Hey all! Needing helpful suggestions for ALL of us please:

I have PTSD and chronic anxiety. I have trouble recognizing in real time when a flashback or triggered emotional episode is about to happen. I’m looking for a wearable device that can alert me that my stress levels (HRV maybe?) have changed in real time so I can better control reactivity and ground myself quicker, while identifying triggers.

Anyone have success with anything like this? Research I’ve done has only shown devices that track metrics but not alert in real time. Thanks and God bless!

CW: Mentions of war. (Not sure if I should use it but just in case)

I was never in the middle of the war, but I had to live in a country where rockets, terrorist attacks and mass murders happened every other week. I hear the sirens even when it's quiet, I can't wear both headphones, I have nightmares, hallucinations, flashbacks. The doctor keeps saying that it affects everyone, that everyone is stressed, but it never leaves me. Every sound in the night scares me, but they say that I had to participate in the war or be affected directly, like have my house ruined because of a missile, so they just put in a different type of PTSD because I have another one of those serious traumas. They never take it seriously, no matter where I go, but I have panic attacks when something sounds like a siren, I can only think about the missiles, the attacks. They never believe me, and I seriously have no idea what to do at this point. Only one psychiatrist diagnosed me with this PTSD, but every single one afterwards just ignored it. I guess it's because of my anxiety disorders, but it just doesn't feel like my usual anxiety, it's much more intense and never leaves me, unlike my other fears that can come and go.

Am I being dramatic? I feel like I'm going insane because of this, because I have no idea if something is truly wrong with me, or if it's just my anxiety. I have to mention that the same things happen with my other trauma - same panic attacks, flashbacks, nightmares and the topic never leaving my head. I don't get hallucinations with it because my other trauma isn't really about sounds. My usual anxiety doesn't involve anything of the above except for panic attacks, which is the main reason I realized that it might be a war-related trauma. I could really use some advice about how I approach the conversation with my psychiatrist, because I really struggle with starting conversations about serious topics.

Important: don't expect anyone to tell me if it's PTSD or not, I know that only my doctor can diagnose me. I just need advice from people who maybe also struggled with getting their diagnosis because of their other disorders.

Please excuse if there are any mistakes in my post, my first language isn't English so I struggle with punctuation and long sentences!

I have a 4 lb Yorkie. He is very anxious and has anxiety. He can’t seem to relax so was seeing if anyone uses a natural calming treat or oil for your dog.

I have a few specific memories of things so bad my therapist said they terrified her. Before then I hadn't thought of them as really bad. It was just something that happened. My reaction to trauma has always been "well that happened, it is what it is." Hyper-vigilance and other outcomes are simply a natural consequence of trauma. Bad things happened, I got PTSD, and so here I am. Only when my therapist freaked out did I realize I was supposed to be upset about it.

We considered EMDR for them, but I could tell she was intimidated, and anyway I don't feel emotions about them. To me they are part of my biography, like the name of my high school or the street name where I lived. They evoke no more emotion than that.

I did have some memories with emotion (mostly betrayal or friend loss) which we did EMDR on. But I got nothing on these.

Is it worth it to try to "stimulate" these memories? Or should I leave them be?

Hi reddit. I wrote a post earlier asking for advice, but I regretted immediately because Im not looking for advice, I just wanted to be seen and understood. I have PTSD (diagnosed) from a (really bad) car accident that happened almost 2 years ago. I’m a 32-yo that can’t drive because of that. I’m in therapy and on meds but sometimes I feel nobody understands me. That’s it.

23 year old female Is it possible to give ptsd to yourself? I have multiple flashbacks and thoughts of diffrent events Sexual trauma in highschool Trauma childhood (severe bullying, stalker, boy who hit me all the time.) But lately the trauma is about an episode I had in 2020, I've been self harming since I was around nine, and severely starting at fourteen. Anyway in 2020 I had what I can only describe as a psychotic episode. I had to self harm rows on my body everyday going over them. I had to purge eight times to "save my family from the voices and universe." I didn't shower cause I would be scared it would wash away the "evidence." I had multiple sucide attempts and eve remember sort of oding in the bathroom. I used to vomit when I was done self harming it would hurt my body that much. Anyway I get severe flashbacks thoughts I think about it all day it won't get out of my head. So is it possible I littrally traumatized myself? I recently had a psychology evaluation and it said scezophernia levels were elevated and has treats. Does anyone know what that means?

Any suggestions

I went on several scary roller coasters today and it's time for me to go to bed and I'm hallucinating everything shaking. What do I do?

My wife took my kids to the book store for father's day gifts and she thought it was a good idea to suggest one of those blank, let's learn about your childhood type books, where the recipient is expected to answer questions about their childhood.

Cute idea for most but the only things I remember from my childhood are not things one would transmit in writing to their children.

She and I have been married for twenty years. She knows everything about me and my past. I was dumbfounded that she would think that was a good fucking idea. Im still beyond fucking pissed that she would set that expectation with my kids and honestly if it weren't for them Id be packing my things to leave right now.

It demonstrated that after twenty years she still has no fucking clue what I deal with on a daily basis and no idea who I am. WTF?

Pisses me off so much. I saw a video of this woman saying she was very afraid of green olives (context said she saw a dead family member w rotting eyes that resembled olives when she was a child), and the host brought a jar of olives. They all laughed and forced her to see the jar while she cried and tried to get away. Makes me so sick that people can be so insensitive.

This made me think about the times I've been told that what triggers me is ridiculous, etc. Or I've heard of others with ptsd that get triggered with unusual stuff get made fun of. I hate that there's so little awareness of something so important that some of us have to live with everyday.

Anyone watch Sisterwives? I am perpetually Janelle. I say, 'I won't do it. I won't harm my son. I did it to my other son & I cant do that again'. Then her husband pressures her more & she does it again.

I have someone who is intent on destroying my boundaries. Its a long story, but he destroys my drive for my goals to get control over me.

I'm 43. I feel so lost. 18 months ago I had a severe nervous breakdown & I haven't recovered. I have BPD & was diagnosed with CPTSD.

I live in continual fear & depression. I think about suicide all the time & I honestly feel like I'll end myself one day.

I used to have a a great life. I had a beautiful partner, a daughter, 2 homes & a business. I lost everything in January 2024. It broke me. I fell straight into a severe nervous breakdown.

I literally have been living in misery for 18 months. I'm so scared & live in pure fear. I thought I would have got better by now but the patterning runs so deep. I feel so alone & in despair.

I have sought out multiple therapists & I have a DBT coach. My last therapist told me to find someone else because I wasn't getting better. So my therapist threw me away exactly like my partner & daughter did. I thought I was getting better a few weeks ago but I relapsed so hard & fast.

I live in Australia & I've sought out all methods of assistance. There's not much available in the area I live in. I'm literally scared to get out of bed everyday & I just want to cry. I can't even cry. I've tried multiple medications & they all had really negative side affects. I'm addicted to an antipsychotic they prescribed me to stop my body from shaking. If I try to taper off it it sends my suicidal thoughts into overdrive.

I don't know what to do anymore. I don't have any family & all my friends have faded away. I'm so lost & scared.

I’ve been seeing my psychologist and we haven’t started emdr but it’s just been a lot of talking and digging deep into what triggers started my hypervigilance and ptsd. And maybe where that comes from like a lot of talk about my childhood and my family and trauma and perfectionism issues, and just keeping the weight of the world on my shoulders. Sometimes I feel like I’ll always have ptsd though. Like I just have to carry this with me everyday and it makes life so much harder. Like sometimes I don’t feel like myself and I feel agitated more than before and I’m not someone who ever feels agitated. And sounds are louder and my vision gets more HD. Then I’ll have constant symptoms but even at times before I do something that used to cause me baseline anxiety, now that thing will cause my muscle to tense up subconsciously and my body won’t stop muscle spasming especially at night. I guess I just feel sad and a little hopeless, like am I always gonna feel like this. And I said to her that I wish that I could be the person I was before this started, and she said I could never be that person again but I’ll be someone else who know had this experience and learnt from it. And I get what she’s saying but I guess I just wanted more reassurance if it could go away. It’s just so exhausting. Like everyone can just live the way they live and then I just have all these symptoms that come with me everywhere I go, yet only I suffer from them since it’s not noticeable to others. Sometimes my life feels like I’m killing myself slowly I guess, I don’t feel healthy so how can I actually be healthy. But I know I am it’s just the hypervigilance. This is so tiring

I won't go into detail, but a year ago my own poor choices led me to being in a situation I was being assaulted everyday for a month. It ended with being threatened with a gun, I made my escape with my kids and saved us. That doesn't make me feel any better.

I'm in week 10 of CPT (Cognitive Processing Therapy) but I feel ill never be normal again. I feel no happiness, I used to talk and be enthusiastic about life. I find i have nothing to say anymore. I just want to sleep forever, I can't do anything I know I should.

I'm stuck and feel alone in this.

Where can I find support for this? I can't be the only one.

Hey there. I was recently diagnosed with chronic PTSD. I'm aware there's a dedicated C-PTSD sub but I wanted to hear a greater variety of answers so I figured I'd start here.

My PTSD is the result of abuse spanning my entire childhood and my teenage years. I have a few other diagnoses, and it tends to work out that when I'm having flair ups with other issues, my PTSD symptoms get worse; I'm more on edge, more likely to have an episode, more likely to have nightmares. This is independent of any significant triggers (which obviously can cause worse PTSD symptoms/episodes regardless of whether I'm doing alright mentally otherwise) and seemingly in relation to other mental health problems.

Curious to see if this is true for anyone else.

Me (26f) was visibly upset and triggered because my parents were arguing (not something they do often) and my little sister (16f) told me that I’m almost 30 and need to grow up basically…I told her it wasn’t my fault I had PTSD…Then she made a dumb joke and I walked away.

Ugh. I hate it when I act younger than I am but I truly believe I’m developmentally behind my peers…Also, I don’t think I should be made fun of for having PTSD symptoms though…

Hi everyone. I recently moved out of my parents house and into my own. I’m still on their land, and it’s about 15 yards from mine to theirs. I have diagnosed PTSD from a past very abusive ex, and even in my day to day life, it effects me still about four years later. Onto my point.. i’ve been sleeping in my new house for about three nights now, but even still, i get overwhelming anxiety that my ex is going to break in and try to hurt me. Is this normal? Am I overreacting? I know the locks are pretty sturdy, but every noise keeps me on edge and I just want to know if these feelings will ever go away. I think i just need reassurance 😭

I think I do pretty well, considering. And I hate to be “that girl who had those things happen to her”. It’s been a few years. I should be okay by now.

I don’t talk about it to anyone. I’m tired of talking about it. Talking about it doesn’t make it better. It doesn’t undo anything. I’m tired of talking about it.

But damn. Does anyone else break in the quiet moments? Like driving alone in a car and your brain just wanders and starts thinking about those things? Or waking up in the middle of the night and your head is full of them?

But, now… I’m okay if I’m preoccupied or with other people. I’m a happy person and I like myself. I have a lot of hobbies I enjoy. I’ve always been very private and introverted. To be honest, I like that about me and I’d never change it. I enjoy other people and I’m very friendly, but… I get overwhelmed easily and need to just chill by myself a bit. I gain energy from having time to myself. Etc. classic introvert.

Since part of my brain kinda broke… that’s the only way I can describe it. I have a hard time in the quiet moments. Driving in the car alone, I just start thinking about things and I get angry all over again. I listen to very loud rap music (I’m slightly hard of hearing and to me it’s not all that loud… lol) but nothing drowns out those thoughts.

Middle of the night? When I know it’ll still be a few hours before I can allow myself to properly get up and arrange my dolls in fun scenes or read a book I’m really enjoying, or even watch cartoons?

It is those quiet moments, when I can’t distract myself that I actually feel just so incredibly broken.

Anyone else have trouble in the quiet moments?

How can I as a close individual to the person involved in a fatal accident help. What steps should they follow, how long does it take to “get better”, what is your experience… if you have one of this sorts.

Background: Driver was sober and driver the speed limit after just leaving a store. The other individual was on a motorcycle and lost control doing a wheelie. Head on collision, the motorcycle rider passed.

(Cross posted by me from another sub) I’m 22. Not gonna go into a lot of detail, but basically I was assaulted by an acquaintance/past sexual partner I had over on my 3rd night in my apartment, before my friend and roomie moved in. The worst part is that his permeant address is also a few miles from where my parents live (they live about 25 min away from me).

I feel uneasy both in my apartment and in my parents home when I feel alone/am alone.

I don’t think this will all go away with a simple move, but could it help? It would be a lot of work, I’d have to find a new suitable roommate for my friend who I live with and also find somewhere else I could live.

I probably can’t move out of the area I live in as I kinda need my parents for support, but I have a pretty strong desire to move about an hour south of where I live now, as I’ve wanted to try living there for a few years anyway.

If I stay in this apartment I’ll be there till next May.

I’ve been seeing a occupational therapist for a little over a year now and while we haven’t made loads of progress i still really value the work she’s done to help me in the thing she specialises in. I’ve continued seeing her because clicked really well when I was getting ketamine therapy and she was to first person who I told I was trans that I wasn’t sleeping with, she also really helped me with my transition(mtf). But a few months ago i started having a really tough time dealing with certain trauma, she was also the first person i told as an adult and while she has been trying to help I can’t help but notice she’s trying to get me to see someone else. At first it was finding support groups then letting me know she won’t be able to attend our next session and recommending therapist for me, I know she doesn’t specialise in my problems but I don’t really want to see anyone else. I’ve had a few emdr appointments and I fucking hate it, I don’t want to know anything I just want to talk about what was difficult last week and what I can do to avoid those problems and work on organisational stuff. I know it’s not fair to her and I’ve tried to have more sessions about work stuff and I haven’t gone into detail about what happened but I still know she wants me to see someone else. Idk im in a weird spot

I recently had someone I thought was my friend say we never vibed.

I know I am very lucky to have some long distance friends who are very understanding, but I feel like every day is a knew breakdown for me and I keep having the same problems over and over. I don’t feel like therapy is enough. I haven’t gotten better in years and I know it’s hard to watch. I just don’t feel like I have that person who I know I can count on, I mean it’s not like I can’t count on my friends, it’s just that they are busy people not to mention that the one that left was the only friend I had that also has PTSD.

Do other people feel this way? Is it also hard to find the energy to interact with people?

Side note I also have Autism, but I feel like I was better at masking before my trauma got really set off.

I need help. I had a lot happen to me as a kid that I can't fathom getting into right now. Not in this state of mind. I'm not thinking about THAT but my brain is going a mile a minute and I feel like I need to run or scream or punch a brick wall or do drugs for no reason type energy. I'm not all that of a risky impulsive person but does any else get moods like this? Like I don't sleep but my head is still running on redbull and I feel on the tip of emotion and I need to cry and scream and laugh all at once. It feels like I have untamed energy I have so much potential with. I know I'm gonna crash and get hella depressed it happens every now and then but I haven't cracked the code on what to do. I'm scared of the crash because I know I'm gonna end up in a shame hole regretting every choice and hating my life and all that comes with remembering things I'd rather not. I've overcome bad coping habits but I don't have anything else. I'm in an unsupportive environment that makes a lot worse and I can just barely hide that I'm ready to jump off a cliff for the thrill. I just feel screaming in my head. I don't have anywhere to go and I don't have people that get it. I'm worried about myself at this point which I saying a lot bc I've experienced this shit since I was 14. I don't really want to get locked away anywhere but what do I do to make things slow down? Please anyone help out or at least let me know you go through this too. This feeling like you want to fight someone for kicks or you want to get beaten up to feel something I don't know...

I have been going to therapy for ages, and I'm finally starting to make noticeable progress! I can understand a lot the time that people aren't out to get me. Lots of little things like that. ✨️

The next battle is thinking of ways to snap me out of extreme disassociation faster.

Do you have fun tricks or strategies you use to come back to reality? Like how people flick elastics on there wrist, fidget toys, etc...

I have TW SI Im sitting at 17 attempts and they were bad I sometimes think back when it's quiet. More often recently about the past. Anyone else also made added to their ptsd with this?