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Sufferer Iraq Vet Dealing With Ptsd

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Hello,
I hate to say it, It took me longer to figure out a title then to introduce my self. I am an Iraq vet with fourteen years of service and forty five months deployed to Iraq as a Cavalry Scout. I denied having PTSD after my first deployment, I was part of the initial invasion and stop loss. It took sixteen months of my life away the first time. I returned to Europe where I was stationed, began drinking and fighting on a regular basis. I was going through the motions of doing company grades and extra duty. To me this seemed normal its what twenty year olds in a foreign country do I was told. Nothing could fead my adrenaline monkey riding on my back and no one could calm the anger that kept clawing out from deep inside.

With in a year after my first deployment I PCS'd to the states and soon enough my life was filled with going to the field every few weeks, drinking and deploying back to Iraq. By 2010 I had gotten married and divorced, deployed again and had a bunch of carpet crawlers running around. For most this would seem like a normal thing but I found my self always angry, having a hard time focusing and not being able to remember the simplest of tasks. I had stubbled with getting an associates degree often having to reread books multiple times for each class.

Never realizing I my self had a problem, sure I had been told once or twice along the way that TBI (traumatic Brain Injury) from IED's (Improvised Explosive Devices) were the causes of my memory problems. So I dealt with it alway denouncing that I was one of them with PTSD. till my son had to see a Dr. about ADHD and ODD. Three minutes into the Dr. visit with the Psycho Therapist he turned to me and asked how long I had been serving for.

It lead me to a heated debate about him thinking I may have PTSD. I went home and my wife confronted me and told me I needed to go back and talk with the DR. about PTSD because she was sure I had it. After a few weeks of me and my wife going at it I returned to the see the DR and we talked and he filled me in all about it and the symptoms. I eventually gave in and contented to see him on a regular basis. He had me start taking a mood stabilizer to help me out.

That has been over a year ago. Since then I have quit drinking and finished my bachelors degree. I am more tolerable to be around, I don't create chaos for those around me any more; it seems that I am able to over come each day, with out wanting to find a way out from it.
 
Welcome! And congratulations for the progress you've made so far. Sometimes I think accepting that you actually have a problem is half the battle.
 
Thanks for the courage to share and be honest with yourself and posting. Thank you for your service to keep us free. Congratulations on your degree and your progress.
 
Congratulations and thank you for sharing your successes. I hope you find the forum a helpful as you continue to reclaim your life.
 
Wow thank you for your services. You are aawesome!!!!! Very inspiring... keep on posting
 
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