I want my life back

[CatinRI89]

In January of 2018 I was walking on a public street and was viscously attacked by two dogs, one was a pitbull.
The physical injuries are still healing but the psychological toll from the trauma is crushing me.....I've been dealing with accute anxiety and PTSD. Nightmares, anxiety attacks (never had them before) and constant hyper awareness are my normal now.
I am in intensive therapy and taking meds but all I want to do is hide in my house....in short, I want my life back! Wondering is PTSD sufferers ever really get over their trauma or do they just "learn to live with it?"
Right now my life sucks.....sigh

 

[EveHarrington]

It gets better with treatment, hard work, and time. Hopefully you’ll go into full remission where symptoms disappear completely, but there’s no guarantee of that happening. :hug:

 

[Suzetig]

It’s entirely possible to find a way through it. You won’t be the same person - trauma changes you, but there is recovery and often growth in the process. What you’re experiencing now is your body and mind’s way of processing what happened, the more you can accept how you’re feeling as part of a normal reaction to something you were never built to go through, the more you’ll be able to heal. Fighting it does make it worse because you end up retraumatising yourself in the process.

The feelings are awful, working with an experienced therapist will really help. You’ll be able to rebuild your life - not exactly as it was because you’ll learn about yourself and understand yourself differently, but different isn’t necessarily worse.

 

[littleoc]

I’m so sorry that happened to you.

If this answers your question at all: I have been a attacked by a dog as well, right as I was trying to get away from a pedophile kidnapper. It’s really messed me up, and I do still have dreams about it. It was a black and white lab mix of some kind, and I can’t really handle most lab mixes that are black and white.

My current service dog, though, I handle wonderfully... though she’s black and white (but probably not a lab?).

I do still get scared when I see other dogs. I hang back and watch what they’re doing, especially if my service dog is with me. But, I can go outside. I can hang back and feel safe about an hour later.

I have similar experiences with my other traumas, too. So I would say that if you work hard, you can certainly get relief.

Wishing you luck and relief :hug: