Sufferer I Have Complex Ptsd And Major Depressive Disorder

[LisawithPTSD]

I'm new to the forum. I've been seriously treating the PTSD for the last two years. I've started hormone therapy which has greatly reduced my major flashbacks and improved my concentration, etc. I can work again but still struggle.

I have major attacks occasionally but every day, every hour I have minor flashbacks. I yell out 'no, no, no'. My PTSD is so complex I'm not even sure sometimes what thought triggered it. I hate it. Sometimes I feel like a crazy lady when I'm walking the dog or riding my bike and shout these things out.

I had an episode when I was getting coffee at a convenience store and pretended I spilled the coffee to hide the outburst. I'm becoming more and more anti-social. I have a good support group of family and friends but I'm just at a point where my situation will not improve any more. I am sometimes desperate though I'm presently just frustrated.

 

[DharmaGirl]

Welcome to the forum. There is a lot of information and support here. Are you seeing a therapist? I found that certain medications help with flashbacks, but therapy has helped me so much in the last 2 years.

 

[intothelight]

Hi LisawithPTSD,

Welcome to my PTSD forum! :)

PTSD can have some wild symptoms and they can definitely disrupt the present. I was curious as to who told you, or what makes you think your situation would not improve any more? I had a therapist tell me two years ago the best that I could hope for was just being able to function. Well, she was dead wrong and I do a whole lot more than just "function".

I hope that you find the information and support here beneficial to your healing. I also hope you find something here that will help you manage your flashbacks.

Take care.

Debbie

 

[LisawithPTSD]

I have improved considerably with the help of therapy, understanding by myself and others, and medication—especially hormone therapy. However, my understanding is that there is a damage that occurs with the brain from severe stress. Considering how complex my PTSD is and that I probably have a genetic predisposition to it, I suspect that I can't get to those nitty gritty subsequent traumas that I create everyday in this lifetime. Nor will I be able to afford the extensive therapy needed to get through them all. I am improving. I am working again and exercise most days. I can go out and visit friends. But the 'trauma turrets' as I call them plaque my day.

 

[StrongHeart]

Lisa, my heart goes out to you. I know that the brain is a complex organism that has a tremendous capacity to heal and overcome, and I hope and pray that you will get better. I'm glad you are in therapy and that you are being treated. I'm also glad you have a doggie; that, in and of itself, is a great therapy.

 

[LisawithPTSD]

:) I have three doggies. They do heal my heart. Thank you.

 

[DharmaGirl]

You can change your brain back. It is an important part of therapy. I also have PTSD from complex trauma with dissociative features and Major Depressive Disorder. The damage occurred in childhood, and is sustained in adulthood. My understanding is that you don't have to go through every single trauma to heal. You can change your brain and it will change how you view stress as an adult. It will turn off the constant hyperarousal and flashbacks. This is the hope and goal that keeps me moving forward.

 

[LisawithPTSD]

Thanks Monster. I will work on that goal as well.

 

[StrongHeart]

Lisa, my spaniel was essential to me during my divorce, which was a long, drawn out, horrible process. My experience, and all of the articles I've read about how much people are healed through their relationships with their pets, is proof positive that everyone with ptsd should have something furry and soft that loves you unconditionally.

 

[LisawithPTSD]

I agree. My dogs have been my touchstone to this world. I knew I was in serious trouble when I was dissociating from them. They help to ground me and keep me sane. Nothing like the unconditional love of a dog. :)

 

[DharmaGirl]

Amen to both of you. My girls are always there for me. They are always happy to see me, they are always happy to do whatever I want to do, and they make me feel so safe.

 

[Fifo brett]

Hi everyone I'm here for the sake of my daughter in law. She has complex ptsd from mother rejection in first two years of life followed by physical and psychological abuse to age 13yrs by stepmother and neglect by father. This led into drug abuse, psychotic episode, raped. Three years in a Christian based rehab programme. Ostensibly got "right" during this period when she met and married my son. Now has 2 beautiful daughters 2 1/2 years and 12 weeks. Between the births of girls got diagnosed with complex ptsd. Five days after birth of second daughter "the wheels fell off!" That is to say she has been hospitalised 5 times.
I have three questions. First specifically to Lisawithptsd. Can I please ask for more specifics on your hrt. My daughter -i-l was "great" in the 3 weeks before and five days after her births and I was wondering if the increase in happy hormones had been the reason. I suspected this from other research done before I read your post.
Second question to everyone what can I say to my extended family to encourage them to stay supportive and not " give up". How do we help?
Third question.This is a great site and I've found it very encouraging. How do I suggest it to my daughter-i-l ?