What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a term for certain psychological consequences of exposure to, or confrontation with, stressful experiences that the person experiences as h...
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Has your PTSD evolved as you've healed?
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Hi Everyone,
I was thinking recently how, since I started this healing journey about two years ago, some things have improved considerably, but other things have cropped up that I didn't have before. I'm wondering if any of you have experienced this sense that PTSD evolves as you heal. My only PTSD symptom from the age of 3 til about two years ago was flashbacks. Horrible things, but they only came once every couple months, lasted for a night, left me worn out for a couple of days, then life was good again. When I got diagnosed and started tackling this thing head-on, I went through the "emergency stage," as I saw it described in one book. That's where PTSD suddenly seems to take center stage as you're starting to work on healing. Everything I looked at about my life seemed to be affected by PTSD, more things triggered me, and it became overwhelming. The book said that would pass, and it did after a few months. I spent the next eighteen months or so digging into every detail of my PTSD I could, and came out the other side feeling much more in control of those past traumas. It has now been almost a year since my last flashback. I can look back on the traumas now and noticeably see a change in the way I remember them. I can watch them without getting sucked into them, and I can stop watching them when I choose. (HOORAY!) So, I'd expect that this little victory dance would be the end of it. Instead, though, I'm now sometimes experiencing the anxiety that some people have with PTSD. I never did before. I have had one full-blown panic attack while simply sitting at home with no triggers. Thought I was having a heart attack. Also, doctors, which used to be a trigger for flashbacks if I was trapped in a room with them, now cause me anxiety when I just meet them in a store. I know part of that is because my dad died in surgery this year, reaffirming my fear of doctors, but still, I never had that reaction to them in public before. I also find it more difficult to go places alone than I used to. I've even stopped visiting my elderly neighbors because I get uncomfortable just thinking about going out to visit. I wonder if there's a pattern to it that we could warn people about as they start to heal, and that we could use to help us along our own healing paths. There's a pattern to grief, right? So maybe there is to PTSD, too. Have any of you experienced this shifting of symptoms as you've worked on healing? Posted on 11/03/09, 11:11 am |
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You're welcome W. 
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I'm just really starting the healing process of my PTSD. I went to therapy for a little while, but then life happens! I have 2 babies, and Im a stay at home mom so therpy isnt possible anymore for the time being! So I just found DS, and thought this could help since I can do this from home! I have known for many years time that I have PTSDt... and I know that it is because of my Narcissistic Mother. I had put recovery on hold, but now its time for me to really start getting back into it. I too have anxiety as a result, with occasional panic attacks. have had this most of my life! It comes and goes, theres periods of time where its worse, and then it gets better for a while, then it comes back..Its true, that we dont always know what out triggers are, which is something to work on, identifying the triggers, and changing them. My therapist told me, that often times when we feel anxious and it seems theres no reason, its because theres stuff inside that we just arent thinking about at the moment, but its there, and its tugging at us, and that the anxiety and panic is our bodies way of saying "pay attention to me" telling us theres emotional stuff going on inside that we need to pay attention to, and deal with.. unresolved stuff. And that sometimes, when you feel you have already resolved everything and are getting better, the anxiety will happen again, and that its cause theres more layers we havent dug into yet starting to surface, I think they call that "peeling the onion" SO its normal.. it just means theres more stuff to dig into, and to deal with. I
Phloxinsox: You crack me up! HAHA
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I agree with the others---onewanderer put it all well.
i wish i could get rid of the news on this computer, however- my PTSD is triggered r/t 911, and having volunteered to go to Ground Zero. you are doing great work--keep it up! Hugs-vangie
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Vangie: My utmost repect for having volunteed to go to Ground Zero. I am SO with you on avoiding the news! I dont watch it, I dont listen to it on the radio, I dont read about it, I refuse. I avoid it altogether whenever I can. I dont want to hear about all the bad stuff happeneing in the world, I already know theres bad stuff, I dont need to hear about it all the time! Im tired of the media trying to scare the wite out of us over every little thing, I have enough to worry about, and certain news stories to tend to trigger anxiety in me, so I avoid it,!! BTW, I am usually incapable of writing short posts either, I only write short ones when Im pressed for time!
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