Adrenaline-fueled Ptsd Moment: Checking Bank Balance

[cupfish]

Today's weirdness in PTSD world is checking my husband's bank balance since his password expired a week ago. I have been secretly panicking about his bank balance for days, for no reason. Today I called the bank and reset the password, heart pounding, fight-or-flight instinct firing away. Did anything bad happen? No. He's making a deposit today and still had $ in the account. Deep inside I knew there was no reason to panic, but I did. The frigging brain chemistry is powerful powerful stuff. Obviously I should have dealt with the stupid password the moment I knew it was a trigger event, at the first sign of panic. Why didn't I? What should I do next time? (oh yes and in PTSD world there IS a next time, we know that...) Why is something so obvious and easy so twisted up? I know it's the fingerprints on the brain from C-PTSD but I need new strategies to get control over my fears....think clearly, that is the goal. thx thx

 

[Deleted member 12723]

I love the phrase you used in PTSD world.lol. Although I often go to the worst case scenerio in my own head at times and every single time it has been for nothing because there was always a positive outcome to actions taken. So I want you to know that you are not alone in this one.

Somehow this mindset helped me to survive as a child but works so much against me now. It is a survival skill that has to be replaced with a more optimistic approach. I am learning along with you so here are some hugs.:hug::hug::hug:

 

[Padfield]

I think CBT would be helpful in situations like this. I can relate to this feeling, as I have felt this way before. Cognition restructuring is what has helped me most. CBT has helped me a lot. And the biggest component is to practice it. A lot. Make a habit out of it. What I read is that you panicked, for no reason. That's super key. You have no evidence or reason to panic. Although I know it's easier said than done . Try to force yourself to not think that way when you don't have any evidence. You don't know. You know what I mean? I've panicked over things in the past when I later figured out I shouldn't. So I correlate that to things in the present if that makes any sense.

 

[cupfish]

Does anybody else get this: when in a trigger or pre-trigger state my brain literally feels different, inside --? Not pain, more like a pervasive numbness. Not as severe as dissociation. Feels like someone poured warm water in from the top down and it's cocooning my brain....?

while simultaneously my adrenaline fires in my gut. Cloud-head with gut ache. Lovely.

 

[Deleted member 12723]

My biggest hurdle is battling the anticapatory stress, which is self defeating to me.

 

[cupfish]

Anticipatory stress is my prob too.

 

[Freedomfighter]

Today's weirdness in PTSD world is checking my husband's bank balance since his password expired a week...

Well, I know one thing, money is one of the scariest things out there because it controls your life, whether you like it or not.

I hate money, need it for survival, that's all. Would love to find a way of not having to deal with it frankly.

And yes, money woes trigger me immensely too.