PTSD and TBIABI Community Group

A place for all those with TBI/ABI and PTSD to share and vent with support. A safe place to say anything that's on your mind.

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Past and present

madoak
madoak
Just picked up on a really important thing that cheesecake said in relation to PTSD and BI. That was, past and present being muddled or experienced differently. The problem is something triggers the flight/fright reaction in me and I end up being very stressed and agitated but then cannot remember what the trigger was. Perhaps many hours later I might think - oh yes it was that. This does make it really hard to get a handle on your feelings or know where the hell you are. Quite literally actually - recently I've forgotten where I am, what day it is, what I have to do next simply because I'm in such a terrible emotional state. I find myself standing or sitting somewhere completely lost.
Group Foundercheesecake88
cheesecake88
Hi madoak, I thought of something reading your post....I was having these episodes years ago, one was at a mall I'd been to many times..anyway I suddenly did not know how to get where I was going, yet I sort of knew where I was, the confusion in trying to remember/the anxiety/panic of not knowing what was happening to me caused me to stop for I don't know how long in an unaware state of mind, then I would come out of it, it was very strange to say the least. I was seeing a therapist and she said what I was describing sounded like "jamais vu" the opposite of deja vu, suddenly being unfamiliar with familiar surroundings. She sent me for a neuro workup...specifically a sleep-deprived EEG with extra temporal electrodes/she suspected abnormalities in my temporal lobes and the tests came out abnormal/both left and right lobes/I had a second one/same result. The bad car accident I was in years earlier, I remember hitting my head/left side hard. She put me on an anti-seizure med that is also an anti-anxiety med/low dose that helped me as long as I kept stress low/ended up having to leave my job. I just wanted to mention this/it's so hard to
know what's causing what with brain injuries/I stopped having the episodes I described/I'm still on the med and with the PTSD reaction recently had to increase it just to get grounded and calmed. I know the feeling of being lost! Big hugs to you!
Aust
Aust
I HAD 'BLANKS' OF MEMORY LOSS. LOST YEARS WITH SOME THINGS, REMEMBER OTHERS, DONT GET A CHOICE. THEY DIAG TEMP LOBE EPILEPSY FINALLY. TAKE SEIZURE MEDS, STILL HAVE BLANKS, BUT NOT AS BAD. SOME ARE SCAREY WHEN OUT AND FOR A FEW SECONDS DONT KNOW WHY, WHERE, HOW, WITH ANYONE WHO HAS GONE TO DO SOMETHING ELSE JUST NOW. LEARNT TO SIT, AND WAIT FOR IT TO PASS NOW. FROM TBI.