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[~Me]

...so they are stuck with the arousal...

Ok, I know you wrote other, more important stuff in there, but this is the only part that really stuck with me.  Does that make me  :twisted: ?

Yes, it does make you a bit twisted and I luv ya for it!

[AuntMaymeMommy]

On the subject of PTSD, I have a friend that was diagnosed with it.  She served as a medic in the Gulf War.  She has shared with me some of what happens to her during an "episode" and it is very frightening.  When she last moved she had to look for a new doctor.  She went to this one doctor and he/she told her that she did not have PTSD and that her life was never in danger.  She came over to my house very upset and showed me her pictures from the war.  There were pictures of her with things exploding behind her.  She had taken pictures of the smoke and explosions.  She said she even showed the pictures to the doctor.  Needless to say, she found another doctor.  It bothered her so much the way she was treated.  She was crying when she first called me.  She said, " I have been awarded medals of honor for my service and I am being treated like a liar."  I felt so bad for her right then.

[StareGirl]

Yes, my aunt was okay. She had left a few days early to go to her winter home without telling us.

I don't understand doctors who take things to any extreme.  I mean those that throw PTSD out to everyone who 'remembers' an attack (I mean remembering w/o flashbacks and other symptoms)...nor those doctors who deny it even exists where it clearly does, as in AuntMaymeMommy's friends case.

[Kitten7]

Oh hell!! I just had a very long winded response written and my computer unplugged. To sum it up... I have been on that drug, but since it lowers blood pressure too, I ended up on the floor more times than I wanted to.  The PTSD you're all talking about is the type caused by "act of God " type violence. What about the abuse kind? Since I'm new, I won't stick my foot in it yet...I'll just say I do agree about those people who will use PTSD and any other diagnosis in order to gain something. If some of you have seen true PTSD, how about DID? What are your thoughts on that? (Please be kind....I'm feeling very sensitive right now)

[Lyric]

As an "life" survivor I have been diagnosed with PTSD.  Some of mine came as life/career choices.  I was a paramedic in the shining City of Detroit.  With that job you can only dodge so many bullets, step over so many dead junkies, shove your fingers into gunshot wounds and knife wounds, fish dead abused children out of washing machines so many times and not feel the effects.
That was my job, and I loved it.  At least for a little while, then it started to get to me.  I retired from that field after an uncleared scene almost cost my partner and I our lives when the shooter came back to finish off his victim that he had already bludgeounded to death.
That was my breaking point.  The choice to go home from work became more important than losing my life in that warzone.

During that time, I met a guy during one of my "moonlighting for extra money jobs".  All was well for a little while, then I learned more about being an abuse victim than any human should ever have to learn.

Barely escaping that mess, I landed my butt straight into counseling and went through the rampant run of anti-depressants, anti-anxiety and other treatment in a bottle that can be prescribed.  Finding that none of them worked for me.  I was too sensitive to the medications and dealt with every horrible side effect the drug companies mentioned.
At that point I looked at my doctor and told her that we had to find a way through it that didn't involve pills in a bottle.
So it was in her office three times a week, journaling at home and practicing every exercise she ever gave me..  Including some that involved abusing the garbage disposal in my kitchen a few times.

It's been almost 10 years now, and I am fine.  I get a little jumpy and aggitated every now and again, especially during stressful situations, or having to witness stressors.

Looking back, I wouldn't have had it any other way.  I'm glad the prescriptions never worked for me.  I am glad that my counselor was willing to go above and beyond the prescription pad to find a solution to the problem.  
In many ways I think I am far better off now, than some people who see the pharmacist once a month to get a refill on how they deal with things.

{rant}
I'm not saying that taking medication is wrong.  It's just not for me.  I don't codemn the people who do.  But I don't condone it if that is all you are doing to help yourself.
I DO NOT condone people who use PTSD or other hard to prove easy to medicate conditions to avoid working and living.  I have no respect for that.  
Life is full of hardships, bad choices and bad things that happen to good people.  Welcome to the real world.  
It's what you do with those hardships, bad choices and the things that have happened to you that make the biggest difference.  

IF someone has a legitimate need for chemical help to get over the bouts of anxiety and other problems, or if they need the chemical help to get out there so they can live and move forward.  They have my undivided support.  

I can't stand people who have their lives on backward. And blame their inability to work, or be productive in life because something bad happened to them at some point in their life.  We have all had to deal with loss, personal horror and all sorts of other traumatizing thing.  It's called living.
 Some people really need to take themselves down from their crosses, build a freakin bridge and get over it.
 
{/ rant}

[serrena_de_singe]

Yeah ... and she's all mine.  Ain't ya just jealous, guys?

Seriously, though, I couldn't have said it better, Lyric.  I've had my fair share of "stress" inducers, but never to the extent of something that I've sought out professional help for.

Soooo ... since I've never had to take the meds or go through the therapies, I think I'll just sit on the sidelines for this one.

[Dr Sketch]

~stunned silence~  ~gets on knees and bows~  I'm impressed as hell now!  I don't think you could have put that any better, it was pure inspired genius!  Please, let me grovel at your feet and learn from you.

[Kitten7]

Lyric, I totally agree with what you said. There are those who, for whatever reason, find they can't deal with the "living". Unless they have a extremely good reason for that...they need to build a bridge. Others, (i might be one) live with constant flash backs, panic disorders, and worse. I am all for doing what's right for you personally. That's what I'm attempting to do, but at this point, all the talk and meds in the world won't take the edge off. It came to a point, where, at work, I began to hallucinate voices, and actually couldn't hear what my supervisor was saying to me. Since I work in the mental health field, to say that was embarassing is an understatement! I feel that because I didn't go through an horrific catastrophe (such as 911) I don't have the right to any of this.

[~Me]

I have tried the pill way, it didn't work for ~Me. I have found that to take a pill to feel ‘alright’ for the day just doesn’t wash. I have found other means to 'build a bridge' so to speak. While any professional would not approve some of my bridge building techniques, due to the fact that they in themselves could cause mental illness, they help keep ~Me grounded.

[Kitten7]

Yes, Me, I too have some "bridge building techniques" that aren't AMA approved . Hey..whatever works!

[Lyric]

Lyric, I totally agree with what you said. There are those who, for whatever reason, find they can't deal with the "living". Unless they have a extremely good reason for that...they need to build a bridge. Others, (i might be one) live with constant flash backs, panic disorders, and worse. I am all for doing what's right for you personally. That's what I'm attempting to do, but at this point, all the talk and meds in the world won't take the edge off. It came to a point, where, at work, I began to hallucinate voices, and actually couldn't hear what my supervisor was saying to me. Since I work in the mental health field, to say that was embarassing is an understatement! I feel that because I didn't go through an horrific catastrophe (such as 911) I don't have the right to any of this.

Why shortchange yourself.  If you need help, you need help! Period, end of the story.
Just because you didn't go through a horrific catastrophe doesn't mean that you aren't experiencing one.  
Think about what you know from the field that you work in. Trauma comes in many forms.  And sometimes the ones that aren't blantantly obvious are the most dangerous.
I'm glad that you are seeking help.   Especially when you are in the business of helping others.  We often forget that we have to help ourselves first.  If we aren't fixed, we can't fix others.  It's a convolution to the way things are.  But it is the blatant truth of the matter.

The old saying " Physician heal thyself" is the only thing that comes to mind.

Be good to yourself.

[Kitten7]

Very true, but where I work, one can't disclose anything, intentionally or unintentionally. In order to get any help at all, I had to ask for reasonable accomodations, which opened up a big mess. It worked out in the end, I ended up so burned out, I was crispy, and I went to relief work.