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Over the weekend, Kid A was sick. Kid A woke up and vomited, then went back to Sleep shortly. It was not too surprising because there’s a virus going around, and it is school time again. I definitely watched Kid A for some time, but it made me think. It made me think about verbal diarrhea. Without a filter, or due to feeling uncomfortable, or Anxiety, really any reason, a person can say too much. I then thought of what is the opposite, besides being mute, by choice. I thought emotional constipation would be the opposite. Things, particularly words, emotions, feelings, get stuck. May be this is a far fetched concept, but these are the thoughts I had at 1 am over the weekend.

Emotional Constipation is a term I use to refer to an emotional state when I know I am feeling something, but not sure what or how to express it, not sure about the origin. It happens, and has happened. It happens less frequently because I have addressed some of my inability to express frustration, failure, fear, and other emotions.

I found that I had the lack of really insight. It wasn’t until I gained the insight over the past few years that I am more aware. So, what was the trigger for opening up? It was a sequence of several things, and that is another story for another time.

What I have come to understand and to summarize:

It is ok to feel the emotions.

It is ok to seek help.

It is ok to not be ok and to be vulnerable.

Look at triggers.

Address it or it [whatever it is] can become carried [Stress] in other ways.

Originally Published on https://www.theworthyphysician.com/blog

Sapna Shah-Haque Internal Medicine Physician

Dr. Sapna Shah-Haque, MD is a board certified Internal Medicine physician. She was born and raised in Kansas, and attended medical school at the University of Kansas [KU] School of Medicine. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at KU-Wichita as well. After experiencing burnout herself, and watching other physician colleagues burn out, it became a passion of hers to look into different aspects of burnout. While the system does need to change, as it is broken, this podcast is a way to reach physicians and possibly shed light on what is not an isolated situation.