Do minor traumatic experiences seem exaggerated now?

[Chem Lady]

I have CPTSD from childhood abuse. Today I was out for a walk and a dog came out of someone's yard, came at me barking and followed me along the sidewalk barking at me and attempting to bite my ankles. I was so shaken up and my anxiety levels were so high I just went straight home. However, it's hours later and I still feel sick from the cortisol/adrenaline rush. My question is this: do you find that, now that you have PTSD, your reaction to more minor scary moments is more exaggerated or prolonged than it would've been before PTSD? What things Have you done to help regain balance?

 

[Joan]

Absolutely yes!...In fact the example you give is a huge one for me. I have come to the conclusion that for me it is perceived as a threat and that is how my body and brain react. I try to tell myself I am safe, use grounding techniques such as naming things I see, hear, feel, smell, taste...sometimes I just have to escape and get somewhere more "safe" and rock in rocking chair or color, wrap up in a blanket, drink hot tea. You are not alone in those reactions. Take sweet care of yourself.

 

[EveHarrington]

Yep!

I have to use my grounding and self care skills to calm down.

 

[DriftingSeahorse]

Even just hearing a siren will make me jumpy sometimes...it sucks.

 

[glass frog]

Definitely! I think it's normal for lots of minor things to cause a heightened fear response. The only thing I know of to do in those situations is to try and focus on grounding and breathing. I think it's more of something that should hopefully improve with long-term work or medication.

 

[Friday]

Actual trauma*? Nope.

Normal life stuff? Like an obnoxious dog, or the doorbell ringing, or any of a thousand other things which are in no universe a big deal? Absolutely.

* If anything it’s like my scale of f*cked up things doesn’t even register a lot of things AS traumatic, anymore. Even some life threatening trauma doesn’t even blip the radar, much less a helluva lot of really legitimate things. It’s part of how I ended up in a few abusive relationships. I just didn’t notice things that should have been glaring waving red flags. Ditto a whole lot of thrill seeking behavior (this? This isn’t dangerous! Pfft.), as well as a few other odds and ends, here and there.

 

[Swift]

Hey.
As @Friday said, I feel like I'm weirdly sensitive to things that are frightening or loud or scary, so what you're dealing with is not unusual. PTSD can hypersensitize us, and our brains have a shorter distance between "oh that's scary" and all-out alarm.
But yeah on the other end of the spectrum, I feel a bit weirdly detached to stuff that other people might label as 'trauma' and I might label as 'well, that sucks dude'. Only in my own head - I say all the right things and am outwardly very sympathetic, and it's not that I don't care that my friends are in emotional pain, it's just that the stuff that they tend to get upset about is fairly minor in comparison, and I can't help that uncharitable little bit of me that says so. That being said, pain isn't relative and trauma isn't a p*ssing contest (sorry, normal phrase where I'm from).

 

[Ronin]

I tend to trigger to details of not a big deal stuff.

Angles of things. A faint scent. Flavor and texture of something I ate that one time or four.
And care. Wrapping my head around care meant and taken at face value is such a mission impossible, years long. I tend to periodically run off from well meaning people just for that alone. While assholes I should be running away from, I either stay with, or linger at for too goddamn long. :facepalm: Come back online, sanity.