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PTSD
Health
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That picture brings back a memory. In 2005 CPT Franks and CPT Harding were doing a left seat/right seat ride. They both went up to a vehicle that had stopped and made the driver open the trunk. The VBIED went off and killed them both instantly.
If memory serves me that's a picture from either right after the event or at the memorial service on FOB Kalsu.
To answer the question; my family pulled me from the darkness many times. My mom, my son, and my then soon to be wife (the previous wife sent me divorce papers while I was still over there).
I bought a motorcycle and it helped. I think I was still chasing the adrenaline rush and high. It was peaceful though, just me, the bike, and the road.
It took a year until I was "normal" feeling. I still have anger issues with dumb stuff. Sounds, smells, and sometimes talking about some things or seeing them on TV will trigger bad dreams. I'm managing pretty good though. The wife was so glad the second tour was nothing like the first. I am too.
If memory serves me that's a picture from either right after the event or at the memorial service on FOB Kalsu.
To answer the question; my family pulled me from the darkness many times. My mom, my son, and my then soon to be wife (the previous wife sent me divorce papers while I was still over there).
I bought a motorcycle and it helped. I think I was still chasing the adrenaline rush and high. It was peaceful though, just me, the bike, and the road.
It took a year until I was "normal" feeling. I still have anger issues with dumb stuff. Sounds, smells, and sometimes talking about some things or seeing them on TV will trigger bad dreams. I'm managing pretty good though. The wife was so glad the second tour was nothing like the first. I am too.
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I talk...it has been tough at times...but I talk. After a "sode", as I call them, I take my family and myself to see the counselors.
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I was just recently diagnosed with PTSD, amoung other things. I am still active duty and have a few concerns when i am offically out. I dont know how it will affect my mental well being as medication seems to be the only thing that curbs the major issues. Issues that cost me my rank. The big Army says to seek help if you need it, but if it last too long the leadership sees you as a shit bag. I have fought tooth and nail to bring this to light but to no avail. I have accepted that it has happened and i am discovering everyday that the new people around me understand and know what it is that i am dealing with and are eveing fighting to get my rank re-enstated. For me, not only is it medication, but also the enviroment, th epeople you are surrounded with. It seems a bit easier in the Amry as everyone has expierence similar events but how will i cope outside? With little shit heads that still live at home with mom and dad that think they know everything? This is my worst fear about leaving, but i cant stay either. Dealing with PTSD has been mostly internal, but i have continued my therapy, not the right answer but speaking to friends and family outside the service, they just dont understand. Just take it one day at a time, find that one thing that keeps you in the moment and just go with it
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CPO Ed Ball
Depending on the severity of your diagnosis, if you are discharged, you have a 12 month window to file a VA Claim. Once PTSD is service connected (military caused it) then you will be provided medical services by the VA Medical Centers or VA Community Based Outpatient Clinics, absolutely free, as long as you hold the disability rating. I have vets I've gotten service connected for PTSD that make more than a 20 year retiree. If the military offers to medically discharge you, DO NOT take a severance check, as it will all have to be paid back once you are service connected by the VA.
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Wind therapy on my harley seems to work very well. I ride with the Combat vets motorcycle association, all the vets talk, but I stay away from medication all together because I don't like any altered state of mind.
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Dealt with PTSD, for alot of years! An for the most part , I try to put myslef in someone elses position, an I do belive they are having a far worse time myself! An I pray alot for God to take the pain away!!!!! When I was wounger I didn't think to much about it. However, now that I'am older, it hits hard! But the harder I get hit, the harder it is to hide!!!!! Sometimes I just go for a walk, an I cry, I can literlly hear the screaming, OR THINK SMELL THE AROMAS! I try to let it loose but I don't know how!!!! THATS HOW I DEAL WITH IT.
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When I first came home I struggled with it extremely bad and even contemplated suicide a couple of times. But I surrounded myself with good people. I found the little things in life more meaningful. Now I fish and go to the range and shoot.
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PO1 Donald Hammond
I was always really good at skeet shooting when I was "shooting Chiefs" lol. Better to blow clay out of the sky then go off on senior personnel and officers.
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PV2 Violet Case
Well if you ever come up to northern minnesota fishing is great here and you can pitch a tent as long as you are not loud, disrespectful and clean up after yourself. I don't have kids up here tho because of the many projects that I have started and not finished to dangerous and my nerves are bad. But the walleye is great in beer batter and on top of all that we are glad you are with us PFC Shay Walters. After I was in a comma 3 days from trying I decided it was time to seek help not just from doctors but from and for myself too.
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I have been dealing with PTSD for nearly 20years and never realized it. I started getting treatment for it a couple of months ago and am considering quitting the treatment. All I seem to have experienced is things that were buried being brought back up to the surface and causing stronger symptoms in me than before the treatment began. I don't want to relive the incident again and again. I don't want the additional nights of nightmares and even less sleep than I had before and I damn sure don't want another fist full of pills to take since I already take enough for physical issues.
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SGT James Hunsinger
Thank you both. I have decided to give the therapy some more time. It's hard, but I guess there has never been anything in my life worth anything that wasn't. Thanks for the encouragement.
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Suspended Profile
James, I think desensitivation treatment may be helpful. It depends on what caused the PTSD. Was it specific event(s), or was it a deployment, was it combat or something else? All these different questions inform what kind of therapy you get.
Desens works very well for specific combat events like a bad firefight, but won't work at all for someone who survived an assault...
If you don't feel comfortable with the therapist you have, you always have the right to seek a different provider.
If you want to talk to me off line, you are welcome to do so...
Desens works very well for specific combat events like a bad firefight, but won't work at all for someone who survived an assault...
If you don't feel comfortable with the therapist you have, you always have the right to seek a different provider.
If you want to talk to me off line, you are welcome to do so...
CDR Michael Goldschmidt
There are a lot of good books that can help you understand, too, James, that PTSD is an inevitable part of war. "Achilles in America" is one such book. Please seek out other vets, and a veteran counselor, too, if you can find one.
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PO1 Donald Hammond
One of the things that I found in researching PTSD is that the more times you relive an experience that was very negative, the less painful it is because your brain starts "dealing" with it by modifying the memory. Any memory actually. That is why we tend to remember the good times more than the bad in the end. But of course you have to get through the bad memories.
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That's a pretty serious question. It's tough!
Early on, I used to cry, a lot. I had one buddy die on me while I was holding his hand at the hospital in Balad, after getting hit on patrol by an IED. I hadn't seen the guy since Basic. I was taking one of my Soldiers to get staples because he hit the top of his head under a shabby built table, and then I hear the staff yelling for people to get out of the way. I look over and see my bunk buddy getting wheeled by. I ran over, and he grabbed my hand. He begged me to "dont let go." He bled out, went into shock and died moments later. It was terrifying. It's been almost seven years now.
In June 2013, I seen a new Facebook profile photo for a friend from highschool. We both graduated in 2000. The new profile pic was two hands holding each other. When I clicked on it, the caption was asking for prayers and hope. I didn't know what to expect, so I asked what happened. About an hour went by before I was told that he had shot himself in the head. He had become a raging alcoholic over the years; even tried to get help. At the time, he was going to check in the following day to rehab for detox and get better. He just couldn't deal with it any longer. The depression was so bad, that he felt he couldn't function without a drink. Here I am deployed, and find out that this guy I knew since the First Grade was dying. The pic showed him clutching the other person's hand. Turned out, the muscles were locked. What looked like clutching for life, was actually the position of his hand with the gun.
Right now, I'm deployed in Kuwait waiting to go north. I called home to talk to my dad this past January. At that moment, he said, "I can't do it any longer. I have the rope around my neck. I have to do it. Bye!" I'm going to leave it at that.
How do I deal with PTSD? I dont! I do my best to just smile and ignore the pain.
Early on, I used to cry, a lot. I had one buddy die on me while I was holding his hand at the hospital in Balad, after getting hit on patrol by an IED. I hadn't seen the guy since Basic. I was taking one of my Soldiers to get staples because he hit the top of his head under a shabby built table, and then I hear the staff yelling for people to get out of the way. I look over and see my bunk buddy getting wheeled by. I ran over, and he grabbed my hand. He begged me to "dont let go." He bled out, went into shock and died moments later. It was terrifying. It's been almost seven years now.
In June 2013, I seen a new Facebook profile photo for a friend from highschool. We both graduated in 2000. The new profile pic was two hands holding each other. When I clicked on it, the caption was asking for prayers and hope. I didn't know what to expect, so I asked what happened. About an hour went by before I was told that he had shot himself in the head. He had become a raging alcoholic over the years; even tried to get help. At the time, he was going to check in the following day to rehab for detox and get better. He just couldn't deal with it any longer. The depression was so bad, that he felt he couldn't function without a drink. Here I am deployed, and find out that this guy I knew since the First Grade was dying. The pic showed him clutching the other person's hand. Turned out, the muscles were locked. What looked like clutching for life, was actually the position of his hand with the gun.
Right now, I'm deployed in Kuwait waiting to go north. I called home to talk to my dad this past January. At that moment, he said, "I can't do it any longer. I have the rope around my neck. I have to do it. Bye!" I'm going to leave it at that.
How do I deal with PTSD? I dont! I do my best to just smile and ignore the pain.
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SGT Susan Curt
There is no help for PTSD through the VA, vets are left to deal with it on their own and so many are commiting suicide bc of this..
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SSgt James Connolly
SPC Bernie Davies - You or your Rep. should have put you in for 100% and unemployability with 70% combined or 60% for one you are eligable
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SSgt James Connolly
SGT Susan Curt - Susan I think I kind of know where you are coming from,I was a NSO and worked at the Vet Center for a period of time,when ever I interviewed a female Veteran I always tried to get them to a Female counselor and I was lucky because they all felt secure. I was not just passing them along I felt they would be more comfortable dealing with a female than me. Send me a stream and I will try to hook you up with a conpitant counselor
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MSgt Bill Rentz
I have gone through counseling and various medications but the only thing that really has made a lasting change is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy at the patriot Clinic in OKC.
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I would hang out at local VSOs and talk to the older veterans, the Vietnam guys mostly.
And upgrade my computer, nice thing about technology, by the time you order a part and it arrives it is probably obsolete, so time to upgrade again!
And upgrade my computer, nice thing about technology, by the time you order a part and it arrives it is probably obsolete, so time to upgrade again!
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MSG William Wold
Well mine was strange, or maybe not. I came home from Vietnam, went on to my next duty station. ETS'd, went home, got married. 20 years later it woke up right in front of my 3 little kids, in a boat, opening day fishing, just before dawn, foggy morning and a helicopter buzzed the lake.. Was not pretty, and it still won't go away. How it was buried 20 years, sprang to life and is still here; I have no clue, and several counslors and different meds have yet to find the answer. ...Meds helped. A later divorce over all that insued.
But something that I realized recently was, I rode motorcycles since I was old enough to walk, and financial issues around that time, and pressure from both inlaws and wife caused me to sell the bike for the family needs. I really believe now, that was part of my therapy.
I brought it up a few sessions ago and my counselor is leaning that way also. Course new wife doesn't like motorcycles; though 3 of my kids and 4 of hers ride. She says I'm in my mid 60's now I need to just let go of that idea.. But after my previous divorce I purchased a motorcycle, and right after I remarried I sold it to help with remodel of the home.
I am now happily married to an RN trauma nurse who recently had to retire because of health issues and stress; and a pacemaker. So we prop each other up I guess.., but she is a strong and sturdy woman.
Meds still help, but have reduced a few, slowly under doctors watch. But recently the dumb airport moved their runway 10 degrees, in anticipation of a large natural gas facility "possibly" being approved right in line with the secondary runway. Now they fly right over the home. Gotta move, or something.. Part of my trigger is low flying helicopters. Jeez.. They've rattled the window screens off the window; pictures off the wall.
I talk to my kids who have given me 10 grandchildren total, and they very seldom see or talk to their mother. I have had two sons in the military, they were both in Iraq at the same time. That was tense. One is still in, the other left the service.
But something that I realized recently was, I rode motorcycles since I was old enough to walk, and financial issues around that time, and pressure from both inlaws and wife caused me to sell the bike for the family needs. I really believe now, that was part of my therapy.
I brought it up a few sessions ago and my counselor is leaning that way also. Course new wife doesn't like motorcycles; though 3 of my kids and 4 of hers ride. She says I'm in my mid 60's now I need to just let go of that idea.. But after my previous divorce I purchased a motorcycle, and right after I remarried I sold it to help with remodel of the home.
I am now happily married to an RN trauma nurse who recently had to retire because of health issues and stress; and a pacemaker. So we prop each other up I guess.., but she is a strong and sturdy woman.
Meds still help, but have reduced a few, slowly under doctors watch. But recently the dumb airport moved their runway 10 degrees, in anticipation of a large natural gas facility "possibly" being approved right in line with the secondary runway. Now they fly right over the home. Gotta move, or something.. Part of my trigger is low flying helicopters. Jeez.. They've rattled the window screens off the window; pictures off the wall.
I talk to my kids who have given me 10 grandchildren total, and they very seldom see or talk to their mother. I have had two sons in the military, they were both in Iraq at the same time. That was tense. One is still in, the other left the service.
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