Ptsd Is An Injury To The Nervous System

[Tinyflame]

I do also agree with what I Can Do This said about blue and red zones. I DO know also for myself, the 'looking back' (or re-tellng, because that requires looking back), can be associated with terror, and obvously that must wear out one's nervous system I would think, so maybe that is where the (or 'a') connection is? Because it 'feels' physical too.

It only occurred to me today, I don't 'have' to have that terror, in the way that it is past.

 

[I Can Do This]

But then again, I've often thought I wonder if ptsd would have occurred if I could have just said something, at the moment.

It might not have occurred if you were able to get yourself help at the time you needed it. Your nervous system would have begun to regulate itself again. Not getting help kept you scared and hypervigilant of it happening again, or that something was wrong with you (I would imagine).

But again, without unbiased and trustworthy feedback I think it would have maybe been detrimental. So it isn't just the saying of it.

Exactly - it isn't the saying of it - it is the self protective actions to get help or get away from danger that would have been the response to keep us from getting PTSD. If you FREEZE now, this was clearly what you did then - and that means you didn't get help.

And it actually feels like my nervous system is burnt out. Like a turtle without a shell.

Exactly! You are raw - like a turtle without its shell you have no protection. Your nerves are exposed and this is a horrible feeling I know, been there!! What you are feeling is the wound to your nervous system - it is overloaded and can't take in anymore because it is barely holding on now. So what would feel better to you - talking about the story one more time, or healing your raw nerves? Which would feel better in your body? That is the whole point of SE.

You are very in touch with what you are feeling, and completely on target!

 

[InHell11]

Injuries do not always heal and even when they do sometimes they can heal incorrectly, diseases are not always cured. While I think maybe it is possible some individuals could be re-set so to speak and regain normal brain/nervous system functioning but I have no idea as to how.

However i think for many of us PTSD will be a lifetime disorder we have to live with, maybe some healing can take place but I really doubt I'm going to be 'cured'. Seems like a pretty permanent injury or that it healed wrong so it would have to be re-broken and not so sure I want any mental health professionals trying to re-induce PTSD so they can try and have me properly heal from it.

 

[Notyermomma]

I love this thread! It gives me a new perspective on my own experience and why I had such a strong reaction to my martial arts training.

My art has an intense focus on retraining the nervous system and relaxing the body. I learned a lot about the fight/flight/freeze response and exactly how and why we freeze. And ways to short-circuit the freeze in a crisis situation. And I learned lots of ways to keep the body relaxed and my heart rate normal in a survival situation, which (in theory, I've never had to find out for real) would minimize the flood of stress hormones that make it so hard to function normally. And I recontextualized hypervigilance as "situational awareness" which is a lot less scary and a lot less stress and work.

Obviously I'm not saying all this to advocate martial arts for everyone. But it helps me understand why it had such a profound effect on me in processing my own trauma. Suddenly, without all the white noise in my body keeping it at bay, I had space to do that internal work that I so desperately needed to do. Thanks so much for that perspective.

 

[I Can Do This]

However i think for many of us PTSD will be a lifetime disorder we have to live with, maybe some healing can take place but I really doubt I'm going to be 'cured'.

That is my point, it doesn't have to be a lifetime disorder. No matter how bad you feel right now - you can improve with this therapy. It is only a lifetime sentence if you allow it to be. I am "banging the gong" to let people know that help is out there, and it works. I know this from experience - and believe me a year ago I was a basket case. I want to give you hope that your future doesn't have to look like the past.

I wouldn't say the word "cured" because we will always have certain triggers - but when we heal, those triggers no longer have the "juice" in them to throw us into a tailspin. In fact, sometimes they have no juice at all! Having fewer triggers, and longer periods of well-being, functioning well in society and in our families, this is all possible. Our body and brain are amazing, you don't have to live believing that this is all there is.

 

[I Can Do This]

Obviously I'm not saying all this to advocate martial arts for everyone

Why not? Don't be shy! If you KNOW it helped you - then you KNOW it can help others. Although I never did martial arts, I do love Yoga and what they have in common is the eastern philosphy and understanding of the body and how to end suffering. Everything you said was absolutely valuable and on target! Thank you for sharing what has worked for you, and therefore what may appeal to others. Tai Chi is another practice along the same lines.

Share the ways you learned to short circuit the freeze response please!

 

[InHell11]

I am not sure how making some improvement or experiencing some potential healing is going to entirely get rid of the disorder to where I am not struggling with it anymore. For me I have to live with the fact I will likely struggle with this the rest of my life. Why do I have to live with that? so I can cope with it, otherwise I get too focused on overcoming it and can't take it when nothing I do improves things.

I don't think it has anything to do with 'allowing' it to be a lifetime sentence its a disorder I have, its not my fault I have it and its certainly not my fault I haven't healed from it. Also I never was functioning well in society or in my family though my whole family is dysfunctional so not so sure I'd even know what functioning well in it would look like.

I am also not so sure how to get better in this world, society itself disturbs me. But this is not to say you're wrong in your approach or that no one can fully heal, but I guess I see things quite differently, I also burnt myself out on 'hope' a long time ago.

 

[quaintpapercut]

We can even heal without talking about it at all!!

I feel this type of encouragement can be damaging and actually facilitate more harm than good. I'm not well versed in theories or concepts of memories but the little I do know indicates that traumatic memories that are not processed properly can become "stuck". I can only speak from my personal experience and I think that not talking about it all, would not put me on the path of healing but point me towards self destruction.

I don't want to talk about my traumatic history. At all. And its actually been my denial and avoidance that has caused me to become so ill in the first place. I'm not saying that rehashing trauma ad nauseum is the answer either, but for someone such as myself, who has never talked about it all, there comes a point where things do need to see the light of day and they need to be brought closer to the individual.

I do agree that yoga and other body work is helpful but I don't think its the be all end all and needs to be used in conjunction with other therapies.

 

[Notyermomma]

InHell, I'm sorry you're having a rough time. I felt hopeless for a long time myself. The benefits of the martial arts came as a huge surprise, but what worked for many years for me was simply the passage of time. There were so many flashbacks that I eventually got used to them and let them pass like clouds. I don't know if that will helpful to you, but I hope it will.

As to society disturbing you ... I don't necessarily see that as something wrong with *you.* The world is a messed up place! It's reasonable to be uncomfortable and even symptomatic, and if anything, I'm surprised that more people aren't.

 

[InHell11]

I can see how martial arts would be beneficial...but I tried it a while back and all I really got out of it was exhaustion and soreness and the feeling of not doing it right. But the whole thing about it being very much about the mind and body and how they work together can certainly have a positive effect. Perhaps I should look into less intensive ways of balancing out mind and body. There are things like yoga though I don't really like that, because as stupid as it sounds my mom does it and she is a bit narcissistic so now it just seems to have a bad vibe. But if I did it on my own I wouldn't have to think about that I suppose.

 

[Notyermomma]

Why not? Don't be shy! If you KNOW it helped you - then you KNOW it can help others. Share the ways you learned to short circuit the freeze response please!

My pleasure! I would add the caveat that martial arts isn't for everyone, especially when you have PTSD. It can open a huge can of worms that you don't expect and may not know how to handle, as it did with me. So proceed with caution. And if you decide to go there, definitely tell your instructor about any issues (mental or physical) ahead of time so he can work with you. Any instructor who won't has no business teaching.

The main skill I learned was breathing. We have several different styles of breathing for different purposes. Anyone can practice those skills on their own and it will take them a long way toward improving their lives. Practice breathing slowly, deeply, and evenly. Breathe like that in a variety of conditions - while being a couch potato, while jogging, while having a pleasant or intense conversation. All the variations you can think of. It's especially helpful to practice it in stressful situations, whatever that means to you.

Also, practice breathing deeply and very rapidly. It looks like hyperventilation (and if you start getting dizzy, slow down.) Do this immediately after a big physical exertion or if you're feeling anxious. The flood of oxygen will slow your heart rate back down to normal.

There's also square breathing, which is great for anxiety and panic. Inhale slowly and evenly for a count of three, hold your breath for a count of three, exhale on a count of three, and hold yourself on empty for a count of three. Any count will do. The point is to slow yourself down and create some psychological space. With practice, you can do this while exercising too.

A major point of these breathing techniques is to teach your body to process oxygen more efficiently. It can short-circuit panic because panic so often comes with the sensation of being unable to breathe. Even if the panic is so bad that you can't inhale, this gives your body additional time and psychological space to keep your options open so you can react rather than (or before) freezing.

 

[I Can Do This]

Breathing! Yes, we are taught that in Yoga as well. I cannot do the fast breathing though - they call it the breath of fire. It is all a practice, so maybe I should say I cannot do it yet. But I agree, learning to breathe into the moves, and through meditation has been so helpful to me. It has connected my mind back with my body.

I'm not well versed in theories or concepts of memories but the little I do know indicates that traumatic memories that are not processed properly can become "stuck".

It is not the memories that need to be processed - it is the hormones and adrenaline that is released though the body during stressful events that gets "stuck" if we don't process them. They cause our body to hurt, or we can become rigid in our body, have trouble sleeping, a whole host of symptoms. The cognitive memory isn't really our problem, it is the subconcious memory that is stuck in our body.

SE works with the nervous system to titrate it back into regulation. The nervous system is what is disregulated in PTSD (read the work of Dr. Peter Levine if you want to verify) - if your nervous system can flow back and forth between the "blue vortex" and the "red vortex", then you are healing it - and memories can be processed (conscious and subconscious) with less pain or fear.

I promise there is nothing damaging about this - Dr Levine developed this theory about 20 years ago and it is expanding because it works. I am not touting my own ideas here, just sharing what I learned during training last week.