Saw my MD today. Thanks to my PTSD, my blood pressure is high. All I know is that I am angry almost all of the time. I requested a sedative but the MD insists that I see a psychiatrist and have them prescribe an anti-depressant. I don't have a good track record with anti-depressants because the side effects are worse than the benefits. The MD said that sedatives are addictive and will not prescribe one. I dread seeing another therapist. Therapy has not helped one bit; I have had many and tried different modalities. It fact, I think it has hurt me more than it has helped. Lately, I have lost hope. I have no money to pay for a therapist. I am more angry and bitter than ever and have been yelling at myself all night.

[Open Eyes]

Originally Posted by unhappyguy

Saw my MD today. Thanks to my PTSD, my blood pressure is high. All I know is that I am angry almost all of the time. I requested a sedative but the MD insists that I see a psychiatrist and have them prescribe an anti-depressant. I don't have a good track record with anti-depressants because the side effects are worse than the benefits. The MD said that sedatives are addictive and will not prescribe one. I dread seeing another therapist. Therapy has not helped one bit; I have had many and tried different modalities. It fact, I think it has hurt me more than it has helped. Lately, I have lost hope. I have no money to pay for a therapist. I am more angry and bitter than ever and have been yelling at myself all night.

I am sorry unhappyguy. Everyone who has PTSD knows how you feel.
I can understand the issue with antidepressants as I had the same problem, could not handle the side effects. I also know that my regular doctor would not prescribe the clonazapam I take for severe attacks and to sleep at night. I try to take as little as possible and often choose to try other methods of combating anxiety, however, sometimes it is overwhelming.

I am sorry that you have been unsuccessful with therapists as I have had the same problem a good one is hard to find.

I don't know what abuse you endured. Some people here have found it helpful to discuss it and find comfort in seeing others have experienced the same and have worked thru it.

Dont go away angry, stay and talk and perhaps you will find good comfort and suggestions here.

Open Eyes

[(JD)]

Anger management is important with PTSD... I continue to work on my own.

Can you try herbs? There are some really good ones you might be able to use to help take the edge off of life... you know some I'm sure, like camomile... but also passion flower, valerian, skull cap.... and I take ashwanganda and holy basil to help directly counter the negative effects of cortisol.

Don't feel hopeless...there are many avenues to work on with this beast of a disorder.

[DancingAlone]

i'd like to post something here. first of all, it's very hard to understand (i don't claim to understand most of it) but it explains what a lot of people with PTSD experience as far as physiological responses to this mental disorder related to immune system disorders, which in turn result in other physical problems. these studies are mostly being done in the military at this point. this is unfortunate, because a few studies show that these reactions are more common in women.

i apologize for it's complexity, but it's the nature of the beast to understand what is happening to the immune systems of a lot of people with PTSD. a friend of mine suffers terribly with most of these physical symptoms, which prompted my research into it. the words in italic are not consecutive, they are excerpts from this site.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/0...ystem_052010w/

This “suggests a biologic model of PTSD etiology in which an externally experienced traumatic event induces downstream alterations in immune function by reducing methylation levels of immune-related genes,” the study stated.....

The researchers said that may be because a person’s most necessary systems respond to danger, while everything else slows. Usually, when the danger is gone, everything goes back to normal. But some people stay at some level of that hyper-alert state.....

In addition to the lack of activation of immune system genes, the researchers looked at levels of antibodies to a normally latent herpes virus — cytomegalovirus — that usually remains symptom-less. But in those with a weakened immune system, it can cause anything from flu-like symptoms to visual impairment, inflammation of the brain, pneumonia, diarrhea and hepatitis.

places that are studying this:
Department of Epidemiology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City
Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Departments of Society, Human Development, and Health and Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115
***************

again, this is all very new. most of the research is being done in Michigan. but for people with PTSD who are suffering from a weakened immune system, resulting in OTHER physical problems, just the existence of this research hopefully will offer a solution some day.

p.s. just as a personal side note, staying at "some level of a hyper-alert state" is constant. i CANNOT go without a benzodiazepine (mine is valium). i have had to fight for it over the years, but i have a doctor now who understands this is a part of my being able to cope with the effects of my past abuse. when i'm so tensed up i can hardly breathe, and my "nerves" are at a breaking point, it's critical to have something to help. so i totally understand unhappyguy. i wish you well, and to find an understanding doctor.

[(JD)]

From my understanding, women are much more likely to suffer overwhelming immune system response than men are....for some reason. Not to counter ... but the military is a microcosm of the world, and probably lends itself to a better sampling and stricter compliance within studies.

[DancingAlone]

All this research is new. they say in some of the articles that more testing needs to be done to include more women (who show more immune system problems from PTSD than men) because the few they tested didn't give them enough data to report the percentages correctly.

the study in Michigan was only approved for publication in April of 2010. it's so sad. i try so hard not to get mad when the general psychiatric community doesn't give credence to physical effects from mental conditions. well, now there's a proven link with "epigenetic changes in immune-system genes" of people with PTSD. i just want to say to them "hurry, hurry, hurry!"

[Nammu]

I relize this is quite late. I have PTSD yet seem to avoid this catagory for some reason. As it has been said Just about anyone with PTSD can ideatify with this. I can not take anti-depressants, it quite hard to get it though the heads of the medical sociity that anti-depressants are not a one size fits all cure all. I had some success by going to the psych central newsletter and printing all the letters that had evidence that andi depressants were not the best solution for everyone. I don't bother talking to my PCP any more for any reason, she looks at me and see's "mentally Ill" I once had a great PCP who treated me as a person, but thats a different story. I looked for a T who specilized in trama and finly found one. Life has been much better, but it was hard for a long time. I think it is great you admit your anger so openly, I have trouble with that. good luck, I hope things are better for you now. You know what is best for you. Good luck.

[(JD)]

Part of the problem will be, and has been, that not all of the medical groups agree with any findings. They tend to stick to what they think they know to be true (this is also true with those who go on into psychiatry, imo.)

Most MDs know that anti depressants don't work for 70% of the population, and that any one a-d will work for only %30, not all of them --the a-ds--will.... yet they don't share this and make it like it's the patient who is being resistant (or not taking their med) when it doesn't help, making the person more depressed.

IDK maybe they consider the military events as viable and allowable for physical ailments but not PTSD by any other life-death situation????? IDK.

Yes, the ongoing mis-management of stress takes it's toll on the body. I know personally too.

[Nammu]

It's ironic, I was Dx PTSD 25 years ago, but not taken seriously until my body started breaking down. I was in the hospital with sepsis, then had a series of infections, now I go to a pain clinic with the most increadible T, who understands PTSD on a level I've never seen before. My hope is doc's start learning so others get the right treatment before their health is at stake.

[Open Eyes]

You know, I wish my family members would go thru my days before during and after holidays as I am dealing with not only past PTSD, but ongoing trama. I am trying to work on it. I am not only dealing with a lawsuit and damaged animals but several alcoholics that want me to be a co-dependant and they really fight me, especially over the holidays.

No, I really wish they could feel what my body feels like before, during and after these events where they really try to punish me. If only they could feel the intense anxiety attacks and complete exhaustion. Do you think that maybe then they would understand? I wish that when they make it a point not to call or wish me a merry chirstmas or happy easter or I dont know what to expect this weekend, I would actually like to take off and forget it altogether, yes I wish they could get zapped with all the emotional and physical pain too.

And I just have to agree about the psychiatrists that make you feel worse because you cant deal with the side effects of antidepressants and they don't help you either.

Sorry, not having a good day at all.

Open Eyes

[Nammu]

Open eyes I think you are on to something, I think that would be so great if there was some kind of vitual game where family and doc's would not just "see" the POV but experance the heart rate, the andrenalin, the startle effet and what all the medications feel like.

I'm sorry your having a bad day, . Better tomorrow.

[Hunny]

Thanks for this. Been fighting lowered immune system for 5 months, so reading here it makes so much sense. Stress levels, even good stress has been over the top. Should settle down now but have done everything possible to minimize the stress, eating well, resting as much as possible to keep the hypervigilence, dreams and exhaustion in check but it's all leaking out the sides a bit now and I need to reign-in.

It can make one feel discouraged, overwhelmed and hopeless. What can I say? Here's hoping some bike rides in the sunshine, eating some great 'real' foods and getting a chance to work on some art work will help. My counsellors have been there for me all along and if they weren't I'm thinkin' things would be worse. Not sure what I'd do without them but this time I still leaked around the edges. Five rounds of anti-biotics but I think it's also due to a tooth infection. Need four teeth removed, with no dental plan, stress around that is trying to rob me of my serenity. Have to figure in step-by-step, how to pay and how to face the drip or general anesthetic. Why dentists and doctors don't think our heads (gums specifically) are part of the whole body is beyond me. *sigh*

[Nammu]

Hunny I'll never understand why doc's think mental health is seperate from the body either! So much proof and they still act on old assumptions?

Goodluck,