• 💖 [Donate To Keep MyPTSD Online] 💖 Every contribution, no matter how small, fuels our mission and helps us continue to provide peer-to-peer services. Your generosity keeps us independent and available freely to the world. MyPTSD closes if we can't reach our annual goal.

Sufferer Greetings!

Status
Not open for further replies.

sarahbellum

New Here
Hello, everyone! Sorry in advance for my intro - I'm sure you see heaps. I'm a 36 year old living in Chicago (USA) and I have cPTSD stemming from abuse in my childhood and a sexual assault in my teens. I also have chronic pain issues, so I'm waiting on disability like many other people in the US; I actually have a hearing today to help lead to a ruling. I think this site is based in AUS, so the disability process here will seem strange, but trust me when I say it's a slow, painful process.

I'm currently in therapy and on a bunch of drugs that don't work as well as I'd like them to. I've been in therapy of some sort since I was eleven, medicated since I was 10, and I'm currently on a pretty good plateau. It's just a lot of panic attacks that I can mentally rationalize but can't tell my body to stop, if that makes sense. It's a bit like a roller coaster; I know I'm not likely to have anything physically happen, but boy, that first hill is steep and terrifying so my body's responding with full panic thrusters.

I'm also a graduate student in psychology (ha!) with goals of being a grief counselor.

I'm pleased to "meet" you lot, and I'm just glad this site exists. I'm hoping it'll get me to stop isolating so much.
 
Welcome to the forums. I am completely with you on the panic attacks, it makes total sense, as I am sure many of us can say we go through it too. I think that is one of the best things about being here, finding people that can relate. (and yes, even with help from my senator disability took over 2 years to go through, and that was without any denials or hearing and such). I hope you hearing goes well and I hope you find the help you are seeking here.
 
Welcome to the forums. I am completely with you on the panic attacks, it makes total sense, as I am sur...

Thank you so much! It's just exhausting; it's like my body's always "on". I know why - when I was a baby, my maternal grandmother used to abduct me from my mom. (Mom was young when she had me, her mom was mad that Mom was leaving, so I got used as a guilt trip / bargaining tool from my birth up until I was seven.) So when I was little I had to learn to hide when I heard noises, because it could be my grandparents coming to get me. So my brain just learned that sounds = run. The house settling? Boom. The upstairs neighbors having a party? Boom. Thinking I see things out of the corner of my eye? Boom. Just ... bleh.

My hearing is super early, so it'll help me look as haggard as I feel, I guess. Advantage!
 
Good luck for progress today. And welcome.
You will identify with many of us And us with you. Also have chronic pain. One thing I have noticed with people with chronic pain, we all tend to have a sense of humor. Gets us thru a lot of painful days.
So let us know how the hearing went
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top