Do You Think PTSD Is A Terminal Illness?

[NoOne]

For what it's worth, I prefer the term "Dangerous Illness" for this one too....the harm doesn't always have to be self-inflicted, but the excessive stresses break the body down physically, I think. I've never needed operations before, but since getting my injuries and now being deep into the illness like never before, I've just had a 3rd surgery not related to those injuries and really could have sworn a heart attack was imminent the other night. Everything changes, patterns change, and when the mind and body become unhealthy, you don't need to self-inflict anything, it becomes dangerous.....for whatever it's worth, just a thought... I could be wrong...sorry

:stupid:


(wish the foot in mouth smiley was here)

I will be wishing the best for you though, sincerely.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Is PTSD going to kill us...probably not. Will we die with PTSD....more than likely.

I don't see it as terminal, however, I don't expect to ever be cured.

 

[Tinyflame]

One thing we don't know,- you never know what "cures" that will come up in the future, for any illness.

Who knows? I remember when the Berlin Wall came down, I never thought I'd see that in my lifetime.

 

[pandora]

As a palliative care nurse and watching a person that does have a terminal illness, not curable by any medical intervention is terminal. I totally agree with Bec.

We have options many people that I took care of..they were out of options and their body was consumed by an illness that took over their body. These people have no options at the very end when their disease is labelled terminal.

Yes..this feels terminal because some days we feel like we are living in hell and death certainly seems like a much better option than fighting it. We all have those days but we also have the good days and those are the days we continue to learn. talk, have therapy, meds if needed, ensure a support network, on line and in real life, keep fighting and know everything about PTSD that is positive in treating it. There are so many aspects, emotional, physical. Everyone had a life to live...we have the ability to do that to the best of our ability and it is our own responsibility to ourselves and our families to learn to live with every aspect. Like I said before, we have options. The people that have a true terminal illness, all of their resources have been exhausted. Beleive me....I have watched too many terminal patients die.

PTSD has so many facets to it that the only thing we can do is treat all of the wonderful things that we all have to deal with....this has been said before here and I have never forgotten this phrase "PTSD...it is like the gift that keeps on giving"

Sorry for rambling that is just my opinion.........

As well as the phrase "What does not kill us, makes us stronger" Look at the people here and all of the terrible, horrible things that we have had to endure, watching others seem to just sail through life......WE are certainly a group of the strongest people I have ever met!:clap::clap::clap:

 

[anthony]

Do I think its a terminal illness? No... not even close. If you speak with someone with a terminal illness, someone who knows death is within their near future, you may get a better perspective on just how lucky you actually are to be alive and relatively healthy, regardless of PTSD. Yes, PTSD has a suicidal risk at points, yes, it can kill a person early if left untreated... hell, it can kill some regardless through the effects of stress. That doesn't make it terminal though, as we actually have a choice to do what we choose in order to help ourselves vs. a terminal patient has no further choices to improve their quality of life, instead they are terminal to die. We all die... that is the one certainty in life itself, it is truly the only fact of life. All are not born, all that are born though will die, regardless off any factors. How you live your life regardless what is thrown at you to make it more difficult, is still mainly your choices. You are responsible for those choices... ie. sit and have a pity party or really just enjoy the life you have, look at ways to improve yourself and your life, look at today and what is now, not what could be or what was... just now.

When it all gets that hard... anything else but now is irrelevant. Adopt a more positive thought process and you can succeed with PTSD. Bob Parsons has PTSD as a veteran and owns the worlds largest domain corporation... GoDaddy. He runs it proactively with PTSD. Sure, he may have a lesser version than some, but at the end of the day you can still achieve something more than you think you can... doing is a more positive thing towards helping oneself.

 

[Tinyflame]

Yes! -Like you and this Forum, Anthony. That is pro-active.
Thank you!

 

[starshine]

The way I see it, being fully in the trauma feels like a terminal illness, that you won't survive it. That's the feeling of utter powerlessness that is part of being traumatised. This feeling can linger long after the trauma occurred.

 

[anthony]

I have a friend with PTSD, who was my SGT on an operation when I was only a CPL, and he ran down a child in a truck... something which disturbs him greatly. Now the thing is... he is only barely alive, a drunk for the last decade, chain smoking, etc... He refuses to talk about it, he refuses to get help and actually participate in it, ie. he wants to get better vs. being forced to get better. His medication does little for him... he has had multiple heart attacks and is only a couple years older than me.

He will die early due to PTSD, though much of it is his choice because he just doesn't want to get better, instead he is happy to just drink and smoke himself to an early death.

 

[jefferylee]

PTSD Can Be Deadly

I can testify to the fact that PTSD can be fatal.It absolutely was the root cause of my fathers death,even though the method used was alcohol.He came home from WWII w/ a severe case of what we now all know as PTSD...only the problem was nobody knew that back in 1945.

He began drinking shortly after his return and by the time I was born 6 years later,he was drinkng nearly every night (and eventually every day too) to try to get some respite from his nightmares and it wasn't too many years after that I started having my own nightmares of combat after listening to the gruesome war stories he'd tell me...and I still do to this day,50 years later.

Eventually my parents divorced because of his drinking and he spent his remaining years dealing w/ his demons by getting drunk everyday until the alcohol did finally kill him,but I have no doubt the PTSD he got while fighting as a Marine Corps. sniper in the So. Pacific is ultimately what led to his young death.

I have learned since my dx that I have "intergenerational transmission of trauma",which basically means that I inherited my PTSD from my father and if I am to be honest w/ myself,I have to admit/live with/deal with the fact that I had a "suicidal moment" of my own and PTSD almost claimed 2 generations of us...but I am fighting every day,as hard as I can, to change the outcome of my life...to break that chain so I do not pass it on to my own daughter,who I know has been affected by my PTSD to some degree herself.I just keep putting one foot in front of the other and hope for the best outcome.

I guess I believe PTSD has killed thousands of others like my father,now that I think about it.You won't ever see PTSD listed as the cause on a death certificate like suicide would be,but really,wouldn't PTSD be considered the CAUSE of the suicide??...just wondering

Peace and Hope...jefferylee

 

[anthony]

One would think so mate... but I think that is a legal medical thing which no doubt I suspect only some board of doctors and legal beagles could ever change. I think we may see pigs fly before that one... I agree with you though, in that if it caused the suicide, then I believe it should be listed as suicide of PTSD.

 

[Deleted member 541]

There have been 2 deaths in my area in the past year and it clearly stated that these men died from complications of PTSD. So there are times that it does happen.

 

[ISupportHer]

Not Sure It's My Place to Respond.....But....

As a "Carer" I've hesitated to respond since I am not a sufferer. Directly, at least. :smile: Does PTSD have to be terminal? Not necessarily, at least in my limited opinion. Will it be terminal? I don't think of it as a death sentence necessarily. CAN it be? Absolutely.

The part that is really hard for me is my perception that IS terminal as far as the woman I married and used to be able to share with, without walking on eggshells, affection loss, etc. It's clear that things will never be the same, and this includes for her. I'm not looking at this from a totally selfish viewpoint. It's just that this loss, or death if you want to put it that way, is what I mourne when I posted about grief in the Carers' area. And on so many levels. Me, my family, finances, even a changed future.

As for death in it's strict meaning, it's too early to tell for me. No attempts yet but plenty of hopitalizations because of suicidal thoughts.

I also have to add that I still feel I can make things better. Never the same but better. Through my learning to cope better, drawing from what I learn here, hopefully sticking to my own therapy to understand myself in all this, MY being strong, when I can, will hopefully set an example with her and help her stabalize. And stabalize me, by the way.