The Exaggerated Startle Response

[safenow]

Maybe you should explain to them how dangerous that is.

I agree with this.

Not everyone has the "safe" type of response. If they do that to someone who has had major violence, and are not in control of their reactions, that person who likes to scare someone can get hurt bad or even worse. Since you have knowledge of this, you can be a blessing to them by teaching them that fact.

 

[Maggiemay]

Cris77 - I'm too embarrassed to explain so just have to put up with it I guess. I usually screech and it sends my pulse racing which is not good when I've only just, after 6months and a hefty cocktail of drugs, got it manageable and not tachycardic at 150bpm! *groan* The twitching is easy to cover up as me 'jumping out my skin'. But, the freezing on the spot & blacking out thankfully hasn't happened yet *sigh*

 

[shoulderblades]

I have a pretty bad startle reflex/response. I experience it over pretty mundane things - sudden movements of any kind, 'shadows' out of the corner of my eyes, sudden noises (loud or small), loud ongoing noises, kid noises (I have a kid, she unintentionally startles me quite a lot). Sometimes I jump badly, sometimes I only startle slightly. I'm very easily startled when anxious, feeling confused or depersonalised, or in deep thought. I often scream or yell in a freaked-out way.

I feel an instantaneous sense of feeling wildly out of control, panicky, scared that something bad has happened, terrified that I'm unsafe; usually followed by pretty intense and irrational anger. I often have an immediate instinct to defend myself fiercely, fight back, and often shout angrily at the person or thing that caused me to startle.

Immediately following often explosive rage is usually deep, deep humiliation, which furthers my anger. Takes me a while to calm down from.

I can never laugh it off. It triggers me much too deeply for me to be able to think coherently or to make decisions. I am simply in utter primal reactive mode when startled.

I've got it a bit better under control than I used to. I have developed enough self-restraint that I no longer shout or get angry with my daughter if she startles me. That's a big step for me because I otherwise find it very hard to control the irrational rage I experience immediately following being startled.

My startle reflexes and responses have gotten worse over the years. My ex, whom I currently lives with, loves to play jokes and prank around, and thinks it's hilarious to startle me and then watch me get angry. He sometimes will antagonise my anger, then blame me for being "too out of control". Well, what do you expect, you dickhead. You startled me, which you know I can't handle well, then you provoke my instinctive anger response, then call me names when I react angrily to you provoking me. That's like provoking a lion, then punishing the lion for getting angry and aggravated by the provocation.

I seem to have gone on a ranting tangent! My apologies!

 

[R Belong]

This forum is very difficult to navigate ... I stumbled on it today looking for info relative to startle response ... After some sign on issues I thought I finally had it down, but now it's just more gobbletie gook ... Hope I can figure it out because I have been going through this startle symptom thing for about ten years and would like to discuss it

 

[R Belong]

OK, I'm going to try this.

About 13 years ago, I had open heart surgery for a 4x bypass. Shortly after the surgery while I was in ICU, I came back to consciousness, but my body still was under paralysis from the combo of drugs they gave me. I had been a heavy smoker and the hospital tech was in the process of vacuuming out my lungs. It was like one of those movies about aliens doing experiments on humans within the space craft. In my mind I was screaming and I could feel the suction and hear the sounds, but I was not capable of moving or responding physically in any way .

That is a mild description of what went on. It was terrifying and painful. So, sometime afterwards, I started experiencing what I later learned was the "Startle Syndrome". My Dr. explained that I had PTSD and that the Startle Disorder was "ingrained" or some word like that which was not treatable.

What happens is that, if I am touched by or touch anything I don't see coming, my body contracts very painfully and stiffens up hard. Also, I get extremely shaky and my body, spine, etc., goes into extreme pain for a day or so after the unexpected touch happens. Sometimes it makes me sick to my stomach, as though I have been punched in the gut. My Dr. says it's just something I have to live with. Any body been through this and have some tips?

 

[safenow]

Hi R. Belong. Welcome to the PTSD Forum.

I recommend you talk to other doctor's on this issue. I"m sure that with the right therapy you can be 'reprogrammed' which will help to calm that down a lot. I had my eye removed during surgery, and I was awake. I can only imagine how horrible it must have been for you to experience having your lungs vacuumed. My gosh, just having a tube put into my lungs was bad enough.

I have also been tortured for a few days steady with no let up, and I know the horror of not being able to stop something that is excruciatingly painful. Even though I was able to dissociate over the worse part of it, I can still remember if I allow myself to. I had to go through a lot of psychodrama in order to get over that heavy startle activity. But now, I don't have those awful reactions any longer. So it was worth it.

Just because one doctor says there is no hope, don't you believe it. They are doing some wonderful things now to help out in our suffering.

You are going to find lots of good, supportive people here, and I'm sure others will share with you what they can to help.

Nice to meet you.

 

[darkness]

The exaggerated Startle Response Forum is the closest I’ve found to my symptoms after searching for more than a year.

I get startles many times during the day when I can’t accomplish a task. Now as I work on the computer I get continual starts and extreme cold sweats and burning, shooting shocks through the pores of my skin. The sweats get to be such that I cannot continue. When I try to go out in the sun for just a few minutes, I get the same sweats. If I try to go for longer I become absolutely distraught at this terrible internal body heat

I have many physical sicknesses and so I am sitting down in an easy chair most of the day. Because I only get 2 or 3 three hours sleep at night and it is fatigue sleep (I broke my shoulder/arm a long time ago and it has healed out of joint) I nod off in the daytime. When I am getting into sleep, I start to tremble, then I get overwhelming body heat (no fever) in my head, face, broken arm, stomach and legs and feet. Then I start to get horrifying hallucinations with severe shock attacks and I cry out. After this I am completely exhausted and it has happened several times a day for the last many months

Throughout every day I am in complete despair. I have tried many things including meditation, but nothing works. In this forum, I have read that laughter is a solution, but it does not work for me.

No doctor or family members understand my distress. I hope that someone on this forum can relate to my explanation, because sometimes I am lost for words to describe the living hell I am in.

 

[Rixxagain]

Hey everyone, I've been doing ok with most of my symptoms without meds for years now - except for the esr an...

For me---I can even be expecting the loud, sharp noise that tags my startle system - and it still does....

OK, I'm going to try this.

About 13 years ago, I had open heart surgery for a 4x bypass. Shortly afte...

Sounds exactly like me ... spine, gut and all. I started feeling that way today. After going through it 10, 20,000 times - I just called it what it was and blew it off. It went away pretty quick. It doesn't always though so I just deal with the best I can. It does eventually pass.

I've found, the more I identify and learn what I'm feeling, the less hold it has on me. ( You'd think it was alive ). The worst thing is, have a PTS attack and fear the next PTS attack. That is a horrible cycle to get into.

 

[Kimber628]

Hey everyone, I've been doing ok with most of my symptoms without meds for years now - except for the esr an...

My son is 15..at age 13 we we in a head on collision resulting in serious injury. He suffers from e s r and ptsd...people..school especially...aren't understanding because he is Only 15...

 

[Jumpyme]

My husbands complains about my constant jumping when he touches me and my stiffness when he hugs me or kisses me. I feel terribly guilty and don't know what to tell him. Could This be Exagerated Startled Response due to his verbal abuse?
He is kind and loving most of the time, but he also transforms into a monster when he is angry, screams at me, throws things, curses, blames me for everything bad in our family and in his life. I cry alone all the time and when one of our sons screams at me, I jump and then feel unable to move or talk for a few seconds.
I cry if I hear a man screaming at a woman in the street, in a movie, etc.
I have also notice that I have become extremly sensitive to noise.
Could I have ESR?