Overstimulated

Do any of you ever hang out in the darkest room of your apt on your days off? For me it’s my bathroom, it’s the only room without windows. And it’s my bathtub, it’s the biggest space in it. Sometimes I sit or lie in it fully clothed when it’s empty.
My bedroom is off the parking lot and I also don’t like staying in bed anymore then 8-9 hours but some days I’m just tired.

I totally feel that way. Not in my bathroom but today in my bedroom, under the covers like all day.

Yes. I do.

Yes! My bedroom is the darkest room in the house.


WC

Yes, I painted my whole downstairs dark red with black trim and all my windows are covered with dark curtains so I can't tell if it's daylight or not. I don't always keep it that way but on my days off I go back and forth with opening and closing the curtains.

I rent so I can’t paint the walls or put up dark curtains

Darkness isn't necessary, but sometimes I become a major hermit and deflect all responsibility to stay at home for days at a time.

I don’t have that option so then I keep a low profile after work.

I rent too I'm just a rebel

My apt is all
I have so I can’t afford to be rebellious

I don't understand what the problem is you are allowed to cover your windows even if you rent. They are called blackout curtains.

You can also hang sheets or drapery on the walls to make it darker. Just another option for the renter...as I'm a renter too.

The challenge someone faces who struggles with PTSD is how much more "sensitive" they are. So, it's more challenging to engage and interact like a person did before they developed PTSD, and a trigger can literally develop into the individual experiencing a rush of chemicals in their brain mainly cortisol that presents the person with feeling they are in danger, and will need to act on that danger, fight/flight/freeze. I know if I have to face some very toxic or challenging things myself, I find that I NEED to find a dark quiet place that I can feel safe in just so I can actually "rest" and feel safe where I don't face any kind of outside stimulation that might trigger me. No one means to have this challenge either and one thing that is so hard about it is how others in our lives don't understand how challenging it is and also how exhausting it can be too. How a trigger can literally leave a person genuinely feeling like they ran a marathon and are just exhausted.

Goodness, Open Eyes, you have described exactly what is happening with me today.

We can’t put colored black out curtains only beige because it needs to look the same from the outside.

I have blackout curtains. I was saying that we can’t use colored black out curtain.

Then get a double rod and hang the beige closest to the window so it matches from the outside and put the dark or black out curtains on the inside that will do better at darkening the room you need to be darker.

I didn’t know there was such a thing as a double rod. I have a pair of beige black out curtains up already.