Why Is Ptsd Sometimes Delayed?

[Lionheart]

I was diagnosed many years ago with chronic, delayed, PTSD and I wonder why sometimes the symptoms are delayed because, in my case, it was delayed for several years.

I am going to need to explain this to someone but, I need someone to explain it to me first. Can anyone help me out here, please??

 

[Teasel]

I think trauma is something so huge we can't necessarily process it all at the time it happens. We might use coping techniques like blocking out some aspect of it, maybe a lot of it.

I remember after one traumatic experience just trying to carry on as if everything were ok...

 

[Gadgie]

Quote........"cause, in my case, it was delayed for several years."

Yea! in my case it was many years, I was told by the therapist that they had been tucked away in a corner of my brain for many years.

Then, one day, while I was having a nap on the settee, as I had been up for most of the night before, caring for my late wife, a brick came smashing through the living room window (long story) it missed me by inches, then smashed into a display cabinet!

I woke up quickly and dived for cover, well, that was when all them stored up horrible memories were released, and came rushing into my memory, after being suppressed for all those years, and have been there ever since!

 

[ladee]

I knew as a young child that something was wrong with me. I didn't see the world or hear the things going on around me like other people did.... For me, I learned, early on,
how to parrot what I saw other people doing. None of it was true inside, but I was able to pass, for the most part, until my mid thirties... then WHAM !!!
That's why I say people with PTSD and all the other issues that spiderweb off of it, are some of the most amazing people on the planet....
Some how we manage to hide it, ignore it, work it into our personality, we are wizards at keeping it a secret, even from ourselves.
Something triggers us that makes us not be able to ignore it anymore, we have to get some relief...
This is just my experience with it, so others may share different things..... I think many of us always knew something was 'off' but we never thought it was as serious as PTSD....
Prayers sent for the right words to share with your friend.... Nothing to be ashamed of... we have a whole site full of awesome people... we are just different.... not bad and wrong, just different.

 

[Friday]

First, I was busy.

Then, I had coping mechanisms.

It took removing both for me to spin out.

 

[Poofycat]

Mine was dormant for 16 years. I suffered from pretty severe depression and insomnia periodically during that time, and always knew the event that I eventually learned caused PTSD bothered me, but it didn't hit until the end of last year. 2015 was a spectacularly shitty year, so I think the stress cup example applies. Mine overflowed causing full blown symptoms to occur and a return of suppressed memories.

I think in my case I simply was not in a place where I could deal what had happened when it happened. I was 19, abroad by myself. Then I was pretty much drunk or stoned for the next couple years. So yeah, just moved on and ignored it. I often wonder what my life would be like if had dealt with it at the time.

 

[Deleted member 28740]

Busy running away, building a life removed and engaging, lots of travel. Both as a child and adult.
Then one trauma inside my home, very personal. Stunned and into coping.
Two external nothing to do with me, very violent, lucky to survive.
Inside was not safe, outside was not safe.
Then family stuff exploded, and I imploded.
In the muck of my new place to live (internal) all the buried started to rise up and out.

 

[Chem Lady]

I'd agree with everyone who's replied so far. My traumatic experience happened when I was a young child. I coped. What choice did I have? I lived with the person who caused the trauma. I lied to myself and I put on a happy, functional front for 8 or 9 years. That was when the depression set in. It slowly got worse and worse. Then I married and my new husband was diagnosed with cancer. The family members who should've helped and supported us during that time ignored us and the abuser from my past continued to rain down abuse upon me. In that uber-stressful environment, my coping mechanisms failed and I actually can tell you the exact moment "my brain broke" (my own weird words). It seems as though we can cope until something else breaks the dam.

 

[void]

In my case, I have had diagnosable C-PTSD since before pre-school.
The body/mind can delay onset for decades or(like with me) not at all.
I wish that I understood why, but I don't.

:happy:Good thread!

 

[hodge]

I did not get PTSD till after about 15 years after my last traumatic experience. I've been thinking about this a lot lately and I think it was delayed because I had such a strong will to live a normal, healthy life. Which I did. But eventually, it was like I ran out of go-juice and the PTSD hit hard, very hard. I had no idea what it was until I finally sought a therapist, yet again in my life. That's when I was diagnosed. I was shocked. Shocked!! PTSD didn't happen to someone like me, someone who had worked their ass off to get into a good university, go on to a master's degree and accepted into the Ph.D. program, worked at a good publishing company, rescued a dog, on and on. But it happened. It was true. I finally accepted that. It sucked. Big time. I'm sorry, but it feels like that's as far as I can go right now. I hope this helps some. I will post more if I feel I have more insights to offer. I share your frustration, Lionheart. :hug:s

 

[hodge]

I don't know if this will help you any, Lionheart. I'm just throwing this out there. In my case, I realized eventually that once I figured out how to deal with my mother, that's when the PTSD came on. I had lots of traumatic experiences that had nothing to do with her, well, mostly -- I think she was partly responsible for the first thing, but, anyway -- she was the primary distraction in my life for decades. I have been in and out of therapy since I was 15, but the only thing I ever talked about was my mother, because she was the major ongoing problem in my life. She was basically a narcissist and trained me to be codependant. It was when I finally was given the gift of how to disentangle her from myself that the PTSD came on. It was like, okay, now I know how to deal with my mother, and then all of a sudden all this junk from my past comes back to haunt me. One hand gives, then the other hand takes away. Then began the long process of talking out my non-mother experiences in therapy. I haven't gotten them all processed yet. My therapist was not a trauma specialist and I don't think she really gets how much I've been through, though that's on me, I think. Anyway, I would be happy to be your sounding board, but I also think it might be better for you to get this out with your therapist, provided you trust him or her.

 

[Sandstone]

I've done a quick skim of research on this, and it looks as though a talent for avoidance may have something to do with it. That would make sense to me. I have a 30 years plus delay in onset, and I'm very big on all the avoidance symptoms still.

It looks as though the theory goes - we experience a painful response to trauma, we find that avoiding relieves that pain so we are conditioned to go on avoiding. Then an event releases the initial response and we rapidly reacquire all the symptoms.