Poll When Did the Symptoms of PTSD First Appear, After the Initial Traumatic Event?

[Friday]

Oh, let’s open THIS ONE back up!

 

[ags1]

Same here, bedwetting until age 7 (and got punished for it), and at a younger age a lot of outbursts (over and above the terrible twos) which were thought to be some kind of disorder but eventually put down to an allergy to a soft drink. Sure in my teens it was starting to come through more, with depression due to home siutation and bullying at school too, but it was after the car crash when I was 22 that ptsd was clear. Even then, was young [40 now] and didn't understand what it was etc, but definitely about 4 years ago the final crash came, and totally withdrew.

Been finding my own ways of dealing with things until reading on a depression site a year or so ago about ptsd, and suddenly remembering it had been referred to around the time of the car crash. It really made sense then, and to finally have someone assessing correctly just this week, and referring me on for the right help, is a real positive step of progress, and feels like the end of a very long chapter, and the beginning of a much better chapter. This week the first diagnosis was put to me as 'depression with cumulative ptsd that could have begun in the developmental stage but isn't innate', so I agree that often we don't realise how early ptsd is beginning, until the symptoms become much clearer. And definitely, when ptss becomes ptsd I agree must be when we either can't find a way to resolve a trauma or are overwhelmed with circumstances that are consistently traumatic over a long period of time. And e.g. if something very difficult is hanging over your head day in day out, I can very much understand carpediem's point about when it crosses over to 'major threat/flashing lights' when the threat response has got so overwhelmed.

Cat

I'm 56 and still regularly wetting the bed.

I think I have had CPTSD symptoms as long as I can remember, as far back as my earliest memories.

 

[captain jigglypuff]

I’d say a month and a half to two months after the first sexual assault. I became extremely paranoid and hyper vigilant rather quickly.

 

[gorgonzola]

37 years.

My younger self was really, really good at setting up dissociative barriers to keep me from this. Unfortunately he was less good at setting up a big blinking neon signpost saying "don't try to revisit this section of your memory because here be dragons".

Kicking myself because I could have gotten away with it indefinitely but nooo, I just had to be curious about whether I had any history of trauma. Currently five months past the advent of symptoms, which began with a general sense of doom that quickly evolved into HV.

 

[Movingforward10]

When did they appear? Or when did we first notice?!

The first one might be immediate and the second one many decades later.

 

[In the weeds]

First trauma... I don't know what age. I know i was in a crib.

From trauma filled childhood to trauma filled marriage..

Last trauma.. 13 yrs ago.

First flashback/diagnosis.. 5 yrs ago.

So... 50± yrs?

Seems a very long time. I had buried it all, trying to put one foot in front of the other just to survive.