PTSD how to get rid of it?

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Ì have a trauma, I'm not sure if it's PTSD or more an anxiety-trauma-OCD thing or an anxiety with traumatic symptoms.
I've been told all three of them. But it's actually not that important.

I don't want to have it anymore and I want to go away.
How do I do it?

I have it since nearly two years
It allready got alot better since a fiew months, but I still have it.

My mainproblem ist that I think situations that are simmilar than the trauma, over and over and over and over and inform myself how I can change it and want to be secure that nothing bad can happen again in simmilar situations and think them over and over and over again.
Not even that much the traumatic event itself (but that too), more simmilar situations and that every single day.
I can't help it and I can't stop it and if I don't feel secure in those situations I panic.

Ayahuasca

Whatever it is, you can't just make it go away. You need therapy and medication.

Thanks!



Well there we are by problem nr. 2...

Nearly two years ago I had a panic attac at the airport. I was brought by the police in the next psychiatry. In my area most psychiatrists know harly anything more about autism, than "Rainman" and other clichée stuff. I was in the locked ward for 2 weeks and when I left I found out that I could have legaly gone after 3 days!
The problem was that I had claustrophobia and couldn't communicate it because of my autism.
And since then, I have those symtpoms!

I had bad side effects because of the medications. I don't tolerate them well.

At the moment I take:
- lithium orotate
- rhodiola rosea
- cod liver oil
- melatonin at night.

My psychiatrist wants to give me agomelatonin (Valdoxan), but actually I prefer normal melatonin.
I want her to subscribe me normal lithium carbonate, but the problem is that she doesn't want my fear to grow because I could gett side effects and those could trigger me, also I didn't really tolerate and psychiatric medication I was given in the past.
If I tolerate lithium orotate well, will I also tolerate lithium carbonat?

So here I am, highly afrait of psychiatries!
I just go there every two weeks and she knows because of my problem. It war veeeery difficulty in the beginning. I was scared for weeks, when she said something wrong. Now I'm doing a lot better. But I still get scared hugly when she says something that scares me.
She is very nice and is trying a lot, but the situation isn't easy and she doesn't know much about autism (like nearly every psychiatrist in my area...). But she thinks diagnoses aren't important, importand is the patient.
Well, it's kind of true, but stil....!

Of course I'm still claustrophobic, even more than befor.

Since a fiew months I'm doing a lot better and better, so I have hope.
But it's still there and it's such a difficult situation.

I actually don't know if it's better not to go anymore but I really don't know what to do!?

Overthinking.
Face your trauma, relive your trauma, realize it's not real and past. Maybe you'll cry a little. Maybe you'll get a headache. But you'll solve the problem, guaranteed. Keep it together, stay strong, and please, don't take any shady medication.

I've found this useful self-help book which has a self-compassoin based approach to recovering from trauma, it's designed for PTSD and other trauma. Thre is both a hard copy edition and kindle/e-book edition:-

"The Compassionate Mind Approach to Recovering from Trauma - using Compassion Focused Therapy" - Deborah Lee (2012) Published by Constable & Robinson

Feel free to ask if you want more details.

Thats actually some good advice, I suspect I also have develouped PTSD over the years and the only way to treat most anxiety disorders is to do just that. you'll also save thousands in therapy costs, haha
I'm going to get on it once I am done with this cup of coffee. without being too dumb about it

win-win!

I don't know though I can see how it could help some people.......but it can be a rather dangerous approach, I mean reliving the crap or being reminded of it triggers the symptoms and when that happens its certainly not a good thing and just does more damage since it causes a physical stress reaction which is apparently very exuasting to the body not to mention considering how 'out of touch' you could say I get when I'm badly triggered I could do something stupid, dangerous or both.......so I do what I can not to trigger that. But maybe it depends on the severity, how long you've had it and how you dealt with it in the beginning.

Well, yes and no.

I stayed in this clinic the trauma occoured for therapy, first every 2 weeks, now every 4 weeks. Well it's a different building, but still...!
So I kind of did that I'm most afraid of: the clinic and psychiatrists.
With my first psychiatrist after my trauma everything got just worse and worse and worse. I was nearly out of the trauma once, but the situation terribly scared me.
I never toled him once that I have a trauma, after I was in the clinic, because I was totally claustrophobic. He didn't know what I have, but he thought I'm terribly sick. In a way I was, but that was because of the trauma and not my "normal" self.
This situation retraumatized me over and over and don't ask me why I didn't leave...!
I just couldn't, thought I'm really sick, didn't understand what was happening to me, thought that my life is kind of over...!

One year after my trauma occoured I totally freaked out and I got a new Psychiatrist.


I toled her right away, but she neded a while to realice, that I'm not borderline and that I don't just lie and that I really suffer.
A huge problem was also that in my area noone knows something really about autism...!
So first she didn't understood it at all and still has difficulties, but after visiting the closed section again (there are no patients anymore, they have moved to another building, so it was totally empty) it got better since a view months.
Now, I kind of have at least more or less "normal" life again, but I still suffer under the trauma.

this makes the most sense to me. I found you can't really run away from it, you have to live through and then let it process. i do focus a lot on positive thoughts, but sometimes i feel like I'm doing too much of that and not letting myself be me.

Own the trauma and take control of what it does to you.
You will never erase it from your memory but you can change how it affects you for the better.

Think in the here and now forget the past if it wasn't that pleasant.

Let it go and do things that make you feel alive. Don't push yourself too much though.

MDMA: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/ ... -sufferers

Are you mostly having anxiety problems like OCD, PTSD, phobias ect? Or are you having other issues as well like depression, bipolar, mood swings ect?
If anxiety stuff are your main problems; I would suggest considering switching your meds to Buspar & maybe Neurontin as well. Buspar is specially for Generalized Anxiety but it's helping me with the anxiety aspect of other anxiety issues & it helps keep me from panic attacks because my anxiety isn't triggering them since it's a bit better. Neurontin is an anticonvulsant that's occasionally used off-label for OCD. I tried lots of psych meds including Lithium but I cant remember which one it was. I had problems with side-effects with lots of the meds I tried & they never really helped me with my anxiety stuff unless it was by making me feeling tired & kind of out of it mentally. I haven't had side-effects with Buspar or Neurontin that I had with other meds & they're helping with my anxiety & OCD stuff a lot. I still have issues but I can manage them a lot better. Perhaps switching to one or both would make your PTSD a little easier to deal with by lessening your anxiety & obsessive thinking.

@ nick007:
Something got wrong with the quote.

I just have OCD in conection with the trauma. I have claustrophobia, but that pretty much my only phobia.
I also have depression and mood swings, very bad. Bipolar was more than once discussed, but it's hard to tell at the moment, because of the trauma. If I have Bipolar, then Bipolar II, but it's still not clear.

I tried several different medications and lithium is the first one that really works for me.
But I also want to try lithium carbonate.

I tryed a lot of other medications and most of the time I had huge side effects.
Most of the psychiatric medications I just can't tolerate.

I was already posting it somewhere else, but I'm in just a good mood about it. I have to post it again! :

I'm doing PTSD-tests once in a while and for the first time I just fullfilled in 1 out of 3 PTSD-tests a positive result.
A half year ago, I was still clearly in the PTSD-range. So it is getting clearly better after a view months.

But I still have it.