PTSD sufferers - please post here

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PTSD is something I have been diagnosed with. I never really understood what it physically manifested as until recently. It's amazing that I have learned more about it during this trial than when I have sought treatment. The nightmares, the panic attacks, the agoraphobia, the self-loathing at times......once I understood that I had it the knowledge has really helped me cope. I still have nightmares (the usual one, like most of you, where some "evil" force, some "black" force is after me, but I prevail now in the end............the panick attacks, those never seem to go away.....I'm done with medication to control them, I am retired now and can ride them out most of the time......mine are caused by a lifetime of physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of my parents.....whom I love, but therein lies most of the problem. I was also in a major auto accident which left me in a trauma unit in a general hospital where I was attacked by both a mental patient and sexually molested by an intern......so I have little trust in physicians, which hinders any treatment. My prayers go out to my fellow PTSD sufferers. This trial has made me very angry at JA for alleging she is a victim. Nothing she has testified to has indicated any significant event that would account for PTSD other than post-murder.
 
I got PTSD not from experiencing any trauma, but from being a homicide survivor when my son was brutally murdered.

Nightmares, restlessness, not eating, very quick startle to any loud noise (especially the phone ringing), hands shaking, whole body shaking when defendant was present during any hearings or during trial.

It's a nasty thing. I feel better now, but still have some of the symptoms and don't sleep like I used to.

I am really sorry to hear that. My prayers are with you.
 
I seriously hope that none of you here are bummed out by people making jokes about PTSD.
It's pretty distasteful, and discouraging - whether you have it or not.
I'm a bit annoyed at it.

People always mock and joke about what they don't understand. Doesn't bother me because I know why they do it
 
I had no idea I had PTSD and had been living with it for 30 years until 2 years ago. I am a homicide survivor and it has affected every part of my being. Fortunately, I found a fabulous therapist who then referred me to a therapist who specialized in PTSD. I am making progress, but have a lot more work to do.

PTSD mimics a lot of other things, and somatic pain is one of them. We carry so much inside and it is so important to get help. I have found it is never too late to start the treatment. It is not a walk in the park. I just want to be "whole" again and my best self. A lot of people do not understand what you are going through, but fortunately for them, their ignorance is bliss. I don't expect anyone to "get" it.

This trial has revved up a lot of feelings for me which have been compartmentalized for years. So if any good has come from this, it is an awareness, a self awareness that hopefully can be channeled in the right direction through my treatment in therapy.

I know I am not alone in this. I can tell from posts on other threads that this trial has evoked a lot of emotions. I appreciate knowing I can come in this thread and be understood. Healing and light to all of you.
 
First, I feel a kindred spirit with all of you. Bless you for sharing your stories as they are an encouragement and illumination to others.

My PTSD has been debilitating in many ways and has caused much paranoia and anxiety. I also have borderline disorder now as a result, although I am successfully dealing with it via behavioral therapy. My borderline resulted essentially from abuse/neglect as a child.

From the time of my birth, my paternal great grandmother told my paternal grandmother, aunt, and uncle to all pray for me to die. She asked them to do this because it would "open" my father's eyes. This great grandmother is more than likely the source of all the generational abuse I was so fortunate to inherit.
I spent much of my life walking on eggshells in my home. My older brothers would beat my legs until I could hardly walk. My mother was dissociated most of the time and hardly noticed. My father wasnt around much either. My mother was kind, but weak. My father was charismatic and wonderful one moment and dark and evil the next. He was Bipolar and drug addicted. He served in Vietnam and also did work for the govt after arms dealing. As one would say, he was a bad mother...

So, by the time I was 11 My father had regularly began using every substance imaginable, but the new prescription drug fad really floated his boat. Despite his abuse upon my mother, he had her arrested by claiming that she tried to destroy his property and being drunk - she only knocked over his laptop while trying to get away as he threatened to shoot her with a gun. But a drunk woman's word over her bread winning husband in the south at that time was as good as dirt. My dad abandoned me with my brothers once she was in jail.

My oldest brother webt to a special school and was learning disabled. My other brother closest in age to me grew pot in his room and insusted i help him water his plants when he couldnt. I had someone take me to and from school bc there was no bus that went to my school in the country. I had an instance where a call was made to my school by a man saying that a hit man was waiting outside of the school to shoot and kill me. Eventually after 3 months, my mom came back and was able to take care of me.

My dad came back around the same time as my mom, a little after her. Things were abusive for the next 4 years - physical and emotional. On one occassion he had an overdose and began to go into cardiac arrest during an abusive rage, but my brother and I revived him. Many memories from this time are foggy. Many are lost. My psych who treated me throughout all of those years has told me that I have lost much memory of the events possibly as a coping mechanism.

On my 16th birthday my dad hit my mom and my brother closest in age to me, the pot grower, grabbed a baseball bar and declared he had enough of seeing my father abuse my mother. My mother, in fear my brother and father would kill each other, called 911.

I remember chatting on the computer while all of this was going on and my best friend Asking me in complete schock, her eyes wide, "Why don't you care? The police are here. Come look!"

I answered back in a dissociated monotone voice, "I'm used to it. What can I do?" and went back to chatting about a boy band on the computer.

From the ages of 16-17, my dad was gone and when i did hear from him it was all useless druggie dribble. One second he would tell me I was the most amazing child and the next he'd say he was going to "cut my head off" bc I was a *advertiser censored* like my mother. Eventually I just pulled the phone cord out of the wall to ignore/escape the calls/contact. My mother was around to care for me at this time, but it was more me caring for her as by this time both of my brothers were out of the house.

Then almost at 18 years old, my dad went to rehab and finally it stuck. He came back and was completely apologetic. He had became a new person, even though his bipolar disorder would read its ugly head.

Now I am 28, a decade after the abuse, and I help care for my father who has stage 4 cancer. He has become an amazing man full of love and mercy. He asks my forgiveness every day and by this point, I don't require it. I know his "sorry" is more than sincere.

Never the less, my behavioral patterns of a fear of neglect/isolation/abandonment make me more dependent than most. I also was a victim for so long in my life that I now have to retrain myself and my behavior to understand that I no longer am a victim of abuse. All of these symptoms give me a Borderline Personality Disorder.

I take medication for anxiety as I have avoidant personality issues. I avoid getting close to others in fear that they will abandon me or not accept me. I also get nervous/agitated with being touched or if there are loud unexpected noises. I get paranoid about ridiculous things like if the house is going to burn down bc I left a light on (even if I'm just leaving the house to walk my dogs).

My dogs have helped me go outside and engage with others. They also help me feel safe with strangers as they are kind dogs, but firm about my protection.

My fiancée is amazing and is a survivor of child abuse, emotional/sexual/physical. He is my rock and my soul mate and I thank God for giving me someone who truly understands where I came from in life and where I hope to go in my future. He and I are not sure if we want children simply because our childhoods resulted in us having some fragmented aspects of our personalities that we fear might hold us back in parenting. If we feel we both are psychologically ready to be responsible caregivers for children, we would live to do just that. But again, the effects of PTSD have left he and I with some identity issues that we need to identify fully before undertaking other life milestones.



I do not believe Borderline PD is genetic, but that it is rather a maladaptive coping mechanism created from prime psychological or environmental factors.

Since Jodi Arias has not testified to having significant abuse in childhood, I believe her Borderline PD is a result of a Sociopathic PD. in short, her borderline is not a result of environment, rather it is a result of a deeper inherent disorder Jodi possesses. She is a sociopath who uses borderline behaviors to achieve her own gain.
 
Sometimes PTSD doesn't happen as a result of a physical trauma on oneself, it can happen to those who were around at the time of the traumatic event.

For example, I suffer from PTSD as a result of multiple tragic and traumatic events:

March 2010 I took my 21 year old son to the ER for strange and erratic behavior, he kept banging his head into the walls of our home (personally I thought he was on drugs). A few of my other children had come to sit with us while waiting for the lab results to come back before admitting him into inpatient counseling. As a precaution the ER doctor performed a CT scan to make sure he had not suffered a concussion from all the head banging. Within 10 minutes of the CT scan the room filled with nurses, doctors and a social worker----the CT scan illuminated a peach size tumor in his right frontal lobe, which turned out to be a Glioglastoma.

I remember every single detail even the thoughts I had when several nurses came in with the doctors and social worker....I thought....'this is not going to be good news" before a single word was even spoken. I remember listening to the doctors, the explanations, the fact he would not be going to an inpatient center, that this was the reason for his strange, erratic and violent behavior. Of course my triggers are ER's....not hospitals in general...but the ER specifically.

My husband (who is afflicted with Huntingons Disease) attempted suicide several months after our sons first brain surgery (who by the way was also diagnosed with Huntingtons Disease). We had been arguing throughout the day and into the evening. I left the home for a short time to take our granddaughter to her mother....when I returned my husband was in bed with the covers over his head. Thinking he was just trying to ignore me, so I ignored him back. After taking my shower, I crawled into bed and noticed that he was really serious about the ignoring me thing....it didn't take but just a few minutes for me to realize that he in fact was not ignoring me after all. At this point I didn't realize he had attempted suicide.

I met EMS at the hospital where my children were already present....the doctor took me aside and asked what had happened I explained about the arguing through out the day, having to leave the house and coming back and finding him in this comatose state, the doctor asked for a list of medications that he takes for his HD.....I still didn't know at this time that he attempted suicide. When I walked back into the hallway...one of the girls stood up and asked 'what did you do to daddy?' I was already wounded from my sons cancer, panicked from my husbands suicide attempt but then to add injury to injury was my children's accusations.

Husband spent five days in ICU before becoming coherent....My children and I took turns staying in the room with him. On the night my son stayed with dad, he decided to take pictures of my husbands body....bruises, pinch marks, etc., (injuries caused by EMS while performed CPR, lifting and transporting) to talk to an incoherent man who kept mumbling 'your mother is so mad' and decided to call adult CPS on me to accuse me of trying to kill their dad. Third traumatic event....

I am not the same person I was before these three traumatic events....I panic when my husband and/or son are out of the room for a certain length of time. I disassociated from friendships and relationships. I stopped being the kind of mother who cared anymore...I didn't (still don't want to but I do) want to babysit my grandchildren any more (some out of fear that if something happened to the babies who I be blamed?) While I raised 6 children (3 boys and 3 girls) a trip to the ER meant stitches and casts, but now I panic at the thought of anyone going to the ER. I have panic attacks almost daily sometimes several in a day.

My children and I reconciled though they never did apologize for their accusations and calling adult CPR...only saying they felt it was their duty. But I do not have the maternal feelings I once felt for them. My husband now has home health to care for his physical and medical needs which leaves us room to friendship instead of caregiver/patient relationship. My son, after two surgeries, radiation and 2 years of chemo is in a phase of remission.

You would think -- so everything worked out in the end -- but I still suffer from the trauma while everyone else seems to have moved on.

Huntingtons disease is so scary, but those who fight it and help their loved ones suffering from it by far are the strongest people I have even seen. It is an honor to meet you/hear your stories. When our loved ones are so sick and it seems there's nothing we can do to heal them, it leads one to feeling not just helpless - but impotent. I am dealing with having to give up the idea of control while I help care for my dad who has stage 4 cancer. It is something I relearn every day - that essentially I have no control except for how I react to his sickness/pain. That ultimately is how I can regain some control.

Thank you again for sharing. You are strong. Really is an honor.
 
Hello Crimesnooper, I just wanted to chime in and say, that when I tell people I have PTSD, they look at me quizzically. If I don't tell them, then from my demeanor they would not be able to guess. People often say I'm such a 'calming' influence. I was the 'go to' person in a crisis.
It may be that I have a professional mask, personally, I think it's because I'm numb and don't give very much away in my non-verbals. I even have trouble crying.
At times, I do shake a bit uncontrollably though. My friend, who is also a social worker with C-PTSD, shakes like a washing machine all the time.
It's better than Botox though!:seeya:

So that's why I shake like crazy and annoy everyone around me! I've always had ppl get onto me for it!! Thank god for websleuths I don't know where I'd be. Not even joking!
 
So that's why I shake like crazy and annoy everyone around me! I've always had ppl get onto me for it!! Thank god for websleuths I don't know where I'd be. Not even joking!

I'm glad I posted then! Yeah the shaking is a bit mad. I generally find it happens when I don't have control of the environment or possible triggers. Shopping where there are loads of children is a nightmare. The children are great, I just can't manage parent's negative reactions to them, and don't get me started on babies...
Some people make me shake if I can detect a behaviour that sets me off, time to leave. It can even start if I drive near a place associated with trauma.
My poor friend can barely hold a cup of coffee in new situations.
I think it may be due to the overload of adrenalin released into the bloodstream (triggered by a memory) when faced with flight or fight situations. Then there is a huge release of sugar into the blood to prepare your muscles for action so it is a lot of pent up energy that needs to go somewhere.
My daughter complains that I sigh a lot, and I'm not even aware of doing it, but if I'm a bit panicked my breathing gets shallower, so if I sigh now, I know to start taking deeper rhythmic breaths and then let it settle into it's own pattern. Seems to work so far, because I concentrate on breathing the environment fades a bit more.
 
I just saw the aftermath of a horrible horrible accident between a car and a semi. It triggered all my anxieties. I feel sick. Physically. I feel like I'm going to die. I am so afraid right now. I am shaking and crying and I feel like I can't breath. Like I'm having a heart attack but I know it's just a panic attack. I wish to God I hadn't seen that. I wish my SO would stop talking about it.

The accident I was in was 24 years ago but this brings it all right back. I HATE FEELING THIS WAY!
 
I just saw the aftermath of a horrible horrible accident between a car and a semi. It triggered all my anxieties. I feel sick. Physically. I feel like I'm going to die. I am so afraid right now. I am shaking and crying and I feel like I can't breath. Like I'm having a heart attack but I know it's just a panic attack. I wish to God I hadn't seen that. I wish my SO would stop talking about it.

The accident I was in was 24 years ago but this brings it all right back. I HATE FEELING THIS WAY!

Sending you calming thoughts and hugs!
 
I just wanted to say thank you to all the posters on here. The courage you have shown in sharing your stories does have a positive impact on others. I find it comforting that I am not alone in this struggle. Sending positive, healing thoughts to all of you!
 
Thank you all for the support. I feel better after deep breathing and prayers for the victims of the horrible accident. I felt selfish feeling how I felt but I couldn't help the physical response I had. I had flashbacks and fear. I HATE adreniline. I wanted to scream "Let me off this truck!" It wasn't until we stopped for the night that I started to relax.

It's ironic how after being in a car crash that invoved a semi that took the life of my then boyfriend and changed mine forever, that I now find myself in a semi. My grandmother says that God is using this truck to heal me. She may be right. When I first went on the road I had back to back panic attacks. after a few months of praying fervantly I just realized that I had to put my life in Gods hands and that he had not brought me this far to leave me.

My panic attacks are few and far between now. I haven't taken medicine for almost two years now and that's a good thing because I am finding better coping mechanisms. Tonight it happens to be brandy. ;) Not ideal but better then prescription drugs. Humor, deep breathing, faith and now compassionate people who understand and genuinely seem to care is what keeps me sane. Thank you again and my prayers for everyone here that has suffered.
 
I know this is PTSD-specific thread, but I can't find a better thread for my question. (Mods- move if not approp. here)

ATasteOfHoney posted in Jodi verdict watch threads:
"...BPD is a personality disorder and is an AXIS II disorder. Only AXIS I disorders (ex. schizophrenia, multiple personality/dissociative disorder) take the death penalty off the table..."
------------------------------------------------

Can anyone offer suggestions please ....

... for links, websites and/or books re mental health, mental disorders, mental illnesses, generally? Kind of a general survey for the layperson? Not too technical, DSM-lite for dummies?

To borrow ALV's 'entire context' phrase: in college in the early 1970s, I had a few psych courses, from which I now recall little more than could be shoe-horned into a Readers Digest article.

Unlike ALV I don't want to be stuck in the 1970's.
Some psych testimony in the Arias trial was consistent w. what I remember, but much wasn't. To be expected in part w. 'dueling experts."

Maybe other links, websites and/or books explainingwhich mental illness Dx support Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity defense.

I'd like to have something to read and have handy as a reference to turn to as I read the W/S armchair psych threads or true crime books.

Thx in adv. :seeya:
 
I am just so sad for those people back there. So sad. :(

Wow, all I can say is that it must have been horrific for you. I wish I had some comforting words for you, because we all know what that panic is like. You do feel like you are going to die, we all understand this from the depths of our hearts, so know that we are with you.
I hope things are more settled for you now, but as you know it will affect you for some time, so be very kind and gentle to yourself and do a bit of mindfulness meditation which will help to ground you again. I recommend it to anyone. :sunshine:
 
Thank you all for the support. I feel better after deep breathing and prayers for the victims of the horrible accident. I felt selfish feeling how I felt but I couldn't help the physical response I had. I had flashbacks and fear. I HATE adreniline. I wanted to scream "Let me off this truck!" It wasn't until we stopped for the night that I started to relax.

It's ironic how after being in a car crash that invoved a semi that took the life of my then boyfriend and changed mine forever, that I now find myself in a semi. My grandmother says that God is using this truck to heal me. She may be right. When I first went on the road I had back to back panic attacks. after a few months of praying fervantly I just realized that I had to put my life in Gods hands and that he had not brought me this far to leave me.

My panic attacks are few and far between now. I haven't taken medicine for almost two years now and that's a good thing because I am finding better coping mechanisms. Tonight it happens to be brandy. ;) Not ideal but better then prescription drugs. Humor, deep breathing, faith and now compassionate people who understand and genuinely seem to care is what keeps me sane. Thank you again and my prayers for everyone here that has suffered.

Oh I have just read that you are feeling better, kudos to you! Yay!
It's funny that you should mention the truck as a healing mechanism, because I now work with the homeless, and they are a mixture of people who have been in care as children, and abusers of children and women. Very strange I know, but they are incredibly caring of me. So some of them are very likely similar to the people who cause my injury, drug users, bullies, abusers, even the occasional murderer, and every spectrum of mental illness. I have also found it very healing...
Go figure.
Life takes us in funny directions doesn't it?
But for me, I see it as a completion of a circle, what went around came around. and I could have been any one of them, so consider myself lucky that I had developed such strong resilience, and survival instinct which we all have by the bucketload. The survival instinct is strong in all of us or we wouldn't be here. We might need some help for some of it, particularly if depression is around, but we keep going like little chugging trains, lol.

This bit you guys might find interesting, because I have just spent 4 days doing Equine Therapy with two trauma specialists from Arizona of all places!
It was brilliant! They have been to Oz 4 times, and tour around the country, and work with trauma etc. One of them has written a book, Shelly Rosenberg, (based on her own life history of trauma) and the other is Professor Nancy ? They work together with the horses to teach people about boundary setting etc. I have never been near horse in my life, but I can do stuff like teaching them to follow me, do what I tell them, and block them if I want to by just reading horse language.
I'm sure you are all laughing your heads off! But it was a huge learning curve for me considering I was terrified! But I did it, and it was fabulous, so a big thank-you from me to Arizona for creating those lovely creative and intelligent women!
Ps. no riding was involved, it was pure emotional connection with horses, quite fascinating, because I felt like I breathed air with two of those horses,
and they nuzzled with me and licked me, almost like they knew because they were rescued horses. How funny is that?
It was so lovely, we were in the hills with kangaroos and other creatures everywhere, sunsets - clear starry nights, campfires, and the quietness of nature was just delicious. :seeya:
 
I've been diagnosed with PTSD due to an insane court case in LA. The most noticeable thing for me has been a feeling of having no future. Also, of constant fear of impending catastrophe. I have never had one symptom where I'd stab anyone or kill anyone. I have been diagnosed with PTSD, three times, and I still can't believe I have it because I don't have flashbacks as much as I need to avoid things that remind me of the 100 traumas . Almost everything does remind me since court cases are constantly on the news. It's a huge bummer. My sister's art helps. http://open.salon.com/blog/fernsy/2...ce-ful_and_the_faces_of_malicious_prosecution
 

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