General Working???

[Sunshine71]

I just wondered how many PTSD suffers are still able to work....

I have held the fort for over 2 1/2 years and my hubbies 'job' if you like has been to get better as its been full time dealing with counselling and dotors to do with the injury from the hit and run car accident he was hurt in - then to recover from the heart attack that I am convinved was due to the stress of PTSD.

Thank god he found photography as he has been studying this and is very good.

He is now at the stage where he could make a living (of sorts) from this but I know he is nervous....

It is such an extra burden an stress on me to pay for everything and now because of changes in the govenment hubbies little bit of financial support has been taken away....

We are appealing this....

Does work take the sufferers mind off of things? Does it add to more stress? Or perhaps a mix of the 2??

I would love to knwo your experiences....

With love and thanks

Sunshine xx

 

[Connor_ptsd]

Hi, I went from a career in healthcare to driving a tractor on my own for ten hours a day after a particularly traumatic incident at work.

I was able to continue that job for ten years and could probably have retired there if it hadn't been for other circumstances, each person copes differently and the circumstances vary a great deal but it would be great to hear other people's experiences.

All the best,

Connor x

 

[Ruckster]

Sunshine, I am sure it really depends on the severity of the symptoms and the complexity of the job and probably a lot of other factors and each experience will be different.

I, personally, have 2 jobs and a family and pets and grandkids and PTSD. I am sure my jobs help because I am so busy I just plain don't have time to be having panic attacks. I do have trouble some days performing all that stuff well because of intrusive thoughts and anxiety, but if I didn't stay busy I very likely would think my way to being complete nutty. Jobs and deadlines force me to act normally even if I don't feel normal and sometimes by ACTING normal I actually FEEL a bit more normal. If I didn't have to get out of bed I am not sure I would. If I didn't have to stop staring off into space just sitting doing nothing I would just sit... and often I do...

There is the other side... maybe if I weren't so busy I would have time to deal with this ugly stuff and who knows if that would be better?

 

[Toria]

Hi Sunshine - my Husband simply cannot NOT work. He has to be physically busy at all times - and this is becoming more and more apparent the more I look for it (if that makes sense!). But like you say in your other post, there is a world of difference between (and please do not be offended at this description - it's what I tend to do myself) pottering around making an office space and making things relaxed and comfy for yourself and putting yourself out there where you and your work can be judged.

Husband is in the middle of a legal battle at the moment over a job that someone refused to pay for - to begin with they with held £2,000 :eek: We are now down to them with holding £400 and my mind says cut your losses and walk away given that the first solicitor's bill was £200... But no - Husband is wanting to fight them hammer and tongs. The problem is, with him getting confused, his story changes with each telling. If it ever got to a small claims court they would rip him to shreds - and I desperately want to protect him from that :inlove:

Sorry - a bit of a tangent there!!! But it goes back to your point of Husband not liking his clients - for most people that's not a choice. It depends if he can get past that - I'm not sure mine can.

 

[Taven Carlsen]

Basically no - I have tried endlessly to "get back on the horse" in every way I can but I've failed at it. I haven't had a job regularly and reliably since The Crazy Times when I was 16. Mostly it's just because I've become a confused nutcase (thus generally applicable to PTSD), although I also think obsessively about all the money being stolen (which is peculiar to my story).

 

[Dissociated1]

Retired for 5 months now, but I have no idea how I would have survived the last 3 1/2 years if I couldn't have rested on the laurels of a well-respected career and made myself a lame duck by being extremely clear I was taking an early out as soon as one became available.