Am I lazy or do I enjoy my PTSD??? Who knows???

Sometimes it is just easier I think to hate yourself and to constantly remind yourself of the "blame" that you feel. At least for me it is, but I don't know why. One would think that it is easier in the long run to work a little at facing down the trauma, learning how to treat/deal with the symptoms. This last week or so I have been doing pretty well with NOT focusing on any of my trauma histories. I have had a chunk of flashbacks,
jumpiness, being too alert, and smelling old horrible scents from the past. I did get a little pissed at one person who tries to help me a lot but I am hoping the reason I got mad is only a misinterpretation.

I started writing this post earlier and had a specific focus in mind...but I have since forgotten what it was. I think my earlier point was about me just being lazy...or at least sometimes being lazy. It might be more than this, or even something else, such as a self-destructive or self-hating attitude. I don't know. I know that some days I absolutely hate who I am, or at minimum how I feel and think.

But I also know that I have to WORK at not thinking this way. To find those positive things about me that might exist and to work on handling the lies the brain tells about me. I can BELIEVE that I didn't launch the mortar and that I did pull the trigger on the insurgent and that I didn't ask to be raped as a child by three different groups of people.

Maybe it's time to focus on those things and to work at not being lazy about getting better and to know and believe that I do NOT enjoy my PTSD!!!!

Checking in

It's been a little bit since I last wrote on here. The delay was me being really busy and me writing in my journal. I had a session today, first time in 2 weeks. It seemed like it was a really good one and I had some breakthroughs(?) with some stuck points. What we went over were four stuck points that the doc assigned to me when I texted her all out of whack and thinking I was a piece of shit of just doing something bad to Shane. Those were hard stuckpoints to work: "I AM Horrible," "I AM an ASSHOLE," "I Piss EVERYONE off ALL the time, and "I AM a burden on everyon" It's not fair to say that this whole crappy feeling and these stuck points came just from Shane apparently deciding he wanted nothing to do with me or my family.
On that regard, I think that a couple of possibilities exist:
- I DID say something to just piss the guy off,
- He's just an asshole and is ignoring people
- He read something on here that really pissed him off in regards to my earlier comments (since removed) about a certain person causing him shit.
- He was really mad about my comment about the Doc, even if it was innocuous.

Anyway, I guess I am kind of fair-to-midland today. Some parts of today's session where rough but it just mainly the Doc helping me but blatently kind of putting some things in my face. Got a rather shitty headache, AGAIN, after the session, and then got sick from the Arby's.
The real bummer about the therapy though is that I don't have another session for a MONTH!!! Guess the Doc's going to be out of town, and I have my own trips as well. I am actually not that worried about it becuase I know if I absolutely have to get ahold of her that I can. I do wish that when the schedule picked back up that I could maybe get two appointments that week. Or maybe set time asside to talk about the peripheral issues I have with all of the shit in my brain. I know the focus of the sessions has to be on the trauma and working through the different parts of that. However, I have really been wondering if that, as part of the "GETTING BETTER" if I am going to be able to maybe approach sex from a more normal standpoint that I do these days. :-(

Brain Vitamins need to be adjusted...maybe?

How do you know when your brain vitamins aren't doing the right thing anymore? I have been having such a rough couple of weeks that I wonder if it's a need to get my meds increased, or just a funk from all the shit I've been sitting in with the therapy? Apathy is really, REALLY, king of my actions right now. About the only things I am getting into and almost, a little bit, excited about are those that require a challenge of my skills.

I'm dealing with a temper issue recently too. Not a temper issue as in I want to whoop someone's ass...just little things all day and night are pissing me off...affecting my appetite, my desire to talk with anyone (family, friends, coworkers, etc.), my sleep, and my motivation. I guess it sounds like depression now that I have enumerated these..but it's more anger than depression...I think??? It's not taking much to annoy me, that's for certain. I have found myself mad, and personally hurt, that I haven't gotten some answers to some recent questions that I posed. Not really emergency or even important questions...but questions I want answers to nonetheless. Actually, there kinda stupid questions, at least 2 of the ones I haven't gotten and answer back on: SHOULD I do this blog at all, or is there some risk to me or others that I am overlooking? and, Is it worth my time and effort to try to identify a mantra/phrase to help ground me in other situations where words I already use don't help? Like I said, stupid questions...to everyone but me anyway. :-( The other questions are much more serious but I can't push the issues.

Actually, I can write about this here: There is a possibility that I have another child...from a fling with an ex-girlfriend. Her and I hooked up for two days straight...which is actually hard to believe since she only wanted penetration, no oral or petting or foreplay really. But I digress (LOL)...turns out that she had a kid 9 months later. For a long time she swore he wasn't mine and it wasn't until much later that she said he was. Now the question I have put to two people: What the fuck should I do? The right thing is to take responsibility. However, she is not in favor of a DNA test through courts. Although, she did mention some website where people could do DNA test for a cheap amount. Kid kinda looks like me and I feel bad for him, immensely so, because he is autistic to some level. But then I have to worry about the possible impact on my other kids, and on my wife. She knows about the possibility...has known since day 1. She just won't be happy about it. Especially not now since we have been trying to have another baby.

So, I guess I'm just in an angry, short-fused, place. I don't blame people for ignoring me since I feel like I deserve it. It's the stuckpoints of: I deserve it (bad shit), I am not worth anything, I am weak, I annoy people, I push people away, I ALWAYS make offensive mistakes, and I am a piece of shit. Then there's the mindreading I do (though PLUCK has helped a LOT with that)...They can't stand me, They don't think I'm funny, They are looking for a reason to run/leave conversation/stop talking to me/stop helping me/fire me/etc.

The good news is that I have learned some good tools via CPT...and some via PE. I am not so afraid today of my future or of my interactions. But I do NEED to work on the mindreading and stuckpoints even more!  I guess I need to work on staying on topic too. LOL. Funny to me because I was just told yesterday by someone that they weren't "putting up with you [me] deflectors"...which I guess is something I do well through tangents and smartass comments. In any event, I do, especially now looking back at what I have written, think I need to discuss my meds again.

Challenging Beliefs and NOT wanting to go to bed!!!

Sometimes I think I have a difficult time with trying to figure out if what's going on in my brain is controllable or not. I mean, if I can't control it then I should just accept it and move one...deal with it ike a big boy I guess. But what if it's just a Stuckpoint that is still unresolved/not yet addressed?

It's 2am and I am playing catch-up on too many fucking things right now. I should go to bed since I need to be up in 5 hours. However, I am afraid to sleep tonight, even with a full dose of Lorazepam! Some of the dreams I have been having are catastrophic to my beliefs that I am getting better...yet I do believe still that I am getting better and that the Doc is helping me. It's just that the shit in my head is so horrible to me, and when I sleep and let it take over....it's 100000x's worse.

A recurring dream I have is a bastardizing of real memories/people. There I am, watching the building getting hit my incoming and just KNOWING that people I JUST talked with are now dead. That sucks in a dream, as in real life, no matter what! However, the other part of this shitty reoccuring dream is that there is another person, from the childhood trauma in my life. They are laughing at me and tell me: "That should be you dying over there, not the other guys!" In the dream she uses the names, but I am omitting them here.The Anniversary of this horrible thing for which I blamed myself (still do/starting to again) is coming up in less than two weeks...matter of fact, it's on a day that I would normally attend group. I haven't been going to group becuase of a job change...but I think I need to go that day for sure!!!!!

My therapy schedule has been changed...which I think is a great thing. However, I only had a few days between the last session and the new one. I did the listening part two times, but haven't had time to do ANY writing (although I guess if I can blog, I have time. lol). What I am supposed to work on are a bunch of stuckpoints using the Challenging Beliefs Worksheets or ABC Worksheets. I jotted some stuff down, but really don't have them down. ...Now I am going to have to leave work a little earlier than planned in order to get at least the three that Doc wanted done. However, how do I pick which three?
If someone reading this doesn't know, a stuckpoint is a belief (hard-coded, ground-in) in something, usually negative about yourself or a situation. The worksheets are actually very helpful in AT LEAST realizing that there is a different way to think about things.

So...over the last few weeks, the imaginal sessions got really rough, disgusting, and a lot more detail than I thought I was going to give the Doc (that's a ton of fucking trust right there!!!). However, the roughness of it all...and my fucking stupid ass living in my head...a LOT of shit has come out and I have been really...REALLY...fucked up!!!
1) I recalled that a few years ago, I had a full blown and thought out plan to end my life. It was providence or dumb luck that my wife's schedule didn't work out the way I planned...so I put it off and it never happened.
   - How is that I forgot about this? During that time of my life I KNOW, even know, that I hated everything and was fucking miserable!!!!
2) I hate, HATE, myself for the CST shit. Even though I know I didn't cause it, I know I had no control over what they did or made me do...it still sucks becuase I think of myself as someone who wold protect anyone getting hurt and as someone who just wouldn't do a lot of those things.
3) I just don't know WHO I AM. I already wrote about this..so not gonna re-hash it here. It's just really weighing on me. The point I made to the Doc the other day was: what if I figure out who I am and with that realize that I am not the married with kids guy...maybe I'm a truck driving loaner???

So, the Doc and I discussed these things and many others in great detail. From that came my homework:
1) listen to the latest recording everynight (except the night on the day of the therapy session)
2) Work on the stuckpoints using the worksheets I mentioned above.

The stuckpoints the doc worked up for me to focus on:
1) I am broken and will never get better
2) I will become my [parent who was BPD, suicidal]
3) I'm going to pull something else up (like the forgetting about the planned suicide)
4) I deserve to be punished/If anyone deserves to be punished, it's me
5) I should feel different
6) I should be able to control my emotions and thoughts
7)  I am losing all sense of me
8) Who am I...who do I want to be
9) I'm NOT who I thought I was. I'm a hypocrite. I thought abot suicide. I didn't protect!

Yeah....those are the ones I gotta work on now. I am sure that I could come up with 20 more...but maybe these 9 are enough for now. What additionally sucks is that 1, 2, and 4 were all stuckpoints that I worked on with the Iraq specific trauma!

Later I am going to add my worksheets for the above. I think I am also going to add copies (scanned pics?) of my original impact and trauma statements (with names redacted worse than the federal government intel. The thought is that: 1) maybe one day someone might actually read this shit and it might help them, and 2) it would allow me to get rid of the hard copies that I carry EVERYDAY/EVERYWHERE.

OK...I think I am going to go face my fear of sleep and go to bed. Had a porno on for the last 30 minutes...maybe that will help my dreams be at least FUN?????

Shane is FINALLY HOME!!!!

In my earlier post today I referenced a veteran by the name of Shane. Shane's story is a rough one and it details a decorated combat vet (and HERO) dealing with PTSD as well as the painful life experiences. The short of it is that Shane went through a shitload of crap in Iraq, and came home to a wife that didn't/couldn't provide the support AND patience that he needed. She ended up seeing a "family friend" and it just got bad from there.

It is important to note that while Shane made some mistakes, some even stupid, he was always willing to accept his own culpability. In fact, he accepted more than his own and took the wait of the world on his shoulders. Shane apparently has [a lot of] the same stuckpoints as most of us other crazy war vets: guilt over things done, guilt over things not done, survivors guilt, etc. Shane hit rock bottom and if it wasn't for those who cared about him and wanted to help, as well as some divine intervention, he would either be dead, or railroaded by a local corrupt law enforcement establishment!.

Shane's most recent stories, and the news of his release after almost 60 (SIXTY) days in isolation are here:

Excellent story by Moni Basu from CNN.com. 

War At Home: Part 1 (by Moni Basu, CNN.com)
War At Home: Part 2 (by Moni Basu, CNN.com)
War At Home: Part 3 (by Moni Basu, CNN.com)

Randy Travis of Altanta's Fox 5 News:
News of Shane's release from Jail

Facebook Page Supporting Shane:
Facebook: I SUPPORT SHANE PARHAM

Trust your Doc and Trust the Process...or don't even bother starting!

So this will probably be the last email set that I throw up on here for a bit. I think this grouping shows that it is REALLY important to be able to have faith AND trust in both your doctor AND the process. If not, you are only going to get yourself in more pain. This doesn't mean someone should stop seeking help...just to make sure you find the right doc and process first. Otherwise, you may permanently end up like I have been feeling recently:
- Stuck between running forward into a glass wall, or running backwards to a cliff. :-(


From: Me
To: The Doc
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 5:02:56 PM
Subject: RE: two questions for this week (apr 21, 2011)

Ok…got it…AND we can discuss it in session, or not, I guess.

IF I don't make it clear, I do trust you, otherwise I wouldn't be doing this…would've quite back when the CPT stuff got miserably hard. I get that I need to practice A LOT of different skills. I would like to say: for MOST of my life, I don't recall ever really having any emotions other than anger or adrenaline-rushes…until everything from Iraq and this other stuff started messing me up. So I think that when I'm looking for reassurance from anyone, including you, it really is because I am feeling THAT WORTHLESS (empty???). I think it's even more than reassurance…validation or appreciation or something else? I do only send you something when I REALLY feel like I have to because I honestly and sincerely don't want to be a pain any more than I already am. Trying very hard all day, EVERY day, to NOT focus on future events…something very hard for me…I can only say that I'm honestly just plain scared and ashamed and miserable. Again, it's not a lack of trust or faith in you or the process and I am VERY sorry to have bugged you again…I really do picture you saying something like "oh great, another da*n email from dw."

dw  

From: The Doc
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 4:19 PM
To: Me
Subject: RE: two questions for this week (apr 21, 2011)

Hat off. Just try to trust me.

And don't worry/ruminate about what hasn't happened yet. That does nothing but increase your anxiety level. You simply do exactly what you are asked to do one day at a time. When you are finished doing what you are asked to do, you do everything you can to let it go and not worry about it until it's time to do the next thing. RE-READ your PE Patient workbook for refresher on why we're doing it, where we're going, what's the point etc. Write down any questions you have and bring them to session for us to address then. If at any point I ask you to do something you aren't ready for, you simply say that. You will not be forced into anything. So try not to worry and just take it one step at a time.

And please save these kinds of questions for session (we can take first 5-10 minutes to address them). They're really not "emergency" type questions. I really want you to practice tolerating distress/uncertainty without frequent reassurance. This is not to "get you off my back" but because it is a skill you need to practice—to help you learn to "self-soothe" as we say. It truly is hugely important. We can talk about this more in session if necessary.

YOU.ARE.DOING.GREAT. Kepp practicing "LETTING GO" during hours when you are NOT supposed to be working on this trauma.

From: Me
Sent: Monday, April 18, 2011 10:27 PM
To: The Doc
Subject: two questions for this week (apr 21, 2011)

Doc,

Scared of this week…you commented on having to do multiple sessions to get through a hotspot. Does that mean I have to redo what I did this last session, or push forward? Quite frankly, the thought of the latter is nerve racking, to put it rather mildly. Maybe you shouldn't tell me…'cause I'm not sure I want to know…but then again, I really want to know.

Is my wearing a hat open for discussion? I think I did a little better…at least more scared/ashamed than the level of anger I felt Friday, and even somewhat tonight. I'm going to do what you say, but I am hoping there's some wiggle room?? Maybe a visual "check-in" point but the hat can stay? I know you have way bigger things to worry about, but I really do need to know what to expect on this one.

I guess either way it's your call on both since you're the doc (and I guess you still rock) and I'm the guy wearing pink tutus like its cool the last few weeks.

dw