PTSD has ruined my life

Keep trying the meds. Ask for tiny aterations in dose size or type of med. It can take a long whie to find a correct balance in that respect.

Look after your money carefully. Apply for anything you are genuinely entitled to. Start getting your health back on track. Sometimes these things take a while.

Cheers Apple

Hi PAL, so many thanks for sharing how debilitated you are. Going to bed is a good thing if it does not become constant. I too do the bed thing for the comfort and soothing it provides. Whatever happened to you must have been horrible, I would like to encourage you to seek appropriate therapy and certainly attempt some time walking around your area or even a day trip to some greenery. I agree that perhaps you may have some entitlements up however the best way to do this is via a Centrelink Social Worker. The SW will treat you like a person.

I do understand the suffering that PTSD can bring and hope that the anxiety and nightmares will ease in time. I know that you are very unwell at this time however perhaps PAL in the future you may be able to consider the Federal Governement funded scheme for 50+ employment or even a little volunteerism.

My very best thoughts to you

Lotsa Luv

Bast

Hi Pal, I too have complex PTSD and there are groups around you can join and they do help. I have had my condition since 2009 and I have only just got my Meds right with my psychiartrist. There are constant ups and downs and it is relentless, but it is how you cope with the swings that will help you with living with the condition.

I was a firefighter and at first with the stigma from my fellow firefighters, I refused to accept something was wrong. Seeing what it was doing to my family I had a breakdown and admitted to my family I needed help. That stigma is slowly fading and people are becoming more understanding of PTSD and Depression. Wish that others were more accepting in 2009 because the attitude then was suck it up and get on with things.

This did not help me to accept I had a problem and has made my road to recovery very hard.

Mate just keep going to your psych, dont be afraid to tell your psych the meds are not right and get him to adjust them and as for motivation that will be like a rollercoaster, sometimes the things you were really passionate about fade and then other days they are alive and well. Google PTSD and carers groups for your area and see what you get, they can help you as well as your family because also need the tools to cope with the change in you.

Anytime you need to chat about something, just post it and I will reply to you when I come on to the forum.

Regards Rexy

Hi Pal,

So sorry to hear about where you're at. I've just read this post, since joining up a couple of days back. I hope you've been hanging in there since you posted it.

That's so absolutely unfair that you've been kicked so hard in the guts when all you were doing was getting on with your job. I'm a fellow professional of similar age and acquired PTSD from my job many years back (unbeknown to me then!). I'd been managing to keep above it all until my most recent job opened up the wound rather badly. I haven't been able to work since late last year. In my case, I was fortunate to have a workcover claim accepted just before the money ran out - mind you, the process in itself was pretty challenging!

There's a lot of good advice offered up here. From my own perspective, the things that have been helping me are: finding a psychiatrist who actually spends time listening and supporting and not just dealing out the drugs (a good alternative would have been to add in a psychologist to the mix); communicating openly and frequently with her about the meds, which are now just FINALLY starting to make a small difference; living day by day and setting myself VERY small goals (sometime just folding socks!) with heaps of breaks; scheduling pleasant activities ahead of time where I'm obligated to turn up; doing small good deeds for others (eg random thoughtful notes or cards, sending an email to a company to praise one of their employees, letting someone go ahead of me in the checkout queue or in the traffic) so I feel like I'm worth something.

I don't know you and I'll never fully be in your shoes in all this, but your story here sure rings some familiar bells with me and I can empathise with your sense of despair. Don't be too hard on yourself hey? You didn't bring this on. But you WILL find a path through it.

ChaiMaker (sending you a virtual warm beverage of your choice)

Rexy- I'm writing from America and I too was a Firefighter but a back injury ruined my career and combined with a biitter divorce was diagnosed with PTSD. The stigna associated with PTSD is something the Fire Department or society in general doesn't get. It seems PTSD is something only a soldier returning from war expericences in the minds of society. But I know what it's like to be in fear all the time now. Any job I land now I sabotage becuse of the fears in my head. I wish I could heal from this PTSD once and for all.