pz3 Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Any other Vets on here living with PTSD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petsfed Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 I'm not a vet, nor do I have PTSD. I have a few friends who are both vets and have PTSD. I believe that that PTSD is indicative of how far we, as a species, have evolved. Consider that half a millenia ago, PTSD didn't even have a slang term (e.g. shell shock), but that as the average life expectancy improved, PTSD started to become accepted as existing, and subsequently as being a problem. Why? I believe that as day-to-day lives became less filled with violence, horror, and unexpected death, the less we as a species became accustomed to them. Thus, a society where people can actually be diagnosed with PTSD is a society that's beginning to not need violence simply to exist. However, I also believe that the existence of PTSD underscores how poorly we treat our veterans in relation to what they actually sacrifice. Based on what I said above, it seems like our troops are willingly putting themselves in situations entirely foreign to the morals and ethics we have encouraged in them. Moreover, while we put a lot of effort into celebrating the virtues of soldiers, us stateside citizens actively avoid admitting that what we ask them to do is not only unacceptable in our society, it is basically corrosive to the the psyche of anyone raised in our society. While a veteran may sacrifice his or her life for us folks back home, they certaintly sacrifice the perspective that our entire society cultivated in them before they went to war. Our consistent failure, as civillians, to recognize how much we ask of our veterans is, I believe, a leading cause of the obscenely high suicide rate of veterans. We ask our troops to be the antithesis of polite, upstanding citizents (by asking them to kill, maim, etc and concurrently to put themselves in situations where such actions are necessary simply to survive), but then offer the absolute minimum of aid in reintntigrating into a society that asks them to do the opposite. In the states, at any rate, the VA support in the form of psychologists is only offered to honorably discharged veterans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombat50 Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 http://maketheconnection.net/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeza Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Not a vet , but had an appy which went very south couple of years back after out of icu few months down the line after cognitive therapy sessions, turned out I had PTSD, still taking 40mg propranolol every now and again, but having the beating of it almost. I cannot try to comprehend war related PTSD , but if only in a small degree have some understanding of what they must be going through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pz3 Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 Nicely written petsfed. I liked reading that post. I was just curious if any other forum members have experienced it. Wombat, Im pretty open about it. Its almost like survivors guilt and a little extra to go with it. Bad dreams and what not. Even strange dreams happen quiet often. Usually mostly negative ones. Although some are interesting. I pulled an entire radio guard shift in one, got stuck in a supply warehouse moving crap all day in another. Interesting dreams but annoying to be honest. SUPPOSED to be sleeping. Not working lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombat50 Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 (edited) I served but I'm not a combat veteran. My brother served a couple of years before I did with the 5/60 9ID in the Mekong Delta. Oddly I am well acquainted with a guy who served in the same outfit as my brother although it was a year before. Ran in to him at the grocery awhile back and he talked of his experiences in Vietnam which he had never done before. He was a squad leader in a infantry platoon. Spent days on end in the field until their uniforms rotted from the heat and humidity. He was wounded four separate times. All were shrapnel wounds except once he nearly fell into a punji pit but luckily his buds kept him from falling completely in. Roger still got a leg wound from one of the punji sticks. He was wounded by a friendly bomb that was dropped short and was blown into an irrigation ditch. Still has pieces of shrapnel in a ear drum and lodged against his spine from that one. He is so proud that he got to serve with "the greatest guys". Years ago I framed houses with a WW2 vet. He was a Marine that helped take Tarawa from the Japanese. Before the operation he was dark haired. I think the battle lasted about a week and he was white haired when he left the island. We just never know what the next guy has seen or been through. I do have one dream that relates to my time in the service. I have re-upped for six years and then realization sets in to what I have done. I am always glad to wake up from that one. I tell you what prozac, I have respect for anyone that has served but I have the utmost respect for a combat veteran. Edited September 16, 2012 by wombat50 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pz3 Posted September 16, 2012 Author Share Posted September 16, 2012 I spent a lot of time in bars. Alcohol definitely wasn't the way to handle it. It was always interesting running into guys that have had similar stories. Watching the guys I've served with break down, other men I just met have the same problems, and seeing how common it really is... That's about the time I started following the Wounded Warrior Project. I do believe they will help more then I ever could. I would still put my brothers in arms before myself. A warrior ethos to some... Bless everyone that has served and stayed true to their fellow soldiers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabellum Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 I'm not a vet, but I live with PTSD. Some days are good, and some not so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pz3 Posted September 19, 2012 Author Share Posted September 19, 2012 Hey Parabellum arent you a leo in tampa area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabellum Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 I'm not a LEO, though I did graduate from a law enforcement academy and had my LEO cert at one time. And yes, I do live in the Tampa area. =D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pz3 Posted September 21, 2012 Author Share Posted September 21, 2012 If I ever head out that way ill hit you up. Tampa has a few things I like. Hockey, Casinos, and strippers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabellum Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 Hah! Let me know if you do make it this way. A certain someone else *coughs* Ruin *coughs* was supposed to hit me up, but I haven't heard from him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zebb Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 I served many years ago and although I can't say that I've been a "balanced human being" all this time it wasn't until a year or so ago that I had to make an appointment with a councillor after a particular situation at work, I was "diagnosed" with PTSD and given a series of "EMDR" sessions to take part in for several months. I can't say that I was "cured" after the sessions but some days are better that others rather than every day being a bit of a struggle, especially in situations where I can feel myself starting to get agitated, normally anywhere there are lots of people especially shops etc, I can sense my tolerance level dropping rapidly and normally I just decide to go home, I still tend to avoid these situations on certain days when I wake up knowing I don't want to go out and see anybody, but at least I have days now where I can deal with the issue. "I'm actually a really nice person. I just don't like other people.." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Yeah I just got hit with PTSD last year and suffering from it (though I'm getting better somewhat...) it's still hell sometimes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pz3 Posted February 19, 2013 Author Share Posted February 19, 2013 Yeah I just got hit with PTSD last year and suffering from it (though I'm getting better somewhat...) it's still hell sometimes... Did it creep up on you? I was to drunk most of the time to realise what was really going on. Been a lot better lately. Some of our guys just got back from afghan a few months ago. One of them. I didn't know real well but he is now a part of that suicide statistics. Military funeral ceramony for a suicide isnt the same. Everyone just got smoked. Wish the guy would of called someone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Yep, it accumulated through the years and WHAM! I'm going left of center for a bit though it's slowly calming down. Then again the reasons are slowly going away so it's still annoying but getting more manageable but unfortunately that's a serious side effect, though I've had battles (when I was in ghan I admittedly kept myself from jumping from a helicopter though that was years ago). And unfortunately no I can never get drunk, with the meds, though I do sneak a beer here and there rarely. It's hell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pz3 Posted February 19, 2013 Author Share Posted February 19, 2013 (edited) I think we all have crazy moments like that. I was that guy they always warned you not to be. I would get drunk in the middle of no where on an icy mountain road and i would go. I would go fast. Driving next to 100-400 foot drops. It gave me that puckered adrenaline feeling everytime I went into a bad neighborhood. Wasnt worried of the consequences. MH broke it down like this, my brain got addicted to adrenaline and even all the flashy lights and loud music in the clubs wasnt enough for me. Its still like that sometimes although im starting to enjoy the things I use to enjoy. Like video games for example. Still can't taste my food though, sucks being so numb. PS, i try my hardest not to drink the day after is hell even if im not hungover. Edited February 19, 2013 by pz3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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