Partless, I had tears in my eyes as I read your post, the kind of tears that come from sharing and knowing connection and understanding are there. Thank you.

There is hope for us, for anyone like us, I know that to be true from hard experience and I hope with the help of your T you'll start making steps forward. I wish you the best and I'll be thinking about you, especially if you have to be around your family for Thanksgiving. None of that sounds like false attribution. Real triggers. Hard stuff.

In the meantime, I wish you a daily shower, shampoo, face and hair presentable, finger and toenails clipped nicely, and clean clothes. A good accomplishment. Then -- if you're anything like I was when I first decided to make that my daily goal -- you may have to rest for an hour because it feels exhausting. At first, I even had to sit down in the shower because I was too weak from stress to stand for long. Yeah, it was that bad. The body was protesting loudly. But it does get better with practice. Daily practice. Every single day.

I know you and I aren't the only people on these forums who've experienced having nervous systems so poised to alarm that everything feels like an overwhelming trigger. Can't be. Thanks for sharing your story. I really appreciate it.