What are you guys doing to cope with PTSD?

I sing karaoke as part of what I do to cope. I don't drink or do recreational pharmaceuticals. I take my meds as prescribed and talk open and honestly with my VA providers.

I have pretty much recovered, so I no longer need to cope. There were a number of factors, the most salient one being time.

It took years before I was able to enjoy fireworks. I still startle at the booms, but this summer was the first time in over a decade I was able to enjoy the Independence Day fireworks live and in person. As time passed, giving me more and more space between initial trauma and "now," my reactions got smaller and more controllable. And then I did self-administered exposure therapy. But I had to wait until I was able to control my reactions before I tried this.

It took years to return to "normal" sleep. Well, OK, I am still not there. But I am about as normal as I will ever get. I have returned to no longer remembering my dreams, and I no longer wake up in the middle of the night due to nightmares. (The bladder is a whole different issue....) The biggest factor was time, again. When I did wake, I would use biofeedback to slow my heart and my breathing, and return to normal, and force myself back to sleep as rapidly as possible. This became easier to do, more quickly, and more effectively, the more I did it. It also helps that I have a CPAP, and "mask on" means it is time to sleep. My body and my brain pretty much shut down as soon as it goes on. So with the nightmares, I would wake up, take the mask off, and use biofeedback to calm myself. Then I would use the restroom, drink a couple swallows of soda (I am addicted - I strongly recommend water as a healthier alternative), and "reset" my brain. Then I would lay back down and put my mask back on, and get back to sleep.

I do not know if my emotional regulation will ever return to normal - I can find myself holding back tears at "A League of Their Own," but I did not shed a single tear when my father finally succumbed to cancer a year ago - and I was there when it happened. I am prone to a short temper, but I also have done a great deal of work on anger management, even before the PTSD. I know my own warning signs and am able to remove myself from situations before they become volatile. However, the emotional regulation is not something that greatly affects everyday life, so it is not something that prevents participation in "polite society." (It greatly affects quality of life and relationships, though - so I do not want to downplay it.) I also more or less quit drinking alcohol. I drink, on average, 3 bottles of Smirnoff Ice a month. And never more than 4 in a night, never more than 2 in an hour. That greatly helps me manage my own emotions. I may not control what emotions hit me, but I can certainly keep myself under control.

I never really experienced any avoidance - other than the booms of fireworks. And even that was more a voluntary thing because I did not like my reaction and did not want to have that reaction publicly.

The only other real concern is the hyper-vigilance. I have this reduced to simply heightened alertness. I no longer HAVE to sit in the corner, or facing the door, or any of that. Sure, I still do a brief scan for possible exits and possible threats, but I was doing that even before PTSD. I still PREFER to sit where I can see as much of what is happening as possible, but I do not NEED to do so, and I do not get anxious if I cannot. I got over this with a combination of time and exposure therapy. It started with finding times and places where I could maybe sit with my back to the door, but with a mirror so that I could still see behind me (like a lot of bars may have a mirror behind the bar type thing, or a barber has mirrors everywhere). I also would go to sports bars and sit in an inopportune location, but distract myself with all of the many games on, so that I did not have any left over attention to notice that I had blind spots.


And the single biggest thing I found to help is distraction. For PTSD, Depression, and anxiety, all three, keeping myself too busy to have time to think about any of this stuff is exceptionally helpful. HOWEVER, and it is a big however, this is ONLY useful for buying time and separation from the trauma. It in NO WAY helps recover from it. And *eventually* you will have down time. There is a very real possibility of things crashing down on you when you do finally have that down time. Everything you have been too busy to deal with comes on you all at once. So IF you do this, be prepared for the crash - and make sure you have people around you who know what to expect and can support you through it.



I will also say that even at its worst, my PTSD was very mild. In no way do I expect that my experience is the same as anyone else's experience, and the fact that I was able to (mostly) recover without a great deal of external assistance in no way means that those who DO need that assistance are in any way less capable or less than. Fighting off a small demon by yourself is far easier than fighting off a big demon - even if you have help.

Meds and VA psych.

As for strategies I use on my own: I got some basic guitar lessons and a guitar from Guitars 4 Vets almost 10 years ago - right now I've been going through Fender Play and Guitar Tricks to better learn how to play, learn some music theory, etc. I've found it's a great mindfulness exercise to focus on learning a riff or a song.

I'm also into nature therapy, and I'm an outings leader with the Sierra Club Military Outdoors program in my local Sierra Club chapter - I believe in the healing power of spending time outdoors and breathing fresh air, and can actually enjoy it when I can just walk in the woods and take in what's around me (unlike the time we spent in the woods when we were in the military). I also enjoy skiing, geocaching, and photography while I am spending time outdoors.