Hi All,
I need help trying to figure out if my friend has PTSD. I'll start at the beginning.
About 7 years ago, she started having mild involantary muscle movements. It started in her neck. It went on for a few days. Then she went into full convulsions. The involantary movements became progressively worse over time. It caused muscle spasms and affected her breathing.
She was bounced from neurologists to neurologists, and was on such powerfull muscle relaxers, she can't remember the first six months after the first attack. She was given diagnosis after diagnosis. Multiple Sclerosis, Huntingtons, Chorea... She also became hooked on energy drinks at some stage, followed by slimming pills. She did have suicidal tendancies. One night I showed up at her place with beer and chocolate. Though I didn't realise it immediately, she was high on the slimmers and tried to commit suicide.
Now after years of progressively getting worse she is cutting herself, and now getting panic attacks and hallucinating.
So the other night when I came out to her about me having Bipolar Disorder, she said she thinks she has PTSD. So I said there should've been some trauma for her to have PTSD. She said there was trauma when she was 15 (she's 26 now). After trying for some time, she couldn't get herself to say it out loud. The only thing she could get out, was that she remember his eyes, and that he was strong. And that she only recently remembered it, it was suppressed all this time. Out of respect to her I don't want to say it out loud either.
But what hit me was that she said her first symptomes started showing when she saw him again 7 years ago. Could all her symptomes be from PTSD, rather than some neurological disease? She cannot afford to see a psychiatrist.
I wish I could help her. We've walked a very long road together and I want her to be better. She deserves to be better!