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Understanding Ptsd - By Anthony Parsons

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Instead of reading this to my husband as I have done before. I am going to print it off and hand it to him today, in large print if I have to. Then he can sit and read, inwardly digest for himself, instead of me having to explain stuff over and over again.

Oh how I wish he would learn to use a PC.
 
I am currently rewriting this document, as its information is quite outdated in some aspects, and so much more information is known now... so the document is being recreated in what will become the more common format approach for MyPTSD.
 
Anthony (and Nicolette):

I'm still reading through this and understand your rules a lot better from within the framework of this document. I also have many more things I'll read through before responding more fully on the forums besides general support.

Frankly, Anthony's articles, posts, experience and everything else is just short of a formal Dissertation.

That said, there's a lot of blank spots that I'm trying to fill in that may be beyond the scope of this document. Namely, this is the first time I'm hearing about PTSD as an "Imbalance" between right and left hemispheres of the brain. (1) What is the definition of an imbalance in this context? Where's the cite? (2) How does this work with current theory about pre-frontal cortex and amygdyla? I can't find peer-reviewed references with a keyword search of PTSD and brain hemispheres.

Further, my contention with Anthony about "Combat Trained" and "Civilian" being different makes a lot more sense, but because of Anthony's definition and explanation in this article, I have an idea that there's a third variation on this: The trained Civilian that experiences TRAINING as well as tragedy and grief.

I argued that a civilian photographer in Beirut feels more at home in Combat.PTSDforum.org, but concede that that isn't necessarily true. Dorothy Parvaz, for instance, wouldn't belong there, despite captivity, emotional torture, combat, etc. Further, she (as far as I know) wouldn't know how to use a gun or fight without a gun even if her life depended on it.

Trained hyper-awareness, (Hypervigilance) and exaggerated startle response isn't just a military thing and isn't "trained" just by the military. The training of guns and how to kill isn't just military. I grew up in the country, for example. I was 10 when dear old, alcoholic, Viet Nam vet, Dad started teaching me how to shoot and take care of guns. He taught me and my brother how to shoot with and without a spotter at long distances. In short, trained by an hinting Vet sharp-shooting dad.

I was 14 when I started martial arts and 16 when I earned a "Brown belt" in Tae Kwon Do before moving to Mixed Martial. In short, trained by Gyosa and then a "Coach" named Boris from Russia. ;)

I was 19 when a man from West Beirut tapped into that set of experiences and created a "Civilian" that was able to scan windows and roof-tops and shoot his way out of East Beirut....now, part of my panic attack and flooding.

Anthony (should be Dr. Anthony Parsons) should polish this up and submit it as a book, then as a Dissertation. It's THAT good... and it's helped analytical me. Clean division between "military" and "civilian?" ... not so much, though I'm still going through everything he's written and trying to understand.

For the record, I'm not trying to make my own self MORE than what I am. I AM and always WILL be a civilian. However, I have HURT and injured people (including hospital staff and psych ward guards) because this third variation wasn't understood. My therapist has seen me in full flooding and knows how hard it sometimes is to get to an office mere blocks away when there are SO many rooftops and open windows and intersections to navigate through... but, only when I'm triggered by heavy helicopters.

Martial arts is about training muscle memory and technique and to "react" before you think. It's about getting the technique into the same place as pulling your hand away from an hot stove. Hunting (with an abusive, Vet father) is about hearing and knowing and learning the first time around so you don't get beat and hit around the ears.

Actual Combat introduces everything you learned to the very REAL world. I didn't get it, but Mustapha did. He saw it when he found me. He used it... to kill everything from here to there. I never missed... after I was finally able to pull the trigger the first time... After I emptied a clip into a dead body with Mustapha holding my hand to pull the trigger...

Anthony, you explained everything very well except: You cannot DIVIDE everything between YOUR military experience and our Civilian experience with nothing in between. There ARE things in between... and, yeah, I DID suffer abuse before the combat experience... so did my dad before his Viet Nam.

Anthony, my therapist is doing a VERY good job on a thing that she can't imagine. I DO trust her. I also made her cry, two times and that was a betrayal to me: I need her to be strong and not cry... except, I describe everything THAT well.

I'm turning to you because there's a middle place between what you say, my experiences (plural) and Dr. Uma Millner. I HATE that my girlfriend, Kelsey, has to get off the bed and touch my foot to wake me up because she's scared of me. I hate being a machine of training and having to deal with what I did AFTER I've done it.

Yeah, this "Civilian" knows all about the button and training to develop a short-cut key to achieve it: Some of us outside of the military train long and hard to achieve it.

I'm VERY sorry if there's any offense. I don't want there to be. I'm desperate and trying to figure out what's going on. My therapist is ALSO trying to figure it out and I feel that she's trying. She's tough on me and knowledgeable and knows PTSD.

Seriously, I'm stuck and I don't know what to do. I'm OUT OF TIME. My therapist leaves in December on Maternity Leave and My 2-year gf is tired of it. I do NOT have amnesia, anymore (mostly, except for some blanks) I have triggers and I DO have nightmares that push against those blanks. I feel as if I'm going to LOSE everything, again.

I have to solve this NOW.
 
Hi,

Whilst much of that information still stands true today, some of it also doesn't any longer. Did when I wrote it, has changed since.

PTSD has been closed down now as what its always been known as, being a chemical imbalance. Neuroscience has refuted that and changed what PTSD is... being they actually don't know, but they do know there is no chemical imbalance, or balance... but PTSD seems to stem primarily in the pre-frontal cortex. The experts DO NOT know exactly what PTSD is within the biology of the body, and are still trying to find that answer now neuroscience has undone pharmaceutical hypothesis.

I am in the process of trying to rewrite this entire document, with more current information.
 
Anthony, If PTSD is NOT a chemical imbalance, then is there a possibility that it can be cured? Sorry, can't help hoping that somehow I will not just have manage the symptoms, but actually be free of them for good!
 
I'm about half way through rewriting this document...

There is still no cure for PTSD from the medical experts. PTSD is similar to cancer, in that it can only be treated, not cured. Cancer can be removed medically, however; if you have it, your chances of getting it again are extremely high. Just like PTSD, once you have it, chances of getting again are extremely high.

Chances of having lifetime debilitating diagnosis, well, the stats are pretty stable on that front, around the 6% range of those who 'really' have PTSD.

Saying it was something, or wasn't, hasn't changed what PTSD actually is... being the experts have no real exact idea to date. All they can say, is that with far more certainty due to neuro-imaging, is that it seems to stem primarily from the prefrontal cortex.

Lets be honest... they know little about the brain, they know little about how the brain interacts exactly with the body. They know lots, yet still in the scope of the brain, little of what the brain can actually perform.
 
Sigh......Ah well, guess I'm a living example of what you said above.....grrrrrr! So I'll revise my hope.......I will hope that I get to the point that I am managing my symptoms so well that I am symptom free for longer and longer periods of time. Experience is showing that is what is happening with me so it's a realistic hope to hold onto :D YAY!
 
Experience is showing that is what is happening with me so it's a realistic hope to hold onto :D YAY!
Don't feel bad... I fit in the same basket, being that small percentage of the overall numbers as being lifetime, yet I also experience what you are starting to experience, being symptoms are manageable longer and longer, depending on how much exposure I have to the world at once, and whether I can manage it.

For example, a couple of big days out with overseas friends would have normally knocked me on my arse for a day afterwards, yet didn't this time round. If I went out for further days, then yes, I would have likely been knocked over with symptoms for a day, however; slowly the period increases that I can get better exposure to life's full pleasures, without ending up ill every time.

That is the best outcome you can aim for if you fit within that 6% approximate figure of lifetime PTSD.

You just keep chipping away at each issue as it arises, then you find and implement solutions that work, expose yourself further and push yourself, suddenly you just pushed yourself a new boundary.
 
Now I am really confused. At the end of my session with my primary T today he said that since most of my PTSD symptoms are under control now he wants to reassess my diagnosis suggesting maybe he should dx me with GAD. Can PTSD be downgraded to a different disorder because my symptoms have lessened to the point that I no longer meet the criteria for PTSD? I'd love it if I truly don't have PTSD, that would be wonderful, but it doesn't make sense to me. He says I will always be vulnerable to it just like I am MDD. Can a person slip in and out of PTSD? I see my trauma T on Friday so I will ask her, but would love some input beforehand.
 
Hi there. I don't think you can slip in and out of PTSD; I wish it was a curable condition, but I don't think it is. Maybe he means that since your symptoms are under control you are dealing with a condition more akin to an anxiety disorder?Sometimes symptoms are so similar from one disorder to another that a diagnosis is hard to give, unless you have every symptom of a disorder - like I seem to have - uuggghhh!

My symptoms are so bad sometimes that I have confused medical professionals. I was told I was having seizures for a time, until they had me in the epilepsy center for a few weeks and observed my flashbacks and night terrors, all while being video taped with electrodes on my head. That was a few years back but I just finally learning (on my own) how to gain control of my flashbacks.

Please Keep in touch and let me know what she says about your diagnosis. And how you are doing.

Anna-Lisa
 
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