PTSD Due To Daughter's Illness

[JBug]

Hi -

I am dealing with PTSD as a result of my daughter's serious illness during the first 18 months of her life. She is doing OK now, but the stress of dealing with her illness, including a prolonged stay in the ICU when we thought that we were going to lose her, has really affected me. I also have a long-term history of depression, which manifests itself as anxiety during highly-stressful times. At first, I had a hard time grasping onto the PTSD label, as my "trauma" seems so much less than most of the other people's situation. But I've been reading through this forum and realize that I definitely fit in here. There's (obviously) much more to say, but I just wanted to introduce myself.

 

[seedling]

Welcome to the forum. So glad to hear that your daughter is well. That must have been a really long 18 months.

I have PTSD as a result of my son's near-fatal injury late last year. I always ask myself, "if he didn't die, why do I feel so bad"?

There are obviously lots of different types of traumas and they all "count" when it comes to how they affect the person who suffers them.

See you around:)

 

[JBug]

Thanks, seedling. Yeah, I too feel like I have no right to feel the way that I do, since she is alive and making progress each day. In my situation, I was blamed for a lot of things, since I questioned doctors, felt like I knew my daughter and what was working and not working for her, and refused treatments that didn't have a reasonable chance of making any difference. I took a strong "quality of life' approach with her and that clashed with her treating physicians, who wanted me to blindly follow their recommendations. So the guilt of being "blamed" is driving the trauma issues as well.

 

[seedling]

Sorry to hear that you had to fight for the treatment that you wanted for your daughter.

I was actually surprised at the attitude of the trauma center that we were at, which was that the parent knows the child best and the doctors should listen to them and take their word for what may be going on.

But don't worry, I have huge guilt issues anyway! :)

 

[pandora]

Hi and welcome to the forum.