Can people with ptsd actually function?

[Deanna]

@Deanna & @Placebo Lets keep this thread on track... If you’d like to start a new thread to continue this discussion, please use Contact Us and we can merge the last 4 or 5 posts into it. Thanks!

Feel free to delete them since we got off track. Sorry!

 

[anthony]

Is ptsd a manageable illness that one can have while functioning in society?

Yes. I was completely debilitated by PTSD at the beginning, and it took me a few years to become semi-functional, and today I am pretty functional in society, except for work. I have to manage myself, manage my exposure to stressors, but if I do that, I can function day to day, having some sort of life versus where I had none and would have been dead by now.

Just takes a lot of work, and there is no specified outcome for all, but unique to you, your trauma, your work you put in, and what you get out of it all.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Is ptsd a manageable illness that one can have while functioning in society?

Asking because I'm absolutely not functional with symptoms ranging from agoraphobia, monophobia, cognitive issues with planning, decision making, short term memory, derealization, inability to handle any stress, intrusive ruminative thoughts. None of my nightmares or thoughts are actually related with the traumatic event anymore, yet I still have these symptoms. I'm starting to think that most of my symptoms are coming from benzo withdrawal rendering me dysfunctional. I know I have ptsd since ive been diagnosed with this, but I wonder if I have to heal from benzo withdrawal first to be semi functional.

So to those who have ptsd without another illness affecting symptoms such S benzo withdrawal, is it possible to have a job, relationships, etc?

Just trying to gain some insight as to what's what in my complicated situation, most of my docs are clueless as to what's benzo withdrawal even is.

Yeah, had some benzos here....but terrified of withdrawl....so they got used very little......maybe once a week. I'm not all about drugs, but I've had all kinds of drug withdrawls, and they can be awful. Stay really hydrated, keep stress low, classical music or uplifting music can help.....good luck with that.....sorry you have to deal with it.

 

[Ptsdmiracle]

@anthony

Thanks for your response. May I ask what exactly was the debilitating symptoms for you in the beginning? Was it flashbacks and coping with stress issues?

The most debilitating of my current symptoms is the agoraphobia and monophobia, which seems to be brought on during benzo withdrawal. I think if these symptoms resolved, I would be able to more rationally work with the core ptsd issues. I don't think people with ONLY ptsd (and not benzo withdrawal) have these (correct me if I'm wrong).

 

[Sideways]

I don't think people with ONLY ptsd (and not benzo withdrawal) have these (correct me if I'm wrong).

My personal experience? Is you can absolutely develop agoraphobia with ptsd, without benzos being in the picture.

For me, that’s always a constant management thing I need to be aware of now. If my ptsd gets really symptomatic? I’ll become withdrawn and depressed, and the agoraphobia will set in again.

Working my way out of agoraphobia was all about the baby steps. I started with trips down the front stairs, trips to the letterbox and back. Like taking medication - getting up several times a day, regardless of how well or not I felt, and going through the motions of making those steps. Then further, little by little.

Function is an ongoing issue for me. Agoraphobia is a part of that. So I track it. And when I’m unwell? I monitor it like a mofo, with a written list of 10 things to get done every day and literally ticking the boxes. Get out of bed and get dressed? Tick. Eat breakfast and wash the dishes? Tick. Walk to the letterbox and back? Tick.

From that tiny level of function, to working. And back and forth between those points, many times over! Everyone is different, but no, you absolutely don’t need to have benzo withdrawals to develop agoraphobia with your ptsd.

 

[Ptsdmiracle]

@Sideways,

Thanks for responding. I didn't know agoraphobia could be a symptom of ptsd. When you say work on baby steps, does that work to help with agoraphobia? Are you able to overcome it? My derealization, agoraphobia, monophobia is CONSTANT. it never goes away no matter what I do, where I am, distracting, in therapy, whatsoever. It's like my new altered reality, which is so disabling.

 

[joeylittle]

It's like my new altered reality, which is so disabling.

Can you describe more about how you experience the agoraphobia and monophobia? I'm wondering, does the intensity fluctuate? And, if so, what is it like on the 'low' end vs the 'high' end?

 

[Ptsdmiracle]

@joeylittle

There is no intensity variation at all. It started when I started taking benzos for sleep at night, and during the day I'd notice I was feeling panicky and needed to go home, could only work for 2 hours. Then as I tapered off the benzos and jumped, the agoraphobia and monophobia hit full force and has stayed that way since for the past 5 months. It's 24/7. Basically I cannot be by myself if out in public, I need to have a relative by my side, otherwise my heart rate shots up to 150 and I cannot talk myself down. My rational mind KNOWS this fear is irrational, yet my brain and body still reacts this way. I can only be by myself at home for a short period... 15min maybe before starting to feel panicky. I can't even be with friends, go grocery shopping, go out for a walk. I can't control these feelings and fear at all and it is the most debilitating of all of my symptoms.

 

[Sideways]

What you’ve just described? Sounds a LOT like ptsd.

Not benzo withdrawal, just plain old shitty ptsd!!!

Suddenly needing to get out of here and retreat home where it’s safe? Yup. Ptsd.
Needing someone safe with you when you’re out in public, otherwise you have panic attacks? Yup. Ptsd.

It’s real shit. But the good news is that you can improve, and like people in this thread have talked about, get back to a point where you’re functioning really well, without all this panic going on. Therapy can help a lot with that:)

 

[Ptsdmiracle]

Except im feeling the agoraphobia and monophobia even though my mind knows it's irrational. It's also 24/7, like the intensity never varies, I've never been able to go out by myself for the past 6 monhts. And it's not that I feel like the world is unsafe, it's the fear that I will lose control of my emotions and mind, which would lead to someone calling the police on me.

How does one work to improve on this symptom? My therapist only tells me to keep pushing myself slowly, but I don't know how that translates to daily life. As long as I have a relative with me, somewhere I can see or know where to find, I'm fine. It can even be as far as down the block. But there's no middle ground that I can "work" on. It's either they're with me and around, or they're not. It's either I can find them, or I can't. And once I can't, it's another unbearable panic that'll send my anxiety and actions out the window. I don't know how to test this symptom safely. Also I've tried breathing and talking to myself during previous times where's I lost sight of my family, it didn't work. Any suggestions?

 

[Sideways]

My therapist only tells me to keep pushing myself slowly, but I don't know how that translates to daily life.

Your therapist is bang on, and it might be worth asking them to work through some very specific examples of how exactly to pull that off with your particular daily routine.

Being on benzos would have had the effect of numbing you from a lot of this type of panic. Which is why a lot of people with ptsd use them - they help get rid of panic.

Now that you’re off them? This is ptsd. Unabridged, unapologetic - just full on ptsd as it is. Panic. A lot. Because our amygdala isn’t working right (not because everything is suddenly, realistically, unsafe). Fear of of sorts of things that shouldn’t be scary at all.

And it sucks. But now that you’re experiencing it unadulterated? Your T is right, you can start fixing it for reals (gradually), instead of just covering it up with the thick woolen blanket for our brain that is benzos.

Sorry it’s a struggle. I think a lot of people around here get exactly what you‘re describing though, if that helps at all.

 

[Lionheart]

I am a survivor of severe, prolonged, child abuse. I am unable to work because of PTSD. I can effectively manage most PTSD symptoms with help from my support team, but cannot manage stress well enough to function in the public workplace environment to which I was accustomed. I did manage to work with PTSD for 8 years until stress began to physically shut my body down to the point of not being able to stand on my own two feet. To my mind, it takes quite a bit of prolonged stress to do that to a person.

I have several chronic physical disorders that will probably keep me from being able to re-enter the workforce even if my ability to manage stress improves significantly. I have adjusted to that fact and have accepted that my ability to function has been compromised by a number of factors, (including, but not limited to PTSD). Fortunately, I do not equate my self-worth with the amount of money I am able to make or the amount of work I can do. I am after all a human being, not a human doing.

So anyway, I think that if by function you mean "hold a job", the answer is that yes, some of us with PTSD can function quite well, while a few of us cannot function well enough regardless of our recovery work. Though even those disabled by PTSD sometimes do return to work after a time. That is not to say that our symptoms do not improve, mine has improved quite a bit. I can function in relationships and most other areas of life but not work. *(I think Anthony said it best).