Post traumatic stress

[Schmoo]

Hi all
I just wondered if anyone else is suffering with ptsd. I am feeling very alone and cut off at the mo and have been searching for advice on the internet for the last few hours (which is how I found this site!) My panic attacks are more like depersonalisation, feeling not attached to my own body and would love to know how to reduce them. I know they are caused by flashbacks which I am trying to deal with, does anyone else know how I am feeling and how do you deal with flashbacks and/or this depersonalisation?
Any advice is welcomed.
bbfn
Julie

 

[maudikie]

PTSD

Hi! I know n othing of PTSD but there is a lot of information on the website of the Royal College of Psychaitrist: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation/mentalhealthproblems/posttraumaticstressdisorder/posttraumaticstressdisorder.aspx
There is also information for friends and relatives. I think you mioght find that useful and helpful.
It must be a very distressing condition. I hope you will be able to solve our problem soon.

 

[Schmoo]

Thanks Maudikie

Hope I spelt that right
Thanks for the website it has really helped and I really appreciate you taking the time to tell me about it.
Take care & thanks again
Julie

 

[yakuza]

Hi Schmoo,

I can certainly relate to the flashbacks as I have them most of the day and particularly at night.

The advice the GP and Psych gave me was to try and find ways of relaxing which starts with reducing the caffeine intake from 6pm onwards.
Gentle exercise and breathing techniques,even whilst sitting can be therapeutic although trying to keep up with that can be rather mundane personally.
Many people successfully use meditation.

I try a combination of things in the evenings,chatting online,reading,playing music through my earpiece,even comedy on tv/online can be be a distraction.

I think it's about finding out what's best for you and if it works,that's great.

 

[maudikie]

PTSD

It is probable that more PTSD will occur in troups having served abroad in the fighting areas. They should receive specialist help. They could be referred to the Royal College of psychiatrist site which gives useful iformation to both sufferers and relatives. This can be a very distressing condition.

 

[whisper]

hi yeah i can relate to the flashbacks as i get them a few times a day but i generally use music and discription-distraction when trying to calm myself down and find this helps alot but you just need to find out whats best for you, i guess during the depersonalisating panic attacks you might find it helpful to find a way to stay in the moment like take in your surroundings ect
hope this helps & welcom to the forum =)

 

[Eleison]

Yep. I have PTSD. [The Complex kind] It's as a result of childhood trauma and abuse.

Yes, I get flashbacks, but they're sort of dissociative flashbacks, like I'm there in the past but not remembering the events but feeling like I did then and people around me are like the bullies or my father.

I find the hyper-vigilance and irritability most troubling, literally.

 

[Norabella]

me too...

Yep. I have PTSD. [The Complex kind] It's as a result of childhood trauma and abuse.

Yes, I get flashbacks, but they're sort of dissociative flashbacks, like I'm there in the past but not remembering the events but feeling like I did then and people around me are like the bullies or my father.

I find the hyper-vigilance and irritability most troubling, literally.

Gosh, I know how you feel, i am hyper vigilant too and paranoid sort of the same thing. I was abused by my father (sexually and physically, emotionally goes without saying - always puzzles me that you have to qualify emotional abuse), I get triggers from hearing certain songs on the radio or in shops etc and also if I see a child who reminds me of me at a certain stage in my life - I nearly physically attacked a bloke once cos I thought he was my father!!

I am not a violent person by the way but things were at a critical time in my therapy and I was really in the thick of it at the time.

I get angry though and that is most disabilitating because I can control it but I have to suffer it the rest of the day - not fun

I am just getting my head around the fact that depite years of therpay (off and on) and 6 years of one to one, which is when it really started to work and boy is it hard work or what! I still have to live with all the anxiety, paranoia, irrational thoughts etc it's just that therapy means that I can say ohhh this is paranioa/anxiety/I am having a panic attack, this is not rational and instead of freaking out or being subject to some inner force I could not control I have to put the effort in to control it instead, to be honest that is what makes me angry, because at he end of the day I am still suffering and carrying a burden not of my making.

Still that the way it is for me I guess!

now I am not alone.....

 

[Ashami]

Hi Schmoo

I understand what you are going thru to some degree, especially with the depersonalisation. I know from what Ive learn't that dissociation is something we do when we cannot handle trauma, past or present. As children we dissociate in order to survive when we endure trauma, but it can become a problem in adulthood.

The flashbacks - I have my own personal method to deal with them. When a flashback occurs I imagine a white cloud about 30ft above me. Taking deep, slow breaths, I visualise myself 'breathing out' those scenes / images, seeing them as small clouds floating up to join the large cloud above my head. It is something I have practised successfully for several years now. Whilst it does not necessarily stop the flashbacks, it gets them out of my head pretty quickly.

 

[Roxy]

Gosh, I know how you feel, i am hyper vigilant too and paranoid sort of the same thing. I was abused by my father (sexually and physically, emotionally goes without saying

Hi Norabella, I'm so sorry for what you went through, I was in a similar situation so I can empathise totally with you. In my case it was so long ago, nearly forty years, but i'm still suffering the consequences, probably always will. Like you i'm getting some help, talking therapies do some good, but the constant knot of anxiety is constantly there, as if i'm always on guard waiting for the next attack, because that is what it was like and i'm just beginning to fully comprehend that now.

Its good that you're experiencing the benefits of your therapy, although as you say it is hard work, very debilitating and all consuming, but we're survivors and our strength will see us through. Take care.

 

[Norabella]

Hi Norabella, I'm so sorry for what you went through, I was in a similar situation so I can empathise totally with you. In my case it was so long ago, nearly forty years, but i'm still suffering the consequences, probably always will. :

Hi Roxy

Yes same here I am 45 now - it stopped when I was 9, my poor mum, bless her, finally got the courage to get rid of him - ended up in court not for what he did to me but to her, apparantly my evidence was not valid - thank god things have moved on with approaches to children and how they present things.

Yes life is still very hard for me, I too remain ever vigilant against percieved threats and dont cope with normal things and like you the full impact of this is just starting to become real now for me.

Nora Bella x