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is this a hallucination or a partial flashback or what?

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stranger2myself!

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the thing i dont understand is... im hearing a specific sound that i heard when i was attacked... so its not the traumatic part of the incident that i keep reliving... its just A NOISE i HEARD DURING THE ATTACK. during the attack i know the noise was real.. because i saw the thing that made the noise, but now... the noise is all in my head. what could be going on? sometimes i jump up and scream because of this noise that i think i hear. sometimes i have nightmares and flashbacks of the attack, but other times ill ONLY HEAR THE NOISE. thats what im confused about.
 
Yep. For me it's air raid sirens....even though I'm not really hearing it. Think of a song that gets stuck in your head....annoying but you just have to ride it out. Same with this. It's really not there but ...it is
 
Yep. That’s a flashback.

It’s one of the things that people in grief, or dealing with adultery, or spinning out with anxiety, & other kinds of all consuming pain/fear/etc. don’t “get” about PTSD.

Flashbacks aren’t intrusive thoughts. They aren’t memories, or imaginings, no matter how vivid. We get those, too. But flashbacks are any of the 5 senses, relived. Not remembered.

And they can be about some seriously f*cking random minutia. :banghead: The humidity on brick. A car breaking around a corner. The texture of a certain carpet. A mote of rust (I was trying to write dust, but rust works just as well ;)). Sounds, sights, smells, tastes, touch, emotions... ANYTHING that was there... can just sort of randomly f*cking reappear. Whether it makes sense / can be blown off as something normal...or... A boat engine in a desert, with water whapping against the bulkhead??? Yeah. No. Except, yeah. That happens. A ticking clock with no clocks. A dripping faucet. The sound of a bag of chips opening. Sea lions in a sky scraper (please let someone be watching a nature show, please let someone be watching a nature show, I doooooon’t have time for this shit, right now!) Carpet underfoot, wearing shoes, when you’re barefoot in the grass. Feeling a power bar wrapper in your pocket, when you’re not wearing anything with pockets, and they don’t even make power bars, anymore. :facepalm: Weird ass, random shit.

My last triggered flashback? (That I know of, assuming none of the things I’m hearing/seeing/tasting, aren’t visitors from another time... that I’m ignoring as reasonably happening, now...which happens.) Bubbles. Yep. Bubbles in water and Shazam! :banghead:

Relived. Weird ass random shit. Right along with the “sexy” Hollywood style stuff.
 
Yep. For me it's air raid sirens....even though I'm not really hearing it. Think of a song that gets stuck in your head....annoying but you just have to ride it out. Same with this. It's really not there but ...it is

this is much more intense than a song stuck in my head though. sometimes its extremely loud and it startles me and i run and scream because for a moment i think its real
 
Precisely.

You think it's real because you relive that piece. That very moment.

Your "then" becomes your "now".
Flashbacks. Textbook. Normal. ;)
 
this is much more intense than a song stuck in my head though. sometimes its extremely loud and it startles me and i run and scream because for a moment i think its real
oh true! sometimes it's so loud I can't hear anything else. It's just the easiest way to explain how an audio flashback works -- something stuck in your head that is playing out in real time, even when it's not reality
 
This thread has really helped me understand some of the things going on with my grief. So, once again, I can take 'bat shit crazy' off my list. Thanks to all who participated in this thread. :hug:
 
Recently had that happen to me. Had a unexpected medical procedure...steroid injection in my hip. Had time to prepare. Thought I had. Then dizziness etc. Had to call T cuz didn't have flashback. But just knew. Kept waiting for something more to happen. As we talked, kept hearing like paper ripping. At doc's he had us change into paper shorts. He just ripped leg to give us shot. We didn't even remember. T said all senses are involved in abuse. Why our brain doesn't always reenact all, or does only react to one, nobody yet understands.
 
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