PTSD? - What are my options

[Fallen_Angel]

Hi Guys,

I'm starting to think I may have PTSD from a previous law enforcement job that involved safety threats.

I left a year and a half ago, no longer wake up with panic attacks, and the social and general anxiety is gone. I have a nice office job now and am completely safe and generally happy but I still get very panicky (shaky, stressed angry etc) when anything triggers me to think about it.

I want these irrational triggers to stop, but being that things is are otherwise good I'm reluctant to do any sort of treatment that might make things worse. I hate talking or thinking about it too.

Any suggestions?

Has anyone had treatment for this sort of thing before. - Did it work?

What might be my options?

Thanks!

[white knight]

Hi, welcome

I'm 66yo. I began my working life in the Air Force, then warder at a high security jail, railways investigations, dog ranger, security and private investigations. All sounds good however in 1987 I hit a major hurdle. In a dog ranger job party of my work involved issuing parking fines in a medium size town. I was pressurised to ignore a local politicians car but still issue fines on car owned by unemployed, pensioners etc. I refused and kept doing my job without fear nor favour. After an argument with my boss I got what was initially diagnosed as a heart attack and was taken off work by my GP. 3 months later it was found I had had a panic attack not a heart attack through intensive testing. I was sacked eventually but I was ok with that, I had a clear conscience.

Earlier 1977-1980 my work in the jail had its moments, so there was bad memories there also. Add to that the suicide of my late brother in 1979.

So, in a nutshell those are the reasons I have triggers associated with any law enforcement situation whereby say, the police are wrongly treated or a movie with death in custody or workplace bullying. The remedy to such triggers?

There can be some progress with triggers with mind control. eg I had a fear of blood post jail work. That remained with me for 10 years or so when one day I decided it was simply "red water", presto, no more fear! But eliminating triggers isnt so easy. Time is of course the No ! fixer but you cant rush time.

By far my meditation and relaxation techniques have been the most successful. So the cover these I've listed below some threads. You only need to read the first post if you want.

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/staying-well/triggers-that-down-you-triggers-that-lift-you

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/staying-well/meditation---words-of-wisdom---it-helped-me-for-25-years

https://healthyfamilies.beyondblue.org.au/seeking-support/helping-yourself-and-others/online-forums/anxiety/how-to-relax-

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/anxiety/worry-worry-worry

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/staying-well/when-all-is-lost-what-can-you-do-be-radical-/page/2

I hope they help. Reply anytime

TonyWK

[HappyHelper88]

Hey There,

Im sorry to hear about what your experiencing, i had PTSD from childhood trauma and as time went by it never went away until i addressed it and was able to make peace with it...its still comes up sometimes but not as painful
i dont think treatments can make it worse but i think not addressing it can

i would recommend seeing a psych there are several treatments that can work but it depends on the diagnoses

I had Cognitive Behavior therapy and Exposure Therapy which helped me alot
i definitely recommend seeing someone,
i know psychotherapy helps with Trauma too

I hope this helps

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi Fallen-Angel,

Thank you for your post. A nod to your profile pic as well with the semicolon ; I'm glad that you're here.

Yeah I have trauma as well, but different circumstances to yours. I definately hated talking about it and thinking about it and the idea of going to therapy. But I hated the triggers more.

It sounds like you're in a pretty good place otherwise, so that makes me think that it might not be so bad in therapy because you've probably got lots of coping skills already that you might not be aware of.

Therapy is hard, but it's been enormously helpful for me. I think one of the things to remember when thinking about therapy is that it's ok not to go 'all in'. It can take a while to feel safe talking about it. You may even find that it's not entirely necessary to talk about it. I say that because while trauma is unique to everyone, the triggers are kind of universal.

All that said though, not everyone does have access to therapy for different reasons, so there are a lot of self help resources out there.

Here's a thread by one of our other champs Grandy talking about grounding. Grounding is a way to keep us in the here and now and to help when theres a trigger that pops up- You might have a bit of trial and error but these are resources you can pull from and use while you're at your desk:

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/staying-well/grounding-yourself-what-is-it-and-how-do-you-#qo7wvXHzvGGEbv8AAOnT_A

I hope some of this is helpful; I have a lot of experience with trauma so can easily chat away 🙂

rt