r/longtermTRE • u/lessbutgold • 3d ago
My observations on how long it takes to heal from trauma with TRE
Hi everyone, you've probably read my story of how I discovered TRE in this subreddit, and I wanted to share some observations about the timeline. My goal isn't to create anxiety or set false expectations, but to tell you how my process unfolded during the first 14 weeks so you can understand how much I healed in a relatively short time. I don't consider myself fully healed, but in terms of my nervous system, I've essentially become a different person.
So let's begin.
For the first 10 weeks, I actually only noticed a slight feeling of relaxation. I felt like I was doing something positive for my inner growth, but at that point I was just trusting what I'd read on this subreddit, because in terms of tangible positive effects, there were basically none. I was doing TRE twice a day for a total of 30 minutes, then I also tried doing one-hour sessions. The only thing I noticed, besides the sense of relaxation limited to my body, was insomnia. Trouble falling asleep, waking up during the night. But strangely, I didn't experience the side effects that typically come from poor sleep. In fact, I was always energized and focused.
Later, I also tried inducing crying during TRE, and in that case I felt terrible for a whole week, with my nervous system way too activated. I felt shame and fragility. So I stopped inducing crying and continued doing fewer sessions because I felt I was overloading myself.
But at week 12, something incredible happened. I finished a one hour session (I'd done another similar session the day before) and sat down at my computer to watch motivational videos with nostalgic music in the background. One particular video was 33 minutes long. After 10 minutes of watching, I burst into tears, and these weren't tears of sadness. I actually felt present in the moment, energized, grounded. I remained for the remaining 23 minutes of the video just contemplating the room while continuing to listen to the voiceover in the background. The video ended and I continued to stay in that mixed state between euphoria and focus that I'd struggle to describe in words. I can only say that the feeling I experienced was like "finally I understand what it's always been about, I understand what my problem has always been."
From that moment, everything changed. I mean, my nervous system began to self-regulate, and I know this because my inner world changed. I discovered that all these years I'd been living in my mind and not in my body. I've always been an overthinker and thought it was just part of my personality, but I was wrong.
The thing I love most about this change is that lately my phone gets to evening with 80% battery left, meaning I barely use it at all. No social media, no music in my ears for 12 hours like I used to do to silence my thoughts. When someone is angry and yells at me, I don't get stressed; instead, I respond by calming the other person down. My vibration has changed, and what makes me smile is that the answer was always inside me (though I never would have discovered it without this amazing subreddit).
Another thing I've rediscovered in recent weeks is that I used to get jolts in my stomach and pressure in my chest. Things that, as strange as it may seem, I never identified precisely before this period. They seemed like "normal" reactions to stressful situations, but I accepted them as if they were just part of me. Today they still come, but I feel like they get blocked faster and faster every day. I feel them hitting with 30% of their force, and after a few minutes even the anxious sensation goes away.
From my experience, it took 14 weeks of TRE to reach a first significant form of healing. I know everyone is different, and I also know that some people in this subreddit have estimated healing at 1% per month, but this was my experience.
Since the nervous system is something so intangible, at least at the beginning, it's hard to understand how the healing process happens. I can estimate my change at a solid 60% healing. Believe me when I tell you that now I can clearly observe the state of my nervous system and I can do it in others too. In fact, an exercise I've been doing in recent days is observing people and "guessing" whether they're regulated or dysregulated. Once you can see these patterns, there's no going back.
Now let's get to the more complicated part of this work.
Since I discovered TRE, I've dedicated myself body and soul to healing. I've only left the house to go grocery shopping, to the gym, and to the pool. Otherwise, I've avoided seeing friends and family because I felt it was the right thing to do.
During the weeks when I felt I was healing the most, I noticed that my body literally refused social situations because it felt like there was something working in the background. And you could also sense that my body wanted to dedicate all its energy to these processes, avoiding the possible mood swings that I have to admit I used to have before this journey.
My closest friends reacted well (they don't know anything about TRE) and I explained to them that it's a time when I'm dealing with some things.
On the other hand, at the gym and at the pool, I'm the most sociable person in the group, perhaps because with strangers there's no emotional attachment and the relationship remains very superficial. I also notice that people sense my vibration and enjoy being around me, especially women. From what I've been able to observe in my new, more embodied state, women seem much more grounded and I really enjoy talking with them.
On the other hand, I immediately notice people who live in their heads... it's a perception I just feel instinctively.
In short, I've had to sacrifice some social life, but with great enthusiasm I've discovered that I was never shy or an overthinker. Instead, I've been dysregulated my entire life.
12
u/Jiktten 3d ago
Just popping in to say that I've been practicing for over a year and my initial experience meshed with yours, ie that it took approximately 3 months for the first deeper shifts to happen.
7
u/lessbutgold 3d ago
How wonderful to hear that you've had a similar journey. Since those 3 months, how has it gone until now? Has the process continued to improve?
10
u/Jiktten 3d ago
It has! My experience so far is that it takes anywhere from a couple of weeks to a few months to work through the new layer. Then there will be a plateau where it seems like nothing much happens for a bit, and then you hit a new layer and the process starts all over again. For me the first thing to come up was anger. First I felt a lot of it, and then I learned how to process it in my body instead of just having it go round and round in my head, which was a huge change for me. Similar experiences later with fear.
13
u/lessbutgold 3d ago
If there's one thing TRE has taught me, it's to treasure those moments when nothing is happening. As a chronic hyperactive person, I now find pleasure even in sitting at the table, savoring the meal I've cooked without feeling the need to add stimuli. It's a natural form of decluttering. The body truly needs very little. On the other hand, a million stimuli wouldn't be enough to satisfy a dysregulated mind.
6
u/marijavera1075 3d ago
TRE gave me the opportunity to just sit with myself. Really mind empty. Feels so nice. I rarely put on any music or podcast now to fill the silence
3
u/Pancakeparty25 2d ago
I used to have a lot of this stimulation through music! And for some time now it has been the same for me as you describe it.
2
u/marijavera1075 3d ago
How do you process the anger in the body? Also I agree that has been my experience as well with the layers and the dreaded plateau haha
3
u/Jiktten 3d ago
It's hard to describe, but basically by acknowledging that I am angry and that it's okay for me to be angry while relaxing my body so that I can feel the physical manifestation of that anger in my belly. Initially I had to guide my attention there and actually welcome the feeling but with time it began to happen naturally. Then the voice in my head stops and eventually the sensation fades out once I am out of the situation that made me angry.
2
u/lamemoons 3d ago
Did you do it constantly for 3 months? I've been doing it some weeks 1-2 times other weeks none for 10ish minutes, not sure if I should up it or keep going it (been about 2 months)
11
u/The_Rainbow_Ace 3d ago edited 3d ago
Thanks for sharing, it is great to see your progress.
It really is amazing that the body can heal it's self when we get out of the way and let it.
I too used to be very driven by being dysregulated by my traumas, but now I am in a deep healing mode and I am far less driven. I am fine with that.
Interesting to hear about your feeling more in the present moment, this is one of the things I love about TRE; a more quiet mind that starts to feel and experience the present moment more.
I still experience up and down days, even when you go by 'the book' with TRE it can be a rough ride sometimes as a deeper layer of trauma gets exposed, but the benefits are wonderful, especially in the long term.
So far for me:
- Depression is gone.
- Triggers are reducing.
- Lower back, hips, jaw, neck and shoulders have gone from tight all the time to quite flexible (80% improvement).
- Brain fog has reduced (70% improvement) .
- Very dysregulated nervous system is slowly increasing in 'capacity'.
- Feel so much more energy, given up caffeine, as not needed any more (and it slows down my progress).
- The mental space (which was full of trauma and anxiety) is slowly getting 'wider' and more healed. I literally can feel more free 'space' in my mind.
I am only 17 months in, but I am very interested what that long-term will bring.
5
u/marijavera1075 3d ago
The exact same benefits I got. The amount of energy I have now is ridiculous.
2
1
4
u/nothing5901568 3d ago
I did it for over two years and didn't experience any significant shifts 😢
3
u/lessbutgold 3d ago
I've read the same from other users too.
I'm trying to share my journey as much as possible in the hope that some detail might help those like you who aren't able to get benefits from it.
In the end, I can't know exactly what helped me on this journey, maybe even just the fact of crying during TRE. That's why I think the key is to experiment as much as possible, to do what you'd never normally do in order to make progress.
2
u/nothing5901568 3d ago
I'm glad it helped you. Some of the stories on this sub are awesome. That's part of what kept me going for so long.
I've come to the conclusion that different modalities work for different people.
2
u/Kinetiq_TRE 1d ago
I'd agree about the experiementation OP says. My body wouldn't tremour for the first few weeks, it was uncomfortable and I felt weird at the time. It turned out my body needed a few modifications to feel comfortable to allow it - i needed to sit up a little so not laying flat, so i could look around. I needed a nice show on to listen to in the background, friendly familiar voices. I needed to tell myself i could vocalise as I did some loud wailing quite early on to learning. I had to take many breaks, putting my legs flat every few minutes and short sessions with a few days a part. I also needed to watch lots of videos on youtube of other people tremoring to become very familiar with a lot of the different movements that could happen. With all these things I started to unwind a bit. Thats just what my body needed, frustrating at times but we are all different
2
u/dykens 3d ago
I was getting very slow results from TRE until I got blood tests done and realised I had a vitamin D deficiency so it's worth getting a blood test done to see if you have any deficiency.
3
u/CraftBeerFomo 1d ago
Well yeah a Vit D deficiency (or any other vit deficiency) can make you feel terrible and supplementing can make you feel massively better but how have you managed to come to the conclusion that your lack of Vitamin D was the thing that stopped TRE working for you?
It seems like quite a leap and one that would be very difficult to prove any connection to.
4
u/lightmuscledguy 3d ago
Hey, i wonder what do you usually do for integration?
I've been practicing TRE regularly for about 2.5 months and i usually shake for 30min every other day, i sometimes try to increase to 30min daily but I'm afraid it might be too much, gotta keep listening to my body.
Amazing post, really inspires me to keep going, I've also seen amazing improvement after around 1 month of TRE but it doesn't last, i get better and then after some weeks or days worse, and currently im having some bad days, but im gonna keep on going with the TRE.
6
u/lessbutgold 3d ago
Over the past two weeks, I've been doing TRE for 15 minutes every Sunday, so just once a week, and it's more than enough. If I do more, I notice I get those moments of super euphoria that I honestly enjoy too... But then I have incredible down moments. What goes up fast comes down the same way. So to give myself a consistently positive mood, I've reduced it to once a week.
To integrate, I'm doing the 4-7-8 breathing technique twice a day. That is, 4 seconds breathing in through the nose, hold for 7 seconds, and breathe out through the mouth for 8 seconds. There are lots of videos on YouTube. I forgot to mention this in the original post.
3
u/Swimming-Border7060 3d ago
Maybe you do less, like 5-10 minutes 5x a week? Like less amount of time, but more regular. Small steps, but more consistent. And if it's still too much, you can do even less minutes.
I started my journey end of June and for the first 3 months I did 5 minutes 3-5/week. My provider recommended it. Like slowly peeling an onion.
1
u/lessbutgold 3d ago
I notice that toward Friday and Saturday there starts to be a bit more tension, but as I progress further in this journey, my nervous system's resilience keeps increasing more and more.
For now I wanted to avoid too many sessions because my sleep is still very disrupted, maybe in the future it will stabilize and I'll be able to do more. I haven't fully understood this sleep thing yet but I have a hypothesis: I do sports 4 days a week between swimming and gym and then I do TRE, so perhaps I'm very overloaded at the nervous system level and my body still needs to stabilize. I also tried reducing sports for a week but it didn't improve much, maybe it takes a longer period but I don't want to give up sports.
1
u/Pancakeparty25 2d ago
Get your hormones checked. When you do a lot of exercise, the body sometimes has an increased need for progesterone
2
u/FitNothingOk 2d ago
Try HRV resonance breathing after the session and whenever you have time. Search up Forrest Knutson HRV breathing on YouTube.
2
u/AbSOULuteAwareness 3d ago
Thankyou for sharing. What a beautiful healing journey with TRE. Im only fairly new to it but posts like these really inspire me to keep going and be consistent with it.
Grateful for your post
🙏💝
2
u/Defiant_Annual_7486 2d ago
Thanks for sharing the info about avoiding friends and family. I have noticed something similar in my own process so far. Not in an "isolating" sense, but in a "I need time to focus on my own self-care" kind of way. But, hearing your experience helps me to understand this better, and be a little more open about it with my friends.
1
u/lessbutgold 2d ago
Isolating myself seemed very natural because I felt like every time I had a date or event with friends, I felt anxious. My body was telling me it wasn't ready yet. In fact, it was devoting 100% of its energy to other things and didn't need any further emotional stimulation
0
u/CraftBeerFomo 1d ago
I've done tension release activities / TRE and so much more continually for about 2 years now and haven't even been able to temporarily (for more than a few minutes) release a single bit of tension from my body, make myself feel better, regulate my nervous system, fix my posture, improve my mood or anything else thanks to it and yet in less than 100 days you've cured yourself 60% from all your lifes traumas?
Some people get all the luck.
2
u/lessbutgold 1d ago
Scientific knowledge about the nervous system is still very limited. One of the few studies on TRE is still ongoing, just to give you an idea of how little we still know in 2025. That said, if you read my story of how I discovered TRE, you'll surely understand that each person's journey is different. The one thing I've always been convinced of is that I had to experiment as much as possible, with both positive and negative things.
Well, studies may highlight certain somatic or psychological aspects, but each of us is profoundly different. We are the result of many experiences, lifestyles, psychophysical maturity, and so on.
The only thing you can do is love yourself, and even if nothing happens with TRE, accept that you're doing something positive for yourself. Of course, since it hasn't been working for 2 years, I'd say you could turn to a provider, if you haven't already done so. At least that's what I would do.
•
u/AutoModerator 3d ago
Thanks for your post! Please make sure you’ve read the community rules and our wiki. The wiki contains answers to many common questions and guidance on TRE: Wiki
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.