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Sufferer Hesitantly Here, Wanting To Understand. Have Lived In Denial Too Long..

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heartists

New Here
Hi.
I'm unsure what to say. Like I said, I'm hesitantly here. Admitting to my traumas is a very new thing to me, but I want so badly to understand now more about myself and the how everything is still affecting me because it all has wreaked havoc on my insides and out for too long.
Main facts about me.
-Grew up in a dysfunctional family anxious paranoid mother, narcissistic paranoid father, both hoarders
-Older brother developed anger and rage issues during his preteens. My parents put a bolt lock on the door to my bedroom after he chased me with a butcher knife when I was young. I developed disordered eating behaviors around this age
-I was sexually abused for a few years by my brother's only friend pre-middle school and during. When I tried to tell my mother about it she told me that it was important that my brother had this friend because he was having trouble in school and that I must be confused. I didn't speak about any of this for the next thirteen years.
-When I entered highschool I violently sexually assaulted. After this I dropped out of highschool and gained 100+ lbs binge eating. About a year later I lost all of this weight and more through extremely low calorie intake and overexercise.
-Left with extreme excess skin at a normal weight, I developed bulimia as well as severe back pain as well as other issues (general psychological distress and disturbance over the appearance of my body after all of this). Due to my back pain insurance covered a chest reconstruction for removal of the skin on my chest which turned into a medical trauma in a botched surgery
-I got my GED and moved away to college but after two emotionally abusive/manipulative relationships had to move home severely ill from anorexia and extremely underweight. Regained my weight with the help of a trauma therapist but refused treatment for a long time until I began binging and purging daiily sometimes more than once a day for about a year. I finally admitted myself into treatment for an eating disorder. Here I met my second therapist who specializes in EMDR and trauma who finally got me out of denial about PTSD
-I was in treatment all day for 5 days/week for 6 months and normalized eating a bit, but still struggling with restrictive tendencies
-I am still undergoing EMDR treatment and therapy 2x week
-I have a lot of social anxiety and disassociation issues as well as hypervigilance..

I'm trying to navigate all of this and I needed somewhere I could relate to people and feel less alone. I'm kind of on a mission to understand more so I can learn to live the best life I can with the awful symptoms that I have. I want to not have this take my life over any more, but I don't know how.
Thank you guys for being here.
 
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@heartists Welcome to the forum!

One of the best things about this site is the members really do understand what you are going through and it gives a person a unique opportunity to interact with others who "get it:". I hope you find this site beneficial to your continued healing.
 
Welcome to the Forum, heartists! First, let me say that I am so sorry that you have had to carry all that has happened to you, mostly alone until you found a therapist who uses EMDR. I'm a firm believer that it can help some people. Not all, just like any other kind of therapy. At least you are out of denial, and you have to reach that point before any real healing can take place!

You have found a very special place, with people who REALLY care, and want to share advice, opinions, and most of all, compassion, empathy, and friendship. It takes a while to feel comfortable posting, but if you begin a little at a time...it gets easier. You can read about others' traumas, but not too much, as it can be triggering. Also, don't compare your 'story' with others. Your pain and suffering is as devastating as anyone else's and you have a right to get help, and eventually reach a point where the pain can 'live' without coming out when you don't wan't it to. I chose to have a 'room' where my suffering 'lives', and it only comes out if I choose to tell my story, or something triggers me.

I applaud you for not giving up, or accepting that you are the way you are and there is no healing. Reaching out is a GIANT STEP in getting better, and realizing that you are NOT alone...especially here!

I want to assure you, that with dedicated perseverance, you CAN GET BETTER, your life CAN be RICH in happiness, because you are not giving up, or giving in to your issues. Some people choose to hide behind 'walls' and choose to feel that there is no help for them. Obviously, you have chosen to fight for yourself! You deserve the BEST, and I am hoping to see you around the forum.

Good luck with the EMDR, I have had great success with it, and have been able to move much farther forward than I EVER thought I could. HOPE is HUGE, and it sounds to me like you DO have that!

You deserved NONE of what has happened to you, and it takes STRENGTH to reach out for healing! You are doing that!!! You TRULY are not alone here!!!

Blessings and hugs if okay...:hug::hug:
AKJ
 
@AngelkeeperJ/AKJ

Thank you SO much for your kind words and long response; I really appreciate it.
The notion of the 'room' where it lives is interesting to me, it reminds me of the safe place in EMDR. It would be seriously useful to have that work.
I am hoping you're right and that with perseverance it will get better. I am having difficulty with the EMDR because of the stuff that comes up - I don't know how to deal with any more knowledge than I have about myself and the things I have gone through. It seems to me the more I understand the worse everything feels?? And I'm disassociating all over the place. But I guess it takes time to heal...
:hug:
 
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That is such a giant step to accept your emotions. It sounds like nobody has ever validated you or your feelings. To feel out of control most of your early years and now you see that. I want to send you a giant care basket of sunshine. You do matter, you are very important. Thanks for being here.
 
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