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Undiagnosed Is this ptsd?

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Sanne1989

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Hey. Just found this forum after searching for a while. Haven't found anywhere to turn in my home country (Norway), so I hope you'll have me.
Anyways, long story made short, I was bullied from age 2 to 16. Struggled with an eating disorder from age 21-26, but recovered. Were in some quite dysfunctional relationships, where the last one destroyed my self-worth a bit due to his manipulative way of being. Met a really nice guy two years ago (still together) and we got pregnant very fast. The pregnancy was great, but after labor I almost died due to a very bad infection with sepsis which kept coming back for several months. Due to all this I got a severe post-partum depression which lasted for more than a year. Then, early this year I got sick again. I was hospitalized due to extreme pain in the abdomen, but since it was during a holiday they basically left me to die instead of figuring out what was wrong with me. I had the worst possible pain i.e. child labor times 10000, constantly for 30 hours without stop which the maximum dose of oxynorm (3 times more potent than morphine) wouldn't even dampen, but they did not help me. I have never felt so hopeless in my entire life. I wanted to die so I could be free of the pain. I actually tried stabbing myself with some scissors, but my mum stopped me. They figured out later that I had a very rare form of volvulus with up to 40 percent lethality.

Now, a few months later I still feel wierd. The sleeping is better, although I feel like I can never get enough rest. I'm agitated alot and snap quite frequently at my kid and boyfriend. I need to take time-outs alot, and I'm scared of being alone with my kid in case I feel like it's getting too much. I feel alienated from my friends and family because my life-view has been altered so much. I almost feel more alone when I'm surronded by people, than when I'm actually by myself. I don't care about anything anymore and feel emotionally void. The only place I feel ok is at work when I loose myself deep down in some sciency stuff. Also feel alot of pain (jaw, arms, reflux, heartburn) that I didn't have before.

Does this sound familiar to any of you? Can it be PTSD? Any tips or guidance?
 
Your best bet is to see a professional, because regardless if you have PTSD or not, you have something that bothers you a lot, and they can help diagnose and treat that particular diagnosis. It does not help to ask people on a forum if you have a particular mental illness, we can't tell.
 
Well, that's helpful.. I understand that you are not able to diagnose me. Maybe I should have written my post differently. I just need someone to relate to as I feel like no one understands. And my therapist moved to a different city a couple of months ago, and I'm really dreading the thought of seeing a new one as I spent years finding a good one in the first place.
 
Welcome, and sorry for all you have been thru. Being in pain for that many hours would change a lot of things.

Sorry we can't help you with whether this is PTSD or not... we are not qualified to do that here. Do you have a family Dr that could suggest a Phyc doc to talk to? And you said there is little to nothing available for you in your country, I am very sorry for that too. It just helps to know what is going on with us, so we have an avenue to follow....

You are still welcome here tho.. to talk and share, be encouraged and supported. It would serve you to find out if there is a way for someone to diagnose you... it could be many things and combinations of things.. you have been thru a lot, and are reaching out.... and that is a brave thing to do when you have no resources... Hang in here... we can listen and encourage!! Gentle hugs if you accept, for all you have been thru.
 
Thank you. I accept the virtual hug :) Yeah, it's not easy for you to "figure me out" from just a relatively short forum post. Wasn't sure what I was expecting really.
I do have resources though, it's just so unfortunate that my therapist leaves at the same time as my symptoms are changing. And it takes time to get a new one.
 
Ok, well based on what you’ve said, no you don’t have PTSD. Ptsd is more than being anxious and feeling weird....far more. You don’t describe any of the symptoms required for diagnosis. Of course a professional opinion is required, just stating what I see based on what you’ve said.
 
@EveHarrington I am going to disagree because for a long time I didn't know the names of my symptoms. I tried so hard to explain to dr.s what I now know is dissociation and no one knew what I was talking about because I was using the wrong terminology. Same with anxiety. I was too embarrassed to tell people about my nightmares because only children get them.

The Op actually does list some symptoms that could be interpreted as anxiety and dissociation. Maybe I am projecting because uterine infection was apart of my main trauma, but I will agree there is information lacking.
 
Does this sound familiar to any of you? Can it be PTSD? Any tips or guidance?
Hopefully it’s not.

One of the diagnostic criteria for PTSD -and most other disorders- is that the symptoms ARE NOT caused by medication or illness.

So, very hopefully, what you’re looking at are the effects of hormone imbalance (PPD) + massive internal infection. It’s only been a few months and either of those two things can take up to a couple years to settle. Which sucks. I just went through that (infection whose after effects last 18-24months), have been through it a few times in the past (and still didn’t want to believe my docs it would take this long... :banghead: Better! I need to be freaking better already! ) ; and have alsobeen on the wild ride hormones can & do bring (antepartum depression & psychosis in my case. Yay. Suicidal every night. Awesome. :wtf: ).

So, speaking from a medical standpoint, it is extremely unlikely that you would be diagnosed with PTSD - or any other disorder - until your medical issues have been resolved.

That doesn’t mean you don’t have PTSD. Or another disorder. You might. You also might not.

And it reeeeeally doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t get into therapy to work on what’s going in your life. Diagnosis helps treatment plans immensely... but only when it’s the correct diagnosis!!! The wrong diagnosis just f*cks everything up. So when there’s something going on that makes proper-diagnosis difficult to impossible? It means you work with what you know, treat the symptoms, until diagnosis IS possible. It’s extremely irresponsible to diagnose someone with a lifelong disorder, when they may actually be dealing with a 2 year timeframe. Or even less. And it’s a crying shame at best -and tragedy at worst- to be treating someone for something they don’t have. <<< In the interim, your insurance will need to be billed... unless you have a thousand bucks a month going begging... so expect either an interim diagnosis to be used, or an old diagnosis (like PPD, or depression). Therapists like to use something that’s already on the books, or something that is so common & accepted it won’t screw up your career/life/etc. to have it in your file while you wait for what’s preventing diagnosis to take a hike. Don’t sweat that. It’s just the politics of billing codes.

Later, once your medical issues have resolved, you can seek out a diagnosis if need be. But for now? Getting into good therapy would be a very good thing. You’ve had one whole helluva lot going on in your life! You deserve a hand with it.
 
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You deserve a hand with it.

This is what I was meaning my post to say. Not that you don't belong, just that you've been through so much, you would benefit from professional help. This forum is also very helpful for me. I see things others do, and I realize I do it myself, but didn't realize it. Hopefully you will benefit as much from this forum as I have, in a way that resonates with you.
 
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