Moving house when dealing with PTSD

[DogTired]

I know, I've got to be crackers moving house when dealing with PTSD. I mean what could be more stressful?
Yet, since leaving the forces in the 80's, it's kinda in me to move on every seven years or so and, after every move, I'd have 4-6 years of calm, no nightmares or flashbacks.

Then came the latest PTSD meltdown (the worse one for 38 years) and the nightmares, flashbacks, hyper-vigilance, and an over whealming fear that harm will come to our door.
SWMBO said she wasn't going to move BEFORE I got help. That was back in March, it's now August and still no date to start treatment.

As a result, the nightmares have been ramping up in intensity until I cracked last week, yelling that if we didn't move, I'm going to shoot myself.
End results? SWMBO gave in and the house is on the market. That calmed me down, so I wasn't living nightmares or flashbacks so often.
Sounds good? No, not really as selling a house in the UK is a slow process.
The delays and worry restarted 3-4 nightmares a week plus flashbacks most days and a burning desire to just up sticks and go.

I contacted the therapy team I'm on the wait list for. Only to be told that there may be another delay to even start treating me.
Then, today, I was having a nap on the couch and one of my more horrible nightmares hit me.
I awoke up to the dog trying to wake me up. Not good, and it took hours to calm down.

I'm now sat in bed typing this and hoping to get sooo tired, I'll sleep tonight.
Was I daft to want to move? No, I don't think so as I get worse the longer I stay in one place.
You could say moving 'distracts me' so there is no room for PTSD to come to the fore. Historically that seems to be accurate.
BUT, I am recognising the physical and mental effects of my PTSD are growing.
Only this time, nothing is working to lessen the shocks.

 

[arfie]

dunno if it is anything like your case, but i was raised moving every few months and am frequently called, "a frequent flier" in my therapy circles. i have a knack for being long gone before anybody knows i have a problem. my HWMBO is a home boy who needs a crowbar to be pried out of familiar surroundings. he knew i was a wanderer and has been pretty good about taking my wandering ways in stride, at least for a HWMBO. . . i don't sell houses or demand that he change domiciles when i get my wandering urges, but that need for wandering gets pretty demanding.

there is no doubt that my frequent flights are connected to my over-developed survival instincts. i believe i heal a bit every time i challenge the urge. i frequently decide to wander, anyway, but at least i am wandering and not running.

but that is me and every case is unique.

steadying support while you sort you own case.

 

[Midnightmoon]

The housing market is certainly something in the UK at the min, I'm sorry you are playing the waiting game in the midst of those awful symptoms.

The delay in you being able to access help is probably very much adding to the situation. The NHS is on its knees .

You could say moving 'distracts me' so there is no room for PTSD to come to the fore. Historically that seems to be accurate.

This made me smile because hell yes. I grew up in a family very dysfunctional that moved with the seasons it seemed, never felt connected to a place or to people. It was my normal so never thought it odd. Now as an adult with CPTSD the itchy feet feeling is constant. Never being settled, wanting a blank slate etc. It doesn't work, the trauma crap just follows you, but feels like something you can control...so I guess you hang onto it as a solution/ numbing/ distraction.

 

[DogTired]

dunno if it is anything like your case, but i was raised moving every few months and am frequently called, "a frequent flier" in my therapy circles. i have a knack for being long gone before anybody knows i have a problem. my HWMBO is a home boy who needs a crowbar to be pried out of familiar surroundings. he knew i was a wanderer and has been pretty good about taking my wandering ways in stride, at least for a HWMBO. . . i don't sell houses or demand that he change domiciles when i get my wandering urges, but that need for wandering gets pretty demanding.

there is no doubt that my frequent flights are connected to my over-developed survival instincts. i believe i heal a bit every time i challenge the urge. i frequently decide to wander, anyway, but at least i am wandering and not running.

but that is me and every case is unique.

steadying support while you sort you own case.

Interesting reply. Me? I was born into a forces family there were 8 moves before I turned 5, and after that a move every 3 years. Then I grew up (in age not intellegence) and also joined the forces. Every 3 years I got moved with quite a few "temporary changes of address" inbetween.
Repeat until I reached 30 and got chucked out to save money (said our UK government).
Now add a move every 7 years for nearly 40 years in civilian world.
You can do the math if you want because currently that brain cell in me is well asleep

 

[arfie]

my own childhood was spent keeping my daddy one step ahead of the law. my 3 year army stint was my first taste of stability. i call boot camp, "my finishing school."

whatever the source or logistics of our childhood conditioning, it stays with us for life and intermixes with current events in some of the most surprising and often dysfunctional of ways. with my prison family birthright still calling, i don't believe i can afford to be unaware of those interactions. when i have to give in to my childhood conditioning in order to know myself more thoroughly, i take backup. my head is not a safe neighborhood to travel alone.

moving every 7 years isn't the ugliest subliminal psycho tick i've heard.