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Undiagnosed My Note From The Bottom.....

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pamcoco

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It's been a while. Depression and despair no words could possibly describe. I left this planet 4 years ago and the most surprising thing of all, is that I am still here. There obviously is some aspect that has a will to live beyond my awareness. Positive it is time to end this misery, the only control I seem to have, the intricate plans of taking my life have soothed me. Diverse and never spoken out loud, they give me that one sacred aspect untouched by the cruelty of others.

Ironically, I am a trained therapist. But I have been completely unable to apply the knowledge to my current situation. I have sought help in many forms over the years, but here I remain, so bleak I cannot remember hope. Most of all and worst of all is the constant self dialogue that condemns me INSANE. I have had psychotic episodes over these 4 years, but it is the gaps and loss of time that most convince me I am too far gone.

I cannot measure normal reactions. I do know the shame that I am no better and perhaps even worse with the ticking of the clock shakes my foundation, disproving the concept of who I once thought "I am".


I was abused as a child and have lived a very dramatic life re-in acting the chaos I experienced growing up. But, 4 years ago something became different. Right after the end of my brief marriage, I contracted giardia at a local restaurant and it was undiagnosed for 2 years. I was 95lbs and my brain literally was starving, I just wasn't myself.

Then In July 2009 a man yielding a knife broke into my home while I was home with all the lights on, prying the window open and slicing the shade for easy access. He went past dozens of designer handbags and jewelry to start down the hall. Consciously I did not hear him, but at that exact time I cajoled my dogs down the hall towards the backyard. As soon as I spotted him he was heading fleeing out the same window, startled when confronted with my dogs and my immediate canine command to "f-ing kill the mother f-er". The police didn't come. Nor did any of the friends or family I called. In fact it took the LAPD a week and a complaint to internal affairs to get a cop to show up. They did nothing. Through an odd turn of events, I soon found out it was my next door neighbors best friend that was house sitting, someone I still see regularly.

In August of 2009 I went to my friend's birthday party, then she insisted I return to her house to look at her presents. While at her apartment, her husband whom was babysitting their 4 yr old daughter (they were separated at the time), slipped ambien in my wine, offered to drive me home and raped me while I was mostly unconscious. He had been my close friend of 15 years.

In November 2009 I went to my gyn to have an iud removed due to the many health complications from the giardia. I explained that I had been sexually assaulted and to please be gentle. In a procedure that lasted over 45 minutes, without a nurse present, he ripped my iud out through numerous tumors including one that was attached to an artery. I crawled to my car and hemorrhaged for days. 8 weeks later I required surgery removing the tumors including one that had formed in my ovary as a result of the week long hemorrhaging.

It has been a combination of an exodus and an execution. I have not a single friend left from my vast social circle. For reasons supposedly unrelated in January 2011, my father stopped speaking to me, along with my siblings, step mother, extended family and nieces after I admitted my bother to the hospital for a drug overdose and what turned out to be a 9 day stint in ICU in late 2010. They claim that the hospital was trying to get him addicted to drugs, and he was sober upon admission.

The giardia kicked auto-immune problems I was already having into full gear. I have been ill ever since, most recently with Meniere's disease. It has made me so nauseous from vertigo that on a good day I feel like I have the stomach flu and on a bad day cannot move from my bed or see my hand in front of me. I have vomited daily for over a year and a half, am going deaf and can no longer drive due to the unpredictable vertigo episodes.

But I have tried my hardest to carry on. I managed to create an internet business selling vintage designer clothing, not a moment too soon as my career of 20 years also came to a close when my boss was found to be embezzling, using my budgets as camouflage.

I don't remember a good part of 3 years. If I offed myself today it would take at least 10 days for anyone to notice. I am sick, penniless and in a barrage of attack. My house has been in foreclosure 4 times. I am so exhausted I can barely raise my aching head. I have received no specific help from my shrink, the few that speak with me, attack at the slightest sign of weakness. The faith I once had in a higher power now fears the sadistic energy that seems to laugh at my suffering, ignoring pleas on my hands and knees for guidance.

Is this ptsd? Is there help? Is it ever too late? How on earth do I help myself when I can barely get out of bed?
 
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I am so sorry you are going thru a living hell.

There is much support and healing to be found here. Many people have been at the bottom and come back up. You can too.

But just for today, treat yourself with the love and kindness and gentleness you deserve. It has helped me when I was in a bad way not to think of the future, but to just put one foot in front of the other and do the next right thing.

You will pull out of this someday. Perhaps today is the beginning. Whatever you do, never, never, never give up.
 
Is it PTSD? We can't tell you. I hope you can find a psychiatrist who specializes in trauma to get a diagnosis. Welcome to the forum.
 
Welcome to the forum,
glad you are hear and seeking a support network. I also hope you can get a proper diagnosis. You have had an awful lot going on and have survived this so far, I think that is an indicator of your strength. Franciemarie is right, many have been at the bottom and come back, you must just be good to yourself for today and never give up.
 
Hi Pamcoco,

Welcome to the PTSD Forum! :)

To determine whether or not you have PTSD needs to be left to a mental health professional. It is never too late to start making each day better for yourself, and by knowing what is wrong, that is the first step in knowing what can be done to treat it.

I hope you find the information and support here beneficial to your healing.

Take care.

Debbie
 
Dear pamcoco,
We have not heard back from you in a couple of days. I know there are many of us that care and are hoping that you have read our posts and know that you are not alone and there is help out there and support on the forum. It wont change a thing that has happened, but I have found for myself that the support here has helped me to not feel so alone in this journey that I am on.

Before coming here, I felt like if I summarized the past few years, the listener would think I was delusional. That many bad things could not happen to one person. That is a horrible way to feel and think. When and if you start reading others posts, you may find that others have had similar things happen without fault of their own. Bad things do happen to good people.

Your family is in denial about your brother. It sounds like you have been made the family scapegoat. I am the family scapegoat too, and it is very painful. I have learned to accept it finally and have disconnected with all family members. I have lost most friends or have little contact because of my own choice to isolate. It doesnt feel like a choice much of the time though, I literally suffer too much stress, anxiety, physical illness, and emotional pain and shame to communicate in any positive way, and for that I do not want others to see the person that I have become, a broken empty shell and not the person that they knew full of life, resiliency, humor, caring and compassion, encouraging of others, humble, genuine, unpretentious. Now I am just kind of blank, distracted, hypervigilent. Not really present for others.

In 2005, I was being drugged and raped regularly by my bf who is a brilliant therapist. Then I began being stalked with letters, phone calls, even the remains of dead animals. During this time, my nephew was murdered. I got rid of the bf eventually and was on the road to healing and doing well when I had a fall that caused a traumatic brain injury among other things. Then my choices became poor. I got involved with an alcoholic that created drama and stress. With this head injury and his drama, I abused alcohol for awhile as I could not cope well. Eventually I had to leave my job and take a break to heal. I was a therapist also.

I got involved with this man that seemed wonderful. Soon I discovered him to be very controlling and jelous of the relationship with others in my life, particularly my grown daughter. After an arguement, I asked him to leave and requested we take a break until after Christmas. He called the police. He wanted to go back into my bedroom and steal. I said no. The police arrested me and assaulted me and one officer even pointed a gun in my face. They took me on a joy ride face down as I could not move. Then to the hospital. Following this, I had a nervous break down. In severe pain and heavily medicated, I overdosed. We got back together a couple of months after all of this. He convinced me to take custody of my grandaughter, which I wanted to do, but he promised to help me as well. This put me in a position of being further stuck. The physical pain, nightmares, depression, anxiety, ptsd, lack of hope lead me to a suicide attempt.

The next year he lost his job, forced me to go with him to another state where his friends lived. When I tried to leave, he stopped me and we struggled and I discovered he had 3 loaded guns and 2 knives on him after he was arrested. That was 4 yrs ago. Then my sisters husband died and she came to live with me. I was blamed for everything that ever went wrong within our family.

Now I am trying to address all the medical problems I have and to recover to the best that I can. A couple of years ago I was told that I have ptsd. I am trying to deal with the symptoms and it really is one day at a time for me. Some days the only positive that I can find is that I am still here, alive, and that I was able to eat. I am financially broke, Physically broken, emotionally damaged.

I am not meaning to hi-jack your post, I just want you to know that you have had an enourmous amount of things happen in a short time. I can relate to not knowing where the person that you were has gone. To feel almost like she must have been someone else-not you. I know the domino effect and feel the consequences.

I hope that you come back to the forum and look around and find the support that you need right now. I also hope that you are able to find a therapist if you do not have one and are able to get the help you need professionally. These things are not your fault. It is so painful to hear the bad things that happen to good people. You are still the good person in there that you were before. I hope you find her.

I was also abused as child, really more neglected than abused for periods. I was conditioned to put others first and feel guilt and shame unwarranted. I dont think I have ptsd from childhood but am told that I do. I know I do now though. You have certainly had enough happen to have ptsd. There is life after ptsd. Please keep fighting to find it.

Brat
 
Thanks brat17, you brought tears. Our experience seems similar, in the relentlessness of the chaos.

The spiral continues, and the suicidal thoughts plague me, but for some reason today, I see some point to it. I need to embrace insane. I am. It's ugly. But knowing it is possible for anyone, perhaps makes me the most sane I've been.

In embracing this dreaded title, it finishes the decay. There really is nothing left to take, and today, that feels joyful. Today when they called me insane, i said 'you're right'! Exactly the point I was trying to make anyway. Their not hearing or relating to anything about me made me declare, 'I know'! Their saying I refuse to move on and am wallowing in order to punish them, made me say 'perhaps. I like the romantic complexity of your diagnosis'!

Why not? after all I have been through it is funny to fear 6 letters so. i n s a n e. It really has a nice ring to it and I think it will make a great t-shirt.

I am in treatment as I have been with a Psychiatrist whom is a great pharmacologist and overall comforting, wise man. But ptsd while he has diagnosed me with it, ain't his thing treatment wise. I am working on renting my house to change my environment, hopefully having less triggers and more money. And with that extra income i will be able to pay another doctor. Like you, the needed doctors is a long list. One I admittedly find a way to avoid, since my doctor was one of my perpetrators.

Thanks for reeling me in. I tend to drift just outside this atmosphere and appreciate being noticed so high above.
 
Welcome here and I am sorry to hear what you have experienced.

Reacting in totally understandable ways to awful events is not crazy. It is normal in its own weird way.

What have you done so far help wise since this chain of events?
 
Hi Abstract. Thanks for the contact.

Gosh, tell the truth, it is a haze. Memory loss is my most startling symptom causing me to not recognize myself and have the most concern for myself. So bare with me, I may not remember things I did to help myself, but here is what I currently recall.

I was in treatment with my psychiatrist at the time of the 3 crimes of 2009. My life was in the early vortex which continually has gained more speed. I was already in treatment besides for the childhood abuse/life-long chaos of my life and relationships, but because I was recently divorced and the giardia caused depression through lack of nutrients to the brain. I was then and have remained on psychotropic medications which have been adjusted over the years.

As a part of my shrink's treatment for the ptsd, we worked on the shame and fear, planned ways to handle trigger situations, immediately agreed to no contact with the perpetrators and detailed plans about how to handle potential contact. We wrote the letter to inform my friend of her husband's roofie rape, something we both agreed was non-negotiable since there is a young daughter and the husband is the primary caretaker. We emotionally prepared and planned the aftermath of the letter, the stalking of the husband trying to force me to recant, the announcement by the husband to our social circle of the irrational rape story he was positive I was telling and the social fallout, being completely ostracized.

But weekly sessions have really been crisis management, as uncanny deterioration has continually plagued the life I once knew from all sides. Money and health insurance evaporated along the way, but I sought and tried a few support groups. I never completely felt a fit. Thankfully, my shrink sees me in spite of my inability to pay.

In the last 2 years I have been too physically ill to function and too penniless for specialized medical treatment. I take care of my basic physical needs first, because I cannot stand up or walk on bad days. This is incredibly time consuming and makes earning enough money to eat difficult. I am also unable to drive and have no social support to depend on a ride.

Still, I remembered a year ago that an ex-boyfriend works at the most renowned ptsd treatment center. I mustered the courage to approach him for referrals for free treatment. He more than rose to the challenge saying he would take the reins and ask associates to find me appropriate treatment. He asked about my current life and the details of the traumas. After I reveled these extremely personal things, he abruptly changed his mind for reasons he never expressed, saying there was nothing he could suggest or refer and to ask my shrink.

This sent me to ugly places. In my distorted thinking I interpreted his actions to mean that I am a lost cause and so insane distance is safety. I just recently, about a month ago, returned emotionally to become my own advocate about ptsd. I have been voraciously reading about ptsd including detailed research. As I mentioned I am a licensed therapist, although it has never been my profession. I would love to begin treatment with a therapist specialized in ptsd.

But today, still sick, I have a financial issues the size of a tidal wave and am using all of my energy to stay afloat while I gain some control over these. The goal being to keep my internet biz running, rent my house, move, put out fires with all my taxes and debt collectors, free up money for the medical treatment I need so I can hopefully drive again, and then focus on the ptsd. As I am sure you know this isn't really possible because the ptsd effects everything I do, think, say, decide, etc.

Messy is an understatement.
 
I contracted giardia at a local restaurant and it was undiagnosed for 2 years.
Hi @pamcoco, I'm not sure if you ever got a treatment for gardia lamblia (lambilasis), it is treatable, though. The substance of the medication is called METRONIDAZOLE. or in USA FURAZOLIDONE (FUROXONE). I had a lambliasis as well, and got a successful treatment for it, for about 4 month with metronidazole. Then those buggers were gone. I'll put you a link in, hope it helps.:) http://www.medicinenet.com/giardia_lamblia/page4.htm
 
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