POZ Community Forums
Meds, Mind, Body & Benefits => Mental Health & HIV => Topic started by: andrew1027 on October 31, 2013, 04:23:16 pm
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If you have read my story..... You will understand why I have gotten this dx.... I have been through counseling with it, but none of it seemed to work, because all they want to do was harp on the past and reopen wounds that were just to painful to bare.... I am not on any medication for it.... Is there a medication out there that could possibly help and if yes what is the medication
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I have been through counseling with it, but none of it seemed to work, because all they want to do was harp on the past and reopen wounds that were just to painful to bare....
Disclosure: I have PTSD from childhood experiences.
There is nothing available in a bottle that will fix this for you. The reason the counselors harp on the past is to help you find a way to find some closure for what you've been through. Part of PTSD is your mind's inability to handle your experiences. Until your mind can process what has happened, you will relive those experiences.
Anti-anxiety drugs can dampen the effects of the PTSD, but they will not wipe them out. Cognitive behavioral therapy can help you develop coping skills to lessen the intensity of the PTSD episodes. It can also help you derail your PTSD thoughts and build new, healthy responses to your PTSD triggers.
The catch? Your therapists have to know what it was that caused the PTSD in the first place -and what your reactions are like. Your triggers may be common or they may be unique. (Smells can set mine off for example).
Maybe instead of having to orally go through all the pain, write it all up once and hand the pages to your next therapist.
Keep trying. It's all about achieving success in increments over time. You have to work at it.
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Intaglio seems on the money. One has to build some sort of new synapses to compensate the habitual anxiety making ones. Its not obvious but it does seem somewhat mechanical and that is hopeful. Its not some sort of voodoo Freudian work one needs to do.
There were two recent Sounds True podcasts on the topic of changing the brain that I think are very intelligent:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sounds-true-insights-at-edge/id307934313
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Hello ,
I am sorry you are currently in this awful position and wish I could add a alternative view that Intaglio and Mecch have outlined but I cannot. Its not fair or just and at the time clearly feels the opposite off caring but it does move on and as there are no pills that will fix this " andrew " , its hard , very hard.
The fact that you are here posting here , continuing with your daily responsibilities is a testamount to a strength in you and , even if the counsellors did not stay with the pain , you , I think , know that it would stay there , and pain it seems to me when it stays in one spot , festers and bubbles till it leaks out.
Wishing you the best off the best
m
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How are things ?
Michael
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I believe the rule of thumb in terms of therapy/counseling is that the beginning is by definition painful, the length of which depends on how often your are having sessions (twice a week, once a week, etc.) I'd expect the first six months to basically suck, and that's also the time that being on some sort of anti-anxiety and/or anti-depressant is helpful. Once you get past that point therapy should be more comfortable and ultimately helpful.
There is no quick, easy answer to PTSD or indeed any mental health diagnosis. You have to be in it for the long haul.
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Thank you all for the posts, I am trying to straighten my health first the I will take care of that... I am considering counselling again
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Good to hear from you , I have just this minute reactivated another post asking how things are going, not trying to stalk you but I know we who got in touch where affected by the load you carried.
Plan sounds good , I certainly prioritize things that I have to deal with , if I did not I could end up living at the hospital as a Day patient .
So don,t be a stranger , if you need to vent you vent and put it at the top off the page . I realize I am not clear what your health issues are but I hope they are off the straight forward sort and I doubt if someone somewhere will know spmething about it, though Peter from Denmark surprised many with his skin condition.
So take care
m
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M.... things are good.... right now I have the flu or something not sure... funny because I got the Pneumonia, and flu shots plus I am on bactrim, floconisal, and azithromicine so still trying to figure out why I am sick right now.... My creatinine is fine although now my potassium is elevated but I will find out more on thursday when I see the doctor
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Andrew Hi,
Given what you are coping with I am not surprised in the least that you are picking up germ after germ. I have noticed in my non HIV friends how these sorts off illnesses often accompany hard emotional times , same for us except that we have to get it checked out and have the worry worm to deal with . The flu shot is for the type off flu that leaves you in absolutely no doubt at all that you have it , I think we just forget how debilitating the various cold virus,s can be .
You are doing the best thing possable ---seeing the Doctor on Thursday.
All the Best
m