[Butterfly_Faerie]

Ok so I went to the store to exchange two shirts.
Come home, as I turn down the street near my house I see a car pull up from up the street, he just sits just past me and parks his car.... I think neat is he going to try something, ask for directions? Or those scenerios like Oh I lost my dog, can you help me find him?

I thought oh %#@&#! just keep walking and if this man talks to you just pretend you didn't hear him. This street pretty much you walk straight into my driveway, anyways I am thinking should I walk to where the moms are and what not so he doesn't see where I live? But I decide to go into my house and locked the door. I peaked out of the blinds and saw the car coming towards my street and makes a left, if he went straight he would have hit a dead end, but if he goes up a tad and turns right he is on another street. I go upstairs to see if he is parked, but didn't see him.

I was talking to my sister and told her I was going outside to see if a car is parked out there that isn't supposed to be, didn't see nothing. He was in a white car, there was one down the street to the left of my house but I think that car is always there, and it's super hot today so the windows would have been open if that was him.

Am I being weird? Did this person follow me?

Was it someone lost?

I just thought it was strange, because I swear the car was parked down the street before I turned onto it, and when I did it pulled in front of me and parked.

After I went into the house he drove down my street and dunno where he went.

[cherybery]

Sounds spooky but he could have been lost too. I travel to houses when I work and I think I look strange to others cause it looks like I am scoping out the area. But I have also been on the side your on and when I see a car sitting by my house that I have never seen I tend to think twice.

[Butterfly_Faerie]

Yeah it's strange, he never once got out of his car, just parked, waited until I was in the house and drove.

Weird feeling. The whole 2 yrs or so i've been here I've only had three occurences all this year.

Was weird.

[JustBen]

I don't even want to think about how many times I scared people back when I delivered pizzas. It's just hard to find a house without slowing down, parking, and otherwise making yourself look creepy. Could be something like that.

[Butterfly_Faerie]

Thank you JustBen...

I guess I can't help it, must be hyper viligant...
I know I suffer from remnants of PTSD, not as bad as they used to be but they are still there in terms of my "day dreams" that I've posted here in the past, still get them constantly, I'm afraid to go into to detail with them because I know for sure they will be triggering alot of members, it sucks... they don't stop... It's like reliving something that's never occured...

[Larry_Hoover]

Hypervigilance.....what to do about it?

I know you won't hear this kind of talk from doctors, but your diet has a profound influence over how resilient your body will be when the next episode of vigilance comes over you. The excited state that we call vigilance changes body chemistry. You can feel that change. It is my belief that you can dampen the physiological feeling of vigilance, which can in turn dampen the psychological feeling of vigilance. With diet, you can sometimes turn the brittle tension into flexible resiliency. At least, in terms of the trend. It's really hard to describe, in words.

To enhance flexibility at membranes/receptors, fish oil. Long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, in their preformed state. Not equivalent to vegetable sources. You need the EPA and DHA ready for use.

To protect that membrane, you need antioxidants. Vitamins E (mixed tocopherols), C (ascorbic acid), and alphalipoic acid. Isn't it interesting that mammals that retain the ability to synthesize vitamin C (e.g. rats) would produce about 16 grams a day if they were the size of humans, which have lost the gene encoding the enzyme that forms vitamin C. 16 grams. Yet, the medical wizards say that we need only 60 mg/day. We only need 4% of what nature provides other mammals? Evidence? Oh, dear, I'm getting distracted. These three antioxidants work as a team, so take all three.

At the systemic level, your body needs magnesium to twist receptors into the proper shape for neurotransmitters to activate them. This is especially true for the GABA-A receptor, the one which is influenced by benzodiazepine tranquilizers. Chronic stress depletes magnesium. If you're deficient, you can't relax. You can get magnesium from taking a bath, if you include epsom salts (magnesium sulphate). A warm epsom salt bath might be just the ticket. But taking supplements would be better.

There are also alternative pathways to dampen the feeling of excitation, apart from GABA. Taurine is a derivative of methionine, but it's produced via a lengthy biochemical pathway which is also adversely impacted by stress. Taurine functions almost exactly like GABA. There are dedicated taurine reuptake pumps in all of your brain's synapses. But it doesn't get any notice. I don't know why that is. Unlike GABA, oral taurine readily crosses the blood/brain barrier. It works in minutes. It has a mild flavour, and is very inexpensive. I would describe the effect of using taurine as not needing a benzo, rather than as feeling like I had taken one. I hope you understand the difference.

Niacinamide is one form of vitamin B3. It not only assists in the GABA-A receptor conformation thing, but it is also a mild agonist at that receptor. Niacinamide is calming. It also inhibits release of histamine, so it is an excellent augmentative in the treatment of hayfever and asthma. Asthma also responds to magnesium intake, btw.

There are so many ways you can nudge the trend into a better likelihood of feeling less uncomfortable. It puts control back into your own hands, even if the effect is mild. It's empowering.

Food for thought. Food for feeling.

Lar

[(JD)]

sundance, just because you're hypervigilant doesn't mean what you see isn't real... it means that you do see stuff others don't and you also put a doom and gloom meaning to what you see.

I also have such situations. (However in my case, just because I am this way doesn't mean they aren't after me ) I have been harrassed and followed (legally stalked) for eons! I had training in counter terrorism also, so I can spot things "a mile away."

There are many things to help curb how severe our reactions are, and yes, my doctors address my diet often. However, due to PTSD, it will take good, expert therapy and plenty of work work work in therapy and IRL to get to the point where you don't feel this way, nor respond this way on a daily basis, imo. TC!

[Larry_Hoover]

I'm curious about the dietary advice, Sky. I'm speaking to PTSD-specific dietary modification. Not general nutrition. What sort of advice did your doctor give?

Lar

[Butterfly_Faerie]

Thank you Sky, it helps to know that I am not the only one feeling this way...

My doctor never told me about diet and PTSD, was it your psychiarist or your family doctor?

Thanks Larry for you advice.

[wisewoman]

Larry, my doc is great about the stuff you discuss but you remind me to get back at it. I have been negligent and I am startleing very easily and any noise or disturbance at night sets up the fight or flight. Thanks for the reminder. My diet really stinks.

[(JD)]

My T, my MD and my nutritionist! Good healthy eating, restorative sleep, pain and fatigue management, and meds prn... are good foundation for success for PTSD therapy.

It's tough enough to push through depression and flashbacks, triggers but when your physical body isn't the best it can be, there's a cycle of struggle that I just can't overcome myself.

[Butterfly_Faerie]

My diet sucks as well...