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

[Deleted member 1860]

I've lived with symptoms for most of my life. Thus, having PTSD is my way of life. I don't remember a time when I was not symptom free, as my trauma occurred when I was only 4.

As I look back to when I was a child, I can see the various PTSD symptoms that I exhibited. After I told my parents that I was molested by my day care provider, my mom told me that she and my father suspected that someone was hurting me due to the symptoms I was showing, or rather the behavior I was exhibiting at such a young age.

I've done a lot of searching around the internet, and I've found a person here, and another there who claim to have their PTSD healed, but I am skeptical. Maybe I am just more damaged than they are. I just don't see a complete end to my symptoms. I honestly don't think that it can happen. I do have hope that I will improve. I just see PTSD as a chronic condition that will constantly need to be kept in check.

 

[insomnia]

I have faith that one day things will be better for me and I will be able to be happy. It will just take some time thats all.

 

[Cynthiatoo]

I could well be wrong about this. But as my education has increased through here, my awareness is more alert and my meds are right, and the lifestyle changes I plan I think my symptoms will be minimal enough to not impact on my life enough to be considered a problem. I call this enough of a cure to suit me.

 

[Srain]

No, never. I thought after years of therapy and resolution of so much I was clear to finally live a life of some peace relief, instead my mind snapped and I hit the wall, losing all sense of reality. This had never happened before. It's been a battle since, indepth therapy has shown me that the damage is far more extensive than I ever imagined. The work ahead is substantial.

For me, never.

 

[intothelight]

I do not see an end to symptoms, but I can envision a reduction in the frequency and severity. I don't think anyone knows how to "fix" brain damage.

 

[KP the nut]

I WILL RECOVER

 

[Abrasky]

Yes I do. I've always had a strong feeling that the little griefs and little gold dust outcomes I had with each psychodynamic counceling weren't the PTSD, but that there was a big giant volcano of grief under their somewhere, the big source of gold. While the other griefs I did in my counceling sessions in the first 12 years of councelling took a month to process one grief, this last one is all conncected with 12 griefs together in a big knot and took me 12 months to get through the grief of it. I've gotten about 13 memories back for this knot. I am hoping that this knot will be the end of it. If not I will be happy with the progress I've made because it's absolutely amazing. The more and more pain that comes out of new memories, the more I realise my brain was protecting me. I think if there was a scale. Acute grief is number 8 and where I am at at 12 months into this grief is number 10. I do find a lot of solace that the pain is doing something, healing my brain. I am hoping at the end of it my brain chemicals will adjust back to pre PTSD. pre grief stage.

 

[cat]

Me too! KP.
Recovery is about managing your symptoms rather than expecting them to go.
It's about tackling the most troublesome symptoms head on, breaking through the barriers and allowing ourselves to have confidence in our achievements.

Maintaining recovery is hard work but then, so are ptsd symptoms.

There is always hope. Stay strong.

 

[curiouser]

Yes, of course I do, I already am experiencing it. I don't think it would have been possible if I limited my thinking though. How could I have expected to get better and heal, if I didn't believe it was possible?

 

[deer_in_headlights]

I honestly don't know. I DO know, that through therapy and the deep transformative work I'm doing, I'm changing into someone I'm really starting to like. I'm shedding a lot of old conditioning, and learning amazing ways of looking at the world. As much as it hurts, I'm almost grateful for the PTSD, because I never, ever would have chosen to do this difficult, life-changing work.
I treasure what I'm learning.

In some areas I can actually see that I am more healed than many of the "normal" people I know.

I have a long way to go, so rather than thinking about reaching a fully healed, no symptom state, now I've just got my chin pointing ahead and taking it one tiny step at a time... each one is a victory for me...and I can celebrate that. Who knows where it'll lead?

 

[Rainbow Socks]

I voted "no". I can see myself being able to manage the symptoms after many more years of therapy, but I don't think they'll ever go away.

 

[Mercy]

Honestly, I don't know. I can try to face triggers and modify my actions and reactions. I try exposure therapy to decontaminate triggers and the flashbacks or emotional memories that the specific triggers impose.

Recently, the idea of the plasticity of our brains does hold out the hope that some of the neural connections can be 'rewired'. For PTSD, when trauma is branded into the amygdala, the expectation for rewiring is not very high. It starts the biochemical cascade long before the frontal brain even notices that something is wrong.

I do not hope to be symptom free. I think that is realistic and keeps me from getting down on myself when something jumps out at me like full body flashbacks or overwhelming grief. I hope to live with some degree of dignity. I hope for the courage to keep caring about people including myself. I hope for the end of hopelessness.