Hello Everybody :)

[intothelight]

Hi Christine,

Welcome to the PTSD Forum. Sea is so blessed to have you in his life. He really deserves the best and your standing by his side is wonderful. I hope you find the forum helpful to you, The supporter section is great and I hope you find the support you need to help you both through this.

Take care.
Debbie

 

[angel2write]

Hey Christine- I love your avatar. I think it's the way I think of you- you're a superhero!

Thank you so much for everything, every single good thing, you've done for Sea... you're such a blessing.

So glad you're here. :D

Angela

 

[Supercd]

Yep, it is my war face, and there is a giant sword there, for hacking away bits of PTSD monsters too.

Thank you all for the warm welcome. This place has been a really great support over the last 6 months. I had not been able to sign up but the information that was there was helpful to me too.

We have hit a bit of a rough patch. He spends all day playing shooting games and not eating, or sleeping. Right now, I am just giving him the space to do what he needs to.

Just only hope it does not turn into a case of life-absorption by means of videogame. That happened several months ago. Videogames are a big trigger, but then he goes into a state where he will do nothing but shoot.

For now just leaving him be and dragging his butt to therapy. Feels like there should be more I could do? Feel very clueless at times! :alien: Glad to have found this forum.

 

[Shattered]

. Feels like there should be more I could do? Feel very clueless at times! :alien:

Most supporters feel this way. I know my husband would love nothing more than to slay my PTSD dragon. Keep in mind that you are his supporter--his medic, if you will. Keep him focused, patch him up and send him back out to fight. You both have the same mission objective, but different roles.

You are doing a great job, Christine. Drag his butt to therapy, encourage him where you can and don't let him wriggle off the hook with excuses (we like to do that ;)).

Supporting takes an enormous toll, so get your butt into therapy too. Self-care, self-care, self-care.

((((((Enormous hugs, Chris)))))), he's worth it.

 

[Iam]

Welcome to the forum Supercd. So glad you were finally able to sign up. I can only imagine how tough it is to be a supporter. I know my husband struggles with it, but I honestly don't think I'd be alive without the support he has given me over the almost 34 years we've been married. He gives me my space when needed, calls me on it if I treat him poorly, encourages and praises my efforts in handling things, points it out when I've handled them well and above all loves me, loves me, loves me.

Those of you that are carers deserve medals of honor! Hang in there!

 

[Supercd]

Drag his butt to therapy, encourage him where you can and don't let him wriggle off the hook with excuses (we like to do that ;)).

Trying out the "quoting" feature. Hope I did it right.

The excuses....yep!

I'm tired. I'm not feeling good. I'm in pain. I'm hungry. Therapy is stupid. I'm incurable. My therapist sucks.... Even though I haven't slept in the last two weeks, I'm exhausted right now and have to sleep, so sorry, can't go to therapy...My friend has a computer problem and I have to stay and fix it, it's really, really important...

:roflmao:

Supporting takes an enormous toll, so get your butt into therapy too. Self-care, self-care, self-care.

I have therapy myself as well. I have had therapy for the last six and a half years. IMO, everybody could use a little therapy.

Worked a lot on myself while Sea was gone. Things have been shaky for the last year. Trying to readjust my life. It is unsettling to go so long with learning to cope with a family dynamic shift. Grief, confusion. Just not knowing. It was tough and is tough.

Went to a lot of support groups. Most of them were filled with mothers with missing children... never found anyone I could really relate to. Read a lot of self-help books. Threw myself into work. Helped everybody else for a while. Even worked for a suicide hotline for veterans.

Finally figured out how to live my life, and things settled into a routine. It was good. Had friends and a job and moved back where things were familiar. Just as all of that was starting to become comfortable Sea came back.

So back to the therapist I went!

I was an hourglass moving in a steady direction downward. All of a sudden someone tipped me over and everything flew upside down and backwards. It has been a hard rollercoaster, but worth it IMO.

Sorry to have went off topic on a tangent :)

 

[Shattered]

Nope, no sorries accepted. This is your post and getting out those feelings is appropriate and necessary.

You've had your own ball of wax to deal with, too. You might want to start a diary of your own here. I know your experience would be helpful to other military wives and mothers. I can only imagine how devastating it must have been for you and David to wake up one morning and POOF, Sea has disappeared without a trace. I'm certain I would not have handled that well.

(((Big Hug 4 U)))