Welcome to the PTSD forum.

[SaveTheBrains]

• The Law of Vibration.
• The Law of Attraction.
• The Law of Correspondence.
• The Law of Action.
• The Law of Cause and Effect.
• The Law of Compensation.
• The Law of Perpetual Transmutation of Energy.

Acceptance is the key to all my problems in the present moment and not running away.

Thanks for sharing .

This scars are deep but we must be proud wear them, the pain, the fear, the sadness, give us new powers give a new way to see the life and the world around us.

let the wave go though you when it comes dont resist and make it stronger.

I can only agree there is no running away .

 

[moose eater]

In my past, when I'd experience severe, acute fight or flight, my mind would go blank. I would mentally freeze and couldn't figure out what to do next. Now when I experience stress, even mild to moderate stress my mind goes blank just as it did decades ago when situations were dangerous.

I'm curious to know if anyone else experiences this?

This is all I want to know. Before responding, know that if your contribution is that this is a sign of the beginnings of something more serious, stop. DON'T TYPE. Having something to obsessively worry about could put me over the edge. Thanks.

It took me close to 2 decades to get to the point that violence near me didn't initially paralyze me.

Some specific physical exercises and such had softened it a bit, but not much.

Being in a youth residential facility as a worker and intern and finding myself in the middle of adolescents with their fists flying and being in the role of the/a guy who had to intervene, there was less time to consider my 'frozenness' or resistance or my own past traumas, and I would have to intervene in as appropriate a manner as possible. No over-kill allowed.

Performing a basket hold from behind a marauding teen and getting reverse head-butted in the nose more than once, presented me with circumstances of having to repress the immediate reflexive urge, and to simply carry the little bugger away from the battle he was engaged in.

It was unpleasant, but it helped me to bust through the celling wherein I was initially paralyzed in the face of violence.

No, becoming somewhat frozen in the face of things that go way back to beyond even conscious thought/memory (sort of a 'feeling memory' that doesn't fit one unique set of conscious images) is not altogether abnormal for someone with PTSD.

 

[spacetraveller]

In my past, when I'd experience severe, acute fight or flight, my mind would go blank. I would mentally freeze and couldn't figure out what to do next. Now when I experience stress, even mild to moderate stress my mind goes blank just as it did decades ago when situations were dangerous.

I'm curious to know if anyone else experiences this?

This is all I want to know. Before responding, know that if your contribution is that this is a sign of the beginnings of something more serious, stop. DON'T TYPE. Having something to obsessively worry about could put me over the edge. Thanks.

Hi przcvctm,
Yes I experience that too. It is called the freeze response, as you noted already. There is a forth normal response to ppl in our situation, that is the fawn response. The 4 F's it is sometimes called. Fight, flight, freeze and fawn.

Peace.

 

[przcvctm]

Thanks for your response(s). It it reassuring to know I'm not alone. When facing situations that involve the risk of death it's easier to understand the response. But social situations now trigger it in me, making being social even more dreadful. Isolation is more comfortable but a problem in and of itself.

 

[moose eater]

Thanks for your response(s). It it reassuring to know I'm not alone. When facing situations that involve the risk of death it's easier to understand the response. But social situations now trigger it in me, making being social even more dreadful. Isolation is more comfortable but a problem in and of itself.

Yep, we're hard-wired for social contact, but in my opinion it's not just your circumstances, but also a society that is more and more superficial and 'shallow' where deeper contact is wanting. The settling for mediocrity when what's craved is genuine depth and real exchange.

When the soul is already conditioned to perceive the (sometimes very real) threats (psychological and physical both) that potentially linger in contact with others, and the offerings are so often little more than 'plastic' or 'skin deep', that whole craving for social interaction and/or intimacy of whatever sort becomes that much more convoluted and problematic.

A comfortable 'cave' can become quite appealing at times. And the people who are most likely or able to hurt a person, are those who have been embraced deeply. Others rarely know enough about the self to know how. Visit a divorce court to witness this phenomenon.

Edit: Note that all of those built-in safeties that resulted from a life of questionable experiences, needing to read people more clearly for survival's sake, etc., made me a successful drug dealer and smuggler and a pretty decent mental health clinician, too. Growing up where reading people was absolutely necessary had its functional places in life. Just had to find them. And the propensity to seek levels of risk or adrenaline that were reminiscent of the state of angst and hypervigilance when growing up allowed those circumstances to seem 'normal' in their own strange ways. Familiarity of sensory being. Every risk or rush was sort of a sub-conscious return to 'old home week'. Until it became too much.

 

[Creeperpark]

Some of us are introverts and do better not dealing with social groups. Being alone to some people is dreadful but to others, it is a very peaceful way to live. Getting entangled with others against one's will causes more damage than good. I choose to live like a Forest Monk and enjoy being alone, working only on my mental distortions and not the distortions of others. Most people carry a lot of defilements and are attached to ignorance, greed, and ill will. Being around those kinds of people doesn't help anyone unless one has the same type of defilement. There's a big difference between loneliness and solitude. The difference is in how one looks at it and how one responds to their inner world.

 

[moose eater]

Some of us are introverts and do better not dealing with social groups. Being alone to some people is dreadful but to others, it is a very peaceful way to live. Getting entangled with others against one's will causes more damage than good. I choose to live like a Forest Monk and enjoy being alone, working only on my mental distortions and not the distortions of others. Most people carry a lot of defilements and are attached to ignorance, greed, and ill will. Being around those kinds of people doesn't help anyone unless one has the same type of defilement. There's a big difference between loneliness and solitude. The difference is in how one looks at it and how one responds to their inner world.

I've thought about your post off and on for several days.

In my mind, I think you're speaking about a'place' one sometimes graduates to, which I consider a point of 'post-surrender' to the complexities and/or potential hurtfulness of social connection.

It might also be related to a seed of reclusiveness as part of an inherent personality thing too, but I think for anyone who is a bit different from mainstream, maybe ostracized at some point for being different, or has witnessed the graphic capacity of what can happen when humans become the loose cannons they're capable of being, or demonstrating the sometimes hurtful or outrageous outcomes of group-think, it's a further motivation to take an already isolated person, and move them further away, sometimes making peace and acceptance with the solitude that can follow.

But I think when we're born, we crave that kind touch, and that craving might be displaced by something like the acceptance of solitude as necessary substitute, but somewhere, that urge to be warmed and cared for is always there, even if it's buried deeply.

It's a struggle with different levels of awareness to want or need that touch, and to know what humanity is capable of: the greatest of good and the most evil of evil.

Just some of my thoughts in a delayed reply.

 

[RequiredUsername]

With the ever increasing number of cases of PTSD being discovered worldwide,it's great to have a forum where the issues involving PTSD can be discussed openly and without fear of any negativity.We surely hope this forum will benefit all who suffer from this condition.

Thank you to Gypsy who was happy to help in the providing of the forum.

SP

Hello, I have withheld my name because I have PTSD from the war on drugs. Been arrested, jailed, my little bit of whatever taken away because I have an endocanibinoid system developed from hundreds of thousands of years of side by side development and interaction with cannabis and my ancestors. What was generally known as commonly used and effective medicine was suddenly being seized by a powerful interest group in order to sieze control of cannabis for their personal gain by means of exploitation.

The war still rages, so there is no "post" for people like me. It's simply ongoing traumatic stress caused by some really sick human animals. I managed to find a way to save myself. I want to leave that here so another reader somewhere, sometime may see there is a way.

Turn inward.

 

[Wuachuma]

Yup.
I also end up with adrenal fatigue for a while/days.

 

[Sweatloaf]

This forum is a great idea and I can't believe I just noticed it now.

I think it would take me a long time to tell my story of living with PTSD. It's directly impacted my life daily and for decades and has contributed in large part to me being on "high alert" all the time. I've often said my brain is like a clenched fist.

This is THE most acceptable place to say this, but in everything I've tried in my life to try to change that, the cannabis plant, the simple unadulterated cannabis plant has been the most effective. It's the only thing that "unclenches" that tight-fisted constant feeling. It's the only thing that's helped me fully relax for a time. Vigorous exercise helps as well (ie "runner's high") but it's still different and I'm aging out of that a bit.

Add tinnitus since birth (also signals brain to be on "high alert" constantly) and sensory sensitivities from Autism/Aspergers as well as a pretty fucked up childhood.

Cannabis is medicine to me.

 

[Creeperpark]

Yup.
I also end up with adrenal fatigue for a while/days.

Although adrenal fatigue is not a recognized medical condition, there are some lifestyle changes that may help with symptoms:

• Diet: Eat a healthy diet that's low in sugar, caffeine, and junk food. Eat breakfast before 10 AM, and healthy snacks between meals.
• Exercise: Get moderate cardio exercise every other day to give your body time to rest.
• Sleep: Get enough sleep and stick to a consistent sleep routine.
• Stress reduction: Find a hobby or travel to take your mind off work.
• Supplements: Some supplements that may help include ashwagandha, L-theanine, phosphatidylserine, vitamin C, vitamin B3, vitamin B5, and vitamin B6.
• Avoid substances: Give up smoking, alcohol, and drugs, including caffeine. google

 

[4maggio]

PTSD is a funny (not ha, ha funny) animal. 50+ years after USMC, I'm not the alcoholic I used to be and no 'drugs'. Occasional beer but wake and baken' is my routine now. Growin' it is my passion at the moment, golf helps too. Age has flattened the 'wild dreams' and rage. Now, occasionally, I find myself not being the most friendly guy and saying 'I'm sorry for being an ass' more often than I'd like. I comes out of nowhere.. Provocation could be almost anything. 'Treatment' then? Alcohol and drugs.. my wife tells me I'm very intimidating.. dono, not trying to be.. I wish you all well who are really conflicted.

 

[Creeperpark]

PTSD is a funny (not ha, ha funny) animal. 50+ years after USMC, I'm not the alcoholic I used to be and no 'drugs'. Occasional beer but wake and baken' is my routine now. Growin' it is my passion at the moment, golf helps too. Age has flattened the 'wild dreams' and rage. Now, occasionally, I find myself not being the most friendly guy and saying 'I'm sorry for being an ass' more often than I'd like. I comes out of nowhere.. Provocation could be almost anything. 'Treatment' then? Alcohol and drugs.. my wife tells me I'm very intimidating.. dono, not trying to be.. I wish you all well who are really conflicted.

Welcome to old age friend.