Are their physical symptoms to grief?

There is a physical burden of grief that, left untreated, may result in serious problems down the road.

Some parents may experience:

• Decrease or Increase in Appetite

• Weight Loss or Gain

• Insomnia

• Fatigue

• Lower Immunity

• Depression

• Restless Sleep

• Nausea

• Aches and Pains

• Increase or Decrease in Sex Drive

Many parents talk about walking around in a fog for several months after their children have died. Keys are left in the refrigerator or on top of the car. We miss turns while driving, arrive late to appointments or show up on the wrong day. Life continues to feel completely overwhelming. It’s as if the world has been sped up and we can’t get in step.

Parents have said

• Every minute without my child feels like an eternity.
• I can’t take it, I don’t know how I am going to live without him.
• It feels like she’s still here, I don’t want to leave the house.
• If I leave his room the same, than maybe he’ll come back...I know it’s crazy.
• I felt like I mourned her during her illness, I am ready to have my life back.
• Trust that the agonizing, bone jarring grief will change. The seas will part and you will be on surer footing soon. Time does heal.
• If I can just get through this second without my child. Then it shifted to minutes. Over time it became hours and then days. I kept breathing and believing it was going to get better even though everything in my mind and heart proved it wouldn’t. I continued to survive and eventually thrive. Some people call it “Divine intervention,” for me, I know it was my child helping me- even when I couldn’t help myself. Maddy’s Mom-