Sufferer Ptsd/post abortion syndrome

[joeylittle]

I feel like there are no groups for me for my specific disorder

Hi, and welcome. I've edited your thread title, so people can understand better who you are looking to connect with. PAS isn't an acronymn that everyone is familiar with.

Just for readers of the thread:

Post-abortion syndrome (PAS) is not included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or in the ICD-10..., nor is the term commonly used outside of the anti-abortion community. Some physicians and pro-choice advocates have argued that the focus on "post-abortion syndrome" is a tactic used by anti-abortion advocates for political purposes, and that PAS does not really exist.

Source

Your disorder is PTSD. There is no specific (or legitimate) disorder attached to abortion trauma. So, it's all considered PTSD.

Is there anyone else that has been diagnosed with ptsd/pas like me ?

I'm curious, if you don't mind my asking - were you diagnosed with PTSD, or were you told that it was possible you could have PTSD resulting from the trauma you may have experienced during an abortion procedure?

As far as specific sub-forums on our board, the one for Medical trauma would be the specific one I'd suggest you go and search through.

Just like not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD, I'd bet that not everyone who has had an abortion would develop some kind of stress result from it. So, it might also help you to write more about your specific experience.

 

[Yzabella Marie]

Hi, and welcome. I've edited your thread title, so people can understand better who you are looking...

I was diagnosed with PTSD. However, when I described my experience he referred me to a group of people with PTSD/PAS or post abortion syndrome that have retreats for women like me. & if I write my story I would prefer to do it anonymously.

 

[joeylittle]

if I write my story I would prefer to do it anonymously.

Members have access to an anonymous forum. You can also change your user name, if it's not as anonymous as you'd like it to be. There are a lot of different options here, just browse around and if you need any help, open a help-ticket.

he referred me to a group of people with PTSD/PAS or post abortion syndrome that have retreats for women like me

I'd just make sure that, if you decide to go to something like that, it wasn't an anti-abortion seminar masquerading as a support group. I can't imagine that would be helpful.

Glad you found the forum - again, welcome.

 

[Yzabella Marie]

Members have access to an anonymous forum. You can also change your user name, if it's not as anony...

Okay , & that is so true . thank you.

 

[Justmehere]

Often, it can take seeing a couple of therapists to find the one that is the right fit. I really strongly suggest seeking out consults with other therapists until you find the one that is right for you.

 

[Friday]

I was diagnosed with PTSD. However, when I described my experience he referred me to a group of people with PTSD/PAS or post abortion syndrome

It makes sense that your doctor would want to deal with the pregnancy side effects, before tackling the PTSD.

Whether live birth, still birth, miscarriage, or abortion; pregnancy hormones can throw people’s system for a major loop, up to and including postpartum depression & postpartum psychosis. Generally it takes about 3-6mo minimum for hormones to even out, again, if one doesn’t have PPD. Adding in an abortion or miscarriage can also complicate things -with or without hormones weighing in- with a lot of other factors, very commonly grief.

So you’ve got a whole huge big mess of physical & mental/emotional things from an acute situation, on top of PTSD.

That’s pretty common in certain spheres. Like the huge mess of divorce overshadowing an abusive marriage; or physical recovery, surgeries, & rehab following a massive accident making the accident pale in comparison; or dealing with the fallout from alcohol or drug abuse, obscuring the years of CSA. The PTSD comes from one area, but this hugely difficult other thing both takes up all our focus & “lets” us avoid the preceding trauma, while at the same time skyrocketing our stress levels and making our PTSD get really symptomatic.

There are a few different schools of thought on the best way to handle PTSD + Major Stressor... but they all involve getting into trauma therapy pretty much as early as possible. It’s just very likely that the source of your PTSD won’t be addressed much -if at all- until your life has stabilised & the stressor(s) have been dealt with.

 

[Yzabella Marie]

It makes sense that your doctor would want to deal with the pregnancy side effects, before tackling the...

Right , I just don’t know exactly what that stressor is . & i would love to find a therapist that works for me but I’m a college student so I can barely afford college as it is .

 

[Friday]

what that stressor is

The stressor would be the pregnancy & abortion.

The trauma that caused your PTSD would be something that happened before that.

Something that involved death, threatened death, or sexual violence. Quite possibly something you think was no big deal, or in comparison was no big deal. (I handled that, I was fine, kind of thing.)

 

[Gs172003]

What is PAS?

Thanks!

In a side note I’m still dumbfounded about how PTSD can come without anx...

I was wondering that myself

 

[Yzabella Marie]

The stressor would be the pregnancy & abortion.

The trauma that caused your PTSD would be something tha...

Oh okay

I was wondering that myself

PAS is post abortion syndrome . My therapist referred me to this group because they had retreats and programs for women who had gone through the same thing I did.

 

[Gs172003]

PAS is post abortion syndrome . My therapist referred me to this group because they had retreats...

I was referring to the lack of anxiety but I saw later you said you have anxiety. Is the post abortion syndrome what got you your PTSD diagnosis or something else?

 

[Yzabella Marie]

I was referring to the lack of anxiety but I saw later you said you have anxiety. Is the post abortion s...

My post abortion trauma . After that happened to me , I couldn’t function because it went against everything I had believed in and i started to just suppress everything and whenever someone would mention it , it would just trigger this thing where I’d cry and I felt like I couldn’t breathe , and I would start shaking . And I would have to make myself bottle it back up because I felt and still feel like the emotions from that event are so overwhelming that I can’t handle them by myself.