Butterfly16
New Here
Hi all, is avoiding anything which I would find overwhelming part of C-PTSD? I know avoidance of things which may trigger memories of the trauma is a big part, but what about avoidance of anything too stressful?
A few examples….
My partner proposed last year. We both want to have a big wedding and I started looking at venues and wedding themes / colour schemes etc, but I became completely overwhelmed and anxious. I am now too scared to arrange anything as the feeling when I get overwhelmed is like I am going to have a full on breakdown and an intense ‘close to the edge of breaking’ kind of feeling. Everyone gets so excited when they’re planning they’re big days and everyone keeps asking me over and over about it but it just makes me so overwhelmed and panicky that I can't face it.
We also wanted to plan a trip to Disney world in Florida (my son who is 13 has never been). I got excited and started looking at itineraries and places to stay and suddenly became so intensely overwhelmed than I had a huge anxiety attack and a deep feeling of hopelessness. It was so strange. But now I am too scared to plan it as I genuinely feel like I will break!
My partner and I have talked about trying for a baby in the next few months. We have been together for 11 years and he doesn’t have his own child. He is supportive if I don’t want another (my sons dad was extremely abusive and I still carry the mental scars from that), but obviously I feel bad and to be honest I would love to have a child with him. He’s so amazing with my son. But again, whilst initially excited about the idea, I had this fear of dread come over me and complete overwhelm took over. I imagined not coping due to my mental health, and again I feel like I would end up having a breakdown. I have such high sensitivity to stimuli particularly sudden sounds and struggle a lot with sudden anger & lack of sleep, so the idea of a loud crying baby keeping me up all night and all the stress that comes with that is freaking me out as I just don’t feel like I would cope… maybe I would but for some reason
I can’t seem to handle any overwhelm so I don’t think a baby is a good idea!
We are about to move house and I had to go ring doctors today to get back on meds as I wasn’t coping very well with all the stuff I have to do!
I hate how much this illness ruins my life. I just want to be “normal”, whatever that is. Or just how I used to be before I went through all the abuse and losing my dad. I want the old me back!
how can I get better at coping with overwhelming things? I’m only in my 30s and there’s sure as hell going to be a lot of overwhelm in the future, so I need to learn how to manage it. It’s like my brain only has so much capacity now :(
thanks all x
A few examples….
My partner proposed last year. We both want to have a big wedding and I started looking at venues and wedding themes / colour schemes etc, but I became completely overwhelmed and anxious. I am now too scared to arrange anything as the feeling when I get overwhelmed is like I am going to have a full on breakdown and an intense ‘close to the edge of breaking’ kind of feeling. Everyone gets so excited when they’re planning they’re big days and everyone keeps asking me over and over about it but it just makes me so overwhelmed and panicky that I can't face it.
We also wanted to plan a trip to Disney world in Florida (my son who is 13 has never been). I got excited and started looking at itineraries and places to stay and suddenly became so intensely overwhelmed than I had a huge anxiety attack and a deep feeling of hopelessness. It was so strange. But now I am too scared to plan it as I genuinely feel like I will break!
My partner and I have talked about trying for a baby in the next few months. We have been together for 11 years and he doesn’t have his own child. He is supportive if I don’t want another (my sons dad was extremely abusive and I still carry the mental scars from that), but obviously I feel bad and to be honest I would love to have a child with him. He’s so amazing with my son. But again, whilst initially excited about the idea, I had this fear of dread come over me and complete overwhelm took over. I imagined not coping due to my mental health, and again I feel like I would end up having a breakdown. I have such high sensitivity to stimuli particularly sudden sounds and struggle a lot with sudden anger & lack of sleep, so the idea of a loud crying baby keeping me up all night and all the stress that comes with that is freaking me out as I just don’t feel like I would cope… maybe I would but for some reason
I can’t seem to handle any overwhelm so I don’t think a baby is a good idea!
We are about to move house and I had to go ring doctors today to get back on meds as I wasn’t coping very well with all the stuff I have to do!
I hate how much this illness ruins my life. I just want to be “normal”, whatever that is. Or just how I used to be before I went through all the abuse and losing my dad. I want the old me back!
how can I get better at coping with overwhelming things? I’m only in my 30s and there’s sure as hell going to be a lot of overwhelm in the future, so I need to learn how to manage it. It’s like my brain only has so much capacity now :(
thanks all x