Hi Princess, and welcome aboard. Wow... 10 years of being stuffed around with misdiagnosis. It never seems to get any better, thats for sure. People everywhere are constantly stuffed about with misdiagnosis, and the doctors wonder why we get worse.
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Originally Posted by PrincessP I haven't been able to work in 10 years - I'd think about getting a job and have a panic attack, it's a horrible existance. People are acting as if I'm using this as an excuse to not work, instead of realizing that I need to focus on getting better. Perhaps other people are able to do both at the same time.. I'm just not. I'm not a financial burden on anyone, I'm just not employed. |
Tell them your retired, and leave it at that. People without PTSD cannot, will not, and never will understand those of us with PTSD, as it is purely something that cannot be fully explained unless you live with it. Depression, anxiety, social disorders, nightmares, etc, can all be cured and "gotten over" so to speak, but these are just symptoms of PTSD, which people don't understand, that when combined with the other symptoms, living hell is a nice way of putting it. People will never ever understand, so I really just wouldn't bother explaining it, as it tends to cause way too much frustration within us.
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Originally Posted by PrincessP Everytime someone makes a comment which seems to regard me as being lazy, I get SO angry. I lose my focus, and the only thing I can seem to lock on is proving them wrong. So I'd like to find out if anyone else has people in your life not understanding what you're going through, and how you deal with them. I had a total stranger comment on my blog the other day that I need to stop whining and get a job. 24+ hours later and I'm still upset. I really need to learn to let things like that slide off my back, but I have no idea how. |
All that is going to happen is exactly what already has... in that your upset, angry and now need to control it, where the commenter made a comment, then walked away with no more thought too it.
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Originally Posted by PrincessP I'll admit.. I'm a mixture of hopeful and scared to death right now, thinking that I'll get on some other medication that won't help.. that the psychiatrist will only try to treat the depression instead of the PTSD... but I'm going anyway with the hope that I'm totally wrong.
Can anyone help me in dealing with the B.S. you get from others as you try to heal? |
Honestly, let others around you think what they want, and try not to involve yourself, or put yourself into the situations where others can judge your illness, especially those who have no understanding of PTSD itself. It just isn't worth the anxiety and anger that is caused within us. Been there, done it, learnt my lesson now.
You have a point about the shrink, in that many do just try and treat depression. Whilst shrinks are the doctor, many aren't necessarily PTSD specialists, and as such, they try and treat the symptoms of PTSD, and not the PTSD itself. PTSD is a chemical imbalance within our brain, nothing more, nothing less. It is this imbalance that creates most of the problems for us as our symptoms run riot. There are two ways to treat PTSD, and that is:
- Medication
- Knowledge
There is no cure for PTSD. Medication is a great relief for us during early stages of PTSD, or those stages where life is getting a bit more than we can handle, the only real way you will deal with it, is through knowledge itself. Learning how to control each symptom is the most effective method. You can be medicated to the maximum doses, and still be suffering a pretty bad time. Why? Because medication is only part of the relief, most is in knowledge and applying that knowledge when needed.
Some people will be on medication their entire life, because they may just need that small dose in conjunction with knowledge to get through life, especially if they want to give it their best and work again. Regardless how much knowledge you have about PTSD symptoms, and how to combat each one when triggered, working stress is just a whole other cause of problems. Just ask Piglet here, as she has just returned to work... not by choice either, and being stuffed about with misdiagnosis also.
I would highly recommend reading through the information sections of this forum, but more importantly, most of the real good help is contained within the threads in the PTSD Chat and PTSD only forum, which I will give you access.
One thing is for sure, you certainly found the right place to chat with people who DO understand, and are not about judging you.
Oh... and if your not sure about medication specific for PTSD, only the one that I know of that is primarily designed for PTSD is lexapro, which actually targets the chemical imbalance within our brain, and not one med for depression, another for anxiety, etc etc etc. Lexapro pretty much does it all as it is specifically designed for us with PTSD. Saying that though, medication is most definately an individual choice, as what works for one, most certainly may not work for another. I generally only recommend people discuss Lexapro with their doctors, as it provides a smaller dose of drugs into you body, and hits the core component of PTSD, and not just bandaid the symptoms themselves.
Welcome aboard Princess, and glad to have you hear. Congratulations on finally being diagnosed correctly, and now hopefully you can start learning and managing the actual problem. I assume your pretty glad that you actually know what is wrong now!