Poll Did Anyone Get Ptsd From A Medical Or Surgical Procedure?

[Ed Norton]

If you have gotten PTSD from a medical or surgical procedure, would you care to elaborate below?

 

[Fadeaway]

No, but I have a huge association with my traumas and medical. My earliest trauma, I remember the E.R. not the trauma. Maybe the lack of anesthesia was a form of trauma in it's self?

 

[Mit]

Hi @Ed Norton

In my case I think it might be a combination of quite complex factors, such as spending the first five years in care, then being adopted, and having repeated surgical procedures regularly throughout my childhood (until I was 16). I can't say that one single event caused PTSD, but I guess it's possible.

I don't remember much of the earliest stuff, just flashes and brief moments generally. Some of the most upsetting events I do remember occurred when I was older and when I was a teenager. These events are a combination of painful medical treatments (and therefore frightening) and embarrassing and humiliating acts (primarily because the surgery was on my genitals) that I felt most acutely when I was a teenager (I probably didn't worry about some of these acts when I was younger).

Another factor that I am sure is very relevant for me was knowing in advance from previous surgeries and hospitalisations what was going to happen, what was going to hurt, or be unpleasant. For example I knew from previous surgeries that passing water after the operation was excruciatingly painful. Knowing that when I peed I would pass blood and it would be agony, but also being forced to drink lots after surgery by nurses to make me pee, and holding it in because I was so scared of the pain until I simply couldn't hold it any longer - well psychologically I can see why that scenario would be potentially damaging, even more so as it was repeated so often throughout my childhood. The same applies to being held down and having stitches removed from my penis (not under anaesthetic) following each surgery, being held down and force feed medicines that were disgusting and made me vomit, prior to each surgery. And so on.....Knowing in advance that these things were going to happen again and again I think was a major source of trauma, for me, as well as the event itself.

I've never felt comfortable claiming I was traumatised by medical treatments. Compared to acts of intentional abuse (sexual and otherwise) I always felt it was wrong to even suggest my experiences were traumatising (and I still struggle with this). Add to this the fact that the medical treatment was intentional, to make me better - and I was left with a feeling that it was wrong and weak of me to 'claim' it was traumatising. My parents repeatedly told me I had to be brave - I guess as a child I interpreted that to mean I mustn't show and express my fears. Hence it has taken until I am in my fifties to start to admit and say I think this may have been traumatising for me.

Sorry for the long and detailed answer, it just so happens that medical treatments were the major part of my childhood (along with a few isolated acts, in the guise of medical treatment, that I believe were sexually abusive). As I said, it's complex.

Anyway I hope I haven't bored you to tears....and this is of some help and interest.

Mit

 

[Kodah]

I am drug different. The drugs they gave me, according to the hospital, don't cause PTSD. A second opinion from a different doc at a different hospital, said I don't use those drugs due to risk of PTSD.

From what remember, I was aware and paralyzed. I could make out shapes in my darkest flashbacks. It's an emotional flashback as my adrelenine wrote memory to long term as they gave me a drug to prevent long term memory from being wrote.

So I have this underlying terror feeling which I may and probably not aware of when I'm having a flashback. I disassociate it mostly so I just end up acting weird at times.

I have a distinct loth for doctors, nurses, and hospitals in general now. My feeling was summed up when a friends wife asked me about them. Not while I draw breath will I go back. I also have a very ridided living will they will put everything in writing so they will explain it all to me before or I'd rather be dead than go through that again.

 

[Socha]

When I was a child I had regular appointments at the hospital because of a medical condition. My brother usually stayed home so he could watch TV but he was there for one of the appointments and when the nurse came to get me to the exam room, he insisted on not being left alone in the waiting room so he was allowed to come too.

The medical procedures often required catheterization without any form of anesthesia, which was humiliating and painful and traumatic in its own way and the last thing I wanted was to have my brother watching it all. I started to cry but was told not to make such a fuss about it because he’s family and has seen me naked before. I still refused to “cooperate” so they held me down and because I didn’t stop struggling they restrained me, threatened me that I couldn’t leave until they are done and I was only making it more painful and take longer. I never told anyone and it’s probably ridiculous to say that emotionally it comes pretty close to how I feel about the sexual abuse. I know it was a medical procedure but I felt almost as violated, exposed, powerless, betrayed, hurt, humiliated, confused…
The worst part was when my brother later told his friends and they laughed at me. Some of them made nasty comments whenever they saw me again. I didn’t even know what some of the things they said meant until I was older.

It’s not what caused PTSD but it makes me feel as ashamed as the sexual abuse and I partly blame this incident on why my brother started to gradually go from physically to also sexually abusing me because it started soon after this.

 

[shimmerz]

Maybe the lack of anesthesia was a form of trauma in it's self?

This ^^^^. So many of my somatic memories revolve around this.

I can't describe how it feels to be lying on a table, unable to get away due to paralyzing agents, and being cut into. A lot. I have a sense of what it was like.... why my body reacts the way it does during certain triggers. Feelings of exposure, vulnerability, knives.....cuts with sharp objects. I get it now. Seemed crazy before, but I get it now.

 

[greycrayon]

I have trauma from being born by ceserean at 29 weeks, then lived in an incubator for months with sepsis of the blood.

 

[piles]

When I was a child I had regular appointments at the hospital because of a medical condition. My b...

I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I was taken for a gyn exam at a young age by my new stepmother, and was asked if I wanted her in the room. I said no as I did not feel comfortable with her, it was her fault. It was horrible but over fast, I never thought they asked for my mom in the room as though I would feel safer. I felt safer with the stranger - but yeah there was absolutely nothing wrong with me, she was just a hypochondriac on my part.

That was not the worst though, mostly medical invasion happens through trickery and deceipt - they are so numb they see you as a body, and happily make crazy statements about you as though they know. They are usually wrong.

 

[EveHarrington]

Traumatized by a medical procedure?

Yes.

Did it cause PTSD?

No.

It was terrifying in the moment but doesn't seem to add to any of my current symptoms.

 

[Kailani]

I have gotten severe PTSD from a lack of appropriate pain management by doctors. The severe pain over an extended time frame triggered physical abuse and attack memories and then into a downward spiral. Have triggers from medical experiences but not PTSD.

 

[Deleted member 28403]

Well, some medical things that happened definitely did not cause PTSD, but the time spent in isolation made some mental changes at an early age

 

[ButransGirl]

Yes, i went into more detail in the introductions forum, but i woke up for a coma and was mostly awake for 2-3 days while being tied to the hospital bed breathing on a ventilator. I was so distraught, in pain, horrified and scared! Nurses would come in and seduction my lungs and i had sepsis so it hurt badly. I couldn't communicate my needs or that i was upset and in pain. Nobody asked either. I felt like i couldn't breathe and i was starving, having been fed through a tube for several days prior. They didn't turn me and i got bedsores. I got nerve damage from the restraints and require surgery. I was also retarded and didn't understand what was going on or were i was. It seemed nobody cared to make me comfortable. Nurses would come in and speak sternly to me, but i don't remember why. I was probably struggling and they were telling me to not pull out my tubes. I should've been sedated more. They knew i had PTSD and anxiety yet they didn't care to make me calm. I cried and struggled for days.

You expect a hospital will take care of your needs while you're uber their care, not ignore and neglect you. I'm furious most of the day.