Heat=panic Attack...any Other Oif/oef Vets Experience This?

[FUBAR1]

i have problems with tension-caused frozen/stiff neck. if its not bad enough to require a trip to a massage therapist, i can usually cure it right up by spending a goodly amount of time in a hot shower/bath... except i cant stand heat and so i avoid the shower and end up just staying in severe pain and immobility for days when i could cure it in 45 minutes with hot water. heat of any kind, whether a shower, bath, too many blankets, warm clothes, or a heater on in a car during winter, makes me panic. i always stay at room temperature or colder; i actually usually wear nothing but boxers in the house even in winter because the warmth from wearing clothes indoors panics me.

its ridiculous since i was one of the best at handling heat during my tours; i was a whiz at mind over matter. my one buddy would literally panic in a hot humvee and nearly have a nervous breakdown but i actually sat in a humvee in the dead of summer in direct sunlight with as many clothes on as i could find with the windows rolled up for an hour just to conquer my discomfort with the heat, and it worked, even though it was stupid and dangerous and by the time i came out i nearly had heatstroke. but from that point the hotter it got, the more i enjoyed it, because i'd decided to, my mind just works like that when it needs to. except for now, apparently!?

its not just the reminder of my tours that makes heat a psychological threat now, but one particular incident right at the very beginning of the war during my first tour when we became separated from the rest of the convoy in the f*ck middle of the desert during a sandstorm, our coms went down, and we were basically stranded for three days and were already out of water before the first day was up. the heat was enough to melt skin to bone and we went over twenty four hours without any water whatsoever, by the end of which i was so dehydrated i was hallucinating. kept having a waterfall mirage. i kept my wits and got thru it on mental power without freaking, even though by the time i was hallucinating, every second without water was hell. finally found water the second day, some kind of slough and we all got dysentery from it which only added to the dehydration but we all must have had horseshoes up our asses bcuz we all survived. but i think this incident really drove home the danger of the desert and now whenever im in any temperature that feels remotely hot - or even warm, really - my brain freaks and i feel like im in danger of dying from heatstroke or dehydration. despite knowing thats not true my whole body just seems to go on full alert and i cant seem to calm myself - its just "you're going to f*cking die if you dont get out of this heat NOW" and wham, panic attack.

i handled the heat fine during all three tours, not sure why the mental tools that worked for me over there aren't doing shit now in regards to heat. anyone else have similar panic about hot temps and if so are there any solutions you've found to help calm down?

 

[Ned]

ALWAYS carry water around with me. In my rucksack, in my truck. I've gone off heat & bright sunlight too. And humidity. But was out in the Mojave in July-August and took it in my stride (?).
Generally the heat & humidity screnarios are the ones that are going to trigger me anyway (crowded bars/nightclubs, shops, trains/tube) so I just tend to avoid them.
I've found that the more I'm doing internally generated heat (exercise, tabbing, bike) the less the whole thing bothers me. It's after a period of withdrawal/inactivity I'm worse (no shit, Sherlock!).
Not much help sorry, but I know where you're coning from.

 

[Ted Moen]

Stuff triggers intense feelings. Sometimes the intense feelings are expressed outwardly, kill the trigger wand stuff like that. Sometimes the intense feelings are expressed inwardly, isolation and depression and avoidance and so on. Sometimes the intense feelings that turn inward find expression physically, in muscle tension that does strange and painful things to us. I started in a massage therapy program at the VA 10 years ago and, while the VA program has come and gone, I still get a full body massage every two weeks. It keeps the internal PTSD symptoms manageable for me.

Stuff triggers intense feelings. Stuff does not trigger behavior, although if we haven't yet learned to manage the intense feelings it feels like stuff triggers behavior. Extreme heat triggers intense feelings for me. I was way South in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, and years later in the Saudi desert for Desert Storm.

Lots of things trigger intense feelings for me. I used to call people who did stuff that triggered me self-nominating targets (external expression of the intense feelings).

Learning to live better with PTSD is all about learning to manage our behavior in our current situation while stuff happening in our current situation is triggering intense feelings. The challenge is to behave appropriately in our current situation, in a way that gets our current needs met. So when the intense feelings say we can't do this, or we have to do that, we have to challenge them (the intense feelings). I can do this. I do not have to do that. I can behave in a way that is appropriate in my current situation even though I have these intense feelings going on in the background.

Over the years passing sets of intense feelings have become like old friends. Stuff triggers one old friend or another, the intense feelings flow, I let myself remember the reframed (through therapy) situation then refocus on behaving appropriately in my current situation. Old friends come and go all the time. Extreme heat is an old friend, but it is no longer appropriate to act on the feeling like I had to in the swamp or desert. I no longer need the self-imposed set of automatic behaviors and strict rules of behavior that got me through (successfully) the situation I had to survive then, even though it feels like I do at the moment.

Ted

 

[Zipperhead]

I'm not to bad with the heat, although I definately don't enjoy it. My big issue is more dirrect sunlight. as long as I'm in the shade, I'm good. Even in the dessert, we could get shade, even if it was just pers camnets strung off antennas. We went through great efforts to be in the shade, and now sun is my enemy.

 

[Dan]

I get a little jumpy in the night, especially if the only light I have is from headlights. I guess it makes sense, my major trauma happened at night with just the headlights from the truck. It's odd how specific it can be. I'm just fine under streetlights or with a fire, just had one the other night and really enjoyed it. I still go out of my way to get as much done as I can before it gets dark. I still turn extra lights on at night if I can, but I'm getting a little better about it.

What I'm trying is to gradually start turning more lights off. I can see a little difference so far, it's only been about a month since I started. I'm down to one less light in the other room.

Maybe if you gradually start turning the heat up a little at a time you can kind of trick your mind or get used to it. Then once you're to a point where you can stand the temperatures you'll see during the summer, you stop. And I also always have plenty of water. I've learned that when they say one day mission, pack for three. Trucks break, tow trucks get stuck or end up backing up the mountain because there's no place to turn around... Yea, I've been there. I also keep a change of clothes, two liters of water, and a small survival kit in my trunk. Better safe than sorry. I don't know if it will work for you or not, just an idea. Good luck

 

[gibrokedown]

alright WTF! I have been doing the same thing! i have brain trauma and thought it was due to that and the neck injuries and ptsd and deteriorating health and all the meds. right now they are preparing to test me for gulf war syndrome. I can't stand heat, I freak out big, I can't breathe. I even had a heart attack because of it a few years ago. Now it isn't due to the temperatures i served in I know this for a fact. I also have severe pain in my neck and cant stand the heat in the tub. the shower is fine til i get out, but my lousy shower gives me at most 15 minutes. that isn't relaxing that's just stressful. it's the humidity that crawls down my spine when I get out of the shower or bath. Omg i go ballistic. I have to get out of the bathroom and into a cool room ASAP or the panic gets so bad I get sick. I wonder if your ptsd is eating part of your brain like mine is doing. it is shown now on mri's etc.. that ptsd causes brain damage and those who alread have a tbi, it just eats at the dead tissue making it worse by far. it's a thought. it may be affecting the temperature regulators in our brains. they really don't know much about ptsd and if they say they do they are lying. it's only the last 10 years that they have been pounding their own braincells to figure out the phisological aspects of it. I happen to be from gulf 1 and with brain damage they have been watching me over the years and realized OMG ptsd eats the brain!!! gee imagine that .and I told them that nearly 15 years ago.

 

[gibrokedown]

wait are you on meds? certain meds can do exactly what we are experiencing! have you been thrown on tramadol?

 

[FUBAR1]

I have been on various meds, including Ativan, Cipralex, and Effexor. I'm off all meds right now, with my doc and psych's knowledge, as I am giving a go at coping without the meds. If I ever feel the need I will at least go back on Cipralex no prob. But if I can stay off meds I would like to; I'm a month in without meds so far. In any case while your theory about actual damage to the brain - especially if you have a tbi - might hold some water, I personally think that heat panic in combat vets whose tours were in hot climes has more to do with psychological danger association than actual brain breakdown. We are essentially prey animals and the way we - and all sentient animals on earth, even predators - learn how to navigate and survive our environment is by making associations to determine danger and safety. By basing future reactions on previous encounters, we learn to avoid predators, poison, dangerous terrain and weather, and anything contrary to our survival. If we're a gazelle and in the past a shadow in the grass meant a lion, than in the future we're going to bolt at any shadow. If we're a combat vet and in the past heat and humidity meant bullets, IEDs, etc, then our brain is going to give us overpowering warning signals in the presence of danger by association, and is going to prepare for fight or flight = adrenaline = panic.

 

[Jimmy1]

That is awesome mate, I totally agree.

Here is a prime example. If you watch the series 'Band Of Brothers', one of the veterans was doing a commentary and he said that in the middle of winter when he got into bed he would say to his wife, "I am glad I am not in Bastogne' and that was 40 years after the event.

 

[Ned]

Nice post FUBAR, and like Jimmy says, agreed.

 

[Sarg]

I gotta tell you guys, you've got my utmost respect. Nam was hot a muggy but it wasn't as hot as what you guys had. That heat, in full uniform, pack, weapon, ammo, I just don't know how the hell you did it. Hats off to ya'.

Sarg

 

[Jimmy1]

I remember being on the range in Kuwait. It was 57 deg C in the shade. They had big white tents with aircons blowing hot air.
You had to wear gloves or else take your skin off on the sand. The anti glare on your mask worked, but they soon filled with sweat.

f*ck I hate the heat.

Can't wait to move to a cooler climate.