Hello - I Don't Know If I Am Welcome So I Will Ask Here.

[docboob#49]

You haven't offended me.

No-one with ptsd plays nice, me included.

I'm a bit unsure what you feel the need to be protected from.

Edit: by the way, I don't believe there is one PTSD.

you said "I'm a bit unsure what you feel the need to be protected from."

Can't speak for others but for me, it's the 9mm Ruger under my pillow loaded with frangible ammo. That's what I need to be protected from.

 

[Jimmy1]

you said "I'm a bit unsure what you feel the need to be protected from."

Can't speak for others but for me, it's the 9mm Ruger under my pillow loaded with frangible ammo. That's what I need to be protected from.

Bob, if you are questioning your own safety, please go to a friend and give them the weapon. You are welcome here and among friends.

We have other guys on here that have witnessed what you did, quite a few Nam veterans actually.

Hope you are ok mate.

 

[OldDoorGunner]

People should not confuse symptom severity with classification. Classification, there is only PTSD. That's all that physically exists. That diagnosis then has a range of different symptoms. Some meet more than others, and they also meet them at greater severity than 7 out of 10.
Severity is usually graded, hence why you hear things from professionals such as Severe PTSD, Complex PTSD, etc.
They are not diagnoses, they are severity scales. One should then not confuse that with trauma type, ie. Combat PTSD, also which does not exist, its purely a term coined to quickly depict that the person is a veteran and got PTSD from combat.
As a diagnosis, there is only PTSD, and it should not be broken apart into classifications... that would be extremely detrimental to the overall doctrine that many physicians already struggle with so much, just having one diagnosis for PTSD.
It would be the mother of all f*ck ups if they ever did that.

Anthony this has help me out some what. My classification is severe chronic ptsd. I am hoping you can give some insight to a question? When I went to the VA for my C&P I had wrote up 8 real bad stressors. (my wife said she could write them for me, if I could get them out) it took 2 months to get them done. We go in and see the doc and he asked for some stressors and I give him the book with the 8. He reads them all, and then tells me he really only needs one. (he did in fact put in 4) I really do not understand this? One (me) would think the more stressors you have, the PTSD would be worse, than someone with only one stressor. I have asked a few docs about this and I get different answers, that just don't make sense. What I am getting from them is after the first stressor, the others don't count???....In my mind (whats left of it) the more stressors one has, the more material you have to draw from for flash backs and nightmares...I look forward to hearing what you have to say on this.....Thanks..

J R

 

[docboob#49]

Bob, if you are questioning your own safety, please go to a friend and give them the weapon. You are welcome here and among friends.

We have other guys on here that have witnessed what you did, quite a few Nam veterans actually.

Hope you are ok mate.

Thanks Jimmy,

I'm surviving so far. Went to the VA and they explained all of their "Cookie cutter" treatment programs for PTSD but they all require you to talk about it and I can't. Not "don't want to"...can't. Can't even stay on this forum for very long.

 

[Fargo1]

Bob,

And that is the message you should take away from the VA and this forum: You have to learn to talk about it.

We all have different points of view, different experiences, and different thresholds. But until we discover telepathy, there are only two ways to get it out — writing and talking. To do that, you have to build trust with someone (be that us here, or your therapist). So keep at it brother. Take breaks when you have to, but understand that we've got your back brother.

 

[Ned]

Can't even stay on this forum for very long.

Doesn't matter. Read around until something clicks. There is a wealth of thoughts, feelings and insights here, you'll recognize a lot.
And there's no clocking in, either.

 

[tnkg1rl]

This may help some too


http://www.va.gov/ORPM/docs/20100901_AM07_ServiceConnectedandOtherDisabilityCompensation.pdf

 

[Sarg]

ODG (Old Door Gunner), the VA is backed up enough to last for years. C&P Docs look only for the information they need to verify a diagnosis and assign a severity. They have your military records, they establish you in a war zone, they have your medical records, in many cases, stressor letters aren't even necessary.

A very good site to go to for questions about VA claims and excellent advice is www.Hadit.com.

I'm chronic, severe and that put me in the 70% range and then I filed for TDIU and am paid at the 100% rate. Good luck.

Sarg

 

[reddevil1111]

Bob, read for 15 minutes and leave. then come back in an hour and do it again. When I was real bad its what I did. I think it could help.

ODG, I am fighting for classification and was turned down on my initial application for disability. I did get it for my hearing of all things. I was wounded but it was from peacetime not combat. It complicates the process a lot for me. I was classified severe and chronic by a different agency but the VA refuses to use that as well.

The VA is a battle. I decided to take a break from it personally. I just don't want the money bad enough to keep fighting. Its just not worth it to me. I wish you luck with it.

 

[OldDoorGunner]

ODG (Old Door Gunner), the VA is backed up enough to last for years. C&P Docs look only for the information they need to verify a diagnosis and assign a severity. They have your military records, they establish you in a war zone, they have your medical records, in many cases, stressor letters aren't even necessary.
A very good site to go to for questions about VA claims and excellent advice is
I'm chronic, severe and that put me in the 70% range and then I filed for TDIU and am paid at the 100% rate. Good luck.
Sarg

Thanks Sarg....I understand about the C&P docs, they just do their thing an pass it on to the raters. (I have the same rate as you 70% + the TDIU)....However down the road even my counselor says that the number of stressors, does not make the PTSD worse. He does offer to work on each stressor if I want, but I have to give him the stressors. Says he can't read my C&P stuff and if he could; what would he find? Not much.....So I for one, am starting to wonder just how much the docs and counselors really know about PTSD?

Thanks for the link, I will check it out. I would like to post a link for a very good free site. But not sure when I can post links.
You could do a search on VA WATCHDOG

J R
ps had to remove you link to post...lol

 

[Fargo1]

Being far from an expert and certainly not a head-shrinker...

My therapist has pages and pages of notes from our sessions. She started me off by spending a month (3 days a week for two hours) just having me start from that day and go backwards through my life and experiences. Then she picked one of the incidents and had me go through it with her... Then it was like peeling an onion, sometimes the layer comes off easily, sometimes you get stuck, or find that there is something else in there that needs to be gone through...

The human mind is incredibly complex and delicate and our knowledge of it is sadly lacking. With the forward strides the scientists and doctors have been making and our ability to talk about this shit seems to be getting better, hopefully, someday, it will be easy.

Here's hoping anyway.

 

[OldDoorGunner]

Thanks Jimmy,

I'm surviving so far. Went to the VA and they explained all of their "Cookie cutter" treatment programs for PTSD but they all require you to talk about it and I can't. Not "don't want to"...can't. Can't even stay on this forum for very long.

Hi Bob.....Well you and I were in the same boat. I was just like you; I can't. Not "don't want to"...can't..... This is from my post above. "I had wrote up 8 real bad stressors. (my wife said she could write them for me, if I could get them out) it took 2 months to get them done".

This was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. At first I could only get out one sentence, if that. Later that day or the next I would try again. It took me 2 months and it was HARD to do....I just kept coming back, I would not quit! Each day something would come out, some of it random stuff. The more I did this, more started to come out. I had lost how much time I was putting into this. The next thing I know was, I had 2 days before my C&P and I had got it done....No bells and whistles, no party....f*ck,....I did feel a hell of a lot feel better, I got the job done! I had open the door, I had taken some control of the Beast!

Bob that was about 3 years ago, I still kept working on it. I am still working on it, but it is somewhat easier. I can now talk about the things in my head that cause me pain and heartache. I can talk about the things I remember, that I don't want to remember. It may take me almost the whole hour for me to get something out to counselor, but I now get it out. Will I ever beat the Beast? I don't know, but I will never give up the fight, never!!!

Brother, please give it a try.

J R