Sufferer Newly diagnosed mom & student. exhusband also has ptsd.

[Misstenn423]

Im a 30 year old female with a fiancee and 3 beautiful children. I was recently (a month ago) diagnosed with PTSD. I always thought PTSD was reserved for veterans, but I found out quickly that it isn't the case. I was previously married to my military husband who had severe PTSD, refused to get treatment and rapidly declined. He is now on his 10th year of homelessness and drug addiction and it terrified me to look the other way with my diagnosis. I'm clueless on the whole thing. I've read up on it and I admit, I have a lot of the "symptoms" but I just feel like the "PTSD" title should be reserved for people with severe trauma... here I am, managing day to day, while keeping episodes to myself. I suppose it isn't healthy, but it's the way I've learned to cope with things. Keeping it bottled up, which eventually leads to psychotic (exaggeration) outbursts of tears, rage, sadness, etc. I'm hoping to connect with someone who relates. Someone maybe as blind as I am to my diagnosis to learn together, or maybe someone that can kind of help me along my way, mutually. I work full time, have kids and am in college, so I try to stay as busy as possible to keep from thinking about it, but again, I know it isn't healthy.

Anyways, sorry for the rambling. It's late, I'm tired & I have to work in the morning. I'm happy to have stumbled on here and hope that I can make some connections so we can survive together.

 

[highwaybeauty]

Welcome to this forum :) PTSD comes in many forms and just because you have the diagnosis, doesn't meant that you aren't able to function in life. It is great to hear that you are still able to get through each day, go to work, be there for your kids and do study, despite the presence of your PTSD symptoms. Hope you find this forum useful :)

HB x

I forgot to add that trauma impacts everyone differently! Two people can experience the exact same trauma, and one person may be able to carry on with their life while the other person may be greatly impacted. It sounds like you have a lot of resilience :)

 

[Matt1]

I was diagnosed almost a year ago. I also thought that only people who've seen combat get PTSD. My situation is complicated by the fact that we don't know what my originating event was. I'm working with my therapist, trying to figure it out. But I can count my memories from before my teens on one hand. As we look back to the earliest memories that I can think of, it seems like I was already reacting as if I'd been traumatized.

It's difficult because I've been unable to work for about a year, and my therapist encouraged me to apply for disability. But everyone wants me to tell them what my originating event was, and I just don't know. It would be so much easier if I could just fill in the box. And I get a lot of resistance. My primary care doc has been managing my meds, but I've been encouraged to find a psychiatrist. So I did an intake interview with a clinic here, and the intake person asked me about my diagnosis, and I said, "Generalized Anxiety Disorder, PTSD, and Major Depression." Instantly, the intake interviewer said that I didn't have PTSD because I wasn't hypervigilant. I do experience hypervigilance in crowds, like big parties or parades. But in a quiet office like that, no, I wasn't experiencing it.

Everyone seems to have their own idea of what PTSD is. So much so, that they're willing to tell me that I've been misdiagnosed less that an hour of meeting me, contradicting my therapist who has been seeing me for over 100 hours. That's kind of why I joined this today. I'm hoping to find others who are dealing with this so that we can compare and contrast our experiences, not just with living with this, but also our experiences trying to get help.

Anyway, thanks for posting.

 

[Friday]

but I just feel like the "PTSD" title should be reserved for people with severe trauma... here I am, managing day to day, while keeping episodes to myself.

PTSD is reserved for severe trauma... And if you've got PTSD? You've got that, too. Doesn't matter if it's combat, rape, domestic violence, child abuse, motor vehicle accident, natural disaster, kidnapping, assault, armed robbery, being a trauma doc or nurse or EMT, police, fire, etc.

Also absolutely doesn't infer how well you're managing your daily life. Some people are incrediably high functioning, some people aren't. And both can switch. So well done in knowing how bad things can get, though your ex, and getting help now. :tup:

Some of my fav reading

The PTSD Cup - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Explained <<< Immediately useful!

Link Removed <<< On exactly that.

 

[EveHarrington]

Welcome! :)

 

[LillyH]

Hi,
It's great you joined. I joined a few weeks ago and people have been so so supportive and I wish I had reached out when I was first diagnosed as I...[/QUOTE]

 

[UnKnown-Self]

Welcome @Stan!
You have taken a step in the right direction joining this forum. Your quote is amazing and so appropriate of our times. Thank you for sharing it.
Others have probably already suggested this but a good place to start is with some of the articles.
You can find them on the home page. There is also a link that will take you to a list of articles and you can browse. You can also reply and if you are not comfortable, there is an anonymous option.

Best wishes to you!