Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Help
) in the afternoon you have been working with
intensity and anxiety since O-dark thirty this morning and you
are both mentally and physically exhausted. You need a break so
you sit down and close your eyes. However in doing this you have
let your guard down, your losing your intensity and slowly your
mind begins to fall back. In my case it seems to start in my
left eye. Pieces of the past come blasting in to your conscious
from the subconscious. If you are lucky you catch it quickly and
drive it back into your subconscious mind. If not the racing
thoughts begin the downward spiral that may end in a flashback.
After each event you are angry and wonder how many more times do
you have to be ambushed by your PTSD. You’re a combat vet and
according to the VA you have something call Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD).
PTSD is an anxiety disorder that has been around since the
beginning of mankind. Its symptoms were recognized and
mentioned in the bible. It is the result of being exposed to an
event or events that are so severe and traumatizing that they
basically overload the mind. If you are young under the age of
20 it can physically change the brain permanently. PTSD is
frequently chronic and can be delayed for many years before
overcoming the suffer. Symptoms include intrusive thoughts,
racing thoughts, paranoia, agoraphobia, flashbacks,
irritability, severe nightmares, night sweats, and anxiety
disorders.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder sometimes incorrectly referred
to by the media as post traumatic syndrome, can be caused or
triggered by witnessing or being involved any number trauma
related events. These include combat, car accidents, domestic
battery, rape, assault, industrial accidents, murder,
imprisonment and personal injury. The response to these events
is entirely personal. Events that have no effect on others or
even events that you have witnessed previously may not have any
effect on you in terms of PTSD.
The event that causes you to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder may seem to pass without note or it can cause you to
have a total breakdown immediately after the experience. Again
this is normal as each of us responds differently to the
trauma. Marines, soldiers, sailors, police officers, EMS,
firemen and first responders who are under orders or carrying
out their profession frequently show no immediate effect to a
trauma event or series of events. Many of these people do what
is commonly called =ECstuffing it=EE or ignoring it. The effects of
stuffing their exposure frequently means it show up later,
sometimes many years later.
Other Post Traumatic Stress Disorder suffers may have an
immediate response to the event. They can be severely affected
within hours or days. Hopefully there are mental health
professionals available to provide treatment. It is understood
that if you receive treatment relatively soon after a trauma
event you have a much better ability overcome the symptoms of
PTSD. Frequently just discussing the event shortly after it has
occurred can go a long way to healing the wounds.
Individuals suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
frequently develop additional mental disorders as a result of
their PTSD. These include depression, substance abuse,
alcoholism, sleep disorders, suicide, agoraphobia and panic
disorders. In addition physical medical problems also increase
and can include cardiac, dental, intestinal, and digestive
diseases. Some physicians feel it also increases the risk of
cancer.
People who suffer from PTSD in the chronic delay form seem to
suffer the most and tend have more trouble controlling the
symptoms. Many combat veterans have come home thinking they
have escaped the effects of what they endured only to find that
PTSD symptoms show up years later.
Many of us have used various methods to control and hide the
symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Myself, I used
exercise, adrenalin rushes and work to control it. Others have
used alcohol and drugs and still others have just gone and
bunkered up and shut out the real world. Most of us have sleep
problems, by that I mean we don’t sleep. For more than 20 years
I lived on about 2 hours a night. Its really another way to
control symptoms, if you do not sleep you do not dream.
I personally know that living with untreated PTSD is hell on
earth. Dealing with it long after the effects symptoms have
taken hold is certainly a trying ordeal as well. It has to be
dealt with or your will not have a normal life and it can even
significantly shorten your life. The choice is yours.
Understand that the treatment and medications do not cure you
but they lesson the control that the symptoms place on you.
I am not a mental health professional but I am a mentor to
combat vets and law enforcement officers who are dealing with
PTSD and its symptoms. My job is to facilitate getting the
people into treatment programs and then mentor them through the
long process of getting control of their symptoms. This process
can be further complicated by substance abuse or associated
mental health problems. Mentoring is hard work but I have
already learned that if combat vets and cops do not help each
other then no one does. In future articles I will layout the
process of getting control of PTSD symptoms from the mentor’s
perspective.
If you have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or know someone who
does, you can generally get assistance by contacting your
county veterans service officer or Department of Veterans
Affairs Veterans Readjustment Center. The VA has a great deal
of expertise in dealing with this disorder. Even if you are not
a vet they frequently know what mental health resources are
available to affectively treat PTSD. If your are in a Job that
does not allow you to have PTSD like law enforcement, active
duty military, fire fighters and other first responders, you
must choose carefully who you work with. Trust is everything
when it comes to dealing with and treating PTSD. Eventually you
will have to make a decision as to staying in your profession.
It is far better that you make that decision then to have
someone else make it for you. I am not only a combat vet but I
am an ex law enforcement officer and I know what I am talking
about.
Again the worse thing you can do is to try to ignore the
problem until the symptoms become too severe for you to manage.
Today is the best time to start dealing with your Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder. Life is a hell of a lot better when you have
the help and the tools necessary to control the symptoms as
opposed to them controlling you. It can and will get better if
you work at it. Start looking for resources to help you now.
There are people like me that will help you if you let them.
About The Author: James Kesel, MS
http://www.stop-anxiety-attacks.net
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