Hi All, Ptsd Afghan After Injury

[Lee C]

Hi, i posted on PTSD forum and they advised me to also post on here so i apologise for the cut and paste.
I was diagnosed with PTSD and mixed bi-polar after hiding it since I was shot with an rpg in Afghan in 2007. I received multiple injuries to my arms(perm no feeling in my right hand), legs, fragmenatation to the eye which they managed to get out without any perm damage.

Like many people I thought I could handle these feelings but after hitting the booze hard (I am now t total as I don't trust myself drunk) and trying to sort it myself I sought medical help.

I have had numerous cpn's, tried cbt and emdr(neither worked) and now see a shrink once a week. I have been on numerous medications to control the madness during the day and even more to get me to sleep at night time.

A couple of months ago I had 6 sessions of ECT which didn't improve anything imho apart from my short term memory is now shocking, I forget sometimes why I entered into a conversation and have terrible shakes.

I am still serving in the UK forces but I am in the recovery system.

I have read a few threads and its like reading my own mind. I look forward to chatting with you all in the near future.
lee

 

[Jimmy1]

Welcome Lee, will chat more soon

 

[Ned]

Hello Lee. Yep this is a good place to see how others have thought through things and come up with ways to live with it.
Be interested to hear your progress in the UK system (I'm a Brit and still involved).
Good luck mate.

 

[Anglesachse]

Hi Lee welcome to the fold, I reckon most here will relate to the issue`s you mentioned.

Like Ned I am ex Brit forces too, but live in Germany but am no longer involved, Ned is only invovled `cos at his age he`s part of the Furnishings (:ROFLMAO: just had to get that in mucker) so yeah feel free to look, ask, question, and post but most of all the rant is probably the thing that helps the most.

Take a pew and laze awhile cocker. no rush here.

 

[Jimmy1]

Hey Lee,

Just a quick question mate. Who diagnosed you with Bipolar?? Why I ask is that I am pretty sure that you can have bipolar before and then PTSD, but not both at the same time. Sometimes its an excuse by the VA not to pay, just like TBI is here.

Maybe the old bastard Anthony who is turning 40 very soon will know.

Jimmy

 

[Fargo1]

Greetings Lee,

It is a hard road which we walk. My life has been in complete turmoil but this place saved me from a certain ugly fate...not that it hasn't been ugly here. But it would have been uglier without it.

Pull up your chair and read, cry or rant away.

Fargo

 

[anthony]

You can have both at once, however; if you didn't have bipolar prior to trauma, then chances are any diagnosis of bipolar after trauma is a misdiagnosis. Bipolar is actually a biological illness, even though classified as mental illness, it is a chemical deficiency within the brain that affects depression and mood.

Hence, after trauma and PTSD is present, PTSD causes depression and mood bursts, mimicking Bipolar. Mood up, mood down, mood up, mood down... repeat the process, that is PTSD.

When you had Bipolar before trauma, then endured trauma and got PTSD, then you have both correctly.

It is estimated to take approximately 10 years ongoing treatment by a psychiatrist to ascertain Bipolar diagnosis with any credence. If a psychologist told you you have Bipolar... I wouldn't piss on what they say, as psychiatrists are the experts when it comes to mental health diagnosis. Anything lesser, you're doing yourself an injustice.

Psychologists are not doctors, nor do they have anything close to the training of a psychiatrist when it comes to diagnostic medicine. Psychologists are the experts in therapy... psychiatrists are the experts in diagnosis, medication and therapy techniques. Most psychiatrists, due to be doctors, tend to be more labelling and fault finding oriented, than what is needed for therapy, being someone to listen and guide. Some psychiatrists do therapy well... but most don't... more than likely that doctor part of training where taught to isolate from the patient.

Psychologists are taught to get closer to the patient, hence the difference when it comes to therapy itself.

 

[Lee C]

Thanks for all the Info. It was my psychiatrist who diagnosed me and it has bipolar all over my folders. I have been compensated for my PTSD, interim award ( although, and this might sound shallow, money doesnt mean anything to me at the moment) What im really struggling with at the moment is the after effects the ECT has left me with especially my memory problems. It doesnt help that the medication im on wipes my memory from about 2100 hrs onwards anyway and my missus becomes the carer.
The physical injuries i have i have learnt to handle but the mental ones, well :confused:

 

[Jimmy1]

Lee, all I can say is WOW. I have never heard of ECT for bipolar or PTSD. Generally its only used when medication does not work at all.

As for your medication mate, I am on a drug called Immovane. It slows me down then knocks me out and I am fairly useless except when things are really bugging me like tonight. Is 2.12 am. But I do have trouble focusing on stuff. I call it 'Cobweb Eyes'.

The invisible mental injuries, well, all of us on here have them and thats what this site is about. Helping people manage them.

So good luck and if you have any questions, just ask

 

[anthony]

ECT has no place with PTSD... it does nothing to treat trauma.

 

[Lee C]

It was under my understanding i was given ECT ( only 6 sessions as my memory was assessed to be too bad) for my severe depression.

 

[Jimmy1]

Mate, I have no idea, I am not a shrink, but have never heard of it being used for PTSD. There are heaps of therapies out there for sensitive traumas that are to painfull to revisit, such as brain spotting , your doctors know best, but all of us here have suffered severe depression. Hope you pick up mate