PTSD diagnosis

have a few questions some people may be able to help me with.....

Ive been sufferin for over 12 monts now. Constantly remembering throughout the day......very debilitating.

can i do anything about this? is this normal? how long does the "remember" stage last. Ques are not responsible, its like a film in my head - all very strange.

Ive been told a mentle strategy is to control the mind and not allow these thoughts to filter through? should i try this and will it hamper my recovery speed.

lastly......im so annoyed and bloody tired at remembering things.

any help is greatly appreciated.....

UKGENT,

PTSD is hard to deal with I've suffered with it too but my flashbacks are different from yours. I don't get the play back movie where I see and remember things instead I get body memories where I feel it in the body, scared, tense etc and sometimes don't know why.
Some stuff with me I can't remember even though I know it happened because I wrote it down.

Flashbacks are apart of the healing process. When memories come sometimes it means that you are ready to deal with them and heal from them otherwise they wouldn't be coming out at all.

Flashbacks are scary, hell dealing with PTSD is scary and I was plauged with it for 8 yrs and just this year I was able to get free from it..

Even though I still get reminants of PTSD with triggers etc, but i've accepted the fact that I may always have to deal with them and i've learned to deal it them.... Read my post I have a choice, if you can't find it i'll bump it to the top it should be in this section regarding triggers and how I hard to cope with them.

Therapy is the best thing for this. My psychiatrist helped me out soooo much. If I didn't have her i'd likely still not understanding what I was going through, why I was feeling like this, at least in therapy I came to an understanding, and start the healing process.

The more you talk the better it becomes... Even though I know talking can be extremely difficult.... but know what I did to get the ball rolling for me.... I wrote it down, triggers when they occured.. what they were... if there was a new memory , body memory or if something scared me I'd write it down... bring it to my psychiatrist and let her read it. She got the ball rolling.

Just 5 months ago or so I just was able to let go and I was dealing with this since I was 16....

It does get better.... it takes time, look how long it took me and i'm only 24...

It will get better, you should read in this thread in the coping thread at the top of this board, browse through it I posted ways to cope with flashbacks and so forth.. and also in the general information thread theres some more information in there.. maybe it'll help you better to understand.

Hang in there my friend...

Here is the post I was reffering to called I have a choice... It was in the other thread.. here is the link.

http://www.psychforums.com/forums/viewt ... t=i+choice

thanks.

You're welcome...

I also have PTSD and have suffered from flashbacks. What helped me, thru therapy and having supportive people around me, was to try to desensitize. For example, one of the traumas that I dealt with was physical and psychological flashbacks brought on by an extremely abusive marriage. It was when I was able to be in a safe place and more loving relationship that I could understand that I finally understood that I would not have to go thru any of that trauma again...ever...because I would never let myself get back with that particular person again. Gradually, normal arguments and difficulties became just that...normal..because it was in a much safer place.

Another example was when many years after the abuse ended that I was able to tell my story in front of a judge, lawyers, my children, the abusive spouse and his wife. The abuser's secrets were exposed and believed by the courtroom. He could not retalliate. The point is, when you finally feel safe, the flashbacks will ease up

Hang in there! And, be gentle with yourself as you go thru this.

Good post Betty...


My problems right now in terms of PTSD is that I still cannot stand people yelling, especially my BF, or anger for that matter, bothers me too much.

Also at night I sometimes always fear that someone will break in and hurt me, thinking up the worse case scenerios, planning where to hide if it does happen, who to phone first, obviously the police... and the weird thing is I actually forgot my address here...weird eh. All because I was thinking so much and getting tense everytime I heard the house setting.

Hi sadgurl,

To combat the feelings that someone was going to come in, I slept with the lights on for awhile. Finally, I was able to realize that I was safe.

Another tip for a settling house is to get a cat. You can blame alot of noises on a cat! I lived alone at this time, too.

I also set a booby trap/noisemaker on the back door so that it would wake me up if someone moved the door. Gradually as I felt safe, I no longer needed to set the noisemaker.

As for the problem of remembering your address, write it down and place it beside your phone. This worked for me.

Hang in there and try to stop scaring yourself. You have to put your trust in God to keep you safe and believe! PTSD does get better with time if you try to keep your activities and interactions with peple at a normal level. Try not to be alone too much. Also, if calloused people say something like, "get over it," just ignore them and do not let it get you down.

Hey Betty,

I think it bothered me the post was because that nite that I was worried about someone coming after me was when prior to that I had triggers... so that just added to it and the anxiety.

I know every sound in the house now and in this townhouse you can hear everything.

I think it is mainly just anxiety.
Well plus the triggers.

I didn't get like that this morning, but I couldn't sleep.

We can't get a cat in the house cause my BF is allergic, and he doesn't want any pets right now, they tie you down.

I have cats and birds at home, but when i'm at home there are people there so it doesn't bother me.

It's when i'm alone it gets to me.

thanks for the replies people.
Some good points there. Ive been told that my type of flashbacks if you can call them that can be controlled somewhat by stopping the thought process (think of a VCR...stop, play pause) - has anyone had anysucess with this type of approach?


Thanks all for the replies.

Hi UKGENT,

The analogy of the VCR type pause and play technique is very helpful. Something that I found helpful was to find something pleasant to distract myself with. In one case, when I was particularly troubled with flashbacks, I carried a single hyacynth blossom with me (given to me with love from a friend.) Since it was very fragrant , I sniffed it when I felt the need for relief. In essence, I chose to associate something pleasant with the flashback and terrible memory. It was a type of desenticization technique that gradually lessened the impact of the flashback. In other words, you could substitute a pleasant distraction to "fall back on" when the sensations hit. It did take a bit of time for this to work, but in time it helped alot.

As mentioned to sadgurl, trying to substitute something benign to take the place of something horrible to desensitize the flashbacks helps. Gradually, using this method, it helped me. However, I do still get flashbacks occasionally. It is when I realize that I am SAFE NOW that I get the most relief. I hope that whatever terrified you will diminish soon. In the meantime, please be gentle with yourself as you work this thru. It WILL get better. I promise.

My spelling is awful but I hope that you could understand what I was trying to say.

Best wishes to you!

Betty