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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

Thanks

In response to: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

Yes, dissociation/derealisation. It's hard to put my finger on. I have good days when I can remember stuff on a few occasions that didn't make sense months after. My brain s gone to mush at the moment, trying to think of examples. I sometimes wonder why my friends never picked up on what I was doing.... Or not doing through out my life. Ok, thought of one...a friend asked me to look after her camera while at a birthday party. I m not drinking or taking any medication but I put the camera down and it's like I know I'm suppose to be doing a job ( looking after the camera). But my brain is watching a group of guys just pickup camera and then keep it. But I just watch like it's not really happening, or I have no control over it. I can see it so clearly now and I don't do a thing about it. It's like so surreal it's not happening at all. Then the next weird bit is I don't remember how I explained the loss of the camera.??? I can say I was feeling very stressed. But it felt also like I was watching it happen in a dream. Not real at all, so it couldn't hurt me. Hope this makes some sense. Also I completely forget this when someone asks me to look after something again... So wish I could remember at least to say no don't trust me. I'm not good with watching things, or for that matter remembering.to keep a secret.@shaz51@baggyjeans@emu12345

In response to: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

@emu12345 hi and just wanted to say, you are loved back. Thanks for writing. I'm struggling mostly with head aches today. But your side effects of medication sound, yuck. :nauseated_face: Hope your feeling better soon 💟

In response to: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

@OM108 someone mentioned "8 steps to safe trauma ....( I found this very good. ) Reinforced the ,5 senses that help you to stay in the moment. And mindfulness. As a good tool. Helped me realise I'm doing ok. So thanks to who ever wrote this and another book title, can't remember what it was called. Maybe @Streetspirit ? Was it you who wrote about books? Thanks

In response to: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

Can I just vent " to all the people who prey on others", I just want to punch you in the face. Especially people who prey on children.

Content/trigger warning
F___ c _.

That has been a long time coming. Thanks for letting me say that. I have tears running down my face and can hardly breath. I know it's raw. But if I can't vent here where can I? Hope I haven't affected anyone . Needed to let it out!

In response to: Re: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

Content/trigger warning
F_ c _ X100

In response to: Re: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

Hearing you @Just . I've just added a spoiler to your posts so members can click on it to read it by choice.

Hope you are okay.

In response to: Re: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

@Just

Just catching up on your thread to see how you are doing?

I had to look up the book your mentioned about 8 steps.

Is it this book?

Have you read it? Looks REALLY good!

https://theunshamingproject.org/blog/safe-trauma-recovery-babette-rothschild/

Looks like you might be already doing some of these steps....(don't forget to make the lemonade!)

Here are the 8 keys that are described in her book:

  • Key 1: Plot your Course with Mindfulness
  • Key 2: Begin with Your Epilog… You Made it!
  • Key 3: Remembering is not Required
  • Key 4: Stop Flashbacks
  • Key 5 Reconcile Forgiveness and Shame (Forgive your limitation, Share your shame)
  • Key 6: Take Smaller Steps for Bigger Leaps
  • Key 7: Get Moving
  • Key 8: Make Lemonade

Might be worth checking out the whole website.

Gonna dig in myself...unshaming sounds like a very needed process for recovery.

Start the Healing Journey – The Unshaming Project

In response to: Re: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

Yes, that's the book. Thanks for reading.

In response to: Dissociation

Re: Dissociation

@emu12345 I experience dissociation also. From what I understand is it's a spectrum and everyone experiences dissociation to some degree but trauma can strengthen these pathways in the brain.

I have been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, which sometimes I consider and other times I refute. I definitely identify the the feeling of things not being real or being in my head which can be disconcerting.

I think they way forward is finding a therapist who understands and works with dissociation.

Happy to talk further if it helps to know someone else has similar experience but don't particularly have any answers, even after years. 😞

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