Hi, cutefacedog, welcome to the group, and first let me say I'm so glad that you made it out of the car alive and unharmed.

I'm not a professional, I will not venture a diagnosis, but in my opinion, you've come to the right place because you have been through a highly traumatic event and are suffering from it - never mind if it fits the diagnosis "PTSD" or not.

What you describe doesn't sound silly at all. It's hard to give advice... one possible thing that comes to my mind is: Make a routine of checking if you've unplugged everything before you leave the house. Start in the same room every time, do it in the same order every time. When you leave the house, tell yourself: "I have unplugged everything. My house and my pets are safe." It will not make the fear disappear instantly, but it *could* be one step to slowly make it grow less. However, I may be completely wrong... maybe try?

Healing hopes

Hello Cuteface. Welcome to DS. You may be new to the world of free speech and unconditional support, but you are off to a most auspicious beginning. That trauma was laid out with awesome personal awareness and clarity.

Did it help? Do you feel any calmer for the disclosure?

I like to navigate the healing process in itsy bitsy baby steps. My just-a-patient suggestion is that you sit a spell with the step you made in making this post and see where it takes you. When you are ready for the next step, it will be obvious to you.

Welcome aboard. Gentle support while you sort. Hope healing happens here.

*TW* I can relate to your symptoms. I have had PTSD for a long time. A few years ago, I had a house fire due to a code violation on my fireplace that was not properly inspected by the chimney sweep/inspector I had just had inspect it. I was very lucky that I had a top of the line smoke detector system which told me there was smoke in the basement immediately. Otherwise the fire would have probably made it into the wall of my 104 yr old house and once fire gets inside the wall of an old house, it only takes seconds for everything to be up in flames. The entire fire dept responded and the fire was put out. There was minimal damage. I was afraid to go to sleep and had nightmares about fires. I just recently finally got the fireplace fixed and brought up to code so I could have fires in it again if I want to but I'm afraid to. It's been about 4 yrs.

I too make sure to unplug most things. But I did this anyway, before the fire, because I was always worried about an electrical fire with my old wiring and even since I've rewired the entire house, I still do it.

I've had PTSD since long before the fire and the thing about your dog is what prompted me to respond to you. I lived in constant fear of something happening to my dog while I was at work. Of either my house burning down or of my stalker (the reason I have PTSD) breaking in and killing my dog, etc. And I can tell you what really helped me. I bought a PTZ (pan, tilt, zoom) IP camera and installed it in my living room (where my dog's bed was). And while I was at work, I could login to the IP address of the camera from my phone and check on my dog. I would see him peacefully sleeping in his bed and would instantly feel calm again. This helped tremendously. I still use it sometimes when away from home. A PTZ cam will allow you to move the camera around if the dog isn't in that exact location. So I could sometimes see him laying on the kitchen floor or something if he wasn't in his bed, just by swiping the screen and moving the camera. Now, these cameras are really cheap. In fact, I just bought one for my sister for xmas because she wanted to check on her dog from work. It was like $30-40. You can easily find one in this price range now. Just make sure it is an IP camera so that you can view it remotely. Most of them are these days. I think this will help you with that aspect of your anxiety.

Hope this helps.

One of the traumas that got me diagnosed with PTSD, cute, was a car fire I was in when I was 9. I've told about it many times here. It was because I was a missionary kid on a mission field abroad in a war zone. My family went out for ice cream, and drove into an urban battle downtown in our city. Some guy threw a homemade Improvised Explosive Device, a gasoline bomb called a Molotov Cocktail, and hit our car with it.

The explosion snapped my head back onto the metal rim of the car's back seat so hard that I still have a dent in the back of my skull from it decades later. Then there were the blue flames all around us, because that's the color of gasoline burning, blue.

I passed out after that, so I don't remember how our car was steered out of there or what happened immediately. Because I was a child and a civilian, not an adult nor a soldier, I kept from telling therapists about it for years after my PTSD diagnosis. I didn't want to have anyone think I was pretending to be a war hero on the same level as our soldiers who've served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But I got lucky when I moved for a job to a new town and my new therapist pried it out of me. He saw me nights, and by day he was a VA PTSD doc. So I believed him when he reassured me that if I told my story nobody would think I was trying to pretend I was a hero like our country's soldiers. It's just something that really happened to me.

Being in a car fire was really traumatic for me, and talking to that counselor about it, finally, was a turning point in my life for the better. I really suggest trying to find the specific kind of doc that did me so much good in my life. A real PTSD therapist, not just a general one, but maybe a VA one like mine who's counseled lots of soldiers who survived IED's like my doc had done.

I'd call the nearest VA hospital to find out if any of them sees civilians on the side like mine did. It really changed my life for the better.

still very new to the site, so if there if this isnt the proper way of responding then that is my bad, lol. but Thank you all, i have never been met with these kind of results from total strangers, and i want to say that you all are such kind people. taking time out of your day to respond and help and give advice to people you've never met, its nice knowing im not alone. and im going to try all that you sugjested, thank you. :)

Hi cute....there is "no proper" there "is" 'your story'. I have not lived your story, sorting as stated above and make a 'safety' check prior to leaving your home...and to come here for support...hugs....I live alone, the first thing I do when I come home is to 'lock my door'...just for comfort...not threat.

You're welcome, cute. That's just the kind of site DS PTSD is these days, a really healing place with supportive people. Glad you're here.

hi cute welcome to DS. i am sorry for what brought you here. I don’t believe it matters whether or not you technically have a PTSD diagnosis... many of us here will relate and support you anyways. we all do what we can xxxx steadying support