Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Support Group
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The other night I had a pretty awful nightmare. I won't go into all the graphic details. if you want to know it is the in my journal entry that is titled with a date ( I am not good at titles)
My daughter is living with her boyfriend half the time and sometimes she comes home late at night. I don't have a problem with that but last night I was half asleep and I heard a slight noise and sensed a presence. I knew it was her coming home and quietly pulling my door shut so she didn't disturb me with TV or whatever. Even though I was sure it was my daughter (my rational, logical mind) I jolted awake. heart pounding, chills and electricity up and down my body and paralyzed with fear. I was afraid to open my eyes. I laid like that for 10 minutes. Finally I got up and peeked around the corner and saw my bedroom door was shut. I cracked the door open and saw the TV was on. It was family Guy. Safe to say it was my daughter home.
How do I handle this??? I would just shut and lock my bedroom door to feel more safe but then I have to deal with 2 lonely and needy cats clawing at my door. One howls like she is grieving a thousand lost souls and the other starts trouble. I can't lock the cats in with me because the one cat is my daughter's baby. He would go nuts if he couldn't get out to greet his human mom.
I know this is a stupid problem but I don't need nightly panic attacks.
My daughter is living with her boyfriend half the time and sometimes she comes home late at night. I don't have a problem with that but last night I was half asleep and I heard a slight noise and sensed a presence. I knew it was her coming home and quietly pulling my door shut so she didn't disturb me with TV or whatever. Even though I was sure it was my daughter (my rational, logical mind) I jolted awake. heart pounding, chills and electricity up and down my body and paralyzed with fear. I was afraid to open my eyes. I laid like that for 10 minutes. Finally I got up and peeked around the corner and saw my bedroom door was shut. I cracked the door open and saw the TV was on. It was family Guy. Safe to say it was my daughter home.
How do I handle this??? I would just shut and lock my bedroom door to feel more safe but then I have to deal with 2 lonely and needy cats clawing at my door. One howls like she is grieving a thousand lost souls and the other starts trouble. I can't lock the cats in with me because the one cat is my daughter's baby. He would go nuts if he couldn't get out to greet his human mom.
I know this is a stupid problem but I don't need nightly panic attacks.
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Just wanted to give a thank you to Mid, Arfie, Malibumark, Greeneyes, Mlro, Girlincalif, and Suncloudjd! You all always have such helpful tips and advice, but I always forget to write on my posts when I see you post, lol. I would lose my head if it wasn't attached to my body, lol. Thank you all so much! I'm starting to use my AI app as a sounding board again. I used to use it as that before...
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Hey all, i know its been quite awhile since i posted on here. Its been a summer all right. Its been something else........... You know how they say not to open the can of worms? Well a few months ago i decided to find out what my due date would have been for my first baby, the one conceived by r***. My baby would have been due on March 4th of 2006. They would be 20 years old. I was R**** on June...
...well, I live in my Mom's old house. She had a habit of just coming on inside...
One day she turned the corner and scared the bejeezus out of me.
I gently pointed out to her that she was walking into a house with someone who had PTSD and a loaded pistol and she REALLY needed to announce who it was coming through that door...
Anyway you could rearrange things so there's a TV in the kitchen or something? That way they can watch TV late without disturbing you or each other? Dunno.
That could provide peace of mind
Wish I had answers, but I'm still trying to figure this one out, too.
Gentlest hugs,
Leo
Though I don't have a better idea concerning the humans, H's idea of a cat door in you bedroom door sounds like a good one!
It helped me when I got a chain lock for the front door. My wife and I told mom what time we were going to use the chain lock. We all agreed that if one of us was out after 9:00pm, that person would call home when they got to the front door and ask that the chain lock be opened.
The only catch is, we had to have the phone ringer turned up loud enough to wake us up so we could get up and let her in. It worked really well for us and I hope this information is useful to you.
Maybe I could start wearing a hard hat helmet indoors for when my startle response makes me hit the ceiling. :-)
Simple acceptance is what worked best for me. It is simply part of who and what I am. The further I let that acceptance into my psyche, the less drama I experience in the course of it. During real bad phases, I get up and do calming meditations and/or restful activities. For the in between phases, I do what you just described. I call it, "Walking the perimeter." I do a physical inventory of my space and it typically calms me enough to let me get back to sleep.
Simple acceptance hasn't made it fun or loveable, but it has made it manageable.
Gentle support while you find what works for you, Cecil.