The hashbrowns 7 ways at WH ... Scattered, Smothered, Covered, Chopped, Chunked, & Diced.

That's only six! What's #7 you may be asking ...

Well, it's when it all ends up dropped on the floor, stepped in, slid on, then kicked under the counter only to be hosed away at the end of the day.

Yeah, that sums PTSD up right nicely ...

PTSD is like reliving the trauma over & over again...no ending 8\

[likewater]

Being lost without a map in the dark, on an angry planet, with monsters that have teeth and claws that pop up unexpectedly.

[sandworm]

Originally Posted by likewater

Being lost without a map in the dark, on an angry planet, with monsters that have teeth and claws that pop up unexpectedly.

So, movie "Predator" only real life.

???

"S"

[sandworm]

PTSD, is sleeping in the forest, startled at every hoot, and living on the freeway
like a squirell, successfully dodging each car, not knowing where the next one is coming from.
No, Actually more like trying to have a picnic on the field of a Demolition Derby show;
you don't know from which direction the next threat will come.

.s.

[Open Eyes]

PTSD is having a tight rope stuck to your feet that no one else can see (except for others that have PTSD). A loud noise, or intrusive person, or being around others that make you nervous can make that wire snap tight where your up in the air above everyone else in a balancing act no one else can seem to see. Then the walking, staying on the tight rope takes a lot of thought and another loud noise can make the rope shakey making it even harder to stay on and balance.

A therapist can hand you a pole to help with the balance, has probably read about this hidden tight rope and even treated others that have it too, however he has not truely walked it himself and cannot truely see it, but can try to help you balance and breath in and out slowly in order to help you focus better while your stuck up on this unusual rope above everyone trying so hard to balance.

It can become very exhausting and the fact that very few people truely understand it is also upsetting because you know it is real and very unpredictable.

Open Eyes

ptsd is like every other condition i have in that it is something i have to come to terms with in order to live. i can bemoan about, complain, cry, wail..or i can pull myself up, & manage to live the best i can thru it & with it.

some days will be hard, difficult, but on others it will not even be noticed.

like my asthma...during a episode i am severely aware of every breathe, the struggle etc to move air...but yet when things are under control it is not an issue at all. same for my kidneys, & other assorted body parts.

ptsd is difficult...but sometimes i think people become crippled by conditions out of fear rather than by the condition itself. if you are aware there are triggers...learn to manage or avoid them. learn to handle the effects of them, prior to exposure rather than being in fear of meeting up with one.

i learned this with my asthma..i could walk around in fear of turning blue & not being to breathe & dying (seriously) or i could learn to manage myself better...be more proactive...identify & avoid triggers, manage the exposure after if it occurred. etc.

yes other's don't know about ptsd...really why should they? do people here know about every known medical condition? because really that is what you are expecting of others...just because i have ptsd doesn't mean the world should tip toe around. & really it is ptsd from a car accident, combat, law enforcement, sexual abuse, fire, what? how is anyone supposed to handle that...

anyway...the days i have a bad ptsd day i flat out tell my friends..it is a bad day..because of ____________. if they get it good. if not..well at least they know i am having a hard time. i put it out there...gave them a heads up...some of them know that means maybe they should lay low for a bit..& that is cool...others take a different stance..that is cool too.

ptsd is what you make of it..or what you allow it to be.

i imagine you would get the same answers on a forum for almost any other medical condition...it's not like we are that oh so special.

i

[lostmyway21]

Originally Posted by Open Eyes

PTSD is having a tight rope stuck to your feet that no one else can see (except for others that have PTSD). A loud noise, or intrusive person, or being around others that make you nervous can make that wire snap tight where your up in the air above everyone else in a balancing act no one else can seem to see. Then the walking, staying on the tight rope takes a lot of thought and another loud noise can make the rope shakey making it even harder to stay on and balance.

A therapist can hand you a pole to help with the balance, has probably read about this hidden tight rope and even treated others that have it too, however he has not truely walked it himself and cannot truely see it, but can try to help you balance and breath in and out slowly in order to help you focus better while your stuck up on this unusual rope above everyone trying so hard to balance.

It can become very exhausting and the fact that very few people truely understand it is also upsetting because you know it is real and very unpredictable.

Open Eyes

What an awesome post! I have always felt like I was walking on a tight rope, trying not to fall off.

[Open Eyes]

"ptsd is difficult...but sometimes i think people become crippled by conditions out of fear rather than by the condition itself." ~quote stumpy

Yes, this is correct, a lack of knowledge and facing the symptoms can cause the condition to worsen. It is called catastrophizing and often due to "not" understanding how PTSD effects the brain and body and what triggers episodes of extreme anxiety, headaches, rage, depression, bad thoughts,even body memories of abuse, someone can become very afraid and end up even more dibilatated by the disorder. I know that when I was diagnosed I simply thought it was something I would just get over, no, instead it progressed and I became crippled by it, which made me very frightened and confused.

" ptsd is what you make of it..or what you allow it to be." quote ~stumpy
As I mentioned when I was first diagnosed I didn't make anything of it, as I said it got worse without my knowing, sinking me into depression and slow withdrawl. Truely understanding it, why it happens, how it has manifested, and what triggers are and understanding that has to come long before one can "slowly" consciously work on dealing with it better.

"i imagine you would get the same answers on a forum for almost any other medical condition...it's not like we are that oh so special" ~quote stumpy

I don't think anyone that suffers from PTSD wants to be "oh so special" in any way.
However I know personally that because I struggled not truely understanding it and family members were not educated about it until just my husband recently, instead of getting support, my family was actually really mean and blaming and disrespectful in many ways that made my condition even more difficult.

"Oh so special?" No, stumpy that can actually be a trigger to be honest. I can remember being in a psychward in shock and my sister sitting across a table from me with a very angry face, blaming me and telling me to "get with the program" and that I wasn't " oh so special". That was wrong stumpy, the psychward should not have let family members harass me for something I could not help or understand.

Understanding? That truely has to come first, I have had some terrible thoughts, I don't want to be special for that, and I don't think keeping a loaded handgun in a drawer next to my bed even when I asked for it to be removed is understanding how severe PTSD can get.

"I had no idea" is probably one of the better responses to it that I can think of. Because I truely had no idea what was happening to me, and when I came here to PC I still didn't truely understand the depths of it. I truely had no idea WHY I was suddenly exeriencing Flashbacks or what they meant. It is not easy to find a therapist that TRUELY UNDERSTANDS IT AND CAN GUIDE A PATIENT TO ALSO UNDERSTAND IT. I know this because I was extremely mislead down an extremely confusing road, which made me even worse.

Stumpy, I think that it is promising that you are now on a level that you understand what it means and have found ways to make efforts to NOT let it control your life.
But, I will never forget where I was in PTSD when I first came to PC. I learned so much more about it since I joined in March of last year. I have to say it took me months to understand it, I didn't even know what triggers meant, even though I was constantly being triggered and experiencing the crippling after effects. It also took me a long time to find a therapist that could work with me, there were so few in my area, like others who struggle to find a good therapist, PC was all I had in some very crucial months where I truely struggled and didn't have any support as I mentioned outside PC.

To be totally honest, by my coming to PC and finding others that were more knowledgeable and understanding, willing to support me and help me learn more about it, that probably saved my life. So, when I see new members that come here in confusion, I would never tell them to "just deal" somehow. Instead, now understanding it better myself, I reach out any way I can to SUPPORT those that come here so VERY CONFUSED and OFTEN VERY ALONE in their struggle. And I know that members that come here do not want to be "oh so special" and continue to struggle or embrace this disorder in anyway.

I think that it is great that you have gotten to a personal understanding of PTSD and how it effects you and "HOW" to find ways to "NOT LET IT CONTROL YOU" stumpy. However I am sure that didn't happen overnight, because it doesn't "just happen overnight". You are an important member because you "HAVE" found ways to address and control it better, so that is promising to all those that "TRUELY HAVEN'T FIGURED IT OUT YET".

PTSD, is like an arubics cube that someone is handed all messed up, the goal is to try to line up all the colors (crippling symptoms and what they mean) and lining it up can be very difficult. While sometimes the arubic's cube can be slowly lined up, it can be disturbed by many things that a patient doesn't understand, it truely takes a while to learn how to become more aware of how to work on this complicated cube and learn to line up the colors better.

Open Eyes

is trying to get out from in...................................

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IS a silent scream...........................................................

[Open Eyes]

((((theodora)))) yes, good discriptions, your imput has helped me soooo much.
((((Hugs))))
Open Eyes

this post was asking what MY perception of ptsd is..to which i answered...honestly. i am sorry if y perception bothers or triggers anyone..

i get it..been there, done that, bought the psych ward t shirt more times than once...done it without family to criticize me...i doubt if anyone who stays in chez bin for an emergency stay isn't a little traumatized...really it is just a stabilization or holding place..not someplace that's warm & cuddly...want to talk about the time the guy in the room across from me hung himself?

i am a work in progress..i have said that before..i am not here to say my ptsd is not better or more healed than yours or worse than yours or what ever..it isn't a game...

i also am sorry if i don't wallow in my conditions or allow them to run my life..i can not..i live alone with no family & limited support system..so things have to get done. period. i feel the same about all my health conditions..been hospitalized about 15 or so times for assorted things , & can't tell you how many ER visits.. i have to focus & deal..or my dogs don't get fed, bills don't get paid, etc. there is no one esle to pick up the slack. if i don't focus they will die. period. as part of my job i had to focus & work...i couldn't afford to drift..it could get me killed or the public...so i focus.

as far as i know people of all stages of progress are permitted to post here, as well as those who may not even have ptsd...

as i said..this was my post describing my position on it. am i healed? no..i just went thru a difficult time with a law enforcement ranger's death..i am not immune to ptsd...but i guess i manage differently.

so if this means my view is different than yours, well so be it. that does not make it wrong...just different.

^^^^^^^^^(((((((((((((((((stumpy)))))))))))))))))))I agree with your posts ... ain't nuttin "special" about the thing...ug. Just gotta keep truckin...like you said earlier...I do it too...

This is not a competition...dunno how that happened.....please to pm me if ever you feel the need?

IS knowing when a friend is in need...is reaching beyond your own silent hell and offering a hand up.......the only way to stop the choir which sings of despair inside yourself..........

[skeksi]

I like this thread because it is helpful to me to describe a thing in order to make sense of it. For me, this is why telling my story in therapy has been so healing and has allowed me to experience my history differently as I live my life today. In the same way, speaking my experience of PTSD symptoms has been helpful and validating. Just last month, when I was experiencing some severe symptoms because of contact with my abuser, I was trying to share my experience with a friend. Because she doesn't have any life experience with anxiety or trauma, I relied on a metaphor to describe it to her. I literally said, "PTSD is like..." Metaphors are a way to let others into our experience. I enjoy reading everybody's interpretations.

[siljie]

PTSD is like being chained to a chair of spikes with your eyes pried open, mouth gagged, and forced to watch your trauma on a huge movie-theater screen in front of you, that's on replay... The doors around you are locked and everything behind you screams and taunts you but the chains give you no way out... no way out from the fear, no way out from the memories... PTSD is like being suffocated... and watching those clips roll by before your resisting eyes. That's what PTSD is to me.

[lil-angel-wings]

PTSD is like the rapids...if your lucky and you have worked hard enough you might make it through with out to much really happening to you other then a fright now and then, but for me, I keep getting sucked under and have to fight hard to just keep my head above water and swim through it,,, I"VE LOST MY RAFT

[bekthar]

PTSD is someone pulling out my eyes, the fat under my skin, the bones and tendons and organs and innards of my body, and putting them into a new shell that's THERE again...

[cookie00]

Open Eyes;

You really put things into perspective, thanks for explaining this in detail.

So is it better to get the whole family involved, so that they can better understand what is going on with their loved ones? (family counseling)

[candidog]

Complex PTSD is like living with a house without windows. You can never see whats coming until it knocks on the door. The waiting for the Knock is the hard part. The fear the anxiety and the pure panic that goes along with it. Never trusting the outside world or anyone in it.

[deepthinker]

Originally Posted by sandworm

PTSD, is sleeping in the forest, startled at every hoot, and living on the freeway
like a squirell, successfully dodging each car, not knowing where the next one is coming from.
.s.

Love this....sums up my life perfectly at times.

[bluebird2012]

is like a nightmare you cant wake up from...you see yourself in the mirror one day and you dont know who is looking back at you anymore

PTSD IS LIKE ... Finally getting it altogether then forgetting where you put it!

=
=
is like little earthquakes.........

Complex PTSD is like . . . a never ending hell that keeps repeating itself. Wanting to fight back against the people who abused you and did terrible, mean things, but instead, being re-victimized all over again by your thoughts and feelings because you can't get back at them and they have gotten away with it. And, you feel like the loser/victim all over again . . . and you are. This is not a life and it keeps repeating and repeating.