Ptsd Recovery

[Kailani]

It seemed managed for me after 7 years of hell then 15 years later not as bad but worse consequences but much more trauma between and I had no respectable treatment during the seven years just diagnosis and talk. I think it's different for everyone. I look at it a unavoidably permanent but able to be tolerably managed much better.

 

[heyheyhey]

Another trauma can be so many things. Not necesarily the same as happend the first time. In my case is...

Hi Bloomy, sorry to hear that - that sounds really hard!! I don't know if this is an at all helpful suggestion, or even possible for you - but i personally find volunteering is a great way to bring some meaning and a positive self-confidence. I do the soup run at the homeless shelter myself :). Though I know it's not possible for everyone, especially with pTSD.

 

[heyheyhey]

I love this line. It stood out to me because I sometimes wish I could escape some trigger...

It's interesting that you both mention the body - as so many flashbacks are rooted in the body and the body remembering (sorry stating the obvious here!). Have you looked into Somatic Experiencing? It loosens the intensity (or eradicates in some cases) of these visceral feelings and reactions. I've had one session so far and have found it very impressively effective myself... it caused a shift in me that months of counselling or any other kind of 'mental' approach hasn't ever done... being able to lessen the emotional overwhelming and intense response, allowed me to also come to some rational and 'balanced' conclusions - like "I don't have to be scared because it's not happening anymore" and I have noticed that my anxiety is much less and that I am not really having panic attacks, I just feel anxiety... which I assume will only lessen with more sessions. I find this very impressive, considering CBT took me months and months of repeated treatment to actually have a lasting effect on my previous anxiety disorder...

 

[heyheyhey]

Permanent? Seriously? I didn't know this. I had no idea ptsd is permanent. This changes everyth...

PTSD is but the intense suffering of it is not. Even in your rough times, you'll come back up. My friend with PTSD describes it as a wave - the wave always comes back down. My counsellor also told me that most days you will feel good and fine and not be influenced by it (with the right treatment) but then you may have a rough day, which you can just point out to yourself is the PTSD, then if it gets worse again - go back for more intensive treatment. I guess it's finding the trauma therapies that work best for us and not giving up :). We don't have to suffer so intensely and for so long, though suffering will be there as it is for everyone - that is my view :).

 

[heyheyhey]

Thanks everyone for your perspective and viewpoints - it's all been really helpful :). I think taking into account everything you have said, i can easily go through periods of being symptom free and feeling happy and content (using exercise and CBT or learned optimism techniques) and then sometimes I'll have a downturn, and then I can go back for more intensive trauma treatment to help me out of the hole. I am happy with that and feel hopeful and optimistic :). I think for me a big part of it is just accepting the suffering of it and accepting that it will always be in my life, and then using tools and techniques to support my own happiness and wellbeing so that I can live a happy life, in-between those times. Hard when you are naturally pessimistic and prone to anxiety and depression, but I think it just highlights the importance of incorporating daily practices that support contentment and equilibrium.

 

[Bloomy]

Im in schools for further education. Under the control of others like welfare counlser its not easy shen they decide wether this is good for me or not.
Im still fighting do to have the right for my integrity and besides Im applying for relevant jobs according to the education Ive embarked on.
Trying to stay calm and belive this will work out for the best.

I totally sign the last post you made @heyheyhey :)

 

[Gaining-clarity]

@Gaining-clarity <grin> It really does, doesn't it? Means we can plan for things, and...

Thanks Friday. It really does change everything. At first it just seemed like doom. But after some thought, it's just a little more reality, which means practicality. It can be managed so much better by being realistic about expectations, goals, hopes, etc. One of the first thoughts that came to my mind, after the blow of permanency, was, "Well I'm not going to live like this for the rest of my life. That's just unacceptable."

Without this information I think I'd have been move resolved to wait it out, rather than to deal with it. If it's not going away, then I have to do something about it. And if I lived my life like I'm waiting for it to go away, then I'd be quite miserable for a very long time. Maybe long enough for bitterness and resentment to define my life.

It's also good information for my husband. He needs to be practical too.

 

[Friday]

Without this information I think I'd have been move resolved to wait it out, rather than to deal with it.

I tend to think of it very much like asthma or diabetes. Life long, and without treatment, or completely unmanaged? Can be hell on earth, or simply lethal. I've been places in the world where 60yo women are getting their very first asthma inhaler, able to breathe freely for the first time in their lives. But even here in the US, when people are monitoring their blood sugar, diet, exercise, and insulin if they need it // know their asthma attack triggers, watch their o2, take their meds, etc.? A sudden illness, or stressor, or just because it was Tuesday... They can take a sudden downturn. End up in the hospital for weeks or months. Spend a year or two having to work back to the condition they were in before they got sick.

PTSD is very much the same way. Lifelong and cyclic, so sometimes things just get effing hard. But most of the time? It can be managed, so that we're living the lives we want to be living. Yes, we have to do extra stuff, just like asthmatics and diabetics do... But the trade off? <grin> Our lives back.

 

[heyheyhey]

Thanks Friday. It really does change everything. At first it just seemed like doom. But after s...

Hey @Gaining-clarity, I really did feel the same way too when i heard it was permanent. i was like "i can't live with this forever!! No f*cking way". But now i'm managing it a lot better (and I was in a bad, bad way when it first appeared), I just feel like it is so much more dealable and I remember reading in the recovery threads that the point of treatment is to get to symptom free - which sounds pretty damn alright in the scheme of things (even if it may get triggered again for a little bit)... it doesn't mean we are going to suffer this intensely forever, which is kind of what I thought when I first heard that!!

 

[heyheyhey]

Im in schools for further education. Under the control of others like welfare counlser its not easy shen...

Good luck @Bloomy, I really hope it does all work out for the best :).

I love your username by the way!! And your display picture :) - is that your dog!?

 

[Gaining-clarity]

Our lives back

!!!

Amen!

 

[Bloomy]

Takk @heyheyhey :)

Not mine completey, but I borrow him so often that I dare say partly :)

And today 17 of october I celebrate 2 years since he slept over at my house the very first time and his oh so lovable way of being made me fall completely in love. We share so many great memories as we are partners in crime out enjoying outdoors life to the fullest toghter roam the wild and the free both of us with our curly hair and curly behaviour . And chillig at home sometimes after these hikes both of us znoring drozy on eah our sofa just content to be after amazing day spend togheter :happy:

Sorry I took of a little there :p Just love him so much and this special day is a reminder :inlove::inlove: Think Id probably loose my mind long time ago if he wasnt my very best friend :inlove: