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Poll Trigger poll

  • Post starter Post starter Deleted member 33052
  • Start date Start date

Do you have many different triggers that send you straight to flight/fight/freeze?

  • Just one or two really big ones

    Votes: 21 33.9%
  • Damn near every sight, scent or sound sends me off

    Votes: 7 11.3%
  • Enough to guarantee that I'll be triggered a couple of times a day, easy

    Votes: 29 46.8%
  • You totally missed the mark

    Votes: 10 16.1%

  • Total voters
    62
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I'm one of the ones that chose the mark missing options. I don't think there's any correlation between the number of triggers I have and how often I'm triggered. I have a scent one that can potentially trigger me multiple times a day, but I also have another trigger involving other people's behavior that might only come up once a year.
 
For me it seems there is a correlation between my stress cup being full to overflowing, setting and what the trigger IS.
I have a few that will hit me as just a flash if I'm in a good place and not stressed. One example is big rumbly trucks. I might get a 'flash' more anxious etc. IF I'm in a good place but I will be able to basically carry on. But there was one day about a year ago- I had just been to court over my abusive ex and the restraining order. I had to walk into a noisy garage and (thank god my therapist was with me) I had a nasty flashback that pretty much ended the day. Had to get help getting home- the whole nine yards. It was ugly.
 
I tend to think it is the 'emotional memory' attached to the trigger that makes it significant and not the number of triggers or the frequency. Just one trigger per year is enough to send me spiraling out of control if the trigger has an intense impact on memory / emotion. just my 2 cents.

Ummm, how many triggers is that for me? dozens.
 
I have multiple but many are seasonal and/or uncommon. For example Easter is my biggest trigger so I don't leave my house much when the stores have the decorations but I don't have to worry about if much the rest of the year.
 
I selected two. I have a few big ones but then some smaller ones that can build on each other and I am triggered damn near every day. So those were the two I selected.
 
A bbq and the smell of meat cooking on one.
Knives of any kind—box cutters, hunting, fishing, carving, and swords—all give me flashbacks and panic attacks.
Someone in my house without prior warning.
Red meat. Not fully cooked red meat.
Anything overhead which I accidentally bump into with something else.
Moths. I wish I knew what that was about.
Anything flying in my face (thanks @Charleh ).
Children's hands with fingers disembodied from the rest of the arm in a magazine, book, commercial, or movie.
 
Hearing my husband crack his knuckles (he doesn't do that anymore)
The light changes from the sun setting on bedroom walls
Men who walk like marines and are tall (used to trigger me but I'm better about it now)
 
Knives trigger me for sure, particularly a certain kind of knife used a lot in cooking (won't mention it in case it is triggering for someone else :) ) I can't handle seeing it without being triggered. Lanyards are triggering for me too, its kind of strange, but if I see someone with one of those lanyards that have keys or small pocket knife on it, or any kind of lanyard really, especially if the person is messing with it, like twisting it or swinging it, I get triggered. Sometimes if something or someone touches the back of my neck I get triggered, I don't ever wear my hair in a ponytail because when it brushes against my neck it sometimes triggers me; braid doesn't bother me, just the ponytail, not sure why. Sometimes abuser liked me to wear my hair in a ponytail, or would grab my hair from behind and pull me back, maybe thats why.
 
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