How do other people cope with symptoms?

[barefootboy]

Hi, I'm new here as of today.
I needed to finally reach out to a forum. I've been doing this all on my own until now. I need help from my peers.
coping tools I use - journaling - mindfulness - meditation - walking/exercise - eating well - medications regularly stable for years - am involved in MH supports, none related to CPTSD.

The nightmares are chronic
They come in waves spanning from 4 days to 2 weeks per month.

What i would like to ask, is how do other people cope with the aftermath. The shattered nerves, the hypervigilance the anxiety attacks, the pure fear.
How do you settle this?
How am i supposed to get and keep a job while living with this. Its far too severe.
any input would be helpful

 

[Friday]

Ah... That’s the million dollar question, right there. With answers to specifics eyeballs deep all over the forum, if not arguably exactly the purpose of the forum.

As a baseline, though? How do I cope with symptom generally?

With humour (as much as possible! As long as I can laugh? I know I’m gonna be alright), the ole improvise/adapt/overcome, stubbornness, & normalising. Learn whatever I can, from whomever I can, whenever I can, and just keep flipping shit around until I can find what works, what works better, and perfect that shit... get it down to a damn artform.

How am i supposed to get and keep a job while living with this. Its far too severe.

There have been a lot of times where my head and my life are just f*cked too sideways to be able to work. It seems like most people tend to have enough warning to be able to line up ways to manage those dark times without losing everything. Maybe someday I’ll swing that. To date, though, when I crash? It’s hard & fast & I lose everything. If I were still functional enough to be able to apply for unemployment, disability, etc.? I wouldn’t actually need to apply. And by the time I’m functional enough to be able to, I’m functional enough to find work that pays a whole helluva lot better. Bit of a catch22. But c’est la vie. “We’ve done so much, with so little, for so long... that we’re now qualified to do anything, with nothing!”

 

[Survivor3]

Hello @barefootboy, welcome to the site..It sounds like your already using a lot of coping tools successfully. What kind of work have you done in the past? What would you like to do?

 

[Teasel]

Hi @barefootboy Welcome to the forum.

It sounds like you have some excellent self care already that's great.

how do other people cope with the aftermath. The shattered nerves, the hypervigilance the anxiety attacks, the pure fear.
How do you settle this?

The thing thats had the greatest impact for me was a group psychoeducation and symptom management course on the NHS. Forums like this, where I can be amongst people like me, a few books - Judith L Herman Trauma and Recovery, Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score and Pete Walker's Website (He has written books too but i found them repetitive, and all the info I needed was more concisely written on his website).

The symptom management tools had the greatest impact of all i reckon. Though it is practicing them every day, that really made them helpful, as they are pretty puny tools if not practised regularly.

I think it's the practising them daily that helped them be of use to me when I really needed them eg when triggered, when you don't remember there are tools you can use to help you. Practicing them every day really shortened the time it would take to remember them.

Things like progressive muscle relaxation, breathing slowly right down into the belly, grounding techniques etc.

I've also gotten a lot out of Acceptance and commitment therapy. Lots of people swear by EMDR, thpugh i was not offered that. I was told it is not as effective for those with many traumas.

I hope something is of use to you. I can't say I've managed to get back to work. But symptoms are so much less overwhelming than they were.

 

[Freddyt]

I have long one sided talks with my thera-cat and I use something I learned long ago called "it is". Realizing that "it is" is a step to removing lots of frustration from everything. "It is" takes care of a lot of the things that could frustrate me. It is covers when I go to the fridge for cream for my scrambled eggs and end up using orange juice instead. Realizing that its a symptom of whats going on in my head means "it is" and there is no use stressing and beating myself up because of things I can't change, things I can't do or don't do or have forget to do or don't have energy to do or just plain screwed up.

"It is" removes expectations. Removing expectations removes frustration and stress. Removing stress helps with everything else.

For the rest, there's self tap, mindfulness, breathing, and going to my happy place in my head.