Connect
← Return to Anyone Else With PTSD?
Discussion
Comment receiving replies
@parus
I have PTSD for multiple reasons. I was an EMT for a number of years, and saw a lot of grisly scenes, checking for pulses or signs of life on people in vehicles that were mangled, sitting with dead bodies, waiting for the coroner...; abuse by bosses; libel and slander; failed suicide attempts. I didn't serve in the military, so it's called civilian PTSD. I think everyone handles traumatic events in different ways, and it's very misunderstood. People with PTSD have to deal with judgment, criticism, being labeled. Recovery, I would think, could be long and hard, and is paired with mental health issues, which complicates things. For me, it exacerbates depression and anxiety. One thing has an effect on the other. In therapy I've learned that traumatic events from the distant past still affect my depression.
Jim
Replies to "@parus I have PTSD for multiple reasons. I was an EMT for a number of years,..."
Although you may have given much comfort and care to patients, your experience clearly took from you. I am sorry. I hope you may get the care you need. I have PTSD from a stay in a Medicare A+ rehab/nursing home where I nearly died from internal bleeding. By the time they granted my pleas for a doctor (4 days) I had nearly a discernible blood pressure reading. I should have sued but I was sick at home for months and on my own, by then I had lost mail, overdue bills and home care I needed. Thanks for listening.
Connect
Jim, I have felt a tremendous amount of disrespect of the diagnosis because it is civilian PTSD. Long ago verbal and emotional abuse from a father with his own cross to bear. I know that relations I have with other people are colored by my ten-year-old self, I just don't know how to make it stop. Fortunately, I have been married for 45 years to a very caring, understanding man, who has been there for the majority of my life (we were married when I was 19), so he has personal knowledge of the ongoing pain and suffering, and he "gets it," but the rest of my extended family just doesn't see the connection. "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps" is the general response I get. I've quit trying to discuss it with my family. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depends on how you see it) both of my parents passed the end of the year, and that in itself is fraught with feelings of guilt on my part, and the fact that there is now no chance to ever resolve anything. Blindeyepug, I have been through years and years of therapy, and truly, although I might not make it seem so, my life is better than it has ever been. My meds help a lot; the only consistent problem I have is insomnia. I have an accomplished son, an amazing grandson, a husband any woman would be blessed to have, a pretty home, two glorious cat friends, one of who is trying to take the scrunchie out of my hair even now. The saying about count your blessings is a little trite for what folks think should be enough for us, but it is not. I don't understand why it is not, it just isn't. Any comments from the group?