Blue8Contributor
Complex PTSD and OCD
So I am new here. I’ve been struggling a lot lately and was looking for support groups and came across this site.
I have had a bit of a rough time of life, childhood trauma and domestic violence relationships, that kind of thing. 2 years ago I said enough is enough I don’t want my life to look like this forever and I actively engaged in trying to get myself better. I’ve been medicated and in talk therapy pretty consistently throughout this time. 6 months ago I finally decided to agree to see a psychiatrist and got my diagnosis. The CPTSD was an affirmation of what I already knew - the OCD was more of a shock. Mainly due to my lack of understanding in how this can manifest. Not just obsessive behaviour but thought patterns.
It has been hard but I have been maintaining - riding the edge of functioning to continue to work and seem “normal”. No one except for those closest to me would have been able to know anything was going on - and since those kind of people are few and far between it was manageable.
2 months ago I had 2 incidents at work - I work in the community services sector. One threat of harm to me followed a week later with a client threatening harm to themselves. This was a grenade into my carefully held together house of cards.
I have fallen apart - barely functioning, not working of course and struggling to even leave the house.
My anxiety has exploded to the point of barely being able to leave the house. Not only am I riding an emotional rollercoaster with my thoughts and feelings but the physical manifestation of my symptoms is something I haven’t experienced to this degree.
The usual suspects of course - heart racing and feeling of pressure on my chest, feeling of restricted breathing but new fun things like jumping at any unexpected noise, feeling faint and dizzy when I leave my house, digestive issues and need to go to the bathroom constantly- things I haven’t experienced before.
I am doing all the right things, engaging with therapy, staying on medication - but the self care I know I need is harder to do - I know I struggle in this area anyway as I don’t believe I’m worth it to invest - long held schema. Then I get in the cycle of knowing I need to do it and not having the motivation or capability and then the beating myself up for not doing.
My few loved ones are doing their best to be understanding but they are a little lost in how to support me and don’t understand how crippling these symptoms can be. As I have always been “the strong one” they can’t compute that I’m falling apart and in some ways I think resent the fact I am not there for them in the ways I was before this.
anyway sorry for the long first post and rambling. I journal my thoughts but I just wanted to be heard outside of paying someone to listen and maybe have someone hear and go yeah me too.
thanks