How have you dealt with PTSD?

This is not so much a reply to the original message as it is a comment on the thread. I believe that somewhere down this thread is part of my story meaning I am speaking as one of you. I am an insider who has PTSD and has dealt with it for many years and it is a continuing issue.

My comments is that people care about each of you that has posted on this topic. I care about you and know that help is out there. In the movie Galaxy Quest the team motto is "never give up, never give in" or something like that. Yes, I threw in some humor, it helps. Find a small group where you can talk and be accepted as the person you are, where you are. Friends/colleagues who will not judge you for having issues but who will simply listen and love you, right then, right now and who will walk with you. I would hate being in jail with a CSM like someone named Michael or any one else.

You/we have been to the edge and know what it looks like both good and bad. You/we rose above the ordinary to reach a level only a few will reach. There is much good that can be said about the men and women (especially about nurses) so focus on that.

Well I have been living with PTSD for 43 years. I recently met a World War 2 was just diagnosed with PTSD. He has been living with it for over 60+ years. I can speak with experience it never goes away. But if it is managed it will only bother me 10% of the time not 90%. I have had some success in managing it. For me it is three parts to keeping at the 10% level. 1) proper diagnose from the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress within certain VA's (mine assessment was completed in Boston with both clinical and hard data (on the PTSD machine)).
2) proper medication it took a nurse to get the correct medication and proper dose over one year. Even now it is still twitted.

3) is proper one on one counseling and/or group sessions. This has been the most problematic for me. Because only in the past few years that treatment has gotten more closely to my everyday reality.

So that is my 3 cents of advice

Philip Bienvenue
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It was tough for a long time, especially the for the amount of time I didn't even realize I had it. My wife finally got me to go to see a Doc about it. I've been through immersion therapy and that seemed to help a little bit like I told my doc, it's something that will never go away and I will never stop thinking about it. I don't take meds. The thing that has helped me the most was a program up where I live called Saratoga War Horse. It puts retired racing horses with a veteran and you "connect" with that horse through a specialized process. Hard to explain and it is a different experience for everyone but I highly recommend it. Check them out on Facebook and online. It has become a tool that I use to cope with things at any given time.

One day at a time.................

I found that a feeling of usefulness helped greatly. I tried to return to my old job when returning from deployment. I was met with boredom, loneliness & depression. I went back to school & got my EMT & everyday at work is therapy.

Yes I know I have been dealing with PTSD for 45 years. I also know a WW2 vet who has dealt with PTSD for also 70 years. Here is the three things I have learned over the years while attending individual and group counseling at the VA.
1) I am not alone and most people in society will never understand (and some degree that includes family members). But being in the company of other (PTSD) vets they get it.

2) most counsellors will never get it but doesn't mean they can help because they are there to help us to teach us to manage are PTSD. There are 100 forms of PTSD.

3) I will never get rid of PTSD if I manage it well it will only bother me 10% of the time. Not 70 or 80% of my time. Lastly to manage my PTSd there are three elements.

A) Proper diagnosis (both clinical review and hard phyiscal data conducted by "The National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" only 7 of them located with the VA system.

B) proper medication I spend a year working with a physic. nurse to get it totally right.

C) proper treatment that has been my greatest struggle because the VA is overload with PTSD cases and is always changing how treatment is metered out.

So there is my three cents worth of my opinion.

You can beat it back with the right method.

SP-4 Philip Bienvenue
5th Infantry Division (DMZ)
November 1969 thru November 1970

My first command CV-64 in 1977 we were on West Pac when we lost a F-14 from 30,000ft, pilot and RIO could not eject, cockpit was on fire as they spiraled to their deaths, in the 1980s I was involved in a vehicular head on collision, June - November 1988 onboard LPD-8 with COMINEWARGRU One embarked, we identified and destroyed 128 mines in the Persian Gulf, June 15, 1991 Mt Pinatubo volcanic eruption - thankfully it went vertical for 80,000 ft, I only lived 14 miles away, February 18, 1992 I had a bad bicycle accident hitting a curb head on thrown over the handle bars and slammed into a concrete sidewalk I came to when an ambulance backed up to me, December 1997 Super Typhoon Paka 232Mph winds, only to retire from the Navy after 20 1/2 years, come home and watched helplessly as a large oak tree kicked back knocking my father off a ladder and landing across his mid section, his chest, and crushing his temple area. He was gone. I was a basket case for three months, with a wife and a 6 month old infant, I distanced myself from everyone, especially loved ones. I hated sleep, by closing my eyes the tree falling and killing my father constantly replayed in slow motion.

It was only when I took to public speaking, sharing my testimony in church, crying like a baby along the way, was I able to process everything I had endured up to this point. Today, as Executive Director in a County Veterans Service Office, I assist veterans in filing disability claims with the VA, and have for over 15 1/2 years. I am blessed with the fact I did everything without medical services, no mind altering drugs, no counseling, just telling my life story, after several months, I was able to share without the tears, and work with veterans to help them obtain the benefits and medical services they have earned. Today I am at peace, my son is a senior in HS and looking forward to college, and the lovely wife and I will have been married for 19 years come December 28th. Life is good! God Bless you all for all that you do!

Our VA has made getting treatment for PTSD a two edged sword. At what point does getting treatment strip you of your 2nd amendment right? Don't get me wrong, if a patient is talking of suicide or harming others, by all means, keep a gun out of their hand. But that is not what has happened. Thousands of Vet's have lost their 2nd amendment right simply because they fell under the very large umbrella of PTSD treatment, at the same time We The People are experiencing a very anti-gun administration. So how many Vet's are reluctant to seek treatment because of this very unfair, Need to Report Law???

I am lucky enough to not have PTSD but I do battle depression every day... I do it with out benefit of medication... It is not easy and some days are better than others.

I don't know if I answered to this thread. I finally got out my miserable existence of depression, guilt, anxiety, and racing thoughts by going to the mirror several times a day to talk about love for myself, family, and other things. When the symptoms became pronounced I went to the mirror. After a couple weeks I started to feel better and was able to see beauty unfold before my eyes. I became rational enough to separate the depression, guilt, anxiety, and racing thoughts and attacked them one at a time. I am 90% better and I think other members can attest to this: you miss who you were, the confidence, and the passions that you lost in the process.