Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional boring work described as physically painful?

Has anyone else's kiddo described boring work as physically uncomfortable or painful?

My 2e kiddo has a lot going on right now, and is really struggling. So I can't tell if this is semi typical gifted kid stuff, or if its stemming from his other issues. I thought I'd see if others have heard their kids say similar things.

Sending my empathy, validation, affirmation, and support to your child and you.

It seems very reasonable to me that a gifted person's stress and anxiety from boredom of endless school days without appropriate academic placement and pacing, and without intellectual peers, could accumulate to cause physical symptoms including pain. Unfortunately. The isolation and lack of mental stimulation from not learning something new could eventually make a person feel trapped, dis-empowered, and helpless.

A few links to articles online:
1) Recognizing and easing the physical symptoms of anxiety
August 1, 2020
Blog of Harvard Medical School

2) Stress symptoms: effects on your body and behavior
Mayo Clinic

3) Stress effects on the body
November 1, 2018
American Psychological Association (APA)

4) Chronic Stress, Cortisol Dysfunction, and Pain: A Psychoneuroendocrine Rationale for Stress Management in Pain Rehabilitation
by Kara E. Hannibal, Mark D. Bishop
2014, 2017
PubMed Central (PMC),
US National Library of Medicine (NLM),
National Institutes of Health (NIH),
National Center for Biotechnology Information (NBCI).

I feel for you and your DC, Pinecroft. While I don't have personal experiences of this kind in my own children, on the professional end, I have met and worked with many, many children who experienced physical symptoms when in psychological distress (aka, somatization). And it's specifically not uncommon for GT kids with poor instructional match to report stomachaches or headaches.

On some level, it's not immediately important (although ultimately it will help in the process of developing solutions) where the stress points are; it's more important simply to recognize and acknowledge to him that they exist, and that caring adults (parents and others) see his pain, and are taking steps to create supports and solutions, even if it might take a while to figure out. And more than likely (as you note), it's not really just one thing, even if he's only verbalizing symptoms in certain domains. Of course, he is giving you some starting points to investigate.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Indigo, I will read those articles for sure. Aeh - as always, thanks for the time and insight you share.

I truly appreciate your thoughts. We are struggling over here, with both medical and (neuro?)psychological issues, and it can be tough to distinguish what issues are from brain inflammation, and which are from 'brain wiring'. I'm trying to set up a neuropsych eval, which hopefully will yield some answers. I called one today (who came recommended by a friend whose kids have PANDAS) and she's booking out to March! I spoke to another (Lyme/PANs specialist) yesterday, his assistant is supposed to get back to me... from what he said, he may be sooner (but unlike the other, def all out-of-pocket).

My 2E children were more likely to experience physical distress when they came up against the intersection of their Es.

The verbal but extremely dyslexic child learning to read: The physical squirming and distress, squirming backwards away from books and parent across the couch (or up and over and falling off the back), usually unconsciously while still looking and visibly trying. It was like watching someone try to hold their hand in the fire while unconsciously trying to get the rest of themselves as far away as possible. It was actually quite awful. But more observed by us than verbalized by them.

We've had typical headaches and stomach aches when kids didn't want to go to school, for various reasons, but this was something different.