How To Get Help When Therapy Is A Ptsd Trigger

[Lajuhu]

And triggering yourself on purpose until you manage that response isn't an option?

Instead of taking it slow and gradua...

I think that depends on the person. I believe there's a type of therapy called.. EMDR..? Or something about eye movement and talking about the event so to re-wire what the thought process is. First time the person will probably cry and freak out, but second or third time it might get a little better?

I know they do a similar thing with those who have OCD. Just plunging them into their fears.

 

[Une]

losing my house and my family, and ruining my career

I'm the 25 year person - I lost all that and more. There is no quick fix. Anti-anxiety and other meds helped temporarily for me to get a foothold for several years but that's when I lost everything too. It sucks. This is hell. And there's no easy solution.

 

[Muwuk]

Combination reply to everyone:

First of all, thanks.

I have no friends to go with me. I was prohibited from making friends growing up, and now I'm so messed up that nobody wants to be around me (needless to say, I can't go with family). I've been dealing not only w/ ptsd, but also depression, anxiety, multiple personality / dissassociative identity disorder, insomnia, severe sensory processing disorder, and high-functioning autism & aspbergers, with a touch of ocd ever since i was a very little kid, but was prohibited from seeking treatment. Fast forward 20 years, I no longer have to answer to anyone but me and have been trying to get this wrangled together. But 20 years of your mind being your own personal hell is a lot to untangle (in addition to the 20+ years of events that started/kept worsening this whole ordeal) Depression and/or anxiety meds don't work for me, since all they do is either elevate the depression/anxiety to crippling levels, or make me uncontrollably suicidal (im not like that when not on meds)

One of the things that I wind up running into when a bad (i.e. talking or thinking about what I feel-induced) ptsd episode hits, in addition to my body trying to shut down on me is becoming extremely violent if I feel I can't escape. And when your mind is what you need to escape... well, you can't just go run out to the car to get away like you can from the screaming child in the store that's making you have flashbacks. So just jumping in and facing it all is... a quick way to get arrested for property destruction or worse.

I'd love to have a therapy dog, but I have a severe allergy to all animals (even the "hypoallergenic" ones). Which sucks, because I love cats. I also have a long list of physical medical ailments on top of my mental ones, and as such, am prohibited from most exercising (drs orders)... the few I'm allowed to do result in either ptsd episode or panoc attack. Plus, it doesn't really help that the anxiety has resulted in uncontrollable reflux so bad that I'm getting stomach acid in my lungs (and food in my sinus cavities), which makes it really difficult to breathe, even when just sitting down. This also makes it really difficult to do the whole "deep breathing for anxiety" thing, because that triggers a coughing fit that, thanks to a genetic disorder, causes my ribs to start to pull loose of my sternum. (Been hospitalized for that... it sucks)

I've also tried the various "eat this to combat that" diets, but I have so many food sensitivities and allergies, that it just doesn't work. Nothing quite like spending all day on the loo or with a cripplimg migraine to make your depression worse.

Trying to do things to make me relax... well, I've not been able to relax in decades. Not even under the unfluence of doctor prescribed sedatives. (My doc was soo confused when what should have been a heavy enough dose of sedatives to knock my on my butt just made me freak out more. Bad day.)

As far as talking with peoples about "non event" things... those dont really exist. Favorite things? I don't really have any. Not for lack of effort... it's just everything sucks so hard thanks to the depression. Like I could win the 5-quintillion-dollar lottery, never have to work a day in my lige again, and still not be happy. Misc life events? I work 140+ hrs/week for a soul-draining job just to keep a roof over my head, and don't have the option of quitting right now (long story). If I'm lucky, I'll be able to catch a shower before having to head straight to bed only to have monstrous nightmares all night. None of that I want to talk about, and I have nothing else. Doesn't really help that just being in the presence of other people causes issues for me too.

For what it's worth, I've also tried that whole "light therapy" thing (under a lamp since I sunburn nearly instantly), and all I got from it was horrible migraines, even if I had my eyes covered.

Well, folks, where do we go from here?

 

[Ocoj]

Combination reply to everyone:

First of all, thanks.

I have no friends to go with me. I was prohibited from making fri...

Wow... somehow logging back in changed my posting name... fail

 

[Vujicu]

This is anonymous....name changes with every post.

So your saying nothing will work...

 

[Darocus]

Even if I'm just having a normal conversation with a dear friend and it happens to meander along and so much as innocently/innocently brush up against an issue (of which i have a VERY long list), it's game over for me. Instantly. No matter what I try, whether I want it that way or not.

Does it help to know that's pretty normal for PTSD?

Which is a big part of why benzos & other meds are used in the beginning. Because without meds, therapy is impossible. Even just getting there, much less actually doing any kind of trauma work.

It's also why trauma work isn't what you start off with. Stabilization is. As in learning the tools to manage symptoms, setting up your life to lower both stress & symptoms, etc.

 

[Tudew]

Correction from above : OFTEN used in the beginning.

Not everyone needs meds to start therapy. But it's extremely common that people do need them.

 

[Uguku]

So your saying nothing will work...

That is what I'm afraid of. Everything tried thus far has been epic fail. I keep hoping that maybe someone will give birth to a new solution that will actually work for me.

 

[Use]

Correction from above : OFTEN used in the beginning.

Not everyone needs meds to start therapy. But it's extremely comm...

So what options are there if you need meds to start the party, but they won't work / only make things worse?

 

[Lavek]

Does it help to know that's pretty normal for PTSD?

...


...lower stress

Well, at least it lets me know I'm not alone. Which is... nice, i guess, even though that's the wrong word.

And I find the idea of having "lower stress" as amusing any more. Mostly on the grounds of "that's a nice dream." Everyone looks at me like I'm batcrap crazy when I say *everything* (and i do mean everything) is stressfull. It's funny (not in a "haha" sort of way, but more a sad sort of way), because everything on the
list of stuff they recomend for helping lower stress just causes me to have a panic attack, or worse. Meditation and yoga included.

 

[Duloh]

I'm out of here. If you're not willing to put in the effort, then, yeah, no hope.

 

[Wojaj]

So what options are there if you need meds to start the party, but they won't work / only make things worse?

The slower version. Which is what I did the first time through.

AKA Learn to manage your symptoms.

You'd still need to do that on meds, meds don't cure PTSD, and they're never meant for long term use (unless you have another disorder, also). But they provide some breathing room, and speed things up, in most cases. Even though if you did find meds that worked for you, you'd still need to learn to manage your symptoms first with/on meds, then after you've built up those skills with the crutch, peel them off and learn to do it off-med, it's still generally faster.