I hope it's okay to post this and it doesn't offend anyone.. I hope you all understand why I writing it.
I have been told I have PTSD after a run of traumatic events such as watching and getting caught in severe domestic violence, family split, serious physical, emotional and *s* abuse until 19, witnessing graphic drug use from 6 to 9, bullying in home, school and on the streets, finding a lovely family friend dead from OD when 8, watching the family dog being beaten with a hammer at 6, being strangled near to death at 14.... When I left home I had been seriously attacked, broken in to several times, had a sawn off shot gun in the face, dragged down an alley with a knife to my throat, lived on the streets and saw too much there.. Really, just too much.. There is stuff I can't mention here, I haven't told anyone so my diagnosis is based on only some what I'm prepared to mention here...
You clearly have earned the diagnosis of PTSD
Now, I was recently told that someone I know had also been DXed with PTSD so will 'know how I feel'...!?!.. His goes back to when a car was about to pull out of a space and knocked him. There was no fall, no serious harm, no threat to life, the driver called him an idiot for walking out behind his car... Anyhow, this bloke now 'has PTSD' and is claiming all he can for it... He is clever in that field, he even faked injury several years before and used a wheelchair until he thought no one was watching...
Is it at all possible that something happened in his life, even early childhood, that you are not aware of?
So, I'm wondering if we're not careful that PTSD might become the new 'fashion', the next 'bad back', the next illness that will soon be mocked and laughed at, which will be a major problem for us real sufferers because too many people are jumping on the bandwagon.. I'm concerned that soon, people, including doctors, will just roll their eyes and think "Oh god, another one..." when those four letters are mentioned.. I don't want to think that shirkers will do the same as they did with back problems and illnesses like ME, FMS etc... I hate to think that someone who had a bruised leg and a bit of a spat can now consider themselves in the same 'rank' as war veterans, survivors of earthquakes and mass murder, victims of rape, childhood traumas, tragic car accidents and severe assault...
Sounds like you don't think ME, FBS, and many other illnesses are real....there are many others that are unprovable, but diagnosed by ruling out. Many autopsies reveal herniated discs and multiple sclerosis and the patient never complained of a symptom. Body is complicated.
I know that we all react differently to situations and can be damaged or can get through varying amounts of trauma, pain and heartbreak but am I being unfair when I consider that some, like the one I mentioned, are pulling a fast one and probably need help in other areas instead of being treated for PTSD?... It does, after all, stand for Post Traumatic...
I think you are only unfair if you can say with 100% certainty that this man has NEVER experience trauma, and you would have had to spend your life with him. I never shared my trauma with friends, only with therapist until after age 50, I grew up with a tough upper lip, grab yourself by bootstraps, and laugh in face of danger. There are many like myself who don't feel the need to share
I'm not yet fully knowledgeable as I was only DXed in May so maybe others can shed light or give an opinion but please note I'm only putting this on because of the case mentioned and I don't want to minimize anyone's suffering on here in any way, I'm just a bit puzzled by this man... I hope it's not a common feature elsewhere..
Since you have been through the mis diagnosed process by medical professional yourself and have ptsd and Lymes disease, you clearly know that there are others out there that will be given wrong diagnosis and work the system, deliberately or unintentionally.
I believe it was VanderKolk who wrote about studies of people having minor accidents and received settlements but the symptoms did not go away, even after they benefitted, and they had irritable bowel syndrome following a minor fall. He concluded that symptoms were rooted in trauma, not malingering. This guy could be a malingerer, a hypochondriac, or many other things, likely including some trauma in his life
I assume you have not spent 24/7 with this guy since birth, do you know with 100% certaintly that he was not abused and experienced trauma, even pre verbal trauma that he does not remember. I personally think that most of us have not shared with those around us daily, both physical and emotional pain, and it is not others business. The body remembers---that may be the name of the book I am thinking of. A person can be functioning with ptsd in a somewhat dormant state, they can be functional, and some event that is not huge can trigger symptoms. Actually, some have reported symptoms emerging during the safest and most comfortable time in their lives.
I see reports of people who had a Go Fund Me account for their cancer treatment, then never had cancer. I don't think it negates those who actually do have cancer. I have Fibromyalgia, CFIDS, IBS, and had it for 30 yrs before any ptsd diagnosis. I was in the pioneer time of CFIDS with a high Epstein Barr titer. (so I do know how it feels to have this mystery illness that seems to be minimized by some) since no real proof. Those with high stress tend to have weakened immune system, and some think that opens the door for immune disease, which is very logical.
Illness (with no real proof to dispute)-there is definitely something wrong with someone who would fake any illness in order to get out of some amount of work or seek attention or sympathy from others. People do this with all kinds of things. Most of us know at least one person that probably falls in this category somewhere in our life.
I had a sister who seemed to embellish symptoms. We grew up in same house but she had no memory of anything....Huh. She got really sick, had many tests, dr said she had GERD and to take prilosec. Her back hurt, x ray showed degenerative changes, yep she was 63. She laid in bed for months complaining with just tylenol. One day she went to ER and they did a CT scan. She had pancreatic cancer that spread to both lungs and liver. She died 5 weeks later. Even this guy likely deserves some compassion. Taking another inventory is one of the most mentally unhealthy behaviors, particularly common among co dependent people. Fakes are everywhere, they are eventually discovered.
It sound like you may be afraid you have been given another diagnosis that may cause you to not be taken seriously. If you are really concerned, you could limit telling others to select people such as those on the forum who do understand. I work with the homeless and many of the dirtiest and drunkest suffer from ptsd-unfortunately. Clearly, we are not all the same in how we present ourselves.
