How much does your health as a adult reflect from childhood trauma. I have a 9/10 ACE score.

Hi Tara Lynn,

This is a good question!

That is quite a list of health issues that must be extremely painful and difficult to endure. I can imagine this list of diagnosis has taken an enormous amount of time, energy and emotional strength to obtain. The discomfort you must experience on a regular basis must be challenging.

It sounds like you are wondering if your health issues may be a result of your childhood and adult traumatic experiences. Deveoloping ways to effectively treat and cope with trauma is demanding. I appreciate you reaching out for some clarification on how your past experience with traumatic events may affect your health.

The ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) rating is a way to evaluate risk for chronic diseases.  There are studies that have found people who have survived traumatic events in their childhood or as an adult may have increased risk for diseases or disorders like the ones you listed.  However, this is only one type of evaluation. It does not take into account other factors such as lifestyle (diet, exercise, smoking, substance abuse, etc.),family history, genes, postitive experiences or relationships.  There are individuals with high ACE scores that function quite well. They may have encountered family support, positive relationships, and/or live a healthy lifestyle  that was affective in curbing their long term affects. They may have also engaged in therapy early on that was helpful in coping with their trauma so that their mental and emotional health did not influence their physical health as significantly. 

Sometimes, when a person who has experienced trauma is not provided proper support and therapy to treat the trauma, they respond to their trauma by having a physical response such as migraines, IBS, anxiety etc. This is not to say that all of your health issues are a direct result of your trauma but with a list like this, it is something to investigate and consider.

I hope this answer brings you some clarification and I wish you well on working toward increasing your overall wellness. BetterHelp is a great resource for addressing your concerns and working through mental health challenges so that you can learn to live a more fulfilling life.