It seems there are some young women who enjoy playing and exploiting the victim/martyr/drama role. I don't know if they are predisposed to it, conditioned to it as a child, or what.
I probably sound a little hard and unsympathetic towards my own gender. I've never been that way, and I find it immature and irritating.
Not really, no, you don't. I lived in Bentonville, working supporting Wal-Mart's servers as a vendor, at the time of the Joplin tornado. I have absolutely no doubt after listening to the scanners that night that many emergency workers have PTSD from it -- anytime a group of people is coming across 10 dead bodies in an hour (I listened for three, and that was the fewest I counted in that timeframe when they just said "Another one" followed by some variation of a cuss word after. There was no need for any more information to know what they were talking about than their tone of voice.
I have no idea what Amber saw that night, and wasn't active on DU at that time -- I take many hiatuses. I don't know if her house was destroyed, or what, and honestly it's not a concern of mine. I have no money to help anyone out right now, all I can do is pray, and that's free so I'm not feeling like I'm getting ripped off when I light a candle for her along with the others on my prayer list. All I know is that it was surreal to drive through Joplin even months later when they were still clearing debris and my company went up there to volunteer (after the first day they sent the girls to the tent to sort donations by size and usability, pairing shoes donated in boxes, etc, and had the guys out doing the hard work). An F5 hitting a major city (for that area, it was bigger than my town) is no laughing matter. 158 people didn't survive to potentially develop PTSD out of the nearly 50,000 residents.
My paternal grandmother was absolutely terrified of thunderstorms after an experience where my dumbass father decided to try to outrun a tornado (I was in preschool thank goodness) in early December of 1982. Dad talked about it fine, laughing about the "Hallelujah Chorus" when it was in sight behind them and getting closer, and we decided in our family that either God or Jehovah definitely was the right name, because my paternal grandmother was a Jehovah's Witness. Mom just put us kids in the bathtub with a twin mattress over us every time there was a siren, but thunderstorms themselves didn't scare her. That one killed at least one person in Arkansas that day, another three were killed Christmas Eve by an F4.
I had a bit of debris pelt me on the shoulder from one that was not on the ground at that time, it hopped right over Wal-Mart's David Glass building. I was outside stupidly watching for it when my weather radar app showed it was going to be a close approach and went out for a cig at the "wrong" time, one coworker was bitching about everyone calling and taking up all our overnight lines. I heard the sound for the first time, and RAN inside, and felt a touch of debris, had tree bark on my back but not much. By the time I got through all the badged doors, the building was shaking. All I did was get a weather radio for my home, because before when we knew it'd be a close approach I had called my now-ex to tell him what happened, and he was still so sleepy (we both worked odd shifts) that he woke up, went into the living room in front of the picture glass window, and went back to sleep! Never heard the siren. I had an app on the iPhone I'm selling now on eBay, too. My sister and her husband storm-chase and enjoy it. I wasn't traumatized at all by my experience, just wanting to make sure my partially deaf love at the time wouldn't sleep under the window again. (We did have to have shingles replaced after -- and if you have an attic fan and they do a shingle replacement in that style of house... hope you have hardwood floors.)
Not everyone reacts the same way to an experience. If she was not brought up knowing about tornadoes and used to drills and sirens, an F5 probably was very traumatic for her even if her home wasn't destroyed, just seeing the devastation that night even as a civilian. If she hasn't had access to therapy because of not having a stable place to live, she could still be living in 2011 instead of 2013. But I don't know her, and haven't kept up with her story.
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But you are correct, there are also many people who compete in their martyrdom/victimhood, instead of choosing to move forward and take steps for their own health.
I had my intake at least for therapy if not medication maintenance yesterday. I'll get to go once a week for a reasonable price, and while $80 a month is going to be expensive for my current income, I know the help will be worth it. I'm applying for every program that's out there that will get my medications paid for. I'm working from home as I can. I found a rental situation I could handle. I know I can always live with my sister if I'm ever that broke, though I still paid her rent when I lived there two months in my transition after I was laid off (2nd out of 4 hospitalizations in 18 months, 2nd of 3 in 12). Only reason I mention it is that's guideline level from the Listing of Impairments. (Don't get me started on the people who apply and plan to never work again -- I WANT to work, they have a "ticket to work" program that I'm going to ask for help from as soon as I'm eligible, and I'll be thrilled to be able to work full-time and not miss so much they can't afford to keep me. People told me to apply before that, I wouldn't until I was sure I'd met a listing *and* been out of work a year already.)
I count my blessings, that all of those things are available to me. And that I worked and paid in my taxes enough that if I continue to rack up three hospitalizations a year, I won't be on SSI. That I had enough savings to live for a year and at least keep up with my physical health before really hitting a crunch.
One of the blessings, though, was being told about Prazosin, and that's why I posted in this thread in the first place. I was able to take myself off the Klonopin my pdoc had originally prescribed because of it. It's $4. It works. It might even do two things at once if you're mildly hypertensive (the indicated dose is one of the lowest, 1-2 mg). I look forward to coming off of it when I've worked enough through that particular issue in therapy. The VA usually does know about it, but not all people are going through the VA. If one person didn't know about it and it helped them, it was worth the rest of this thread IMHO.
And I'm done. Because this was bouncier than Dolly Parton running without a bra.
Pardon the edit.
and also, my family went to many 12-step programs (Alateen and the original ACA, sometimes spelled ACoA). We were taught there to speak of your own experiences rather than give advice. So I tend to "bouncy" rather than give advice or state an opinion/judgment, especially if I'm trying to be diplomatic.