Delay-onset ptsd

[Deleted member 37474]

Supposedly, I have delayed-onset ptsd. I have been researching it recently. And not everyone in the psychological community even believes it is real. Some research shows that a big percentage of people with delayed onset had some symptoms of ptsd, but not enough to qualify early on and others may have had a brain injury during the trauma.

My mind/flashback does suggest to me that my head was crashed into a cabinet at one point, and there may be some possibility that I lost oxygen for a period of time (though I can't explain that one because I have no clear pictures on it.)

I just don't know. In a way I hope that "delay-onset ptsd" is a real thing... for my own sanity. Otherwise, why would I have all of these symptoms?

Does anyone else have delay onset ptsd? What do you know about it? Did you have a head injury?

 

[Deleted member 541]

I’ve had several concussions. First one was when I was about 4 I think, and then several after that.

 

[Deleted member 37474]

I’ve had several concussions. First one was when I was about 4 I think, and then several after that.[/...

Did your ptsd show up after 6 months or more?

 

[Deleted member 541]

I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 41, but I’ve had anxiety and panic attacks since age 10 and all the rest of PTSD symptoms after that.

 

[EveHarrington]

My feeling is that many/most of us here, especially those with childhood trauma, are in the delayed onset category.

It's in the DSM. That's enough for me. It's my official diagnosis.

Those who don't believe in it? They can go kick rocks because they are trauma ignorant and don't know shit. IMHO.

 

[hodge]

I definitely have delayed-onset PTSD. All my traumas happened before I was 31. So, yes, it's a real thing. The symptoms started after 9/11 and then all the news about the priest abuse of children. I guess that's what all triggered my onset. I finally got my butt to a therapist in 2006 -- yeah, why did I wait that long? I was freaking scared out of my mind.

My adult life before then was totally taking control, totally self-actualizing, I was successful in my career, I had energy left over to work on social justice issues. I was happy. I loved my work and everything I was doing to try to make things better, then all of a sudden all these things crashed down on me. I didn't know up from down. I was a total mess. PTSD.

 

[shimmerz]

Delayed onset for me too. From extremely early childhood traumas. Having said that, had a good dose of DV that was the tipping point. I can see in retrospect that PTSD was sitting brewing for a very long time. It explains a lot of things in my life that didn't really make sense before my diagnosis. Had it not been the 60's I most likely would have been diagnosed with PTSD as a toddler.

Oh.... and not certain about the brain trauma thing. None that I know of, but that doesn't mean much of anything. I was too young to recall.

 

[MrMoonlight]

Not sure how everything works as I'm new to the diagnosis but for me a second, less severe trauma thirteen years later seems to have sent me over the edge...after the second trauma I was fully broken. My first trauma was at the age of 12...I am now a couple years from 50.

I have been diagnosed with PTSD through an assessment from a Psychiatrist that has been practicing for thirty plus years. He is a celebrated guy so I trust his judgment and am following his treatment plan.

 

[Deleted member 41765]

Delayed onset here (raises hand), no sustained head injury, result of multiple traumas and complex.

 

[Lionheart]

Delayed onset PTSD here, or at least a delayed diagnosis...I am really unsure which it is. No head injury during PTSD trauma(s) but I did sustain a head injury (severe concussion) once when I was in my late teens.

I don't know if it is a real thing but I would think that having some coping tools, even negative ones that work for awhile and then cause problems later, may be one reason for a delayed onset diagnosis.

 

[Justmehere]

but not enough to qualify early on and others may have had a brain injury during the trauma.

I haven't ever read anything that would be a sound therapy as to why a brain injury would delay PTSD or not.

Or wait, is the case they are making that the ptsd symptoms are really symptoms of a brain injury?

Or is the thinking that the brain injury affects recall and thus the inability to recall right away causes the delay?

I have had symptoms of PTSD since I can remember but not full blown PTSD. Plus, during my time living in a traumatic environment, symptoms of fight or flight (or freeze or fawn) were not symptoms but survival tools. It's only now when I don't need them anymore that they are symptoms.

I wasn't diagnosed until I was older, and my symptoms got much worse and became full blown PTSD only once I was fully safe and really to actually feel stuff again. It really didn't have anything to do with TBI or recall as to why symptoms hit later on and not earlier, but life events and finally being able to feel again.

 

[Esterio]

Hi there TexCat thanks for the thread.
My trauma's happened from before I was 5 years old and the last one was at 22. I was diagnosed 1999 at the age of 44. I have been told by different professionals that have tried to help me that I have most likely been struggling with most of my life. I started to act out and was doing all kinds Of strange things. At 11 I was sent to see a child psychologist and never spoke to him. He scared the shit out of me and was trying to put words in my mouth. In hind site I wished I had maybe I could have been helped and saved me from everything else that happen. I also have had several concussions 2 where bad 1 was close to fatal so that has complicated things also.

So I don't know if that would be classified as delayed onset. I feel I was able to bury it and carry on. I think I have been struggling with it for years but i just would not accept something was wrong.
Peace be safe