Number two: They hijack your hormones. Living with a narcissist is like being in a constant state of emergency. Your blood is flooded with cortisol, adrenaline, norepinephrine, and stress hormones every single day. Over time, this chronic stress doesn’t just make you anxious; it literally starts to break your body down. For women, it can trigger PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), menstrual irregularities, and fertility issues. For men, it can tank testosterone levels, kill libido, and create chronic fatigue. For everyone in general, it contributes to metabolic syndrome, thyroid dysregulation, insulin resistance, and even autoimmune diseases. Narcissistic abuse does not just affect your mind; it rewires your endocrine system, the body’s hormonal command center, to dysfunction. You are not just emotionally drained; you are chemically imbalanced. Yet you start to blame yourself: maybe you are not eating right, maybe you are just aging, maybe it’s your genes. No, it is the trauma. When your nervous system is in a constant state of fight, flight, or freeze, your body stops prioritizing healing; it is too busy surviving.
Your hair starts falling out, your skin breaks out, your digestion is shot, and your sleep disappears. And guess what the narcissist says? “You are so sensitive. You are overreacting.” They might say, “Maybe if you weren’t so emotional, you wouldn’t be so sick.” They break you and then mock you for being broken.
Number three: They use pregnancy to trap you. If a narcissist cannot humble you, they may get you pregnant. This is a form of abuse no one talks about in detail. It is called reproductive abuse, and it is real. When a narcissist sees you gaining awareness, rising in confidence, or preparing to leave, they time the pregnancy just when you are finding your voice. They silence it with exhaustion. Just when you begin to pull away, they pull you back with a positive test.
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