Poll Do You See An End To The Symptoms In Your Life?

[Mercy]

Yeah, hours of repeated torture/discipline/training can really grind a child's spirit and will to live down to almost nothing. Where something triggers any part of those scenarios, I am totally shaken up for days. I loose the will to live. All the reasons to live are vague, misty, elusive thoughts. This situation reoccurs almost every evening at dusk. I struggle on there is a lovely old song that has a line,"I'm tired of livin' and scared of die'n, dat old man river just keeps goin' along." I think it is from the Opera Porgy and Bess

 

[Changing4Best]

I was diagnosed in my mid-40s and really have had symptoms way back there, since ever I can remember. I've been in therapy and on meds since the diagnosis, even before, as it took them awhile to find the PTSD, the depression, suicide attempt, etc. being more obvious.

 

[Hashi]

Yes, I think we can heal from anything. Our bodies and minds are always working to heal, and that includes PTSD symptoms. I don't mean a fix or a cure, but processing what happened, finding new meanings, putting it into the past and making peace with it being in our history. Sometimes we have to work to support that healing process, sometimes we need to get out of the way of our own healing.

Not that's it's easy, and we have to find what things are right for us then do the horrible work, but I definitely believe it's possible.

 

[Invisible-Guy]

I was in a volatile situation for so many years that I have some permanent cognitive & emotional damage, but since I've been seeing my new psychologist, I've had a lot of improvement. My wife says that even our granddaughters see the change already. I know there's no cure, but we can retrain our brains to adjust well enough to have a healthy life some day. I'm not there yet, but I think I'm going in the right direction. I needed someone that could make me laugh about my symptoms sometimes, She's been great with that. So hopefully more and more stuff will begin to process and I won't have knee jerk reactions straight from the amygdala. I'd like to get well enough to go back to school and finish up my third degree so I never have to go back to my old life.

 

[BlackbirdSinging]

For me.. at this point.. no. And according to my therapist she doesn't think I'll ever get completely away from the symptoms either. I do think I will get healing. I do think that the symptoms will become easier to handle. I don't think I'll ever be completely free from them. But then I've had PTSD for almost as long as I've been alive. Sadly it is my "normal". I can't imagine life any other way since I don't remember it ever being different than this.

 

[aka]

Unfortunately I going to have to say no. I can't remember ever not being in a heightened anxiety state and therefore always looking over my shoulder. This suggest to me that I been trapped in this state for so long that my ability to revert to neutral is almost non-existent. I have though gotten much better of controlling my responses to stimuli as well as being able to internally talk myself to calm down. So I do believe that I can still get better at managing my symptoms but I cannot see an complete end to them. I have though been starting to accept that PTSD is part of me and I think once I do I might stop being so hard on myself for my so called "failings".

 

[ChavaRo]

I don't know if I'll heal completely, but I do believe I'll be able to get my life back to a meaningful extent.

- My trauma didn't happen in childhood, so I think that helps. I was still young 19 and 20 - but I think being older made me more resilient.

- My major triggers, due to the key components of my trauma, can be managed somewhat by putting a lot of effort into eating right and sleeping right. Originally I was not able to sleep through the night and it was absolutely terrible, but since leaving school I've instituted a very intense bedtime routine and that's helped.

- I journal a lot, both freely and guided by a PTSD workbook, and that's helped in many ways. It's helped me reach breakthroughs in understanding why I feel certain ways, and it's also helped me organize my thoughts and feelings about my trauma and made it less overwhelming to me.

- I have a great network for social support.

- I've seen it start to get better. It's really bad like 2 days per week now instead of all day every day. When it's bad, it's really bad, but I have a lot of hope.

- I'm starting therapy next week and hopefully that will help as well.

 

[Orglethorp]

I think there's no clear-cut answer as to whether or not PTSD sufferers can ever be said to have completely healed from PTSD. I do believe that some sufferers can eventually get to a point where they don't experience PTSD symptoms ever again, but it depends on a lot of different factors: is there a family history of mental health issues? What was the trauma / how many traumas? How old were they when this/these happened? How did they deal with it / how were they supported when it happened? What kind of support did they have when diagnosed? How successful was therapy? etc. - That being said, even for those who can truly escape PTSD symptoms, these people are not the same people they were before PTSD. For better or worse, they are changed, and it's not just simply an "age & experience" sort of change.

For me, my PTSD comes from 15 years of abuse and rape at the hands of my own father. I've been fortunate enough to have a wonderful, strong mother and two very kind, loving and wise (maternal) grandparents in my life. They raised me, cared for me and encouraged me. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to endure my father. Without them, I'd have committed suicide a long time ago.

I'm not "cured," though, nor do I ever expect to be cured. My PTSD and general depression seem to cycle, though not always at the same pace. I do go through periods of being almost 'normal' for months on end, sometimes even a year or so, but I always cycle back. There are also things about my personality and my outlook on the world that are very clearly influenced by PTSD, but they exist even when I'm in a 'normal' phase. They've become independent of the severity of my PTSD symptoms. I think it's because my PTSD developed as my personality was developing. So, for me, I don't think I'll ever be free of PTSD and its symptoms.

 

[Still Alive Inside]

I don't believe my symptoms can't "end", perse, but I believe they can get better.
About 3,4 years ago, my dissociation was very severe and had me in fear most of the time. Today I don't dissociate in the same way which leads me to believe certain things get better.

I suppose healing is the goal, but it's always a disheartening to have to accept that PTSD doesn't just go away.

Some people in my life seem to think that all I have to do is toughen up or cry one out and I'll be fine. Frankly, that pisses me off and almost triggers the symptoms. In general, I feel that most people still violently judge PTSD, they judge what they can't understand. I found this forum online, but where do you find people who understand in the real world?

 

[DharmaGirl]

My thought is that I will always have symptoms, but they will be turned down and I will be able to manage them. On the other hand, if the brain is as plastic as believed now, I will be free from them. I will have some scars, but I am planning on going back to work after my back heals.

 

[Jlso111187]

I see some of them calming down as they do but they are triggered easily and then the cycle starts all over again.

 

[Lionheart]

No I don't, but I have seen a great reduction in symptom intensity and frequency and have no reason to think this won't continue to be the case.