Medical Medical Trauma In Childhood

[mumfie]

Hello! Someone here with ptsd/problems after medical trauma/illness in early childhood?

1) Which medical illness/accident/medical prosedures did you have?
2) How old were you?
3) Which symptoms did you get mentally after this?
4) Did you get a diagnose(s) after this? If yes, which?
5) Which treatment work?
6) Other things?

I think I have PTSD from medical trauma.....

 

[Tigergirl1217]

Hello @mumfie welcome to the forum.
As a child I has kidney reflux from age 6-8. I had to have several vcugs that always becomes horrific. I would have to have catheter inserted which it burns like hell. I would have to have 2-3 people hold me down because I would fight while screeming and crying. Soon they would fill my bladder till it hurts. I would have to pee in front of everyone in the room. As a kid I would re act it and have problems with females in authority. Soon it kept getting more and more severe. I did not get diagnosed till the peek of PTSD. Currently I'm in and out of therapy. It's also hard to go to the doctor and I avoid hospitals as much as possible. The smell of clinics make me vomit

 

[Chava]

1) Which medical illness/accident/medical prosedures did you have?
I was hospitalized for a few weeks with collapsed lungs as a little kid. Specialized pediatric ICU a few hours away from my family. But before that there was a sort of bizarre birth accident (paranoid explaining it will "out" me somewhere) and I was hospitalized for a few weeks at birth.

2) How old were you?
0-3

3) Which symptoms did you get mentally after this?
I felt unreal (continued to a fairly continuous degree up until about age 12-ish, then later I ended up very self-destructive)....but it's hard to say how much was because of existing attachment issues and my mother's own trauma and mental illness (she was physically abusive or absent, no middle ground, I assume dissociative and somewhat borderline)

4) Did you get a diagnose(s) after this? If yes, which?
No, but had extra help at school because I was having problems learning early on. I was diagnosed PTSD after assault as a teenager, but I was very self-destructive before that (just tried killing myself after the assault, which spurred on the mental health help). More recently my therapist has described it as complex trauma because of the combination of traumas.

5) Which treatment work?
For me, primarily body-focused trauma work, including Somatic Experiencing, has been most helpful (I've tried all standard forms of therapy).

6) Other things?


PTSD is possible, but you'd have to visit with a professional. It's not common for little kids to have major medical issues or hospitalizations, but it happens, and kids can even bounce back okay. Having a trauma does not automatically mean you will develop PTSD. Ongoing issues, including possible PTSD, are more likely found when the medical issues were life-threatening and including invasive procedures (there is simply no way to make good sense of this for young children)...and all made worse if separated from families. But if there is inadequate support after the trauma, kids are also more likely to suffer consequences (ex.: surgery as a little kid, then returning to an abusive home).

So what probably matters more is your symptoms, or if you feel like you have troubling issues that you are not able to resolve on your own, but might connect to early trauma. Even though I know my birth was a disaster, there is very little I can say I understand or "remember". Same with ICU since I was unconscious for worst of it. So, combined with the confusion of other traumas, it's most helpful for me to focus on they symptoms, regulation, grounding, having small and attainable goals, etc.

Have you done any therapy before, or do you have symptoms that would suggest something like PTSD? Do you think you can ask your doctor for a referral or meet with a specialist?

 

[mumfie]

Hello @mumfie welcome to the forum.
As a child I has kidney reflux from age 6-...

Ooooh :( That sounds awful, painful and humilliating :'( I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Is this the main cause of your PTSD? I also have memory of beeing held against my will and panicing. Had a big medical trauma before 3 years old that i dont remember, but I remeber the examinations at hospital/doctor from when i was older. It was awful.

 

[mumfie]

1) Which medical illness/accident/medical prosedures did you have?
I was hospitalized for a few...

:( I feel sorry for you :S You have experienced a lot of traumas in your life. I dont now much about you, but for me it's like "everything looks normal from the outside", but its really chaos! I agree in what you say: " But if there is inadequate support after the trauma, kids are also more likely to suffer consequences (ex.: surgery as a little kid, then returning to an abusive home).

 

[Tigergirl1217]

Ooooh :( That sounds awful, painful and humilliating :'( I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Is this the main cause of your PTSD? I also have memory of beeing held against my will and panicing. Had a big medical trauma before 3 years old that i dont remember, but I remeber the examinations at hospital/doctor from when i was older. It was awful.

yep it was the main cause of PTSD. It got even worse when I would get bullied for my condition from kids and adults

 

[Mit]

Welcome to the forum. I'm sure you'll get lots of support from the amazing folk here.

Childhood medical trauma. Sadly Yes.

I was born with severe hypospadias. I started reconstructive surgery age 3, stopped when I was 16, (about 30 operations because the surgery kept failing). The procedures are too numerous to recount but most were pretty awful.

Mental health issues. My psycho-sexual development was significantly affected, because the surgery was on my genitals. So repeated exposure, touching, severe pain, embarrassment, humiliation. Treatments and procedures also continued at home. I suffer from depression, anxiety, low self esteem and body dysmorphia. I repeatedly act out memories of traumatizing and humiliating procedures on my self.

In a cruel twist of fate my first son was also born with the condition (clearly genetic in my line). I made sure his treatment was a very different experience to mine.

Diagnosed with complex trauma and depression five years ago. One significant suicide attempt. There was no psychological support during the 13 years I was having surgeries as a child.

What has helped. Time with a therapist specialising in psycho-sexual problems (self funded). CBT and compassionate mind therapy from a competent therapist. Constant validation that my experiences were bad enough to cause me problems, and that I was not weak, or a failure, to be affected, and help with body dysmorphia. Work on anxiety and depression and on medication for three years (stopped 2 years ago).

So yes, I absolutely know there is such a thing as medical trauma. But recounting my experiences doesn't help you and I totally agree with @Chava if you are struggling with issues professional help is the way to go. I ignored my issues for nearly 40 years and in the end it caught up with me.

I hope you can get some professional input, and you make use of the wealth of experience available here.

Best wishes.

Mit

 

[Chava]

A quirk for me, perhaps related, is that I feel quite safe in hospitals (vs afraid or repulsed). I do not like doctors so much, but I like nurses generally and I like emergency rooms especially. I do NOT tolerate intubation well, but like being connected to other machines, knowing things are monitored and I won't die. I know that's f*cked up. I don't willfully end up there, but have had perhaps retraumatizing behaviors in dangerous behaviors that land me back in ER. I have a very hard time reaching out any sooner. I feel like the ER people are the ones who will help me. That relates to my trauma (negligence on the part of my parents that it even happened) and also my level of feeling okay being sick or in emergency situations. I don't do any of it for attention. They could hook me up to monitors and walk away for all I care, but I know the equipment and place will keep me safe...though I know the nurses will check back too.

 

[Fortescuefinn]

Hello! Someone here with ptsd/problems after medical trauma/illness in early childhood?

I had a severe infection that caused a lot of organ damage and nearly cost my life. I have chronic disease now from the damage. The real PTSD kicker so far though has been the procedures and uber invasive exams of my uh.. colorektal region. Im a girl by the way. I was like 11 and 12. I now struggle intensely with penetration. It just feels like all the doctors hands or equipment that got put in places even when i didnt really give my pemission.. the idea was save the child. Save the child. But no one really thught of me as a growing human... that would have to live in that body. I was sort of just a specamin.. Im working on it. I think I will work through it eventually

 

[Powder]

My husband probably doesn't have PTSD, but he nearly died in hospital for E-Coli infection.

He has a severe blood phobia. He blacks out.

Not until recently did I realize that he had blood transfusions and that people were talking about the fact he could die in front of him.
He was 20 months old. So I think his brain stored the sight of the blood in a bag going into him (violating) his body's weakness (he couldn't even lift his head) and death.

He has, I think, flashbacks and feels weak and buckles and often blacks out without total loss of consciousness. We are not sure if this is Cataplexy because he has Narcolepsy. But it could also relate to PTSD reliving flashbacks (body memories) that afflict PTSD sufferers with pre-verbal trauma.

In his case, it was purely medical, and it worked, he got better and survived to be strong. But it has lasting effects on him now.

 

[Hank1972]

1) Which medical illness/accident/medical prosedures did you have?
I had a cyst under my arm that gave me a very hi fever Doctor wanted it lanced. I felt the whole thing and felt like I was being butchered.
2) How old were you?
4 or 5
3) Which symptoms did you get mentally after this?
A range of anxiety issues I can not be touched in my under arm til this day I am 44, I punched a GF of mine when she tried to touch me their while I was sleeping. Luckily she knew what had happened to me so knew she did something I had no control over. Could not lift my left arm over my head for fear of it being exposed. I get anxious in medical environments. When ill even gravely I have refused treatment. Into my 30s I used to get phantom pains.
4) Did you get a diagnose(s) after this? If yes, which?
After fighting my way out of an ER when I was about 16 it was understood that I had a medical needle phobia and what caused it.
5) Which treatment work?
Nothing has CBT has made it worse to be honest. Hypnosis did not work for me either.
6) Other things?
Doctors can make a bad situation worse. I had a extremely bad staph infection on my ankle and foot specialist came in and said that needed an IV and that they were going to have to go in and clean it out. I began to panic and begged them to give me a chloral Hydrate and to strap me in to a bed. I explained to them how bad my fear was and that I needed to be put under for them to stick me. I would needed to be strapped incase I woke up before it was done. Of course they reused and walked off saying that they could not do that and that I would lose my foot in a month. I sat there in a panic state til a doctor with a fear of birds over heard me and got me on an anti-biotic cocktail.

 

[Unknown Victim]

I had a raptued appendix sounds easy and clean. But the Doc's didn't know what I had and did a hysterectomy. I spend and whole month in the hospital and I was four. Year later my loving brother tried to hang me. I got sleep paralysis at six or five. I couldn't smell rubbing alcohol it would get me sick. I still stay away from hospitals.