Ptsd- Will It Ever Go?

[Chelsea]

Sometimes I wonder if PTSD ever goes away

 

[kimberley dawn]

I don't know, Chelsea, but I've just accepted it's something I must find a way to live with. Went to therapy in my twenties, my forties and now in my fifties I don't want to go any more. I just want to learn to live with ptsd on a day to day basis.
Mine will never go away, I DO hope yours will!!!!

 

[Iam]

Hi Chelsea and welcome to the forum!

Whether PTSD can be cured or not is up for debate, though the general consensus is that PTSD cannot be cured. I can however, attest that the symptoms can be controlled. I am pretty much symptom free at this point. It's taken intensive therapy 2x a week for over 2 years to get to this point and I am still not done. Both of my therapists have told me that I will always be vulnerable to PTSD symptoms, as well as MDD, when my stress levels get high. The key is lots of self care, keeping stress to a minimum and making sure to use the coping skills learned in therapy.

The forum has been invaluable to me both for the support from the members here and the information. Self education is very important. Take your time and look around. Share your story as you feel comfortable, you may want to start a trauma diary in that section. I do warn you though that being here, reading other's postings and sharing your own will initially make you more symptomatic. I found, as many others have, that when you truly start to face the causes of your PTSD, things get worse before they get better. It is soooo very worth it though!

I wish you the best and again, welcome to the forum.. You'll find support and encouragement here!

 

[Helliepig]

I would def go with the "Yes it can be cured", brigade. I have witnessed at first hand how intractable symptoms disappear when you heal it properly.

But - two things. One is, that you need to go to the core and do the scary stuff - sometimes it is easy to sit at the periphery working on semi - hard things, and getting really despondant and frustrated at what you feel to be SOOO much effort, but avoiding the nightmarish deep stuff where those symptoms will live until you dig them out, and two, real life is painful even without PTSD, so sooner or later you will find you hurt because we all do, but it will be a different hurt. Or at least, you will view it differently.

My journey has been long but so worth it. I am already a different person and we haven't finished yet!!

Good luck and welcome aboard!!

Hx

 

[Anna]

It never truely goes away, but you can learn to live with it with supprt and professional help.

 

[Loloma]

Chelsea, will it ever go away I haven't got the answer to that. With me it got worse as I grew older, even though I have spent twenty years in therapy. Unfortunately it affects every area of your life and that of your close family. I really hope you find a good therapist and please stick with it.

 

[Helliepig]

I feel sad when I hear that people feel they just have to learn to live with it

 

[anthony]

Hi Chelsea... unfortunately your question is the reason why the answer is, PTSD has no cure, because it doesn't ever fully go away. PTSD is treatable, that means... you can heal the trauma and learn techniques to get back into life, you can learn and implement relaxation programs and so forth into your daily routine. It all helps...

The problem though is that one event will often bring it back worse than before. Each event will often make it worse and worse. The less trauma events, the better living with PTSD. The more... the worse it gets.

 

[wcdean]

I have lived with mine for 14 years and don't expect it to ever go away, but I am learning to manage it better than I have. I do agree that if you try and push it away it will come back with a vengeance. That's what I did initially and 4 months ago had to go on disability from work because I could no longer live with the symptoms. They were completely debilitating for me and essentially my body started to shut down due to the enormous weight I was carrying.