Triggered From Unrelated Event

[mrsmegan]

I feel like I am on the verge of a (what I call) "PTSD meltdown"....

I just passed by an accident this morning on my way to work. I saw the woman behind the wheel, she appeared unconscious, it looked like there was gasoline coming from her tank. I called 911 and gave the information. I cannot shake my anxiety, seeing everything over and over in my head. I feel my flight/fight/freeze on overdrive.

I know that this would be a very normal response, but my trauma history is abuse. Why would I be reacting this way to something unrelated? I guess I will admit here I have been have some S/I, pretty passive, but a lot of it is around just not wearing my seat belt and just waiting for someone to hit me.

I had an already VERY anxious night of sleep, so this is not helping.

 

[J'qel]

It can happen. My triggers are related to abuse as well, but my first big PTSD shutdown was triggered by a friend's cancer diagnosis. Some of my immediate family have already passed from the evil C, so it shouldn't have hit me as hard as it did, but .... I was crushed for a long time.

I expect it may have to do with repressing our stress, so it builds up until an event comes along that just hits the pile in the right place to bury us under an avalanche of stress and anxiety. Trying to manage in our lives for so long, we don't notice the pressure building until our mental state has had enough.

For a "normal" person it would involve an outburst or just a really crap day where you take some me time to deal with everything on your plate. For those of us with PTSD, it can be nearly total destruction over seemingly minor events.

While you may not necessarily want to recognize it, living with PTSD takes a lot out of someone from day to day. From slamming doors, to people yelling, to alarms for waking up, to small slights and snickers... every last one of them can and often do ping our hyper awareness. Just because we set it aside doesn't mean it doesn't take it's toll day after day.

Take some time aside. Maybe pick a few hours a week to just relax and process what's going on, maybe find something stress relieving as a hobby to engage in to blow off those unseen stressors. It should help.

 

[Keming]

Seconding J'qel. It's a stress thing. PTSD sufferers have a much lower threshold for stress, and/or a hypersensitivity to stress chemicals. And all mammals react to injury to members of their group/herd/whatever. It means you care.