What helps you...???

[tamiloo]

Hi…its been a long time since I posted…since old board. I am going to see a new doc on Wednesday…a pain management doc. I know she will want to know everything about all my stuff.

I guess the question I have for all of you is what kind of drugs do you use to manage. I will use Xanax when I need to but it makes me so tired. I need something that will not take strength from me.

A friend of mine goes to this same doc and he said that she will try to manage all of you problems.

I also have fibromyalgia, and numerous problems with my back.

Any suggestions?

[stiffnecked]

I gave up on the drugs. I felt like a science experiment. We tried 8 different drugs or combinations there of. Now I walk. And I walk alot. I have been battling this beast since 1984. Now I win more than I lose. Good luck.

[Linda25]

hi Tamiloo

When I've had really bad PTSD symptoms I've used Seroquel at bedtime (only 25-50mg) to keep the nightmares at bay and help me feel more centered during the daytime - but it is even more sedating than xanax

if you are depressed, Wellbutrin can be helpful and it is more energizing than sedating for some folks.

good luck to you

(I agree that exercise is vital to good mental and physical health)

love,
Linda

[booklover]

Serequel helps me but I take alot of it (600mgs at night and 100mgs twice a day) I can't sleep at all without it because of the nightmares. Psychtherapy also helps alot. One nontraditional idea that my psychologist and I came up with was what to do when your up and can't sleep? I've started making collages of things like health, faith, family, dreams. I make about 1 a month and then when its finished I can take the time studying it and having positive feelings engulf me. Sounds strange but it works for me and what can it hurt. Good Luck Annmarie

[hopefulgal]

There are lots of drugs and things, and I admit that I rely alot on Ativan to help me through the worst part, but psychotherapy has taught me some interesting ways to help myself.

In addition, I find that having a place where I feel safe, somewhere I can go and " get through" the tough times helps too. In the summer, the safe place is my hammock under an old maple tree, with my dog by my feet. Amazingly, I have even fallen asleep there! (Considering how terrified I am of being attacked almost all the time, that is really truly amazing!) The other safe place for me is my bathtub. Warm water, doors closed, something to read, and just feeling safe helps.

Over the years, I have developed my own coping methods. One is being around animals, especially dogs, who provide protection, faithful friendship, bring joy in their silliness, and petting them can really calm me down. They get me out and exercising without even realizing it, and caring for them gets me outside my depressed self. One of my dogs has the ability to predict my seizures, which are non epileptic, but related to PTSD. He corrals me to a couch, keeps me away from stairs, and sits with me if I fall. He is a real blessing.

Gardening is also very helpful to me. In the winter, I have lots of houseplants, but in the summer, we have a large vegetable garden, and again, it gets me exercising, in sunlight, and provides a tremendous sense of well being.

In the worst days, when I was having lots of flashbacks and paralyzed with fear, I would just cocoon, literally wrap up in a blanket and just try to get through the days. First I started reading, then writing, and then reaching out to others, talking about anything else. I tend to really block things out, and now realize that I have to feel them to get past them. Now, when I start to feel the first pangs of panic, fear, irrational reactions, I get at my computer, close my eyes and just type. The spelling is bad, but I get the crap out, read it once, and then delete it. That helps me alot.


Best wishes for a great day!

Lisa

[Linda25]

all great suggestions Lisa

I totally believe in the comforting and healing effects of pets

take care

love,
Linda

[hopefulgal]

Hello everyone,

Today is one year since my father died. Last night, I went to work my muscles in our hot tub, (outside in cold Michigan weather) and within one or two minutes I was fetal position, sobbing, vomiting, so scared I couldn't move. I held onto the edge of the hot tub so I wouldn;t fall under the water, because literally my instinct and reaction is to "freeze" in place. I lost track of time, but know I must have been out there for at least a half hour, and when I "came to" out of the dissociative state my arm, shoulder, head and neck had ice on them from the steam and wind freezing it, plus my head was so wet I think I may have gone under for awhile. I don't remember. My lungs hurt today from crying so hard. Does anyone else cry so hard they vomit? Anyway, when I got in the house, I collapsed on the floor and cried some more, my muscles were so cold I was having a hard time getting clothes on. I didn't tell my husband that I had lost time. He thought I was out there relaxing, and with the dishwasher and tv on, he didnt hear me until I came in. In my pain and sadness and weakness, I said "I wish I would have died along with Dad." My husband, who is the definition of a longsuffering, loving husband, just got mad and said, "well thats great for the rest of us." He was very hurt by the comment, which I understand. I fear he will just have enough one day and leave. When I finally stopped crying, took my meds, got warm and dressed, and got back in to the main part of the house, we talked. He said he has always been afraid I would seize up and break my neck, but the last few months he has been afraid he would come home and I would have killed myself. As much as I sometimes long for an end to it all, I couldn't and wouldn't do that to him or my family or friends. But something else he said really rung true too. Our lives, what we can and cannot do, go, or see (because of triggers) is shrinking into a smaller and smaller world. In the past, my only triggers were violent sexual scenes in movies, men who look like the man who raped me, or places where it feels unsafe. Now, the extreme fear and panic can happen over things that are not any real danger, just things that evoke deep feelings in me. I was raped by knifepoint on my birthday 22 years ago, and blocked nearly all of it out for years. My health got worse and worse, I fainted, fell, or seized anytime I felt really stressed. Four years ago it got to the point I couldn;t work anymore, and the more I am at home, isolated, and even the longer I am in therapy, the worse its getting. I am terrified to go more than a few miles from home on my own. Somedays I am terrified to do anything, including talking to people. I have become very dependent on others. And when my father got sick and died, I feel like I fell off a cliff. Previously it was like hanging on by my fingertips. I am medicated, shrinked out, do all I can to stay up and alive, but sometimes it is just impossible to get out of this hole my existence has become.

Looking at my own upbeat postings from the past month makes me feel completely crazy, like there are two people inside me. Not literally, but just feels like the ups and downs are pretty drastic. And what can I do to change the pattern so every "anniversary" of something bad doesn;t make me sick for a month? Any ideas?

Lisa