Amber reminds us of her PTSD

[Chris_]

I've never known anybody who had PTSD from a tornado. These people look for ways to have a mental illness.

Cindie

But she's special.

Again, flake.

[Big Dog]

Not as tangled or nasty as her hair after not washing for a few weeks.

Where's that JIZZ graphic when we need it?

[landofconfusion80]

why you are breaking out in a sweet and shaking like it is below zero

Well, alright.....!

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vA3BgpAa_s[/youtube]

[NHSparky]

Dude --

You have had the worst run of bad luck I have read/seen/heard.

The fact you remain upbeat and optimistic is the death-toll for "progressives" who whine and scream PTSD (and taxpayer-subsidized housing, meds, etc.).  

But if I was any of them I would kill myself.

The fact they live is an indictment of the straw "values" they have.

See, that's just it--I don't consider it "bad luck", merely the things that can happen in one's life.  If anything, these experiences I've had have made me STRONGER, learning how to deal (or not deal) with stress.  I don't just shut it down and cry about the stuff that has happened to me that I can't control, can't change, or can't erase.

Some people ruck up and move on.  Some curl up in a ball and cease to function as normal human beings.  I'd like to think I'm firmly in the former category.  

As coach would say, "excrecence happens."  I refuse to let the "bad" things in life control or define me.

ETA: Conversely, I've also had some wonderful things happen in my life.  Scoobie and the kids very high (if not actually on top) on that list.  I've been fortunate to be pretty healthy.  I've worked hard, been gifted with a good talent and an ability to learn new things, which has translated quite well into my life.  I really want for nothing in my life.  Believe me, my list of things to be thankful for I remind myself of daily, not just over a turkey once a year with the family.

[Traveshamockery]

See, that's just it--I don't consider it "bad luck", merely the things that can happen in one's life.  If anything, these experiences I've had have made me STRONGER, learning how to deal (or not deal) with stress.  I don't just shut it down and cry about the stuff that has happened to me that I can't control, can't change, or can't erase.

Some people ruck up and move on.  Some curl up in a ball and cease to function as normal human beings.  I'd like to think I'm firmly in the former category.  

As coach would say, "excrecence happens."  I refuse to let the "bad" things in life control or define me.

ETA: Conversely, I've also had some wonderful things happen in my life.  Scoobie and the kids very high (if not actually on top) on that list.  I've been fortunate to be pretty healthy.  I've worked hard, been gifted with a good talent and an ability to learn new things, which has translated quite well into my life.  I really want for nothing in my life.  Believe me, my list of things to be thankful for I remind myself of daily, not just over a turkey once a year with the family.

Scoobie and the kids are lucky to have you.  I'm a sucker for a good love story. 

Like you said, we ALL have bad things happen to us in our lives, and we deal with it and move on.  How you deal with it is what determines your character.   

[wasp69]

Lady Freedom Returns (6,302 posts)

PTSD STINKS!!!!
I was down at the U of A Stadium this Saturday, enjoying the activities going on outside. I was not ready for what I heard coming from the Stadium. Sirens, the kind that reminded me of Tornado Sirens. I had a wee bit of a breakdown.

A week earlier I was at the Ronstadt Transit Center and someone dropped a jar of something from their groceries. The sound of breaking glass reminded me of hearing the windows busting.

And you know the people around you have no clue why you are breaking out in a sweet and shaking like it is below zero. They have no idea what is going on ( and I hope they never have to get first hand understanding) or what they could do to help. Some ask in hopes to help, but there really is nothing they can do.

PTSD SUCKS!!!!!!

When you can tell me what sound a 7.62x39 mm makes as it passes by the bridge of your nose, so close the heat and air displacement makes your eyes water, I'll worry about your PTSD from a tornado that didn't leave a ****ing scratch on you.

Until then... 

Zip it, headcase.

Sparks, I hear ya and understand completely.  Got a few sea stories without happy endings, myself, and still manage to be successful.

[Freeper]

These idiots get PTSD if their pizza gets delivered in 31 minutes instead of 30.

[freedumb2003b]

See, that's just it--I don't consider it "bad luck", merely the things that can happen in one's life.  If anything, these experiences I've had have made me STRONGER, learning how to deal (or not deal) with stress.  I don't just shut it down and cry about the stuff that has happened to me that I can't control, can't change, or can't erase.

Some people ruck up and move on.  Some curl up in a ball and cease to function as normal human beings.  I'd like to think I'm firmly in the former category.  

As coach would say, "excrecence happens."  I refuse to let the "bad" things in life control or define me.

ETA: Conversely, I've also had some wonderful things happen in my life.  Scoobie and the kids very high (if not actually on top) on that list.  I've been fortunate to be pretty healthy.  I've worked hard, been gifted with a good talent and an ability to learn new things, which has translated quite well into my life.  I really want for nothing in my life.  Believe me, my list of things to be thankful for I remind myself of daily, not just over a turkey once a year with the family.

Agreed.  If life was easy for me I would not have learned fromovercoming excrement obstacles.  And I think we both look back with no small contentment on how we worked through them.  No "mountain high" or high-falutin' prose.  Just doing what had to be done.  Pay the rent, buy cheap beer, pay the bills -- all of them.

It is what men do.  And women. But we still rightly call it "manning up."

[Dori]

These idiots get PTSD if their pizza gets delivered in 31 minutes instead of 30.

I just don't get all this PTSD stuff.  I do with vets, especially after prolonged deployment, but one traumatic episode?

Maybe our resident medical experts can weigh in on this issue.   

 

[Freeper]

I just don't get all this PTSD stuff.  I do with vets, especially after prolonged deployment, but one traumatic episode?

Maybe our resident medical experts can weigh in on this issue.   

 

They use the term PTSD to excuse them being idiots, this is a disservice to those who truly have it.

[Big Dog]

I just don't get all this PTSD stuff.  I do with vets, especially after prolonged deployment, but one traumatic episode?

Maybe our resident medical experts can weigh in on this issue.   

Dori,

A person can legitimately develop PTSD after a single traumatic episode. Here is the current clinical definition of PTSD.

But Amber is lying. She's trying to jump on the disability gravy train.

[lorelai]

You'd never guess it from the stories over at DU and across the net but PTSD is an actual thing and what she's describing ain't it.  What's appalling is people deciding they have PTSD and then milking it for all it's worth 'cause all that does is make every thinking person believe PTSD is another bullshit excuse.  Not only is PTSD real, it's very treatable when approached with discipline, honesty, and a willingness to do hard work along with a qualified counselor.

Guess I just lost my patience with someone who's making everyone's life harder.

I was diagnosed by a Real Deal Psychiatrist, but other than assaults/abuse the only trauma that involved potentially my life at risk was talking my stepfather into putting the loaded gun down when he was loaded, angry, and wanted to take it out on the front porch to wave it at someone.  I wasn't worried he'd shoot intentionally, but *terrified* the gun would go off from his poor trigger-finger discipline as my mother was close to him, pleading for him to put it down.  I drew his attention (and the muzzle of the gun naturally) toward myself instead of her, spoke firmly, and he listened.  I was also standing between him and the front door, to try to save him a legal charge or a stray bullet going outside the house.

I could say all the life shit I've gone through, too, and I think it's silly to try to compare who has the better sob story and how well or how not well they've coped.  Edit to add: I try to follow the idea of not judging til I've walked a mile in a person's shoes, then walked back and returned them.

For me, my worst symptoms have been night terrors and waking up with severe sleep starts if I sense a human nearby while I'm sleeping.  (Hospitals are terrible for that, FWIW).  The medication that's helped the most?  Prazosin.  Great if your blood pressure already runs high, if you're not hypertensive it can cause some dizziness in the mornings, but the body adjusts.  Also has reduced the frequency and severity of nightmares.

[wasp69]

I could say all the life shit I've gone through, too, and I think it's silly to try to compare who has the better sob story and how well or how not well they've coped.  Edit to add: I try to follow the idea of not judging til I've walked a mile in a person's shoes, then walked back and returned them.

If that is what you got out of this, then you completely missed the point.

[lorelai]

If that is what you got out of this, then you completely missed the point.

Nope, that was actually in response to the person who listed the traumas they have dealt with well.  I admire them for being strong people. 

The Prazosin, or MiniPress, is a drug that is underutilized in treating night symptoms of PTSD -- it's even reduced my overactive startle reflex when awake.  It's not narcotic or addictive, though it will lower blood pressure so isn't suitable if you consistently run below 90/50 normally -- I run 110/70 normally and that's where it takes me to in the mornings, and that's when I have to stand up slowly.  But it is a far better solution if a person needs medication along with proper therapy than benzodiazepines, which are over-prescribed and have severe withdrawal effects even if not abused but used as directed.

[wasp69]

Nope, that was actually in response to the person who listed the traumas they have dealt with well.  I admire them for being strong people.  

Then why didn't you quote him?

The Prazosin, or MiniPress, is a drug that is underutilized in treating night symptoms of PTSD -- it's even reduced my overactive startle reflex when awake.  It's not narcotic or addictive, though it will lower blood pressure so isn't suitable if you consistently run below 90/50 normally -- I run 110/70 normally and that's where it takes me to in the mornings, and that's when I have to stand up slowly.  But it is a far better solution if a person needs medication along with proper therapy than benzodiazepines, which are over-prescribed and have severe withdrawal effects even if not abused but used as directed.

God almighty...  Have you ever considered that sometimes in life it's not how hard you hit, it's how hard you can get hit and still push forward?  To be able to overcome and win?

[GOBUCKS]

Nope, that was actually in response to the person who listed the traumas they have dealt with well.  I admire them for being strong people. 

The Prazosin, or MiniPress, is a drug that is underutilized in treating night symptoms of PTSD -- it's even reduced my overactive startle reflex when awake.  It's not narcotic or addictive, though it will lower blood pressure so isn't suitable if you consistently run below 90/50 normally -- I run 110/70 normally and that's where it takes me to in the mornings, and that's when I have to stand up slowly.  But it is a far better solution if a person needs medication along with proper therapy than benzodiazepines, which are over-prescribed and have severe withdrawal effects even if not abused but used as directed.

DUmmy lunatics are far more entertaining in their natural environment over in the DUmp loonybin.

Here, they're just sickening.

[redwhit]

Wasn't talking to you, wasn't talking about you, certainly don't know enough to do either.  I'm glad you've found a drug that helps with the sleep, hope you're getting proper counseling as well.

My point remains the same: what Amber described ain't PTSD and people tend to discount PTSD as a real thing because too many bullshit artists use it as an easy way to the disability train.  In a perfect world, PTSD disability would be temporary and contingent on therapy work but we haven't walked into Utopia yet.

[obumazombie]

Dori,

A person can legitimately develop PTSD after a single traumatic episode. Here is the current clinical definition of PTSD.

But Amber is lying. She's trying to jump on the disability gravy train.

It's contagious among the closed company of libs.

If I were a judge in the Amber case, do you know what her sentence would be ?

[Big Dog]

It's contagious among the closed company of libs.

If I were a judge in the Amber case, do you know what her sentence would be ?

Yes, I do.

 

[Vagabond]

You'd never guess it from the stories over at DU and across the net but PTSD is an actual thing and what she's describing ain't it.  What's appalling is people deciding they have PTSD and then milking it for all it's worth 'cause all that does is make every thinking person believe PTSD is another bullshit excuse.  Not only is PTSD real, it's very treatable when approached with discipline, honesty, and a willingness to do hard work along with a qualified counselor.

Guess I just lost my patience with someone who's making everyone's life harder.

I have made comments about mine in past posts.  It isn't as bad as some, it is worse than in others.  It is worse when it is co-morbid with something else going on.  Everything you just said is accurate.  When I know it is acting up, I schedule some time with a psychologist and work on it.

She claims a tornado is the root cause of all her problems.  Well I'll trade her.

I have a couple of medals that were issued to me for "especially meritorious actions on behalf of his country."  Those actions will remain a secret.  I didn't get them for dating the general's daughter.

A couple of weeks after that, about 2 AM, a buddy ran off the road and was thrown out of his car.  I went back to find him and was holding him when he died.

Years later, I was one of the only contractors on my contract that routinely went under the wire going to other bases to provide training and equipment to troops.  I was in one vehicle that was the target of an IED that went off.

I was excercising one night, near "Z" lake for those that know of it.  A mortar round went off in front of me, as the alarm sounded and I heard more.  I realized they were walking my direction.  I through myself faced down and rolled over.  I prayed that it would be quick about the time the Anti-ballistic battery on Strawberry Hill picked off the one that would have hit me.  There is luck, and then there is providence.  My mind actually blotted this one and the next out until later when a counselor started asking.

Another time, I was on Camp Liberty when a mortar attack happened in daylight.  One round, no warning.  It hit right across a canal from me.  It killed one guy outright and injured a couple of others.  I felt helpless because I couldnt't get to them.

Then there is the one that bugs me because it makes me feel like a wimp.  A big bomb went off in Baghdad.  I didn't see it, but it pushed the door to my office closed from the pressure.  It sounded like a garbage truck that picks up dumpsters.  A giant clanging sound.  On the other hand, when I get jumpy from hearing a garbage truck, I know it's time to talk to the counselor.

[lorelai]

Then why didn't you quote him?

Because I was trying not to post a ton as you guys are at least temporarily allowing me as a houseguest.  I apologize.

God almighty...  Have you ever considered that sometimes in life it's not how hard you hit, it's how hard you can get hit and still push forward?  To be able to overcome and win?

Yes, I have.  I'm sorry if somehow I've offended you by trying to let people know who might read this thread and be dealing with the trap of benzos prescribed in good faith by their doctor and taken in good faith) to deal with particularly nighttime PTSD issues a treatment that made a world of difference for me in one of my primary symptoms.  It's a blood pressure pill, pure and simple.  When taken at night, it reduces the affect of adrenaline rushes that can occur during nightmares and particularly the ones that cause night terrors.  And by agreeing that yes, it is real.  And that yes, it can be overcome.  With proper therapy, and sometimes medication can be needed in the initial stabilization process. 

And I was the one who said, in reference to things said on the thread itself, exactly that, maybe not in the best words.  I assume, at least, you mean how hard you have been hit, not how hard you hit.  I think there *are* many people who compete in martyrdom vs fighting to survive and live a productive life.  The latter is obviously the more appropriate attitude.

[BannedFromDU]

Because I was trying not to post a ton as you guys are at least temporarily allowing me as a houseguest.  I apologize.

Yes, I have.  I'm sorry if somehow I've offended you by trying to let people know who might read this thread and be dealing with the trap of benzos prescribed in good faith by their doctor and taken in good faith) to deal with particularly nighttime PTSD issues a treatment that made a world of difference for me in one of my primary symptoms.  It's a blood pressure pill, pure and simple.  When taken at night, it reduces the affect of adrenaline rushes that can occur during nightmares and particularly the ones that cause night terrors.  And by agreeing that yes, it is real.  And that yes, it can be overcome.  With proper therapy, and sometimes medication can be needed in the initial stabilization process. 

And I was the one who said, in reference to things said on the thread itself, exactly that, maybe not in the best words.  I assume, at least, you mean how hard you have been hit, not how hard you hit.  I think there *are* many people who compete in martyrdom vs fighting to survive and live a productive life.  The latter is obviously the more appropriate attitude.

     I think the issue, in part, is that we in general don't need to be lectured on PTSD when we are generally loathe to claim it, ESPECIALLY by self-diagnosis. It's possible that someone can be afflicted by PTSD and NOT want to claim it as a badge of honor. Not that it's shameful, but I suspect most CCers don't walk around bragging about their issues.

    Think that over.

[lorelai]

     I think the issue, in part, is that we in general don't need to be lectured on PTSD when we are generally loathe to claim it, ESPECIALLY by self-diagnosis. It's possible that someone can be afflicted by PTSD and NOT want to claim it as a badge of honor. Not that it's shameful, but I suspect most CCers don't walk around bragging about their issues.

    Think that over.

If you think admitting my mental health issues to anyone other than people online is easy, you're very wrong.  Mine wasn't self-diagnosed, and I often feel like I'm somehow more fragile than I should be because again, as I said, I've only been in one situation where I could have been shot.  Just one.  Not dozens, not years or decades of my life.  Sure, my life was not easy, but whose is?  Why should I be screwed up over things when others could have handled that situation with my stepdad in their sleep, yet it made me phobic of ever going into that house again, the house I grew up in?  I DO understand the self-loathing that comes with feeling like you weren't tough enough to hack it, and how that's one of the first roadblocks to overcome in therapy -- that no, you weren't weak, you aren't weak, and you don't have to be weak in the future unless you choose to.

I don't consider it a badge of honor.  Yet when I say I think it's silly the way many people do treat it that way, that competing in martyrdom as I really feel it is, people seem to accuse me of seeing it as that. 

[Big Dog]

If you think admitting my mental health issues to anyone other than people online is easy, you're very wrong. 

Lorelai- reality check.  It's time to stop.

We are strangers to you, and reasonable people do not talk about their mental health problems, medications, or sexual abuse history with strangers. Talk to your doctor, your pastor, your husband/boyfriend/girlfriend, your cat*, or your mother about these things- but not strangers on the Internet.

I know that you share this kind of thing with the drooling morons over at DU, but this isn't DU. There is are several reasons the rest of the world has the low opinion of DUmmies that we do; going into inappropriate detail about your mental health is one of them. Expecting affirmation of it is another.

*It's OK to talk to your cat. It's not OK to expect it to solve your problems.

[BannedFromDU]

Lorelai- reality check.  It's time to stop.

We are strangers to you, and reasonable people do not talk about their mental health problems, medications, or sexual abuse history with strangers. Talk to your doctor, your pastor, your husband/boyfriend/girlfriend, your cat*, or your mother about these things- but not strangers on the Internet.

I know that you share this kind of thing with the drooling morons over at DU, but this isn't DU. There is are several reasons the rest of the world has the low opinion of DUmmies that we do; going into inappropriate detail about your mental health is one of them. Expecting affirmation of it is another.

*It's OK to talk to your cat. It's not OK to expect it to solve your problems.

     Yes, this too. ^5