Hi Brat,
I don't think I'm healed... although I'm a lot better than I was a few years ago ie when I was completely isolated (sometimes went two weeks without speaking to anyone), severe dissasociation, nightmares, flashbacks so real I struggled to differentiate between flashbacks and reality, pretty much completely unable to socially function, unemployed, panic attacks, physical symptoms, raging anger/huge mood swings, and so on.
These are some of the things I did:
I changed my diet: only whole foods, no junk food except rarely, no gluten, dairy for over two years (I now eat both and I don't know if it helped but it gave me a way focus on physical/nutitional health and I figured I needed all the physical/nutritional health possible to support mental health), I ate cold-water fish at least twice a week (to fight depression with omega 3), ate multiple small meals, no caffeine except green and black tea (tea reduces cortisol / stress hormone levels so is good for you)
I began practising yoga every day: by myself
I listened to ptsd healing imagery by bella naperstak (?)
I stopped associated with any one who didn't support or believe in me ( ie in my case family that denied the abuse etc is not healthy for me to be around. i decided I wasn't going to sacrifice my mental health and recovery for anyone else. this was very hard to do for me.)
For a while I took dance classes (tango) - it really helped me a lot and gave me a place I could express myself and be intimate in a way without really having to talk. at that time that was the only social thing I did although eventually I couldn't cope with the social situation and dropped it when people started wanting to get to know me.... I couldn't cope with socializing (and even now I'm working to rebuild a real social life) but I found I was good at dancing and that was good for me.
I drew and painted...
I kept a journal...
I took a lot of walks...(often while listening to imagery)
I took baths with healing salts, candles or hot/cold showers (alternating between hot 2 min and cold 20 sec --really helped for me with disassociation), etc. ie self-soothing care also regular bedtime to help with sleep schedule as sleeping was problematic for a long time.
I learned about acupressure points to relieve stress
I studied (read a book) on healing through touch... and worked on self touch (couldn't afford regular massages, didn't have a SO)
I read everything I could on ptsd.
I kept lists of things to do when my symptoms were almost intolerable (sometimes they were and would have huge flushes of stress hormones that would take days to wash out and calm down)
I don't think I'm healed... although I'm a lot better than I was a few years ago ie when I was completely isolated (sometimes went two weeks without speaking to anyone), severe dissasociation, nightmares, flashbacks so real I struggled to differentiate between flashbacks and reality, pretty much completely unable to socially function, unemployed, panic attacks, physical symptoms, raging anger/huge mood swings, and so on.
These are some of the things I did:
I changed my diet: only whole foods, no junk food except rarely, no gluten, dairy for over two years (I now eat both and I don't know if it helped but it gave me a way focus on physical/nutitional health and I figured I needed all the physical/nutritional health possible to support mental health), I ate cold-water fish at least twice a week (to fight depression with omega 3), ate multiple small meals, no caffeine except green and black tea (tea reduces cortisol / stress hormone levels so is good for you)
I began practising yoga every day: by myself
I listened to ptsd healing imagery by bella naperstak (?)
I stopped associated with any one who didn't support or believe in me ( ie in my case family that denied the abuse etc is not healthy for me to be around. i decided I wasn't going to sacrifice my mental health and recovery for anyone else. this was very hard to do for me.)
For a while I took dance classes (tango) - it really helped me a lot and gave me a place I could express myself and be intimate in a way without really having to talk. at that time that was the only social thing I did although eventually I couldn't cope with the social situation and dropped it when people started wanting to get to know me.... I couldn't cope with socializing (and even now I'm working to rebuild a real social life) but I found I was good at dancing and that was good for me.
I drew and painted...
I kept a journal...
I took a lot of walks...(often while listening to imagery)
I took baths with healing salts, candles or hot/cold showers (alternating between hot 2 min and cold 20 sec --really helped for me with disassociation), etc. ie self-soothing care also regular bedtime to help with sleep schedule as sleeping was problematic for a long time.
I learned about acupressure points to relieve stress
I studied (read a book) on healing through touch... and worked on self touch (couldn't afford regular massages, didn't have a SO)
I read everything I could on ptsd.
I kept lists of things to do when my symptoms were almost intolerable (sometimes they were and would have huge flushes of stress hormones that would take days to wash out and calm down)