Afghanistan Vet

[LilacFaerie]

the Combat PTSD Forum would help

Is this forum geared towards supporters of the affected troop as well?

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

Is this forum geared towards supporters of the affected troop as well?

It's only for veterans. Supporters can read it though. :)

 

[amethist]

Hi Lilac Faerie

The combat forum is just for the troops, a place where they can talk freely about how it effects them. You can read any of the posts that are visible to the public, but you cannot join in.

 

[LilacFaerie]

Thank you for the info, ladies!

 

[ifonly]

Welcome oef'd and thanks from me too for your service. I'm an Aussie but adopted a North American soldier thru a US charity program b/c it felt like the right thing to do. The work you all do no matter whether you are French, English, North American, Australian, male or female as soldiers, pilots, engineers, nurses, comms personnel, marshalls, you name it, is extraordinarily valuable.

I'm fairly new to the forums too & everyone here has been stellar - communicative, understanding & supportive. Pull up a chair_ It's a great place to ask questions, to read research & interact with people who get it. :)

 

[Anna]

Welcome to the forum. I am so pleased also to have found this place of healing.

"Birds of a feather, flock together" as they say :)

 

[Martin Taylor]

This is a good place. Therapy has helped me, but I needed to be ready to listen and take a good, honest look at some stuff. So I jumped in with both feet and I am glad I did. My PTSD is childhood related, not combat related, but there are enough similarities that I can relate. I was a fast attack sub sailor myself near the end of the cold war. Never fired a shot in anger though, so the best I can do is appreciate what you went through.

I learned a lot by simply reading posts and didn't jump in right away. Good luck.

 

[oef'd]

ifonly, I know that whichever soldier you adopted is more than appreciative. I can't speak for everyone over there, but I know that the few times I got mail were the best. We didn't have very much where I was, but what we did get meant the world.

Thanks, Martin Taylor. You and I are more similar than you think - I too am a sailor (though I've never seen a ship). I think I'm going to do the same... about reading the posts, that is. A lot of people here seem really well-informed.

 

[ifonly]

oef'd - thanx heaps, what you said about getting mail made my day. Hey, if you're having trub sleeping or feeling a bit unravelly, try this:

Go on you youtube and type in search strings containing words like deep relaxation sleep gentle rain natural ocean sounds relaxing music whale song waves water dolphin music, etc etc. I found a tonne of vids most of which are over an hour long with soothing sounds on them, some of which I fall asleep to.

On youtube there's also a bunch of vids for electronic sound frequency relaxation for things like insomnia, stress/anxiety, tension, etc. Be careful tho b/c the sound frequency vids kinda opened up a box inside my chest and were very affecting. I cried a lot, felt very sad. I had to stop a couple of them b/c they almost made me feel sick so it's horses for courses.

The soothing videos (the natural dolphin sounds, deep relaxation etc) were awesome. Some of them gave me wild dreams filled with colour, but for once, they were dreams - not nightmares :sleep:

 

[amethist]

Ifonly and oef'd

If you look at the media section on here, you will find some meditation and relaxing video clips. There are about 40 to choose from. Saves you searching for hours on YouTube to find something when your head is not in the right place.

[DLMURL]https://www.ptsdforum.org/c/media/category/meditation.19/[/DLMURL]

[DLMURL]https://www.ptsdforum.org/c/media/category/tranquil.20/[/DLMURL]

Amethist

 

[ifonly]

Hi Amethist - thanx so much for these :)

I looked in the media section the other day & while I loved a couple of vids in particular, I couldn't find any of just sounds of nature without music .. like an hour loop of falling rain for example. Which was why I checked out the youtubes. The tranquil & meditation selections in the forum's media section tho are awesome, especially the Native American meditation and the Tranquil Sea videos. Very beautiful, calming and serene.

:tup:

 

[ClairBear226]

Just popping in to say hello and welcome. Good chatting with you, oef'd.