How do I cope with this ptsd?
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Hi, I connect with you although I fought a different war. War is War and PTSD is PTSD. Mine was from Fire/EMS...but the signs and symptoms are all the same...just different pictures. Having no idea of what kind of treatment you are getting from the VA, I'll try to give you a brief expl. of my experience. When I "crashed", I had non stop "movies" playing 24 hours a day for 3 weeks. What worked for me was taking Trazadone. It turned them into "Norman Rockwell" type, slowly moving beautiful pictures and really saved my life. That was about 10 years ago, lost my wife too(no big loss), bankrupt, lost savings and retirement. In my experience years of cognitive therapy did very little good and the same with taking most every pill made for most anything. Guinee pig !..I went broke trying to get help. Found a therapist that agreed to treat me pro bono. She does alot of EMDR. It helped get rid of the major triggers. The good knews is you have a much much better chance of getting this under control now.relatively shortly after the traums.as opposed to me with over 20 years of it...to work thru. Just saying I think you will have much qucker, better results than I have. I probably don't have to tell you the first step is "accepting" what you have is a normal(not supposed to use that word anymore), or common result of wading thru unimaginable trauma that we weren't meant to do.it has a name...you aren't "crazy" and you came by it honorably doing heroic work. and don't ever forget that.
The sooner you "process" those buried emotions, expose the lies your subconscious believes and replace them with the truth.the better. EMDR is just one way. Nothing works for everybody. If you'd like to chat more about what has worked for me and not, therapy, etc please email me or IM in Yahoo under mysihba...if it is working !
Ps...one thing that helped me was accepting the flashbacks and especially the "sensory" smell ones.instead of trying to stop what it caused.and knowing it will pass.and for you it will all get better
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Prior milatary here. I was in Iraq for only a few months but I know alot of friends who have p.t.s.d.
some wives stayed, some left, some have it too.
Some acted out, some ignored thier family, some asked for the next chance to go back so they can "feel normal again" since they fuction better alone in the war zone then home.
My hubby has residual episodes but very mild and able to control. Sorry this is happening to you...civilans are really unaware of this silent enemy that takes your sanity from you.
My husband was in Iraq also. He got back in May of this year. He was there for 8 months. He's borderline PTSD. He sees a shrink on base for this and goes weekly. Its helping him a lot b/c he can just talk to someone about it. My husband freaked out on the 4th of July and had to go inside b/c the sound of the fireworks reminded him of being in Iraq. Talk to your doctor about medication. There are several medications that can help your address your symptoms of PTSD. Keep seeking help for this and in time it will get better. It just takes some time. Also, your doctor can give you a sleeping pill to start you on a more regular sleeping habit. But, just the regular meds for PTSD will probably help you sleep better. I hope you feel better and you're not alone. Many people have PTSD, especially war vets.
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