected is common. You may view it as your fault despite evidence otherwise. (This is also something in common with many health related issues that interfere with an active sex life.)
Even when the cheater infected you, the guilt has a way of touching your life. There’s a natural tendency for guilt reactions when your body and health let you down.
When your body doesn’t allow you to use your body in ways you’d like or your spouse would like, you may feel that it’s your fault. It could be that something happened earlier in your life that limits what you can do. Even though it happened long ago, you continue punishing yourself for it.
The guilt and self-blame, even for health issues are part of the trauma that comes with an affair. Although you may have thought that trauma is limited to emotional and mental concerns, it also impacts your health.
Health issues also impact trauma. Trauma and health have ways of impacting each other. Getting healthy includes getting tested to know what you’re dealing with.
It also includes doing something about the trauma. Addressing one without the other only puts off a break down of some sorts.
If you are experiencing such symptoms and guilt reactions, you’ll want to consider the video “Overcoming Affair Trauma”.
Resolving the trauma is something important to do in combination with dealing with the health issues.
The trauma video and others are available with membership in the support community at Restored Lifestyle. You’ll also have access to the support forums and special resources.
Best Regards,
Jeff
