needhelp99
New Here
My girlfriend has PTSD to the extreme and it is hurting me so much seeing her go through this. I want to do anything I can to help her, which is why I am here. It is a very very long story and I am not going to go into details, but it basically involves physical abuse from an ex boyfriend, then some extremely emotional and traumatic events, then substance abuse (cocaine, amphetamines, alcohol possibly more).
She had a very bad period of her life her freshman year of high school when all of this happened (she is a junior now), and she had been doing cocaine maybe 2x a week for the last 2 years and did amphetamines (adderall) every day for a couple months. This was a coping method for her, she said it helped her get away from what she experienced daily (see below paragraph) I recently learned of all of this, and she stopped completely. She went through withdrawals from the amphetamines but is doing MUCH better now and has no problems with the drugs anymore really. She has been clean for 5 weeks.
Almost every single night she has nightmares about the abuse she went through. She says she relives it when she is stressed about other things in her life (can be anything) and it triggers something that causes her to get very upset. She says it is like it is happening all over again and it is a horrible horrible experience to go through weekly. She used to have a lot of trouble sleeping but has been doing better the last few weeks.
She flinches at EVERYTHING, loud noises, sudden movements, etc because of what shes been through. She HATES talking about it. Other than me, her boyfriend of about a year, the only other person who knows is her best friend who she told one night when she was drunk. She gets very stressed when she thinks people know and when I ask about it or when we talk about it. Her parents know NOTHING about any of this, they are very nice people but are TERRIBLE when it comes to parenting her. They take the stance of "if its something I can ignore and pretend isnt happening...it isnt". They have found drugs of hers, she has come home beat up and bruised, she has come home so drunk shes passed out on the couch next to them, and they say NOTHING. It angers me so much I can't even describe it. She does NOT want to see a therapist because she doesn't want to talk about it at all.
I don't really know what else to say or if I'm leaving anything out....I just wanted to share this with people who experience the same type of stuff and see if any of you can provide me with ANY kind of help no matter how small it might be. It kills me to see her cry and in so much pain sometimes and I want to do something to help her get past it somehow. She is fine when she is with me because I make her so happy, but when we are apart and shes stressed over family problems and friend problems (all of her friends are very ****ed up as well), there is nothing I can do.
So I beg you...please please please help me in any way possible. I need to help her through this and will do anything to make that happen. I really appreciate you taking the time to read this if you have gotten to this point, it means a lot.
She had a very bad period of her life her freshman year of high school when all of this happened (she is a junior now), and she had been doing cocaine maybe 2x a week for the last 2 years and did amphetamines (adderall) every day for a couple months. This was a coping method for her, she said it helped her get away from what she experienced daily (see below paragraph) I recently learned of all of this, and she stopped completely. She went through withdrawals from the amphetamines but is doing MUCH better now and has no problems with the drugs anymore really. She has been clean for 5 weeks.
Almost every single night she has nightmares about the abuse she went through. She says she relives it when she is stressed about other things in her life (can be anything) and it triggers something that causes her to get very upset. She says it is like it is happening all over again and it is a horrible horrible experience to go through weekly. She used to have a lot of trouble sleeping but has been doing better the last few weeks.
She flinches at EVERYTHING, loud noises, sudden movements, etc because of what shes been through. She HATES talking about it. Other than me, her boyfriend of about a year, the only other person who knows is her best friend who she told one night when she was drunk. She gets very stressed when she thinks people know and when I ask about it or when we talk about it. Her parents know NOTHING about any of this, they are very nice people but are TERRIBLE when it comes to parenting her. They take the stance of "if its something I can ignore and pretend isnt happening...it isnt". They have found drugs of hers, she has come home beat up and bruised, she has come home so drunk shes passed out on the couch next to them, and they say NOTHING. It angers me so much I can't even describe it. She does NOT want to see a therapist because she doesn't want to talk about it at all.
I don't really know what else to say or if I'm leaving anything out....I just wanted to share this with people who experience the same type of stuff and see if any of you can provide me with ANY kind of help no matter how small it might be. It kills me to see her cry and in so much pain sometimes and I want to do something to help her get past it somehow. She is fine when she is with me because I make her so happy, but when we are apart and shes stressed over family problems and friend problems (all of her friends are very ****ed up as well), there is nothing I can do.
So I beg you...please please please help me in any way possible. I need to help her through this and will do anything to make that happen. I really appreciate you taking the time to read this if you have gotten to this point, it means a lot.