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Talking through trauma and PTSD

Dissociation

Dissociation

To everyone that has taken time to read, support and reply to my first post I appreciate you all from the bottom of my heart.

I have read each reply and thought I would explain my situation a little more, I can't really go into depth with it because my trauma stems from when I was a child right up until adulthood and it would take me hours and hours to type.

I honestly don't know where to start, but I have educated myself over the few years about mental health which unfortunately a lot of people don't do. When I got diagnosed with severe anxiety disorder it honestly shattered my heart because I have to live with this for the rest of my life. I always tell myself and people around me that everything happens for a reason and sometimes the reason is the most horrible reason, but it still happens and there is nothing that you can do to change that. I have been researching more and more about dissociation and derealisation and seem to not get far, I feel this all day everyday, its draining, embarrassing and just life sucking. If anyone else feels like this please let me know, I would like to see how people deal when feeling this way, and how it affects you. When I tell people what it feels like is, It's like one side of my brain knows what I'm doing, where I am, and that I am alive and okay. And the other side of my brain is scared, doesn't know where I am, doesn't know what I'm doing, feeling like I'm not real, that nothing is real and to get back home because I start to hyperventilate.

I can say though that I haven't gone back to step one, when I was first going through this I could not calm myself down and it got to the point where the ambulance were called twice in one week. That was around 3/4 years ago now. I know my breathing tactics and grounding, and while I'm out if I get that anxious I know I need to stay there and breathe through it so I don't get scared to go back to that place in the future. A big thing as well that I struggle with even when with friends, partner or my family members is places like the supermarket, bunnings, Kmart or big places because I feel like I'm stuck and I cannot move and go into that panic, I'm just wondering if anyone has any answers to why I feel like that. I have also tried to get as much medical help as I can and I am finally getting people to listen to me and my trauma and my story after a lifetime of being pushed to the side. I am highly medicated and have been since I was a teenager, I have been on all sorts of medications. These medications that I'm on now seem to work but I do shake a lot in my hands and legs when I lay down and the side affects of them all cause drowsiness.

If anyone has anymore questions feel free to ask

Thankyou again for anyone whom reads this

Dont forget that you are loved ❤️

99 replies

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In response to: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

@BaggyJeans thanks for replying, do you know of any good ones?

In response to: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

Thanks @emu12345

In response to: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

@Just

I am not an expert in this and i guess is could be possible to dissociate at any stage of a stress response, but as i understand freeze comes as a result of a failed attempt to escape danger... your system recognises that you are not able to escape, so the autonomic nervous system shuts down many processes in the body to protect you from feeling the pain of physical attack or abuse and/or to slow down loss of blood. Dissociation is a state when you are no longer fully present in your body and are numbed to the physical and emotional pain.

You can check out the topic online...here is an example.

Trauma and the Freeze Response: Good, Bad, or Both? | Psychology Today

In response to: Re: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

Thanks for link @OM108 do U know when I should stop driving altogether? I still drive short distance. 3/4 min for house to shop, for script. Or doctors same place. But not sure now if this is safe. Thought I took a while to freak out and feel someone else was driving but now not sure? Silly for me to think but seemed like when something dangerous was going to happen on the road, a better driver took over. But starting to dought everything now. @BaggyJeans @tyme

In response to: Re: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

Hugs @Just .

I'm here to listen. Please don't think you are alone. I'm here for you.

Have you spoken to your treating team about how things have been going for you lately?

In response to: Re: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

Will

In response to: Re: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

@Just I just wanted to say, that feeling like you're questioning everything you know can be really hard to deal with. Depending on your support network you can feel really invalidated by what you're being told, and that can be really painful. Please know we are here and will listen while you puzzle out your world.

In response to: Re: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

HI there @Just ,

How are you going today?

In response to: Re: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

@Just

Might it be helpful to talk 1-1 with a professional about safety around driving? We all want you to stay safe and get all the support you need to live your best life.

Have you checked out yet what is offered at SANE?

Get support (sane.org)

take care of yourself

In response to: Re: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

Tired, but pushing through. Thanks for asking
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