Hello All,

My name is Rick and I am from Chicago. I was diagnosed with PTSD about a year ago and that diagnosis was recently confirmed by Shrink No. 2. Before that, the diagnosis was Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Anyways I have lived in a state of almost constant hypervigilence for around forty years now, so whatever it is that I have, it well and trully sucks!

The current theory is that my PTSD is a combination of strong transgenerational PTSD combined with my father being in a plane crash when I was four and maybe some other events thereafter. I am uncertain as to the accuracy of the diagnosis as it lacks what appears to be a near universal; the feeling that specific event(s) has/have traumatized me. I do not have recurring nightmares or experience reliving of a specific event. I am anxious as all hell but cannot emotionally identify that my fathers crash (which he did recuperate from) or any other event was the BIG ONE. Instead, it is more accurate to say that many events in my life, including ones that would probably not bother the average person, have knocked me for a loop.

Well whatever it is, I have known terror, fear, helplessness, feeling wired, hopelessness at different times in my life, so my heart goes out to all of you kindred souls.

Hi Rick,

Welcome aboard mate, and glad you found us and decided to say hello. PTSD is just never a nice thing, and don't worry mate, you don't have to have all the symptoms to have PTSD, just a combination that makes the diagnosis. Yep, terror, fear and helplessness will certainly do the trick for you...

Hi Rick, it dos'nt mattter how it would affect other people, it's how it affected you.
You will like this place I'm shure

What they said.

Welcome.

Rick,

Welcome.

Glad to have you on board Rick and Welcome!

hi rick, you're at home here, lots of us here just like you! just wondering, did you have any operations as a child, with general anesthetic? probably a complete shot in the dark, but many more children than adults experience specific problems during an anesthetic & can't verbalise what they felt.?
but anyway, i've learnt lots here and you can too! have courage.

Hi Rick.

Glad to have you here. Please know you're amongst many who can relate to what you're experiencing now. I was abused as a child for many years and undoubtedly my PTSD began long before it was identified. I am 40 now and have had the diagnosis of PTSD confirmed by a second doctor just today.

This is a great place to be, one where you will likely feel at ease and at home. We're all here for each other; stick around and you'll see that!

It appears that a lynch pin to the diagnosis of PTSD here is that you suffered a traumatizing event which continues to haunt you (reliving experience, flashbacks, dreams etc.). If such an event occurred to me, I am not reliving it in flashbacks, dreams etc. and, as noted, I can't emotionally identify it.

So I don't know what to say. I feel a bit like someone who went to the support group, was warmly received (and thank you for that), but then slowly came to understand that he may have wandered in to the wrong session! :redface:

PTSD is PTSD Rick, and not all have the same symptoms at once, though will often suffer them all at times, or if unlucky enough, mostly at once. You said in your original post, that you are a bit unsure about the diagnosis as such. Why? From the very little I know about your trauma, I cannot make an assessment for myself to whether you have it or not, but you said you do in your first post, diagnosed by physicians, and that is what is factual, regardless my own opinion. I can say, that physicians at present are in a PTSD frenzy, ie. labelling the world with PTSD for everything and anything traumatic within their life, though in fact; most actually suffer what every human being will during the course of their life, being PTS, without the disorder basically, which is a range of PTSD symptoms, anxiety, maybe depression, social withdrawal and so forth, but not to the severity of what a persons with PTSD would have, where the chemical imbalance within the brain has taken effect, and basically made a persons life near unbearable to survive.

There is one way, and one way only to actually know whether you have PTSD, and that is an MRI brain scan. The scan will clearly show the actual chemical imbalance that has taken effect, thus confirming an actual PTSD diagnosis. For most, it would never be needed, because the literal severity of the symptomatic range, scale and intensity clearly outlines the disorder, though those who sit possibly on the border, in that they have a range of the symptoms, though very low key as such, maybe one distinctive, but not life crippling, then an MRI would solve it opposed to a physicians estimated scale of probability, guesstimation, experience and luck.

For two physicians to diagnose you with PTSD though, chances are, you have PTSD, because you have told them the facts of trauma, you would have filled out a scale of intensity or verbalised it to the physician, they would have gauged your actual persona during response, outlining whether your basically holding back and attempting to suppress symptoms or events.

Rick, why do you feel that way, ie. walked into the wrong session?