Difficulty recognizing Flashbacks

That's an excellent plan, what is he going to do? You could always point him to this forum too, though

hehe we'll be the best of friends soon!

LOL!
So how are the flashbacks, still bad?

Flashbacks are the same Took a shower last night and was overwhelmed with them. Husband hear me crying out from the other room. He's such a trooper. he used to get scared when this happened but now knows what's going on and just asks me how I'm doing.

I found a blanket for myself and my cat, Pete, climbed into my lap and fell asleep with me

Awwwwwwwwwww, how sweet is mister Pete! It's great that your husband gives you support. Do you think there was anything in particular about the shower that triggered you?

well it's funny that you keep asking if there was anything in particular because my first thought was to say, no nothing in particular, I just have flashbacks ALL the time, and there's nothing that specificallt triggers them.

But that isn't true... there is always something specific that triggers them. Just being naked in the water triggered it... was traumatized in a similar situation (no need to get specific ). And regarding the subway, I was jumped many times as a kid walking around the city I grew up in... walking home from the bus or subway, or in the subway... so yeah... there is specific trauma triggering these things.

And how did you know I call my cat Mister Pete?? I also had a cat named Mister Buddy

Yah, it makes sense that you get triggered in these situations. You can talk about it any time, if you want to. You can PM me too, if you think it might help.

I think Mister Pete sent me kittie psychic messages and told me his nickname Awwwwwww, Mister Buddy!

Hey, I'm kind of late to the message board but I can tell you about my flashback experience and I do have a question. My episodes are more limited to: not being able to remember to breath properly (I can consciously try and I can't do it), and I get dizzy. The more serious ones included the entire room swaying back and forth (tunnel vision), and it felt like I was on a ship that was rocking back and forth (couldn't keep my legs steddy)...but no actual flashbacks. The serious ones I know what the trigger was and it was an issue I've blocked out for almost 10 yrs (it was extremely traumatic although I have almost no recollection because I was drugged). Something very traumatic happened 6 yrs ago that I'm very conscious of, have guilt, pain from, probably haven't fully dealt with yet. From therapy, have you found that your flashback/ episodes were prompted by a combination of incidents, or do specific triggers spike flashbacks of certain incidents? I thought I'd dropped all my anxiety until recently when I started having trouble breathing again (it's been a year and a half since my last real panic attack). I guess I'm wondering if even though I went to therapy for the first thing, is it going to keep happening because of the other/ and that on-going issue? Any feedback from your experiences would be great. Thanks

Hi Stillgrowing! My anxiety/flashbacks are related to so many different traumas that have occured from infancy to adulthood that it's like untangling a giant knot. I have flashbacks of different themes rather than specific instances because those instances occurred many times. Like, I have flashbacks triggered by sex because I was abused many times at various points in life. I have flashbacks triggered by certain urban environments/situations because I was robbed/jumped. I have flashbacks triggered by social situations because my father was on edge in those situations are usually lost his temper/freaked out/acted psychotic when in those same situations. All of these things happened so often that I can't point to any one event that caused the flashbacks. I can say that therapy and medication have greatly reduced my general anxiety and the flashbacks are more manageable because of it. I do have to say that my brain seems to have become accustomed to flashbacks... my therapist describes it as having lost a psychological filter that most people have to brush off common and even mundane experiences that are mildly unpleasant, and I now have flashbacks about those experiences too. So they aren't even necessarily traumatic but I flash back to them almost out of habit. They feel traumatic regardless.

My flashbacks take a few forms:

overwhelming feelings that "come out of nowhere"

smells/sounds that I know aren't there that are clearly from moments of extreme distress

pictures in my head that get "louder" than what's around me. like a picture that's flashed in front of my eyes of something that is really unpleasant that I don't want to see or remember.

Sounds to me like you're experiencing panic attacks. I've had those too but not for a long time. Have you seen a doctor about this? Also somethign that comes to mind is I remember getting dizzy and having that tunnel vision because I hadn't remembered to eat anything in a day or two. Are you making sure to eat/drink enough water?

I wouldn't realize I was having a flashback when I was having one. Could understand what had happened once it was over.

Never worked on being able to identify a flashback while experiencing it. Worked on the issues producing it and no longer have them.