Alcohol Trigger?

[dust86]

First off, I only just joined, so please be gentle :P. I had a situation where I ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time and became a victim of a violent crime. It's still hard for me to talk about it, even to a community of strangers, but day to day it's usually a non-issue, since it happened 5 years ago.

Recently I went out drinking with a few friends, and drank a fair amount of hard alcohol. This was the first time since the incident. It was also the first time in a good while I had an episode. I know everyone is different, but when I have a hard time with it, I'm basically reduced to a tearful mess for a while.

Has anyone else had the same reaction with hard alcohol? I've drink plenty since then, but beer only, and this is probably the first one since the first several months after the incident.

 

[Casey_03]

I have had the same problem. It was like hard booze brought it all to the surface, though I never had that happen with beer or wine. Vodka, whiskey and anything strong just reduced me to a traumatized mess. I think the alcohol was the only way for me to feel what I had been trying to ignore for years, so I abused it. But for me, yes, it has always been a trigger. A very dangerous one. I think that for some people booze just does that, even without the trauma. But for people with PTSD it is a million times worse.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Many of us have problems with alcohol, and many of us have given it up completely. Half a beer and I wake up with night terrors. It really isn't worth it, not in the least.

Alcohol is problematic for many with PTSD as it kicks our symptoms into overdrive. I don't react like a normal person does to alcohol. I sort of react in the opposite way. (But nobody really understands that and I get labeled the sober loser. Go figure.)

 

[Friday]

Alcohol relaxes inhibitions.

Most of the time, when I'm doing badly, I exist in the world solely due to phenomenal self control. Lol. Or the tattered shreds of self control. Depends on how long I've not been doing so hot ;) Remove that self control? Danger Will Robinson!

Inhibitions... Aren't solely external. It's not just about fighting people you ordinarily wouldn't, or f*cking them, or dancing on table tops. They're also the places we let our thoughts go to in the first place. The emotions we allow ourselves to feel.

When I'm doing well, I can drink no worries. When I'm doing badly, I can drink sometimes, although I need to mind myself a lot more... And I need to keep things moderate. A beer? A shot? No worries. Drunk? Worry. 100% depends on how badly I need to remain locked down, for both my own protection & those around me.

 

[dust86]

It's good to know some other people have had the same issues. I never did seek any treatment beyond the physical part after my incident, so I buried it down pretty deep, but still it came bubbling back to the surface. It happened to a lesser degree again last night when I made this thread. This time I had actually drank a few beers. Between that and reaching out here I had a pretty bad night.