Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Support Group
Find support with others who have gone through a traumatic experience. Whether you have chronic or acute PTSD, we are here for you.
I have a bad panic disorder. I know where it comes from - it is not combat related, but related to almost dying while in the Army 15 years ago. It is not as bad as it used to be, but it doesn't go away.
The VA has put me in Vocational Rehabilitation, so here I am in my 40s freaking out about finals weeks. This last week I had a paper to write and an OChem final to take. If that was not enough stress, the VA finally got around to letting me know that 3 months ago they cleared me for external pre-surgery tests for my spinal reconstruction. Thursday I spent the day in the hospital getting MRIs (which are no big deal) and a bone density test - which no one told me involved radioactive isotopes.
This tweeked at my panic as I have never physically recovered from the radiation therapy following my thyroid cancer surgery - 14 months later I have the energy level of an energetic fern. I left the hospital with a light case of the shakes and did my best to just hide from my family for the rest of the day.
Today - tweeking even worse from yesterday, I had to go deal with idiots who got angrily in my face and "explained" what I had done wrong and why I was "'wrong". When I pointed out to the not so clam lady that she had pushed me into a panic attack due to my PTSD and I was going to spend the next hour screaming in the corner - her first reaction was to ask me to leave the public building!!!!
Without hashing over the next couple hours, the EMTs were convinced by my husband that I was not having a seizure, 'just a panic attack', no we did not need to go to the hospital, just to get me out of the crowded area.
My Service Dog in Training has done a great job calming me down, but at 14 weeks old, there is only so much she can do.
I have taken my Clozapam (2mg), twice actually. I have taken all of my Rx pain meds for my crushed spine (6 tabs vicadin, 2 tabs cyclobenazene) - and then some strait codine from Canada. It has been five hours and I am still having whole body shakes.
I have even just given up and added a shot of rum to a pint of milk and a few spoonful's of sugars. I HATE to mix meds and alcohol, but I can't stop shaking.
Help???
The VA has put me in Vocational Rehabilitation, so here I am in my 40s freaking out about finals weeks. This last week I had a paper to write and an OChem final to take. If that was not enough stress, the VA finally got around to letting me know that 3 months ago they cleared me for external pre-surgery tests for my spinal reconstruction. Thursday I spent the day in the hospital getting MRIs (which are no big deal) and a bone density test - which no one told me involved radioactive isotopes.
This tweeked at my panic as I have never physically recovered from the radiation therapy following my thyroid cancer surgery - 14 months later I have the energy level of an energetic fern. I left the hospital with a light case of the shakes and did my best to just hide from my family for the rest of the day.
Today - tweeking even worse from yesterday, I had to go deal with idiots who got angrily in my face and "explained" what I had done wrong and why I was "'wrong". When I pointed out to the not so clam lady that she had pushed me into a panic attack due to my PTSD and I was going to spend the next hour screaming in the corner - her first reaction was to ask me to leave the public building!!!!
Without hashing over the next couple hours, the EMTs were convinced by my husband that I was not having a seizure, 'just a panic attack', no we did not need to go to the hospital, just to get me out of the crowded area.
My Service Dog in Training has done a great job calming me down, but at 14 weeks old, there is only so much she can do.
I have taken my Clozapam (2mg), twice actually. I have taken all of my Rx pain meds for my crushed spine (6 tabs vicadin, 2 tabs cyclobenazene) - and then some strait codine from Canada. It has been five hours and I am still having whole body shakes.
I have even just given up and added a shot of rum to a pint of milk and a few spoonful's of sugars. I HATE to mix meds and alcohol, but I can't stop shaking.
Help???
Misha is great. She already does what most dogs who have had six or eight months of training. I am so proud of her. She already sits quietly through movies, dinner at restaurants, 3 hour lectures, walks with confidence through busy days at Costco. Right now all she knows how to do to help me is to snuggle when I start to panic, but eventually she will pick up things for me and balance me when I walk.
I was told by the nurse with the needle that the amount of isotopes in the injection were not enough to do anything - but YES, I think I am also reacting to it. I heal a lot slower than I should. How can the radiation they just injected NOT compound with what is still in my system from my cancer treatment?
In addition to everything else, I have tossed everything I have tried to eat since the injection.
The ER at the VA hospital's are useless. It takes 8 to 12 weeks to get an emergency apt with my dr - who is the one who did not mention to me three months ago that I was cleared for my tests for my surgery.
I actually used my cup of hot tea. Figuring the concept was to activate the heat/cold sensors on the hands as a focal point. I also have my daughter's 4 lb toy poodle curled up between my lower back and the chair which provides a warm spot to focus on, which helped a lot.
We sure can be complicated because of PTSD, symptoms will mimic things that normal people don't deal with. And our conditioned response blows it up.