Ptsd Presentation

[Steph_F]

hey gang! :)

Tomorrow I am going to a Presentation/seminar on PTSD but on by the University of Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic. I'm really excited! I wanted to let you guys know in case there are questions that you might have that I can ask for you. I guess the Doc that is doing the class is one of the lead people on PTSD at the Mayo Clinic, so hopefully he'll be up on everything.

Here's the link to read a little more about it Link Removed

I wish you were all in town here and we could do this and then go out after! haha!

 

[Ladyhope Somerset]

I'd be going if it was in UK! Going out after would be fab!!!
Info on meds for night terrors would be most useful.
Have a good day.

 

[Steph_F]

Will do! I was going to ask about that and maybe night sweats.

 

[MurphyJB]

So wish I would've known about this before. Definitely would've been worth the drive!
Soak up all the info you can. :)

 

[Redheaded Stranger]

Hey Steph, Wish I could go with you. If it comes up, could you ask about any way to "break through" when PTSD sufferers won't let you "in"? I imagine it is different for everyone but am curious if he has suggestions.

thanks!!

Red

 

[The Hermit King]

Anxiety, panic attacks and agoraphobia. My biggest problems. The VA has me on Ativan for this and it hasn't really helped much at all. If they talk about these issues I'd love to hear about it. Im getting so bad now that sometimes I ask my GF to check the mail because I don't want to walk down to the mailbox if there are people outside anywhere on my street. I feel like a damn freak.

 

[Mockingbird13]

Hey Steph, Wish I could go with you. If it comes up, could you ask about any way to "break through" when PTSD sufferers won't let you "in"? I imagine it is different for everyone but am curious if he has suggestions.

thanks!!

Red

I second this one ...

 

[Steph_F]

This is awesome! Thank you so much! Totally going to write these down and go in all "CNN in the Press Room". LoL

The next time something like this comes up, I'll let you guys know ahead of time. There is always stuff like this going on in town (cuz of the Mayo Clinic).

Chem, you are not a freak! True that there is nothing really to be afraid of outside, your neighbors are not going to hurt you. But fear is real and very strong, but it can be overcome with the right weapons! You will get your hands on them and more importantly, wrap your mind around them and engage and kick fear's ass! ...just gotta find the right weapons and tools and use them efficiently....

 

[Jimmy1]

Hey Chem,

These are all symptoms that are similar. Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder.And panic attacks are all linked to anxiety.
I used to go to the local shopping centre when it opened at 6 am. If too many people were there, I walked out.
I used to cancel all dinner and bbq invites and hide in my house with the doors locked.
You need to see a psychologist (who has had experience with PTSD). And you also need to see a psychiatrist who also has experience with PTSD to prescribe drugs that work for you.

They will teach you grounding techniques. This is one fear you have to face head on, but do it bit by bit.
For example, go to your local shopping mall and buy a coffee then walk out. etc.
Baby steps mate.

Jimmy

 

[Steph_F]

Hey, just to follow up on the presentation...

To be honest, it sucked. I didn't really learn anything that I didn't already know about PTSD itself and the stuff that I didn't know, I didn't care that much about. The presenter had slide after slide about how Seratonin Re-uptake Inhibitors work and the differences between them and MAOIs and tons of cool pics of the brain and the physiological part of PTSD and where the adrenal glands are located (just above your kidneys, in case you think you have misplaced them LoL). There was nothing to speak of about combat or how or why Combat PTSD is different than your garden variety PTSD. **ALL PTSD is serious, I'm not trying to be rude, but I was just more interested in getting some of my (our!) questions answered then knowing which drugs are classified as anti-depressants, anti-anxiety, mood stablizers and anti-psychotics...interesting, should I decide that 1) I can now open my own pharmacy 2) become a prescription drug-trafficer for PTSD sufferers. WAIT?? do you think there could be good money in that? j/k There was a guy there that I had a good conversation about being in active duty Military and the stigma of PTSD and mental health illnesses in the Armed Forces in general, but he was speaking as a Vet that left the service in 2000 and so much has happened since then. I feel bad, I started answering some of the questions that the presenter couldn't (or didn't want to or something) using the knowledge that I have learned from this website and I kinda took over the class! haha! Almost everyone stayed after and we talked for a long time out in the hallway and all the way to the parking ramp. Sorry I didn't get to ask your guys' questions, though.

wait, I am looking at my notes and I guess he did say something about the benefits of deep breathing and muscles relaxation and guided imagery. He talked about EMDR vs CBT and other therapies, but really didn't go into detail, only gave stats that he found on Google from 2007. He also said that Secondary PTSD is generally treated the same way PTSD is, its not listed in the DSM IV, but they are planning to release DSM V in 2013 and it will likely be listed in there. He gave two websites as resources: Link Removed (I think I have seen that before and its good, but better for Acute and Chronic PTSD, not so much delay-onset PTSD, which I wonder affects Vets more than other sufferers of PTSD). The other website was Link Removed (he said he found that on Google, too). I was really interested in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy and he said its a web-based course to learn all about it, so I checked it out tonight and it's for people with a Masters in mental health studies and its geared for children. Not really what I am looking for. I think if you have a big combat-hardened Marine sitting down playing with dolls, you have more than just PTSD to deal with. LoL Another thing that the presenter talked about was about how people with PTSD can have unexplainable pain and docs will sometimes out of desperation throw a bunch of pain killers at someone that actaully has PTSD and with the higher risk of developing a substance abuse problem, that is a bad idea. Good call, right?

So, it wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be, but I got to thank a Vet for his service and the cookies were awesome! :)

 

[The Hermit King]

Oh well. I have been on nearly all of the SSRIs available with the last one I took being Effexor. The side effects of SSRIs outweighed any benefits of taking them especially since they did not help me one damn bit. They did how ever destroy my sex drive, made it damn near impossible to get off when I did feel like sex and made me feel like a zombie. I eventually got sick of all the dope the VA was shoving down my throat and decided to stop taking the shit. They tried to ween me off the shit until I was down to breaking open one of the pills and taking individual little beads of it. But no matter how hard I tried I couldn't seem to get off the damn Effexor. So I did the worst thing you should do with mental health drugs and just quit cold turkey. holy shit. Holy f*cking shit. massive brain shocks, BRAIN SHOCKS. I literally could FEEL my brain inside my skull. Like zap every few minutes. It was the sickest thing I've ever felt, words do not adequately describe how sick the feeling was. So along with my brain zaps If I turned my head too fast it was like the entire planet just sort of...shifted...like I'd look to my right and a half a second later the earth moved and aligned with where I was looking. I saw tracers on stuff that was moving quickly too, like i could wave my hand in front of my face and it was like some LSD trip or something. but the zaps or shocks or whatever were the worst physical withdrawal symptoms by far. Then came the very worst part, night terrors. I don't mean your average PTSD nightmares, I mean TERROR. I'm not really a very religious person but I truly believed I was transported to Hell each night, I spoke with Demons, it was so f*cking real and it was THE SAME every night, like they would be laughing and saying welcome home and shit each night when I fell asleep!!! I cannot even attempt to describe what I saw in my dreams or how it felt to be there, it was truly another world like another dimension , I would wake up soaked in sweat, feeling like a was having a heart attack. It was so bad I was absolutely terrified to go to sleep at night and tried to stay awake like I was in a damn Nightmare on Elm Street movie. This went on for nearly three weeks before it all finally started to subside. Once SSRIs get their claws in your brain it's damn near impossible to break free. I swore I would NEVER take any type of them again. I eventually got off all the various dope the VA had me on and have been off it since 2007. I manage my PTSD with daily intense exercise and that has proven to work better than any drugs I'd ever been on. I am in a new relationship and since she has moved in my anxiety shit has started acting up, this has only been going on the past six months or so I guess. Before that I was coping fine. I don't even like taking aspirin much less anything that alters the way your brain works. I quit drinking, smoking and taking any kind of drug back in 07. The VAs solution to PTSD is a chemical lobotomy. f*ck that. I'll get this shit back under control, more PT and if that doesn't work I'll do therapy. It's bad enough that I am on Ativan now but I avoid taking it at all costs unless I'm having a damn panic attack They prescribed it a few months ago but I am still on the same bottle I really don't use the stuff. Needless to say if I had been there I would have told that doctor to shove his wonderful SSRIs up his ass. I'm not saying anything against anyone who does take these drugs because if it helps then go for it, they are just not for me. Besides I dont want to be dependent on anything when the Zombie Apocalypse happens. lol. geez I really need to learn how to use paragraphs when I'm ranting. O_o

 

[Steph_F]

you are funny!! (talking about the last sentence) don't worry about paragraphs or spelling or even being coherent haha, I mean have you read pretty much anything I have ever written? LoL

I'm so sorry about the anxiety acting up again, maybe your g/f is overflowing the "good stress" part of your PTSD cup. Hopefully she is willing to be understanding and compassionate when it comes to those "quirks" that PTSD sufferers endure.

That is awesome that you quit smoking and drinking, though! Congrats! Not a smoker myself, but I have seen the struggle to quit from friends and family and its something I don't know if I'd be able to do...however, take away my Diet Pepsi and you better step back!! haha!

Citolapram (Celexa) actually swept in and helped save my relationship with my guy. Just when I started walking away for good, he started taking it again (he didn't tell me) and within about 2-1/2 to 3 weeks I noticed we were talking more and he was asking for forgiveness and seemed to be his normal self again. Finally I got past the fear of speaking to him about personal things and I pretty much asked him how come he wasn't being a dickhead anymore and he told me he had started taking the Celexa out of desperation for fear of losing me. It was actaully expired because he hadn't been taking it for almost a year and was "overcoming PTSD on his own, with his mind". I felt really bad that I made him so anxious and set him off so bad that he felt he needed drugs to be with me. I still feel badly about that. Things were really good for a long time, then out of nowhere BAM! it happened again...wtf? I called him out on it and he said that he just forgot about taking it here and there and then all of a sudden he turned back into Superman and decided that he didn't need it at all. I am finally secure in our relationship and his true feelings for me that I told him he was full of shit and that he knows he needs to take it and how much better he feels when he takes it, and he actaully made an appointment with his Dr and they upped his dosage. They also suggested adding meds and changing meds and taking him off Citolapram, and I was like HELL NO! Why re-break something that is in the process of getting fixed??? In June he has a big appt with 3 different specialists and they are going to run him through all these tests and talk to him about starting therapy. I am SO excited about that prospect and I hope and pray that he actaully goes through with it! I am nervous too though, I read on here that therapy can make things worse sometimes and how you have to stick with it to get get over the yucky part. What if he stops his appointments in the middle?? He feels the same way you do, he'd rather do therapy and get off the meds all together, he's scared of having to take meds to feel normal. Hopefully he will stick it out! Of course then there are those stupid sexual side effects, too. That is very frusterating for him and I wish I knew what to say to help him understand that I understand, but the truth is, I guess I don't. Its a guy thing. I wish he had a buddy to talk to about some of the more guy stuff, he's always afraid of upsetting me and hates when I don't understand things right away and he has to re-explain things to me. I hate being told "you wouldn't understand"...I get defensive, but really...I probably would not understand. Wow...I totally lost track of what I was talking about! haha!

Drugs, that's right...anyway, he takes something to help him sleep every now and then but thankfully he takes it very rarely. He likes to fall asleep to the TV and it drives me crazy that he has nightmares when he falls asleep to violent movies. Duh! But that is his thing and I don't understand it, so I try not to call him out on it. At least when I am with him, he turns on the sleep timer (I have to have quiet and dark to sleep).

He used to use exersice to release stress, too. I remember him telling me that sometimes when he couldn't sleep he'd pop outta bed and do sit-ups til his gut burned and that would get his mind off of other things.

I'm rambling sorry...but I hope things get better with you and your girl. Hang in there and encourage her to learn about PTSD, it'll help alot!