Post traumatic disoder

[Enlighten_me]

Hello everybody. I'm new here just now.  I suffer ptsd from physical injury and witnessing corruption. Which I won't go into due to sight rules and legal instruction.  I hope I haven't broken the rules already.  I just want to talk to people that suffer similar symptoms and hopefully learn coping methods

[Guest_5218]

Hi Enlighten me.  Welcome to the Forums.  I have also been diagnosed with PTSD.  Mine is as a result of trauma (aggravated rape) almost 20 years ago.

Like most with PTSD, I experience flashbacks of the event, nightmares, severe anxiety symptoms (shakes, panic attacks and a fluttery type of heartbeat), intrusive thoughts, inability to sleep and the development of some really annoying OCD habits.  I have become quite reclusive, live in fear of it happening again and have moved a number of times to escape.

I never reported or spoke of the incident to anyone until this year.  I have now been through a block of Exposure Therapy (ET) combined with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) which is meant to be very effective.

Have you sought help at all?  I never did at the time of my trauma, and now I wish I had done.  So my recommendation to you would be to seek help if you havent, to possibly save long-term suffering.

Some of the therapies are effective for some, but not for others.  I think I am a little improved since the ET, but my psychologist says I still have a long way to go.  I still find that I am being 'triggered' from unexpected things.  I know all the usual triggers, but there are always some surprises it seems.

Unfortunately my Mental Health Care Plan sessions are all used up for this year, so further therapy will have to wait until next year.  My psych wants to try EMDR therapy next time, so see if that results in some further improvement.  Does anybody out there in Forum World have any experience with EMDR?  I have read both good and bad reports about its effectiveness. I would be interested to know what you people out there think about it from your experience.

As for coping methods - I am still learning that one myself.  Initially I used work and sport as a distraction.  Then I suffered an injury 16 years ago, resulting in some physical disability. I could no longer work fulltime or do all the sports that I used to love doing.  Shamefully I turned to alcohol as a crutch!  Please dont do that........  That is one thing that my therapy this year has helped with.  I have really cut down on my alcohol usage.  Hooray!  I note you have a physical injury too, so I expect sport is out for you also.  I have started to do Pilates recently, which I do find helpful both physically and mentally.  Or perhaps you could try yoga?

So if you learn of some coping methods that work for you, please post it here so we can all learn from your experiences.

Good luck

[Neil_1]

Hi there Enlighten Me (and also Sherie)

Thank you for coming to Beyond Blue Enlighten Me and I hope you found some positive and helpful aspects from Sherie’s wonderful response that she provided to you.  I just wanted to chip in and basically say “Hi” and am really glad that you’ve made the effort to come here and post.

Also by reading other people’s threads on the different areas, you may be able to pick up different thoughts and mechanisms for self-help;  but also just to know that you are NOT alone in this.

Just in regard to ‘other possible’ options for keeping one occupied, I guess especially when physical injury curbs our options for sporting ventures and the like, I have a mate who isn’t overly sporty, but he has his demons.  His escapism is to play board games – he has a rather big collection of them and he has a group of mates who also enjoy this form of entertainment.  Again, it’s always great to hear of other options for how people try to cope with dealing with our demons.

Cheers

Neil