How Do You Know if You're Past The PTSD?

[Annie]

How do you know if you are past the PTSD?
How do you know if the nightmares and flashbacks are gone forever or if you have just sorta stuffed them for another while and that they won't come back in a few years/months?

I ask this, as I have always been on again, off again with this depression / turmoil.
Whenever I think it's over and I am feeling great, then something happens that brings it all out again. Sometimes it takes years.

I always just thought I was a nut job...it wasn't til just recently that I was diagnosed. So now I have a label, woohoo!

Does this make any sense to anyone?

:think:
Annie

 

[anthony]

PTSD is incurable.... that is a fact. Saying that though... nightmares and so forth are a symptom of fear (for a simple explanation). If you fear it, you will have nightmares, anxiety and so forth about an issue, even nothing to do with an issue. If your brain has honestly and openly come to terms with trauma and has rationalised, accepted, acknowledged and owns truly what you own and have ridden yourself off any unwanted blame / fault, etc... then you should not have too many symptoms like flashbacks and nightmares. Having them is often a sign that something is wrong... which means you have to find what is wrong and tackle that, not try and tackle the symptom itself.

If you have just stuffed things down and not really dealt with them, then the symptoms will return... that I guarantee.

 

[Marlene]

How do you know if you are past the PTSD?

You're never past PTSD. You just learn ways to live with it and incorporate it into your life and how you life it. Once you have it, you have it for life. Like Anthony said, there's no cure.

I know that I am doing well on my recovery. I compare myself to where I was two years ago (when things were at their worst for me) and I see so much change and progress. That said...last week I had a lot of stressors pile up on me. Nothing big...just a lot of little things and I ended up with two days of high symptoms and then the next two days I felt like a wrung out dish-rag...absolutely exhausted, no energy to do much of anything. The last few days I've felt really good again.

This is reality with PTSD. And it does take getting used to. It also takes a lot of adjustments. Your life can be relatively (<---important word there) symptom free if you reduce your stresses, deal with your traumas and take care of yourself. But it doesn't take much stress to put you back on your butt again.

It never goes away. You just learn to keep it (mostly) under control. And things will happen in life to pop those symptoms right back up.

Sorry if this wasn't the answer you were looking for. But I'd rather have the truth than a pretty lie.

Lisa

 

[Annie]

No Lisa, it's not what I wanted to hear, but it was expected I guess...thanks for your honesty.
I guess I just figured that I would be able to go through some serious therapy that would make it all a thing of the past.
I used to be able to handle loads of stress and now it seems as though the simplest things can set me off, which is a hard pill to swallow. Getting used to not being the strong independent person I have always been is not as easy as I was hoping.

Thanks again,
Annie

 

[2quilt]

i read something on the news today about a woman who had a seizure and lost all her memory.
I wonder if she had had PTSD before and if she has it now.
The article never mentioned that, just that she had no memory of anything before the seizure.

 

[brokenchild]

Depends what you mean "past" the PTSD. I will consider myself "past" it when I can remember what happened and not be triggered. The memories won't be "traumatic" but just "memories" if that makes sense.

 

[becvan]

i read something on the news today about a woman who had a seizure and lost all her memory.
I wonder if she had had PTSD before and if she has it now.
The article never mentioned that, just that she had no memory of anything before the seizure.

I had seizures for years. It doesn't get rid of PTSD.

bec

 

[greenscousegal]

:smile: Annie, as the others have said, you never get over PTSD. But a person through therapy, healing,help, learns to live with it. Life adjusts for you to live as well as you are able.

 

[iluvcaffeine]

I thought I had mine under control. But once I lost control, it sucked bug time. However, looking back, I see things I attributed to personality that were actually PTSD coping tactics. Examples: avoidance, excuses, irrational thoughts etc.

 

[Annie]

I Can't Get Over It!

Depends what you mean "past" the PTSD. I will consider myself "past" it when I can remember what happened and not be triggered. The memories won't be "traumatic" but just "memories" if that makes sense.

So I decided to start reading I Can't Get Over It! last night. I had read the 'caution' at the beginning of the book and it scared the H E double hockey sticks outta me so I put the book down and left it there for the last week or more.
Last night I decided to pick it up again and see if it could answer this question, which it does. It says PTSD is not incurable. It explains what to expect when healing and pretty much brokenchild has it right on.

Thanks for your input everybody, much appreciated....I guess I am still in the beginning stages of my healing and quite frankly I want it over and done with so I can resume my daily activities with some amount of normalcy. I know, tall order!

Thanks, Annie

 

[lrs]

It has been more than 4 years since I have had symptoms of PTSD. I have nothing to gain by being dishonest about saying this.
For more than 30 years, my mind relived beatings, and other specific instances of EXTREME, emotional and verbal abuse. When normal people could walk outside and see the sky, trees, and everything happening around them, my mind could only see and hear things from the past. These played themselves with such power, it was as though it were physical reality, happening in real time.
In addition to these flashbacks, my thinking as distorted as it could be. I was incapable of functioning in our society, I seldom held a job more than 3 months, and my life was a train wreck. I had nightmares all the time, and I jumped out my skin everytime there was a loud noise, if a door opened, or if something appeared suddenly, visually.
I have not had these symptoms for over 4 years now. None, nada, not one, not at any time. What were once flashbacks, are now vague and distant memories. I have not had nightmares, and I have not jumped out of my skin.
My personal life has come together, and is more dynamic and enjoyable than that of most "normal" people I know.
I have held the same job now for 5 & 1/2 years.
__________________________________________________________

I have asked myself at least a thousand times if this is indeed real, can I look at myself and others, make these statements, and know beyond any moral certainty that I am being honest, AND THAT I AM BEING ACCURATE.
And I say, without hesitation, the answer is positively yes. There is no question. It would be like if you thought the moon was flat, then looked at it through a telescope, you then KNOW it is round. Convincing others it is round might be difficult, but nonetheless the moon is round. My observation is just as real regarding PTSD.
__________________________________________________________

I know that to date, no person has tried what I did. If they have, I am not aware of it.
I do believe, that what I did would have a similar effect with others as well, although the time frame might vary.
If you look at my story, which is on this web site, slowly and carefully, I think anyone would recognize it is an HONEST story. If you examine some of what we do know about PTSD, much of which is posted on this site, and if you slowly and carefully exmine each and every post I have made on this forum, I think in your mind, you would recognize its accuracy is plausible.
________________________________________________________

People, please believe this:
PTSD is CURABLE, it is curable and then some, and it's not difficult.

 

[Marlene]

I know that to date, no person has tried what I did. If they have, I am not aware of it.
I do believe, that what I did would have a similar effect with others as well, although the time frame might vary.
If you look at my story, which is on this web site, slowly and carefully, I think anyone would recognize it is an HONEST story. If you examine some of what we do know about PTSD, much of which is posted on this site, and if you slowly and carefully exmine each and every post I have made on this forum, I think in your mind, you would recognize its accuracy is plausible.

Irs-you do now.

I am right handed by birth. I fenced for almost two years right handed. Due to an injury to my right elbow, I had to teach myself to fence left-handed. It's taken quite a while but my skill level as a lefty is now what it was when I fenced right handed.

I went back and reread your post about how your PTSD was cured by learning something difficult with your non-dominate hand.

That said, I've not seen any change in my PTSD by making my brain and body learn something that's not 'natural' to it. The differences between the two sides (everything's backwards as a lefty), the spacial differences, training muscles (gross and fine motor control) to react differently from how they want to/know how to, foot control, balance, timing, and the list goes on. This has been one of the most difficult things I've made my body and mind do...fighting against what comes naturally.

I'm not doubting that things have gotten better for you and your feeling great. All I'm saying is that the route you went to for your claim of curing your PTSD, well, it didn't do anything for me. Yes I've gotten better during this time frame but this is a result of the continuing (two years worth) hard work I've done for myself, with my therapist and here on the forum. I guess what I'm saying is there's no single thing that works. PTSD is, by it's definition, an altering of brain structure. Short of scientific proof that my brain was unaltered by a learned skill (and proof in my day to day life!!!!), I just can't accept your theory.

Lisa