General Tackle Hypervigilance Club

[Deleted member 28812]

My ptsd isn't combat related so I hope nobody minds me posting on here .

No, not at all. It's not called "Tackle Combat related Hypervigilance Club". Nice, to meet you Todo pasa. Which Sherlock Holmes are you talking about? There are so many.

 

[Deleted member 20280]

When I was Diagnosed with PTSD I was told to tell my then 4 year old daughter why I could not live with my family any more. I told her that Daddy had become very Ill and that the Doctors were really worried and wanted her daddy to get better before he could live with mummy and the children again. She accepted this fully and told me that I could have her bedroom and she would sleep with Mummy, that way I could still be close to her, she then gave me 2 teddies and told that they were her and her baby brother and that I could cuddle them every night when I was sad because I missed them and they missed me.

 

[Deleted member 28812]

@holdenmonty: I asked the people in the "Calling Spouses of People With Combat PTSD" in the Supporter General discussion if they had any book suggestions for you, because there are more people reading there. Hope you don't mind.

 

[holdenmonty]

not at all thank you

 

[holdenmonty]

Welcome Todo pasa this is just the my ptsd site. There is a combat ptsd forum so you are perfect here. I like being in both forums because I have noticed that with a lot of things PTSD is PTSD it doesn't matter if it combat or not that some symptoms are the same. It's just with combat vets sometimes its easier to talk to people that have had similar situations regarding PTSD. But hyper vigilance can be for anybody with PTSD. I like input from anybody. That is so sweet Santa I think I'm going to write something down and share it with my therapist and ask what she thinks.

 

[Todo Pasa]

@Lemontree

Thanks so much for the welcome .

In the Robert Downey Jnr Sherlock films he 'see's' how his conflicts will work out , basically it shows his 'intellect' by planning his actions and reactions in combat/conflict situations . I find myself doing that , minus the intellect obviously ! Effectively if this guy causes a problem I'll do x, y or z .. Like I'm planning the future .

I was a police officer for over 20 years and was in a host of violent situations for which I received various awards for bravery . Tackling blokes with guns and knives and it never worried me too much , by the end though the balance just shifted and it's like my life just changed . My casual attitude had disappeared and been replaced by worry . It was like there was only so much I could take and I'd crossed that line , I now have the idea that so many people I encounter are a genuine and realistic threat . Hence the hypervigilance where I view so many I meet as a potential threat , I'm just 'always on'

Posting on this site is an amazing feeling , thanks for those who make it possible .

 

[Deleted member 28812]

I don't know this one yet but I know the one with Benedict Cumberbatch. Actually Watson might have PTSD in this version... it is not really clear. It his hinted he might have PTSD or he might miss the war or both. Have any of you seen this one?

Thanks for having been a police officer and keeping us safe :)

Would you like to register here?

 

[still_i_rise]

Thank you all. I am learning so much reading through this thread.

My husbands hyper vigilance is debilitating. He is always 'on'. He can't sleep because of the smallest sounds outside the house. When we first started dating, he always needed to sit with his back to the wall and facing the rest of the room. I thought it was just a strange quirk. Little did I know it was his hyper vigilant brain not being able to turn off.

I am vigilant about possible triggers. I think that's okay. I love him and I want to make sure the environment we share is as safe as possible. I know I can't be his constant buffer but I want to be able to do what I can.

However, at the same time I can see my vigilance getting disordered and unhealthy for myself in other areas. I wake up pretty much every night listening for signs that he's still alive. This has led to periods of insomnia. I have a minor anxiety issue. I like having a plan. And then a back-up plan. And a back-up back-up plan. When I don't I feel out of control.

When I feel like it's going out of control I use a Thinking Trap Questionnaire that I have copied onto my phone.

 

[Deleted member 28812]

@still_i_rise: Nice to meet you. What is the Thinking Trap Questionair?

 

[still_i_rise]

Hi @Lemontree
Sometimes my brain goes into spiralling downward avenues of thinking that trap me in anxiety. Some of the thinking traps that I often deal with:
Catastrophizing - going straight to the worse case scenario beyond reason. I'm really good at this. I can go from "Damn, that email I just sent has 2 spelling mistakes." to "I'M GONNA BE FIRED" in 10 seconds flat. Related to this is overestimating the likelihood that the worse thing will happen out of nowhere. For example, will be going about my day walking down the street and see a stray dog. Then be struck with the fear that my dogs are going to be run over.

Negative Brain Filter - Seeing only the negative despite all the positive that's there.

Black & White/Polarized thinking - It's all or nothing, baby!!! Either I'm going to be the most bestest or I'm a failure. WOOHOOO!!

I have a list of questions that help me out of these traps. They're work by challenging the disordered self-talk.

They start off pretty general:
What am I actually thinking right now?
What is my anxiety about?
What is the evidence to support this anxiety? Is this based on feeling or facts?
What would a tell a friend if she had the same thought?

To more specific:
Has this happened before? (Did a send out an email with spelling mistakes?) Did I get fired??
Is this a realistic expectation of myself?
What are the positives here?
Is _____ so important that the whole f*cking world is going to stop if I don't do this??

Sometimes I just need to go through the first couple of questions. Other times I go through the whole list of them over and over again until I calm myself down.

 

[holdenmonty]

@still_i_rise thank you for sharing my therapist gave me a paper called challenging questions worksheet that has very similar type questions on it. The main point like in yours is to stop the negative thinking pattern and use questions to make it more accurate.

I tend to use very similar questions when I get hyper vigilant to the point that it bothers me.

 

[Deleted member 28812]

I really do like this this questions. Especially this one:

What would a tell a friend if she had the same thought?

I like to ask myself: "What do other people do? Do they even worry aber this?" If they don't chances are that there are no reasons to worry.