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Military 10 Years Untreated

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Well done, coming here and talking about it. That can be really difficult and scary.

People think that PTSD is like a cut, but it's more like a bacterial infection.

Trauma is like a cut. It opens you up, and it hurts, and it can be bad for you. Some cuts get infected: bacteria get inside you and multiply. PTSD is like a bacterial infection - it gets into you and grows. The size of a cut is not a great way of assessing bacterial infection. The drama of the trauma is not a great way of assessing PTSD.

Talking about your feelings is like opening up the cut and washing it out. It can hurt like hell. It's not the best thing to do if you're in danger of bleeding out and you need to stay mobile. But if an infection is brewing, you either do it, or you just keep getting worse.

This is one of THE best descriptions of PTSD I have ever seen/heard!! This explains why so many (vets especially) seem to take years to realize they have an issue. I will use this analogy often! The one other thing I've been told that helps me quite a bit is quite simple. Soldiers get wound VERY tight in tough situations. Some just don't unwind easily and respond to situations from that tightly wound up state. Getting help to unwind is necessary.

Believe it or not that is a pretty common feeling among combat vets. I felt like 'PTSD fraud' for years. Its odd that PTSD can make you think that you aren't worthy of having PTSD but there it is.

I've gone 18 years and just now beginning my journey with VA to get the help I need. Between comparing our traumas to other soldiers, plain out soldiering on, or just not believing it's possible to have a "problem" we just ignore it. I've found my symptoms are getting worse from ignoring it and it's time to start doing what I can to control those symptoms again. It's great you're here and even better that you're taking some steps to get some help.
 
What I have found bothering me for the last 10 years isn't even so much thinking about those incidents. I will never be able to forget them, but what stays with me is the constant stress. Being constantly on guard. I spent my whole tour outside the wire always looking for the enemy. Eve

Yep. Yep. Yep you get used to that level of stress and you start to think it is normal. It's not. "Normal" people don't constantly have to look over their shoulders because they have nothing to be afraid of. Are know differently. We know there are monsters lurking just out of site. We've seen them. Now you need to learn how to decelerate

I don't feel like I have the right to claim I have PTSD compared to those guys. I know that is probably stupid but that's how I feel. Looking at wh

And I say this with love. Yep. Stupid. I know because I just left my therapy appointment and once AGAIN she told me to stop comparing my experiences to those who I think have more right to have PTSD because they suffered more ..... It's called minimizing and it's one of the biggest coping techniques used by people with PTSD. If you can minimize what happened then you can convince yourself it wasn't that bad. Trust me...I'm the queen of it. Been doing it for decades. It works for a while. Then it doesn't

Between comparing our traumas to other soldiers, plain out soldiering on, or just not believing it's possible to have a "problem" we just ignore it.

Can't hit a moving target right. They had it worse than I did. Suck it up cupcake. Blah blah blah.

I'm so proud of you for coming here and for starting the process. It's a tough road that only the truly brave can handle. Nice to know you are one of us!!
 
This made me laugh. Thanks!!
Happy to share that. It's slight variation of what I said when it was suggested by therapist while a skeptical GP was convincing me I had to have bipolar disorder in 1996, somewhat before much was known. "No way I've got a problem dealing with stress and trauma now after how much I did before". Bingo
 
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