Sexual Abuse Can Affect Your Physical Health, Too

Healing your past can help you overcome stomach problems, headaches, and other unexplained ailments.

Sexual abuse—be it recent or years ago—is often linked to mental health problems such as depression and anxiety in the esti­mated one in four women and one in six men who were sexually assaulted before the age of 18.

Now: A growing body of evidence links a history of molestation and/ or rape to a wide variety of physical ailments. 

Problem: Sexual abuse survivors —and their doctors—often don’t re­alize that their medical problems may stem from the abuse. What’s more, many people who were sexu­ally abused are reluctant to mention it to their doctors because they feel shame and anxiety about what hap­pened to them. 

Sexual abuse and poor health

Sexual abuse and other traumatic experiences have been shown to cause unstable levels of the primary stress hormone cortisol, which can persist for years. Chronically elevated levels of cortisol can lead to inflam­mation, a contributing factor in major illnesses such as chronic fatigue syn­drome, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, and even heart disease. Sexual abuse has been identified as a risk factor in asth­ma, hypertension, unwanted pregnan­cy, panic attacks, eating disorders, sleep disturbances, herpes, urinary tract infections, self-injury, and more. Also, sexual abuse survivors have high­er than average rates of drug and al­cohol abuse, tobacco use and risky sexual behavior—all of which can lead to a variety of health problems. Other common physical health ef­fects of sexual abuse… 

Obesity 

Family violence in child­hood, including sexual abuse, has been found to be a risk factor in adult obesity. Unpleasant emotions, chronic stress and eating disorders are thought to be involved. Survivors of sexual abuse may also overeat and become overweight as a form of self-soothing and/or a way of discouraging sexual advances. 

 Headaches

 Even years after sex­ual abuse, survivors may frequently recall the abuse, fear revealing the abuse secret, have nightmares and suffer sexual anxieties—all of which fuel muscular tension and emotional stress that encourage chronic head­aches and migraines. 

In a 2007 study of 161 patients with serious headache problems, a whopping 40% of those who suffered from chronic daily headaches also had a history of sexual and/or physical abuse. About 5% of the general popu­lation have similar headaches. 

Gastrointestinal (GI) disorders

 In clinical settings, women and men who were sexually abused as children are more likely to report GI problems, such as irritable bowel syndrome, ab­dominal pain, diarrhea and nausea, than patients who were not abused. Some studies have found that as many as half of sexually abused women suf­fer from some type of GI symptom. 

In addition, survivors of sexual abuse with GI problems report more medical symptoms, greater general pain, more lifetime surgeries and significantly higher amounts of dis­ability due to the illness than non­sexually abused peers. 

Fibromyalgia

Increasing evidence indicates that women who have been sexually abused are more likely to de­velop fibromyalgia, a syndrome char­acterized by chronic widespread pain, multiple “tender points” on various parts of the body, fatigue, and sleep disturbances. (Fibromyalgia in men who have been sexually abused has not been widely studied.) Ongoing stress and depression related to abuse may impair sensory processing in the central nervous system, causing pain. 

Chronic pelvic pain 

Women who have been sexually abused tend to experience more chronic pelvic pain—50% by some estimates—including painful intercourse. One source of pel­vic pain is vaginismus, a reflexive tightening of the vaginal muscles that can occur—even in loving sexual rela­tionships—as women unconsciously seek to avoid further trauma or pain. Over time, chronically tight vaginal muscles can shrink and atrophy, caus­ing even more sexual difficulties. Male survivors have reported problems with recurrent rectal pain.

What you can do to help protect your health…

1. Don’t ignore your history 

If you are a sexual abuse survivor who is concerned about or experiencing mental health problems, sexual prob­lems and/or unexplained physical ail­ments, seek professional help from a psychologist, counselor or certified sex therapist trained in sexual abuse treatment.

Classic sexual abuse recovery books, such as The Courage to Heal, Victims No Longer and The Sexual Healing Journey, offer healing strat­egies for both women and men. 

Also, investigate sexual abuse sur­vivors’ groups and online resources, such as Adult Survivors of Child Abuse (www.ascaSupport.org), Survivors of Incest Anonymous (www.siawso.org) and the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (www.rainn.org).

2. Speak to your doctor

Talk candid­ly with your physician so that he/she can factor your sexual abuse history into preventive care and the diagno­sis of any health problems. Informed health-care workers can make a spe­cial effort to help you feel safe during invasive exams and procedures, such as Pap smears for women and prostate exams for men. 

3. Be sure to adopt a healthy lifestyle 

Develop daily health habits that keep you strong, reduce your stress lev­els and decrease your risk for health problems. These include following a healthful diet…getting seven to eight hours of sleep per night…ex­ercising three to five times a week…and learning body- and brain-calming techniques, such as yoga, tai chi and meditation. Physical therapy can be beneficial for treating pelvic pain dis­orders.

4. Pay attention to your sexual health 

Sexual abuse is not only an attack on one’s body, but also an attack on one’s sexuality. It can establish negative sexual attitudes and behaviors that impair healthy intimacy and long-term sexual pleasure, such as approaching sex as an obligation, not feeling pres­ent during sex and engaging in out-of-control, harmful and compulsive sex. You may need to “relearn”—or even learn for the first time—that sex can be an expression of mutual respect and caring in a loving relationship. Healing your sexuality allows you to tackle the root cause of trauma-related medical conditions, thus improving your mental health, as well as your physical well-being. 

© 2011, Wendy Maltz. This article was written by Wendy Maltz LCSW, DST, and first appeared in 2011 in the Bottom Line/Health newsletter, in affiliation with www.BottomLinePublications.com.