Somatic Flashbacks Resolution?

[Widow_of_one]

I have been having “somatic flashbacks” for about 8 months now and I seem to be stuck in the same place “experiencing” the same set of somatics again and again and again!

when will they stop!? I think they are increasing in intensity but very slowly. Shouldn’t they be about to “burn off/go away” forever so that I can sleep at night?

 

[Friday]

Shouldn’t they be about to “burn off/go away” forever so that I can sleep at night?

That would be nice! :happy:

I’ve had flashbacks for over 20 years.

When I’m running symptom hot... that can mean being slammed with them all day, every day, for weeks/months; or just a few every day /most days -bracketed/relieved by a helluva lot of other symptoms- for weeks/months/years. It’s rare for me to only have one symptom taking up most of my days when things are running hot, so the second option is far more common for me.

When I’m durn near asymptomatic? That can mean just a flicker here and there once every few years or so.

My own personal timeline looks something like this
5+ years - Hot
10 years - Asymptomatic, or near as makes no never mind
5+ years - Hot

But that’s just me. I’ve known people who only spend a couple years (or even just a few months!) hit hard... and others who have spent decades dealing with symptoms up to their eyeballs. So don’t take my timeline as any kind of guide. It’s a very personal kind of thing, with a helluva lot of moving parts. If I’d been faster out the gate this second time around? I might could have gotten in front of things any time within the first 2 years. But I didn’t. Next time, however? :sneaky: I know better! (The first time around I didn’t do any kind of trauma therapy, and the second time around I resisted and avoided it for years, as things just kept getting worse.).

 

[Ronin]

Even if they don't go away... You can learn to ignore them.

So the night becomes 'Did I -again- get choked in the middle of rape? Ffs. Back to sleep. This shit is boring.' instead of massive derail for months after.

 

[Widow_of_one]

Thank you both.

Do either of you get “dual flashbacks” at one time so for example, a somatic (feeling) flashback and a “picture” at the same time? Mostly I have singular flashbacks so only a picture or only a somatic. I had only 1 time when I experienced dual flashback symptoms at one time. I wonder if the “blow off” means that you have got to experience the entire flashback at one time as if it was happening in the present day?

Does anyone know of any good flashback books to read?

 

[Friday]

The vast majority of my flashbacks are the nightmare-whilst-awake kind, that Hollywood is so fond of, but are fairly rare amongst people with PTSD. So that’s every sense, and all of my emotions (or none, since a lot of the time my emotions were completely turned off, back when).

Single sense are my next most common. Smelling smoke, tasting blood, feeling pain, seeing a scene (sometimes completely replacing what I see, now, sometimes sort of overlaid over the top?), etc.

My rarest ones are double/triple senses... I think, in part, because they break the 4th wall. Nightmares make sense to me, and I already lived thingA so the full immersion flashbacks are very very easy for me to “believe”, if that makes sense. Single sense flashbacks, meanwhile, often take me hours to even realize they’re happening (okay, the neighbours may be BBQ’ing but they’re certainly not BBQ’ing sewage! :facepalm: ), because very few things don’t make some kind of sense. Even if I misattribute it (like smelling smoke, and blaming the neighbours, until the penny drops). Even radio crackle/static is often lost in the beat of the city, although it stands out in the woods! ...but the double/triple etc. senses? Are too disjointed for me to mistake as something happening now, and too piecemeal to accept like a dream or memory. So they cause a kind of screeching halt. Instant-grounding, maybe.

 

[Rumors]

I have been having “somatic flashbacks” for about 8 months now and I seem to be stuck in the same place “experiencing” the same set of somatics again and again and again!

when will they stop!? I think they are increasing in intensity but very slowly. Shouldn’t they be about to “burn off/go away” forever so that I can sleep at night?

wow... have had these same thoughts. I don't want to scare you but I have had versions of them for years. Recently though, I had this epiphany that the somatic nightmares, nightmare period, are about themes and have very little to do with the details. The somatic feelings come from the details which I am beginning to generalize and allow myself to release those emotions and deal with the theme. My themes usually are shame, fear, anger, sadness, abandonment, etc. I hope this helps....

 

[Woodsforthetrees]

I rarely have visual flashbacks but have quite a few somatic ones. There is one I get probably at least a couple of times a day. I haven't raised the specific memory I think this relates to yet in therapy so maybe that will help.

The therapy I'm in is Somatic Experiencing and we have worked on a body mind connection. For so long I had no connection with my body at all. In a weird way it's a comfort to know I'm with my body even if the sensations aren't very nice.

 

[Widow_of_one]

Thank you all for responding. The somatic flashbacks seem to be increasing in terms of “volume”. So they started out at 1 and now have increased to a 3. I hope this continues.

 

[Widow_of_one]

In a weird way it's a comfort to know I'm with my body even if the sensations aren't very nice.

I totally agree!! I was so numb to all experiences traumatic and not that it has been refreshing to “feel” the anger, physical pain, humiliation, and shame Because finally these “repressed traumatic memories” are being processed and therefore “resolved”.