Can people with ptsd actually function?

[lostforgottensoul]

Who has the luxury of "not being able to function?" I work full-time and live on my own. If I ever let myself go off the deep end I'd be screwed. I did this even during a period of being temporarily hospitalized for my own safety. There's not many people who have someone willing to take care of them and being institutionalized is a punishment so you wouldn't want to end up living in a psych hospital because you have no rights whatsoever

That's why many of us have service dogs. It is a luxury to be able to have a service dog but that is the reason for them. To help you function and/or function better. They don't always cost money but you do want to ensure you can house and care for the dog for the remainder of its life.

 

[hithere]

I feel like someone with dementia or who had a stroke.

I just re-read this part. Feeling like someone with dementia or someone who has had a stroke is exactly how I felt when dealing with trauma in therapy and days later. I was not wired up emotionally until about 3 years ago. I could talk about things very detached, no emotion, but then I'd later be extremely dissociated and feeling like I had stroke. My brain would be empty. This was all the symptoms of ptsd. (for me)

 

[Ptsdmiracle]

@joeylittle
I appreciate your thoughtful replies to my issues.

I agree with you that working on the symptom is better than sitting on it waiting it to improve with time alone. I just didn't know which symptoms should take priority, as there is a lot on my plate to work on. Doing these things that distract from my mental symptoms occupy all of my day and I am left completely fatigued, add insomnia on top of that, sometimes all I can do is watch tv and browse forums. BUT I'm planning on coming up with some tasks and goals with my therapist. I'm working on showering right now, which I'm trying to do every other day. And believe me this is a hard task, as crazy as that sounds but I'm sure not that crazy to some folks on here.

@shatter eyes
Thanks for your input, I do plan on working on these goals and exercises for now, but I also want to shoot for independence at some point, since another member on here pointed out that I can't rely on my family forever, which is true. I'll just have to be patience and improve when I actually can improve.

 

[shatter eyes]

Early in therapy with different Ts that told me to breathe made me want to punchm out. Breathe on this... until my trauma T explained to me that deep breathing activates the vagal nerve that can help stop the amygdala hijacking me. DB also tells me i am real and have a body... there are times where i am so emotionally wound up i would stab myself and not feel pain or fear. I did feel them afterwards. Like a pressure cooker exploding i have the deal with the mess afterwards but deep breathing (grounding) is like opening the pressure valve each breathe until the pot cools down.

Not to discourage you from my share, but the breathing took about one year for me to accept and practice. Box breathe 4in x 4holdx 4out. Prana breathe right nostril in left nostril out and visualize the air swooping right to left (it makes me yawn after 4 cycles).

Breathing also gets more oxygen to brain so it can function i stead of shutting down. Vagal nerve is a real thing and is wired from brain to major organs. Rest n digest mode which brings more fuel to function.

SI is life or death at the mercy of my impulse. Slowing down the tailspin, reaching out, taking meds as prescribed, working through therapy is a fulltime job. Staying alive is a fulltime job too.

Flowers if they gave up in winter would never bloom for us in spring. They hold on, likely breathing WTF its cold, ?, and then conditions change for the better and their resilience grows adapting to the survived harshness.

Rushing my expected results has often brought on my depression until i hit low low and SI begins. Thats when i dissapear down a rabbit hole rushing rabbit.

Sometimes reading the posts here helps me feel better and remind myself we are all trying to manage symptoms and life in our own ways with the tools we have.

 

[Ptsdmiracle]

@Sideways Have you noticed difference since you started practicing breathing? If so, in what way?

 

[Sideways]

Have you noticed difference since you started practicing breathing? If so, in what way?

Absolutely.

I practice breathing daily (in bed at night, part of my routine so it happens every day). I’ve done yoga and meditation over the years (yoga so helpful), as well as a score of different types of breathing exercises with different Ts (they all have different ways to help control your breathing, but they achieve about the same thing).

I was at the point where my anxiety would get so bad, particularly while I was out, that I was having panic attacks where I lost control of my bodily functions. Which is something that makes going out even more terrifying.

Breathing exercises on board? Now I know I can absolutely control my breathing? Never happens. My panic never gets that bad any more.

Being able to control your breathing physiologically forces your body out of that panic state. Once you can do it effectively? Using before you get to the point of panic means your body physically isn’t able to enter a panic attack.

And that works. But, it’s not like normal breathing. It’s not something we do naturally. It’s a skill that we kinda suck at when we first try, so it doesn’t work so well. As we get better with practice? It starts working.

 

[Ptsdmiracle]

Absolutely.

I practice breathing daily (in bed at night, part of my routine so it happens every day). I’ve done yoga and meditation over the years (yoga so helpful), as well as a score of different types of breathing exercises with different Ts (they all have different ways to help control your breathing, but they achieve about the same thing).

I was at the point where my anxiety would get so bad, particularly while I was out, that I was having panic attacks where I lost control of my bodily functions. Which is something that makes going out even more terrifying.

Breathing exercises on board? Now I know I can absolutely control my breathing? Never happens. My panic never gets that bad any more.

Being able to control your breathing physiologically forces your body out of that panic state. Once you can do it effectively? Using before you get to the point of panic means your body physically isn’t able to enter a panic attack.

And that works. But, it’s not like normal breathing. It’s not something we do naturally. It’s a skill that we kinda suck at when we first try, so it doesn’t work so well. As we get better with practice? It starts working.

I see. Thank you for that. Gives me motivation to practice. Why didn't my T explain it to me like this?

 

[Sideways]

Why didn't my T explain it to me like this?

They all go about their job differently. But few of them have actually experienced this stuff first hand. That’s why this place is such a helpful adjunct to therapy I think. Sometimes it helps to hear things from people who have had to live it:)

 

[DharmaGirl]

I have severe PTSD. I had a total breakdown in my 50s, which I've heard is not unusual. I was, and had been a workaholic, and when I had back surgery and was no longer able to work in my chosen profession, I had a breakdown at work. The new job I had was all about saving the hospital money, rather than saving lives. I made the mistake of saying that at a meeting, and I was bullied by my bosses, which triggered me and I eventually had a full blown breakdown. I had 12 or 13 hospitalizations in 2 years, 7 serious suicide attempts. I was seeing a therapist 2 to 3 times a week. None of my team expected me to make it through, but I did.

Now I am no longer high functioning. I don't have suicidal thoughts often , and when I do I know they are thoughts, not actions. I have agoraphobia, and I can control a lot of my symptoms, but I am still disabled. I have come a long, long way with therapy, mindfulness, workbooks, @ms spock helping me, and many others on this board. I want to get better and be high functioning again, but I am so much better than I was even with all my symptoms now. I also take benzos, but I used to take them twice a day, and I stopped taking the mid-day one. The only withdraw symptoms I had was increased anxiety for awhile. That has gone away.

It's hard for me to say I'm so much more functional than I was, and be grateful, when I would rather be working and earning money and deriving self worth out of it. I have a small egg selling business that keeps me busy.

The way I get over the agoraphobia is to say, all you have to do is shower and dress. Then if you feel like it, you can get in the car. Then I say, all you have to do is sit in the car, and if you feel like it, you can start it. You get the idea. I'm going to use it tomorrow, since there is a group I've been longing to attend, and I really, really want to go. Baby steps.

Sorry for the rambling, I tend to go on and on.

 

[ms spock]

I work each day to be a bit more present so I can manage to function a bit more.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

I am so much better than I was...

...[fill in the blank].

This has been paramount for me.

No matter where your functioning level is today, being able to see that you are functioning better today then last week or a year ago or when you were suicidal or when you were cutting or when you had that job or dating that person or during this timeframe or when you lived there or...fill in the blank. My therapist has always kept this thought in the foreground and it has really helped me see that I am progressing and getting better. No matter what is happening today that maybe causing me to spiral downward, I am functioning better today then [XYZ].

And I have no idea why society sees working as that functioning switch where one is higher functioning if working and lower functioning if not working. That is so not true!

 

[Sweetleaf]

most of my docs are clueless as to what's benzo withdrawal even is.

Most of the benzo users/abusers I have known who have quit and sought medical help with the withdrawal, generally said most docs are clueless about benzo withdrawal. It's sad cause it can be very severe, give you seizures, and potentially kill you, depending on multiple factors.

Theres something called the "Ashton manual" that gives very detailed tapering instructions/a chart, showing how to safely taper someone off of benzos. I'd tell my doctors about it if I was being pulled off or quitting benzos.

Basically you get switched to diazepam (valium) at an equivalent dosage to what you were taking before, and every week or two the dose goes down, until you're completely off of it. They use valium because it is long acting, making it more effective for tapering and mitigating withdrawal symptoms.

I wish medical professionals were more widely educated on the dangers associated with benzo withdrawal. A severe alcoholic with a massive tolerance cant safely quit without medical help, same applies to benzo users. You run the risk of serious problems like seizures.