Undiagnosed Ptsd?

[Betina]

Hi everyone! I hope this forum is open for everyone, me in particular.

I don't really know if this I have is PTSD. So when I saw this site, I thought maybe there are doctors or people here who knows what I have been experiencing.

I have weak ankles, people say that it's because of my weight. My ankles is also the reason I sustained ACL on both knees, it has not been treated for lack of therapy money.

So anyway, weak ankle is also another reason why while at school(college, 6yrs ago) I fell down the stairs(2-3steps). I quickly stood up and returned to my classroom and asked for my professors help to the infirmary.

Every since that incident, I've been getting this quick, I don't know, flashbacks or just an imagination of me falling or my ankle breaking when going down the stairs. Or when walking somewhere slippery, I'd also get images of me slipping or falling.

I would cringe whenever I get these images in my mind. Sometimes, I would ask my friend or someone I'm with to hold me while going down the stairs or while walking somewhere slippery.

I've never told this to a family member because they might say it's just my imagination. I've told my bestfriend about the flashbacks or images, she said that it could be because of trauma.

Is this PTSD? If it is, what am I supposed to do?

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Hi Betina,

It doesn't sound like PTSD to me based on that one incident as to be diagnosed with PTSD, you need to have experienced a certain kind of trauma and falling down steps like that doesn't rise to the severity of being a PTSD causing trauma.

It may be that you have a fear of falling and of stairs based on the fact that you've fallen in the past. It is something that you can work through so that this fear is minimized and doesn't cause you anxiety in the future.

 

[Chava]

I highly doubt falling down a few steps would give anyone PTSD (PTSD is pretty serious and related to a threat to one's life, like "I AM GOING TO DIE."). But I understand you are looking for answers and have anxiety about your ankles. Your ankles do a lot. They support you through your day. It would make lots of us anxious to not know if we were stable on our feet or didn't feel supported by our own body. Can you talk to a general doctor about your concerns and see what they recommend? It might be some real anxiety, but maybe even things like physical therapy or Pilates, strengthening and working on proprioception, could help you feel more connected to your body, empowered, and less uneasy. Basically, I'd suggest talking to your doctor about your concerns.

 

[Justmehere]

No one here can officially diagnose. It's dangerous to do online.

That being said, you did go through a very real traumatic incident and you are suffering a real trauma based symptom now. However, it doesn't sound like full blown PTSD. To have the full blown mental health condition of PTSD, someone has to have a number of symptoms in a number of categories. It doesn't sound like you have all those symptoms or recognize having them.

However, you did go through a scary fall and you do have a fear of falling again. The images are part of your brains way of trying to keep you safe and it sounds like it's not helpful and distressing to endure.

I have an uncle with a fear of heights. He developed the fear after falling off a ladder as a kid. Just like for you, he endured a real trauma and developed a real symptom after it. It's not full blown PTSD but it does affect his life because he avoids heights.

Talking to a therapist or a medical doctor is a good idea, if you can afford it. They may be able to help resolve your fear quickly. If not, reading about exposure therapy and doing some mini exposure therapy work on your own might help. Exposure therapy is well tested for fears much like this that develop after traumatic events like what you have endured.

 

[Friday]

From what you've described... Those types of thoughts are very, very normal. So much so that there are idoms in most languages; Once bitten, twice shy... Is one of the English ones. Something unpleasant happens, and we remember it and are cautious/ scared of it happening again, especially when reminded (like walking down the stairs you tripped down in the past). So one may cringe in memory, take reasonable precautions (like having someone hold your hand, moving slower), etc. All normal, rational things.

 

[Anarchy]

Hi Betina, You are obviously having some difficulties.

From what you have written, your fears do have a real basis. you also realize that your mind is overplaying them.

that is a good insight, and one that you can work on, perhaps from both ends.

Are your ankles weak for a particular reason? or could you safely strenghten them up with exercises? and practice your physical coordination walking on stairs. If you are a bit overweight, could you try to slowly and gently get some of that weight off?

You can also practice recognizing when the fear is getting to you, and gently questioning whether the fear is logical and justified.

There are some good resources in the "vault" section of this site for dealing with negative thoughts and describing cognitive behavioural therapy, which you might benefit from reading through.


With all due respect to previous posters.

What affects us and how.

-is what effects us and how - it's entirely subjective.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manuals and International Catalogues of Diseases are attempts to standardise - to provide a common language for clinicians - they are meta models which attempt to more or less accurately describe and classify what is seen in the real world.

There are no definitive tests in this area to compare to the antibody tests for bacterial and viral diseases.

There are no chemical tests comparable to the ones to test for say lead or arsenic poisoning.

There is no x-ray or scan which can show a problem like with a broken bone or badly dislocated joint.

Instead, there are a dozen or so overlapping "diagnoses" in the area of trauma, all of which fall onto a spectrum which runs from the average population (neither the DSM nor the ICD attempt to define what might be "normal"), who go about their daily lives, in an OK sort of way - to those who have severe difficulty in their lives. Which "disorders" if any, might get looked for and perhaps diagnosed, is again subjective - I repeat, there are no definitive tests in any of this. There is in fact serious debate amongst the practitioners and researchers about which (if any) classifications might better describe what they see in their patients.

Indeed, PTSD itself did not "officially" exist until the 1980s - which certainly did not mean that no one could possibly be experiencing the symptoms...

No one has a brain or endocrine system which runs down a check list and if it gets five or more boxes ticked, gives one response, or gives another response if it gets other boxes ticked.

There is a wonderful quote by Gabriella Balf about a researcher tracking down the person who defined for the DSM, how many of the symptoms of depression should be present before a diagnosis was made. The researcher was interested in what case studies and statistical methods he used to come up with that number that is now enshrined in the DSM

His answer: "It seemed about right"

Please, be sceptical and open minded about what is in those books - some of it is indeed science, but hopelessly mixed in with the science is a lot of supposition, hocus pocus, politics (eg ODD), moralizing and bullshit.

Don't fall into the trap of criticizing the territory for not conforming to a map.

 

[intothelight]

@Betina No one here is qualified to provide a diagnosis. You best course of action would be to see a medical doctor for your physical concerns and if the fear continues to interrupt your life a mental health professional.

 

[Friday]

Please, be sceptical and open minded about what is in those books - some of it is indeed science, but hopelessly mixed in with the science is a lot of supposition, hocus pocus, politics (eg ODD), moralizing and bullshit.

Don't fall into the trap of criticizing the territory for not conforming to a map.

Also respectfully, I don't need a book to tell me that there is a difference between the effects on someone having their nipples sawed off & eyes pierced to squeeze the gel out of them... or someone held and forced to watch their children be raped bloody & half dead, then set on fire, their brains exploding from their skulls like grenades from the heat... Or someone buried under concrete for days, broken bones sticking through their skin like pickup sticks... AKA all CritA traumas...And someone who has had a fairly normal bad day. Even a country song bad day (lost my job, my house, my truck, my girl, my dog). Had those days. They suck. In an entirely different way that CritA stuff.

A gecko is not a crocodile. Even if it's a super cranky gecko. That's just common sense.

It's no shame not to know what the glowing eyes in the night are... It doesn't help, though, to be told all reptiles are the same. We taxonomize for good reason.

 

[moonbeam]

Nobody on the forum can diagnose you with anything. You should really speak with a doctor to find out if there is something more with your ankle. It is understandable after falling to be nervous about it happening again.

However it would be very doubtful for you to have PTSD as falling down is not one of the Criterion A requirements for PTSD.

 

[Anarchy]

A gecko is not a crocodile. Even if it's a super cranky gecko. That's just common sense.

except when the taxonomist makes no attempt to describe the Gecko, and only describes the crocodile as having scales...

In any field that requires problems to be identified and diagnosed, the first step is to understand how something appear when it is working correctly

from the understanding of what correct function might look like, we can move on to identifying, diagnosing and understanding incorrect function.

Neither the ICDs nor the DSMs have a word to say on what "normal" might look like or consist of.

 

[moonbeam]

Anarchy, Its more complicated than that. Part of the problem with it is that normal is a relative concept and very different between cultures so trying to come up with an agreed definition for normal would be a monumental task. Not to mention if they made a strict definition of normal anyone who was evenly slightly outside of that would be easily diagnosed as abnormal. Its easy to say that suicidal ideation is abnormal because it goes against the human self-preservation instinct, but other things that vary wildly from person to person could still both be normal. People get over diagnosed as it is, we don't want to open a floodgate of even more diagnoses. The DSM is by no means flawless or even close to perfect. But its what we have to go on and her trauma doesn't really match the Criteria A for a diagnosis. Though again only a trained professional could advise if she has PTSD or not.

Nobody is trying to say it wasn't upsetting for her. Or minimise her suffering in any way. We aren't attacking her. Just merely stating it doesn't match the criteria. The concern is that if she tries to diagnose herself with PTSD that she might feel like she should have certain symptoms and make things worse for herself.

The biggest thing is really that Betina goes to see a doctor to have her ankle looked at and to discuss her feelings with a trained professional who will be able to help her process it and move towards recovery (which is the goal either way).

 

[TonyG]

I have fallen down my share of stairs in my life, mostly very drunk and although they are memories I don't think it would cause ptsd,
One night I was doing the bus top at A night club and knocked a table full of people over and tumbled down the stairs, I was then ejected out the door by the bouncers, Very funny night.