You Know You Need A Vacation From Dealing With Ptsd...

[freakofnurture]

I'm not sure if this is actually a useful sister thread to the glorious 'You Know You Have PTSD When...', so feel free to close it.
But there are things I'd like to micro-vent about that don't really fit into that thread. Plus Supporters/Carers/Significant Others/xyz could vent here, too.


You know you need a vacation from dealing with PTSD when...

* you've read so much about the topic that it's totally exhilarating to find an article that actually tells you something new
* you have to re-discover the benefits of taking your meds regularly because you hate them pills so damn much by now that you usually take them only when withdrawal symptoms set in
* you rather bear a throbbing headache than take a pill against it
* everything you do and feel starts to look like a PTSD symptom

Add your own.


*takes a deep breath and clicks 'create thread'*

 

[Grace11]

* you feel your shoulders clenching up to your ears repeatedly and yet find yourself doing it again, 5 minutes later *

* you think out your responses to every possible negative thing that could happen to you just by leaving the house and think it's normal *

* seeing photos of people who trigger you make you turn away from the camera and shield your eyes so you can delete them from the camera *

* you don't mind being physically ill or in pain, because, hey, it's not that bad compared to the other stuff. *

 

[Grace11]

* when a supportive friend (who is also a therapist) tells you that you are not a bad person, and you get really irritated and try to argue otherwise. *

 

[Iron_Angel]

* when logging onto the forum is the first thing you do in the morning, and the last thing you do at night. (Though that may not be a bad thing.

)

 

[Srain]

You know need a vacation from PTSD when you call a friend you haven't seen in awhile and excitedly tell them how great it would be to get together and go to a Convention in Spring where the highlight is on Emotional Trauma and they quietly tell you they will still be working on taking care of their bills...crickets...

Maybe not....

 

[freakofnurture]

You know you need a vacation from having to deal with PTSD when...
... you think about the future and all you see is what PTSD will ruin for you.

@Srain: I think the topic sounds fascinating. Your friend doesn't know what they're missing :D

 

[Vee Lagrome]

...when you are just looking for a reason to fly off the handle, can't find one, and have an intense dream about flying off the handle that scares the crap out of you.

 

[Gcat]

You need a vacation from p.t.s.d. when you start to feel wrapped up in its vortex by reading or thinking about it too much (sometimes I feel like my head spins)- you want information, but you feel compelled to read or think more and more (is it really like an addiction? or a transformation?- or both?) Then it's time to stretch, go for a walk, take a bath, pet the cat, read a book, listen to music, drink some tea, etc. Do "good" routines to give your mind a rest and convince it there is more to life than pee tee es dee! I once thought of ptsd as a "boundary illness"- your trauma(s) affected your boundaries, now you're working to heal them.

 

[way_back_when]

When you get ticked off that your older friend (30 years older than you) uses age and memory as an excuse for forgetting about plans you had. How dare they use bad memory as an excuse when you can't remember what you had 2 minutes ago for breakfast! :confused:

 

[freakofnurture]

... when you're working with Photoshop and every. single. time. you see the title bar of the window, you read filename.ptsd instead of filename.psd.