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Why You Feel Physically Sick When You Leave
The brutal somatic withdrawal from the narcissist’s cortisol rollercoaster.
You finally leave a relationship that has been making you miserable for months, sometimes years. You expect to feel relieved. Maybe a little sad, perhaps lonely, but generally better.
After all, the arguments have stopped. Nobody is interrogating your intentions, questioning your memory, or turning an ordinary Tuesday into an emotional emergency.
Instead, your body seems to fall apart.
You wake up exhausted despite sleeping for nine hours. Your stomach feels unsettled. Your appetite disappears, or you suddenly find yourself eating everything in sight. Your chest feels tight for no obvious reason. Sometimes your heart starts racing while you’re doing something completely ordinary, like washing dishes or standing in a supermarket queue.
Then come the headaches, muscle tension, digestive problems, and strange waves of nausea. You might even notice that you’re getting sick more frequently.
It’s confusing because the relationship was supposed to be the problem. You removed yourself from the situation, yet your physical symptoms seem to have become worse.
