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Re: Living with PTSD (Potentially Triggering Material)

Been thinking of you @Former-Member  

Sending you lots of love hugs and strength. 

Take care of you as best you can. 

❤️❤️🤗❤️❤️

Re: Living with PTSD (Potentially Triggering Material)

Lots of hugs @Former-Member  HeartHeart

Re: Living with PTSD (Potentially Triggering Material)

Gee is it really so long since I posted here?  I have been concentrating on my carers thread lately I guess, as I have needed to be.  Thankfully ... hubby has finally been provided with the necessary treatment for the autoimmune encephalitis which he has now been officially diagnosed with.  He was finally admitted to hospital last week and spent 6 days in hospital.  Along with the autoimmune encephalitis he also has some other autoimmune disorders to do with both his adrenal gland (which produces cortesol) and his thyroid.  So no wonder he has been such a sick fellow. 

 

All these autoimmune disorders are as a result of the immunotherapy he was having to treat his cancer.  Definitely a trade off situation, though not entirely unexpected.  It is quite common for immunotherapy patients to have the organs in their endocrine system knocked out through inflamation as the therapy causes inflamation as the immune system becomes hyper active. Unfortunately it doesnt just target the cancer cells, it often attacks healthy cells too .. in hubbys case his brain cells.  Anyway ... he is now doing well ... probably the best he's been for two or three months. Amazing how quickly he can recover, once they start proper treatment.  Yay!  Unfortunately the steriods have an affect on his temper, but I will deal with that, as I always have done.

 

Anyway his recovery allows me the chance to start concentrating again on my own needs. I saw my psych on Wednesday. Thats a good start.  And I will see her again in 3 weeks.

 

Today has been an upsetting day though, on top of already being highly emotional and on edge. I was triggered at my psych session on Wednesday, yesterday was stressful with a GP appointment for hubby and a few other things which went wrong.  Its been a difficult couple of weeks in general I guess and very stressful. My Mum continues to be a major worry as she remains very unwell with a number of infections.  And still refusing any home help.

 

I know since I got back from the City and hubbys hospital stay, I have not felt like doing anything.  Its a real battle to push myself to do anything at all.  I am still not sleeping well, and am constantly tired.  I've been having some pretty dark thoughts as well, which I keep trying to keep at bay. I discussed this with my psych to some extent.  I suppose because I am in a high state of stress already, it doesnt take much to push you to the edge.  

 

This morning hubby and I were watching the news on television.  Up came a news article about 'right to lifers', and the banning of abortions in a few states within the US.  There used to be exemptions for women who were victims of rape or incest.  But now, women are being forced to go through with pregnancies, even under those circumstances. I was okay with the topic of discussion up to that point.  That is ... until hubby blurted out -  "You were raped, what do you think about that"?  This hit me hard, and I could barely breath, like my breath had been sucked from my lungs.  Although hubby knows I was raped before he came into my life, he does not know the extent of just how bad it really was.  I gave him a very much watered down version of events.  And he never talks about this stuff normally ... until now.

 

I managed to get out a breathless answer of "I dont know", before staggering out and falling into a heap in another room.  Tears streaming down my face and trying to get air into my lungs.  Since then, I have not been able to get the issue out of my head.  What would I have done if I'd been made pregnant as a result of that rape?  It is certainly something I had been so afraid of at the time.  I remember my fear and dread about the possibility ... I had no protection, was not on the pill.

 

I dont think I could have gone through with a pregnancy to someone who I detested and feared, someone who could do that to another human being. How could I?  It would not be fair to have a child that, every time you looked at them, you were forced to re-live what would have been the scene of their conception.  I believe I would have terminated the pregancy in any way I could have.  Thank goodness I did not have to make that decision. Because it really goes against my core belief.  I really hope that the laws in the USA do not start coming into being here as well.  We all need to have right to choose whats best for us, as difficult as that decision is. 

 

To add to an already upsetting day, I experienced a really nasty accident when I was in town this afternoon.  I needed to get scripts for hubby and get a few groceries at the supermarket.  As I approached a checkout, there was an elderly gentleman in a motor scooter ahead of me. I dont know what happened, but he suddenly shot through the checkout area and out the other side, hit a large square concrete pylon, his motor scooter seemed to climb the pylon with the man still in it.  Then they both crashed back down, head first, with the mans head slamming to the ground. In the process, an elderly woman was also hit. 

 

It was awful, it was like everything happened in slow motion, and yet it was all so quick.  I didnt know those motorised scooter things would pick up speed so quickly.  It went from a standing start to flat out, over the space of about 10 meters. And yet there was time to think "oh no, he's going to hit that pylon".  As a result it left an elderly  gentleman clearly knocked out with a heavy scooter on top of him.  And up against the conrete pylong a lady walking past had been hit and was screaming in pain or shock.  What a mess!  People were standing around in shock, or trying to help, nobody really knowing what to do.

 

Thankfully the supermarket staff were very quick to respond.  The checkout person immediately called code blue over the intercom, and called 000.  Several staff came to the aid of the 'fallen', comforted them, kept them calm and prevented both of them from moving.  Police came fairly quickly, but the ambo's took about 15 mins to arrive on the scene.  It was all quite upsetting, and gee I hope they will both be okay.  It was a really nasty accident, and certainly not what you could possibly expect.

 

@Zoe7 @Faith-and-Hope @Shaz51 @BlueBay @Maggie @Starta @Former-Member @Appleblossom @Owlunar @Sophia1 @Peri @outlander @Ali11 

Many thanks to all of you for all your supportive messages over the past month, both here and my carers thread. I need to get my head back into some form of sanity again I think.  Need to work on that. My Holly has been particularly attentive to me since my return from the City, always a bonus.  And of course the cooler weather, she is even more cuddly. Love it.

 

Sherry 💕🌺🌸

 

Re: Living with PTSD (Potentially Triggering Material)

That sounds like a very rough day @Former-Member, after many rough weeks.  I hope you can find some self-care activities across the weekend, in whatever pockets of time you manage to find ......

 

Hugs and hugs Hon.

Re: Living with PTSD (Potentially Triggering Material)

thats really tough. @Former-Member i hope those elderly people are ok as well. look after you, ptsd comes on so suddenly sometimes big big hugs 💜💙💚💚

Re: Living with PTSD (Potentially Triggering Material)

What a week @Former-Member  and to top it off today was terrible. Hope the people are all ok. 

Pls look after yourself too. I know it’s hard as a carer. But you need to.

 Rest up when you can. 

Love BB ❤️

Re: Living with PTSD (Potentially Triggering Material)

What a week @Former-Member , sending you lots of tender hugs my friend HeartHeart

Re: Living with PTSD (Potentially Triggering Material)

Wow @Former-Member  -- you are having a rough time - it's amazing how everything can happen at once sometimes - you are having such a time right now and this would be hard to take - it must make you wonder what next. I hear you

 

So - you have your husband taking medication for the inflammation caused by his cancer medication and your mother has health issues and doesn't want any help and then the stuff on the news about the American model dealing with terminations and the accident your saw - that is a lot and you are still here and wrote it all so well - I hope it helps to do that - it would help me in a similar set of circumstances - we need to share these things

 

You have been through so much with your husband and after yoursef he is your priority - I mention this because you have put your own needs on the bad burner because of the importance of your husbands health - now you can attend to yourself - and this hasn't been easy I gather

 

And your Mum refusing home help when she has a number of infections - I can understand this - I have home help and it can be instrusive - I need to have it to continue living alone in my own home which is my priority - and I find it wonderful to have people coming if things are working well - I get used to my regulars but they can't always attend and this can become a puzzle and an irritation - but here's the thing - we have a choice of having this help or going into care I guess and that would be worse - I wrote to someone else that it can be time for some tough love if oldies want to refuse the home help - either have the help or go into hospital or care and the help is there to maintain our independence - I am highly motiviated to continue with my indepedent life - I hope your mother doesn't expect too much from you when you have your husband with his serious health issues and you have your mental health issues to think of too and they seem serious to me because you were raped and that is really a hard thing to take 

 

My ex-h insisted on having his way one night and I resisted because I knew I was fertile and I became pregnant - my daughter is a miracle and I could not face another fragile pregnancy and premature birth - and long story short I had to go to hospital one night and I don't know if I had already miscarried or whether it happened when I had a D&C - I understand what you are saying - it is a horrible thing to live through and I really hear and understand how upset you were - at the time and then recently - your husband doesn't know the details of what happened to you so you are battling alone with this and it must have been just terrible to be reminded about it like that

 

Should you tell your husband the truth or not? Definitely not while he is battling with this medication but maybe in the future you can mention how vulnerable your feel about it - let time take it's course - it is such a sensitive issue

 

So much is happening in your life right now - bang bang bang - I guess all you can do is to take a deep breath - it all adds to your PTSD - super-scary having it all come back at you like that - and then seeing such a sudden and unusual accident and just being there - that must have topped it all - I am sorry that happened

 

Take one thing at a time and keep telling us about it - I have had PTSD - it passed off in time - and with therapy - and keeo your priorities in your mind and care for yourself now your husband has been treated in hospital - life must feel uncertain for you - I hear you

 

Dec

Re: Living with PTSD (Potentially Triggering Material)

I have had PTSD-- you had PTSD my second mum @Owlunar  , wowo , sending you tender hugs HeartHeart

ooohhhmy special friend @Former-Member , sending you hugs for this week Heart

Re: Living with PTSD (Potentially Triggering Material)

@Former-Member, are you ok , checking in to see how you are going xx

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