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

[kerrence]

I know exactly when my PTSD began. it was at least a year after the incident. I was watching a movie and a guy hung himself, it was unexpected and reminded me of my experience enough to cause a reaction. I instantly broke down in tears and since then things have just gotten worse.

 

[Abstract]

Impossible to vote accurately as am not sure when it truly started.
Had definate symptoms at about age 14 but started with dissociating, hyperarousal, sleep problems and fear of people before age five. Worst incident was at age seventeen and I came to a total standstill age 37. Its a mess to try to decipher.

 

[anni]

Clueless also now. I can't remember if I even voted on this poll when I saw it a year ago. The whole thing went on for so long, the living with it followed by the aftermath-can't remember when fear for real turned into fear as a symptom, or if any of the other manifestations were 'real' at the time or the PTSD beginning to warp things in there.

 

[The Albatross]

The one that tipped me was rape at 25 after I left my abusive first husband. I had a bunch of bad stuff happen before that and was having a lot of difficulty... but that one pushed me over the edge. I became reactive, suicidal, despondent, and isolated fearfully after that.

 

[eagle6764]

I think i had the symptoms from age 18 but didn't realize it at all. I was already hanging in there emotionally and any time I had a chance of feeling like I belonged an event would happen that would knock me straight back down. If it were little things that had knocked me back I would have been ok, but it was the way I had to rehabilitate myself from the rollercoaster of vile events that eventually did me in. You can't keep bouncing back even though I really believed that I could. I'm still surprised that someone diagnosed me with it 3 years before I was ready to believe it myself and still wonder what it was that made her (my psychiatrist) make that diagnosis - was it something I said or the way I looked - I still don't know and am afraid to ask her.

 

[caliaviator]

I honestly don't know for me. My problems started in the 4th grade on up to the 12th grade, and the psychiatrist stated I had "fear of failure" when the only thing I feared was being mocked and beaten into the ground as usual. But I would say the symptoms started for me in the 5th grade because that is when I noticed the biggest change in my personality and my well being. Then things just started to go downhill from there. I wasn't diagnosed until months after I got out of the military.

 

[Evie]

Yeah its hard to say exactly when the symptoms started. I have been diagnosed with late onset PTSD (triggered by work related stessors/issues) as a result of childhood sexual abuse. So, Ive just been diagnosed and I'm 29. However, I've always had some symptoms in hindsight, for example have always had nightmares about it, hypervigilance, startle response, problems with intimacy etc. etc. However, my social and occupational functioning was not significantly impaired, until now. The DSM requires significant impairment in these areas for diagnoses to me be made, so yeah I suppose that has occurred now. Stupid delayed onset, how about 'never onset'. Grrrrr.

 

[Gamereign555]

This question perplexes me a little.

I did have verbal/physical/sexual trauma as a child but went on with my life like it hadn't happened. This is multiple events.
There was a recent event when I went into hyperventilation syndrome at work which persisted even after being ambulanced to the hospital. This was traumatic enough to be an event but this also could have been a symptomatic occurrence of ptsd.

The way I see it, the early childhood trauma and continuous drug use as a teenager just made me susceptible to ptsd later on in life, which happened last year at work. The anxiety of my job attributed to on onset of panic attacks, the initial panic attack resulted in hyperventilation, then hyperventilation syndrome which resulted in a diagnosis of ptsd after symptoms continued to persist.
It was hard to sort out, but its the only explanation I can think of as a cause.
It is worth noting that a couple energy drinks that morning made it very hard to control my hyperventilation the doctor believes.

 

[boondockbabe]

I put 1-3 months because mine started after my parents lost the house when I was ten. I remember how distraught I was over losing my home. My father was in the boilermakers union so we moved alot. This was supposed to be my "forever" home. I still remember crying and carving my name into the boulders around the house.( I'm crying thinking about it) We were extremely well-off and afterwards fell into the bowels of poverty. In 1989 My dear mother put my parents entire savings into the stock market sometime before it crashed. She is mentally disturbed on top of suffering from severe alcholism. From 11 to 17 when I ran away, I lived with my mom,brother and sister. My mother is a hoarder and has been since my parents split. She mostly collects animals- dogs and cats. I lived in my bedroom with usually about an inch of dog and cat feces onthe floor. I couldn't keep up cleaning the house so I gave up.I hid it from everyone. Even when social services came out they would tell my mom to clean the place up or they would pull us out. they never did. they left me there. I have been let down by people and the system most of my life. I now finally have disability so I have time to "deal" with the issues but there are so many over such a long peroid of time I am constantly reevaluating myself and dealing with more "new" trauma. As soon as I manage to get "over" something, a new flashback shows up. Something I didn't even remember. I wish it would stop.

 

[shadowchaser]

When my initial trauma happened within a week I noticed the black outs. I would be walking threw the halls at school and loose huge chunks of time. Start in the classroom and then be in front of the gym without remembering walking there.

 

[boondockbabe]

Yes, I have some of that. I have quite a bit of time in my life I cannot account for. I'm not sure I want to at this point.

 

[Linda Strawberry-Coloma]

I had symptoms for a long time but around the time I got married and was 'happy' my mind started opening things back up. That was around the time I started actually dealing with it and not just drinking or doing drugs. It was about three years after or four years before I started being able to deal with it. Two years from the last contact from my abuser.