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Well, a ton has happened. I'm posting part of it in another thread. The cubicle furniture that was really not workable was actually changed. Management didn't move me into the cubicle area until the new furniture arrived. The old cubicle design was an open square. Each person sat in a...

There's a lot to fill in. I can't do it tonight, but I will post more in a while. Once this sorts out. Despite the offer of "work with us instead of filing the reasonable accommodation" things didn't work out well. I made a self-accommodation to the cubicle --I cable-tied pvc pipe to the...

I've noted (like moog above) that when I'm stressed my caffeine intake skyrockets. However, now that I'm on a medication bundle that is leveling me out, I'm finding that I don't crave caffeine. And interestingly, when I don't have coffee or soda for 5 days or more, I'm not getting the...

Let me update that though I didn't return to Abilify, I started another drug that is having similar good effects. I just haven't been on it long enough to evaluate side effects, so I haven't posted about it yet.

My sense of smell and taste returned about the first week of June, 2010. I quit Abilify in mid-April, 2010. It's July now, and my weight has also gone back to what it was before the trigger event last September, 2009. (Rats. I was kind of hoping that maybe that weight loss would be...

I'm going to second kers post with this anecdote. I've run out of meds once completely, but didn't realize it until I showed up at the pharmacy to refill. The pharmacy called and got the updated prescription. In fact, they can fast-track this sort of call to the office a lot easier than you...

This thread is more to see what others who have PTSD and are working are doing. It may show some patterns in types of work that are more PTSD friendly. I realize that many with PTSD are really having trouble coping with everyday life to the point where they can't work. But many of us are...

You could say that it gets the adrenalin pumping --but in a good way! Steam is another thing to try. Steam yourself, then bathe in cold water. It's basically the same as the old sweat lodge treatment or Nordic bathing methods. Really opens up the pores.

Hi Lionheart, Yeah, I have to admit that after week 2 of being off of it, I would have willingly braved it again for the serenity. But that irrational anger was very strange and very different. Oddly, my sense of smell has not fully come back yet. I keep making excuses --pollen, summer...

There may be other solutions out there to help Jay with his physical check of the door locks. Something like a video camera and motion-detector setup so that it records to video always, but sounds an alarm if there is any movement near the detector. That way maybe after seeing how it works for...

I haven't updated this in a while. This is short, and I'll add more later. I met with the campus OMBUDSMAN a few weeks ago. She heard the story and counseled me to file the Reasonable Accommodation paperwork again. This time directly with the main HR department, not our organizational one...

Hi Popeye, It's going to be natural for us PTSD folk to have trouble remembering things during stressful times. I know that your child's first year was important and probably a happy year for you, but you don't get much sleep that first year. And the crying. And the stress of "OH MY GOD, WHAT...

One last bit about my experiences with Abilify: My weight loss is not typical. Most experience an increase in appetite and after week 3 I could taste a few more things though I never really got hungry unless a day or so had passed between meals. When I started Abilify, I had what I thought...

OK, an update on Abilify for me. (see page 3 of this thread for beginning) I asked my pdoc to take me off this med about 3 days ago. I had noticed some "irritability" that was beginning to grow on it. I'd been on Abilify roughly 4 weeks at that point. It takes about 2 weeks to see...

This is an old thread, but to answer why Abilify (aripiprazole) and PTSD: PTSD can have dissociative episodes. I was put on because I had an episode where I "blipped out" for roughly 35 minutes. That blipping out is something like the schizophrenic episodes, though NOT the same. Abilify is...

Rosie, I struggled with this same question. 10 years ago I tried a successive range of antidepressants with no joy --I found that I had serious to rare side effects with almost every one of them. The ones that worked without heavy side effects: one muddled my thinking too profoundly, the...

I've got an appt next week with the OMBUDS. This week has been simply manic at work. I've been coding a complicated process for 4 days straight about 15 hours a day. I'm getting to the finish line on it, but it's been amazingly hard. I'm still in the private office with no word on the...

Hi Charlotte, What is your new job like? The environment? I'm curious because my work environment is getting more and more difficult, so I'm trying to figure out what things I like and what things are huge trigger areas for me. The cubicle is a trigger, but I think I can make it work for me...

Harry, I think you are a hero. It takes real guts and courage to face him down. Remember that this guy will now be a convicted sex offender. Convicted sex offenders go on a registry. They are tracked for the rest of their life. Every parent that I know knows where every one of them lives...

In writing a post that really was a more detailed response on decision-making and anxiety, I ran across a piece of recent literature about the reward pathway in the brains of PTSD patients. Yeah, that sounds like double-speak. But it basically provides a physical clue to why many of us lose our...

Hi Bonnecanyon, I don't know what kind of decision that you are facing, but I've found a couple of techniques that are lifesavers for me. The first is: routine. I know that I'm not a fashion plate at work. When I find clothing that fits or feels comfortable, I buy several sets. I lay out...

Hi Rell, There's a book called _Blink_ by Malcolm Gladwell that is fascinating. It talks about the two sides of your decision-making functions of your brain. Malcolm paraphrases the literature out there to paint a picture that laypersons can read. Basically, when real emergency (or a...

....if I even remember *HOW* I got home. Ugh.

Yeah, the adrenalin surge of just coping tends to drain me down to the bottom of the well too. Often I find that I just fall asleep with my clothes on once I get home. Good luck today!

Hey TLight, Yeah, I can't comfortably do public speaking. I actually had my upper lip dry so much that it stuck to my teeth in one speech. That really interferes with your ability to talk! I found that I can manage ok if I memorize, memorize, memorize the material, don't have hecklers in the...