Ptsd Help On The Nhs

[JohnWhite]

I'm sorry if this has been covered before, but searches for posts regarding the United Kingdom and Britain did not bring up anything, and of course UK and NHS are too short. I'm wondering if anyone has dealt with their PTSD through the NHS. Who was your starting point, and what sort of people did you end up being referred to? Is there much support out there?

I am currently undergoing a programme to deal with pain management, the pain having been caused by the trauma. I ended up opening up a bit to the psychologist leading the meeting, and he offered some one on one time to talk about it more thoroughly this week. I've had a bit of a bad week but the thought that I might finally get started on the road to some help has been encouraging. Unfortunately the weather is terrible here at the moment and I am concerned I might not make it to our appointment on Thursday. I'm sure it can be rearranged but I suppose I was looking for some reassurance that there is help available, and to have some idea of what my options are.

This is probably something I should have brought up with a doctor a long time ago, particularly as I'm something of a frequent flyer with the NHS. But I just never brought up this core issue, and instead we have always been patching up the surface symptoms - dealing with chronic pain here, depression there, poor sleep and nightmares on one day and a damaged spine on another; but it is all stemming from the same issue, that I was put in a dangerous situation for years and injured several times and never got over the fear and resentment. This is the first I've brought up the term PTSD with the doctors I see, other than when a counsellor, who I was seeing for depression, said this seemed to be the problem, concurring with a psychologist I had seen overseas. So I suppose I am wondering what to expect.

 

[Denna]

In my mind the only help you can get for ptsd is sessions with a psychologist to work through the traumatic experience with you, to help unlock any mental shutdowns you may have incurred during your experience. Is the pain explainable or is it psychological referred pain , a body memory?

There is a long waiting list for the therapist, but worth it. I'm still waiting for mine but have been paying for a private psychologist for a few months while I wait. Will have been waiting for about 10 months by the time she is avaliable.

You do have to be careful the NHS MHT nurses and psychiatrists are often not very openminded when it comes to trauma. The help you get often depends on the people you see. Remember psychiatrists are there to tick boxes diagnose you with mental illnesses and prescribe drugs to manage the symptoms, so your medical record may take a bashing depending on who you see. Learn about PTSD and be prepared before any meetings with a psychiatrist.

Picked up hypomania, alexithymia and borderline personality on my navigation through the NHS. I actually have none of these, so be warned.

 

[JohnWhite]

Thank you for your reply, Denna. My pain is a bit tricky to explain - I have seen so many different people for it and they all have their opinions. There is definitely physical damage to my spine as x-rays demonstrate, and the neurologist I have seen believes the damage is at least partly responsible for the pain. However, the pain does have a psychological element to it as it gets far worse when I am triggered, and the pain refers to the places I was hurt (my ribs and spine).

I have heard a few people have had bad experiences with the NHS mental health workers, and I'm sorry they haven't always been helpful for yourself. I have been lucky that so far in my dealings with them they have always seemed sympathetic, but I have never seem a therapist for this issue in particular. I don't mind waiting, I'm used to that by now, but may I ask how much seeing a private psychologist is costing you? If it is something I can afford I might as well go for it, but I'm not sure what private prices are like here.

 

[Denna]

Ok I've had referred pain from trauma, just unexplainable pain, so I call it a body memory, where your body remembers what you may or may not be able to piece together with a picture memory. Sometimes equivilant of a pulled muscle, sometimes debilitating.

Don't know where you are in the UK I'm on the south coast, but my private psych. cost £70 per session 50 mins, which he dropped to £50 because of the length of the course. You need to find a reputable one Depending on the effect the trauma has had on you then length of the course will vary. They will generally give a quote and estimate first, and you really need a trauma specialist, please ensure that this is the case.

Do you get flashcards of thoughts running through your head sometimes that are hard to stop, and then a tightening of your body and a doubling of your heart ever? Have you recognised that any emotional responses are missing from your body?

Strange questions but if you can answer them then I can help you more. These are signs of being traumatized that will help you get to what is broken quicker.

 

[JohnWhite]

Thanks again for your response, Denna. Yes, I do tend to get flashes of thoughts that are a bit like a train, barrelling through my head and making it very difficult to deviate from. My body does get tight and sore when I'm triggered like this, though I haven't noticed an increase in heart rate but I have a heart condition any way. As for emotional responses, I have been described as a robot. I have never cried due to music or art or a film, and cannot really imagine why I would. I feel utterly disconnected from most things I observe. I liken it to there being a window between myself and the world - I just cannot seem to reach out and touch it, or be touched by it. Emotions tend to be processed by the analytical part of my mind. When my dog died, my beloved companion of eighteen years, I did not cry. I knew, in the logical sense, that I was sad, but no tears would come. For a long time now people have found my quietness a little odd - I dislike making noise, I speak so quietly that people frequently say they have trouble hearing me, and though I find things cognitively amusing I very, very rarely laugh. My girlfriend can probably count the number of times she has seen me smile on one hand. I feel like a Vulcan most of the time - my emotions and my body are rarely on speaking terms.

 

[Denna]

Thanks for replying openly. Try to read a bit on the trauma cycle, because that is what your body and brain are trying to go through. For me it took 14 years of no emotions at all and another trauma to even recognise something was wrong and get to the ticking thought stage. I got my emotions back when I allowed the thoughts to run and then relaxed when my torso tightened, heart doubled and pushed a pulse up my spine which then sent crackles round my brain, sounds scary, most people thing they are having a heart attack or dying, but it is the fix. Since you have a heart condition a trauma psychologist should be able to guide you though the cycle gradually. The biggest thing standing in your way is finding a good psychologist and you opening up and talking as much as possible, the more you talk and open up the faster and better you fix. Now I can't belive how much of life I've been missing out on.

Hope you get the help you need, just tread a bit carefully, and don't let a psychiatrist shovel and labels on you.

 

[Learning123]

My opinion the NHS are cr*p, I'm not going into detail but if you can actually find anyone within the NHS who understands PTSD good for you, coz I know that from my (somewhat limited) knowledge they are shyte!

 

[Learning123]

and I will add to that when I look at my pay slip each month I wonder wtf I pay taxes, coz they have no idea! I'm in a very fortunate position to be covered by private health care and luckily I have my ex on that too, but I really do feel for anyone seeking help via the NHS, to put this into perspective I needed 6 stitches last month it was a 15 minute job, I waited 48 hours for them to do it, I've also been on a 32 week waiting list for something else, so you can imagine how long someone with PTSD or anything else on that scale has to wait, it makes me MAD!