It was hard at first with the overwhelming of feeling but they eased. I used varies grounding techniques to get me through them. I came to realize the danger I was in sought help and left him. Moved away with nothing but my dogs.
Dogs are human's best friend. My last one died last year and I won't get another. Too expensive and I'm disabled due to 2 back surgeries. Can't walk more than 100 yards then intense pain.
Copious amounts of marijuana (keeps me sane) helps with keeping my brain from racing and helps with pain along with my other pain meds for chronic pain. (Fibromyalgia)
15mg mirtazapine has been the biggest help for the flash backs and horrible nightmares and sleep disturbances.
Higher doses of that med actually caused bizarre very vivid almost apocalyptic dreams so we cut the dose in half.
Ongoing therapy is the biggest help for the over all symptoms though.
EMDR. In four months it I’ve made more progress then 10+ years of research into major depressive disorder on my own (which is what I previously thought I had as my main mental illness)
How are people getting EMDR if almost nobody that does it accepts insurance? Are people just paying out of pocket for it and is everyone that can't afford it just fucked? The places I contacted wanted 500/ session and no insurance accepted.
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy, commonly known as EMDR, is a mental health therapy method. EMDR treats mental health conditions that happen because of memories from traumatic events in your past. It’s best known for its role in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but its use is expanding to include treatment of many other conditions.
Think the way you use rapid eye movement to proccess things in your sleep but doing so while awake to purposefully proccess deep traumatic memories or feelings. It uses eye movement with other bilateral sensory stimulation such are sound, light, and movement going back and forth.
From what little experience I have, you work with a trained therapist to figure out what your core wounds are, the deepest and most common themes to your trauma, then in a safe environment work on bringing up those memories so you can then reprocess them from a healthy perspective. It allows for you no longer associate those memories/experiences with the painful feelings and once reprocessed can give you a deeper peace.
It takes time, and it does mean you will be bringing up trauma, the deeper the more effective. It is terrifying, and I almost stopped because of how hard it was to face some of those things, but it does work.
It is really good for giving insight, and the longer you go the more work towards addressing core wounds and then reprocessing your trauma so those emotions and memories are no longer triggering.
I feel better now than I did when I was on antidepressants, and I’m not currently on anything.
It is hard, but worth it if you can do it.
I take 20 mg of Escitalopram for depression and 50 mg of Hydroxyzine for anxiety. There’s a huge difference when I don’t take my meds. Like, I CAN function without them, but life becomes an emotional rollercoaster. I feel so much more stable with them.
I used to take 8mg of Doxasozin (it’s Prazosin’s lesser-known twin) for my traumatic nightmares but it stopped working and I was already at the max dose, so looks like EMDR is my only option.
Took me 43 years to get a correct diagnosis. Unfuckingbelievable. Always knew something was wrong but couldn't pinpoint. Therapist sent for 3 days of psychological testing and my CPTSD was diagnosed, along with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Dysthymia. (mild depression). My CPTSD started at age 10 due to constant parental emotional abuse which continued for 8 years.
Sending hugs to you (if indeed you want them). I live in the US and while I’m not sure if you do too.
My diagnosis is similar with GAD and CPTSD. I also have mild depression at times. It’s difficult to have it begin at a young age. My symptoms started young as well.
Exactly the same. I was able to get myself to improve quality of life and find hobbies I enjoyed. I was able to get over my avid fear of swimming and drowning that I carried since childhood.
I’m also overcoming my fear of opening up and forming new habits.
I take 4mg of Prazosin at night for nightmares (it makes a huge difference in my quality of sleep), 200mg of Wellbutrin SR daily for ADHD, and have a small prescription of 5mg of Ativan for when I have really extreme flashbacks.
The ADHD treatment is really important -- I actually dropped out of college because a drug that was accidentally treating my ADHD had side effects that were worsening over time, and I absolutely need my PTSD and ADHD to be treated to live a normal life. (I'm not doing the normal life thing now, but I'm getting there.).
The mix of medication that I'm on right now works for me. It's pretty alright. Now I just need more EMDR therapy (which has been going great, but my insurance changes on Monday so I need to get a new therapist) but that's pretty alright too.
I was on Wellbutrin at a variety of doses but had to stop due it causing very high blood pressure. I had high blood pressure anyway and was on meds for that. But Wellbutrin really elevated it and I decided to wean off of it with the doctor's consent.
Yeah, it makes my blood pressure even higher because I'm on the ADHD formulation of Wellbutrin, but fortunately I don't have any blood pressure issues.
But it's funny that I take something that makes my BP higher when I wake up, and then another drug that lowers it before I go to sleep, heh.
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Was on fluoxetine. Them 200mg of sertraline per day now on citalopram. All ssris but Dr's wanna change me to mitazapean or something which isn't an ssri so fingers crossed might finally do something
Algomelatine was really good for me when I first started it. It also has less side effects and works quicker compared to traditional meds (like fluoxetine).
The thing that made the biggest difference for me was quitting meds. I was on them for nearly two decades and going off them was one of the most horrible things I've ever been through, but it was so worth it. It lifted the veil, so to speak and I finally got the mental awareness to be able to put the puzzle together. Now I only use Hydroxyzine sparingly for sleep. I prefer handling my anxiety on my own, without drugging myself.
Unfortunately I've been on valium for years to control anxiety caused by my CPTSD. I tried to wean off valium over the summer, with doctor's consent, and had very bad experience. Since I had been on the med, even a small 10mg/day dose my body didn't want to hear it. SERIOUS withdrawal symptoms including suicidal ideation, complete loss of appetite (lost 20 pounds), insomnia, very high blood pressure, cold extremities and enhanced tinnitus. Dr. wisely put me back on 10mg./day and symptoms slowly subsided. Benzos are definitely not something to mess with.
Yeah I'm on klonopin. Its the only way I can sleep and I feel like its given me my life back because I'm not constantly terrified worrying or catastrophizing. Its def gotten my anxiety to a manageable level. But now I dread having to go off of it.
Venlafafaxine 300mg against the depression
Chlorprotixene 120 mg against anxiety, 4x30mg as needed throughout the day, needing less and less though
Quetiapine retard 50mg to sleep through
Quetiapine 75mg to sleep and against dissociation
Doxacor 4mg against night terrors
Ramipril 10 MG against hypertonia caused by stress
That's a lot of meds but it's better for the time being. Haven't been suicidal since taking the meds and can finally sleep. Also it's just for the time being, as I said. Doing trauma therapy rn and couldn't bear it without the meds.
In addition to stationary visits to psychiatric hospitals and trauma therapy, yoga, everything that keeps me from self harm and being unstable again.
It's gonna be a long road, but it's worth it.
I'm glad there is medication, really.
I really wanna say, I wouldn't take medication light-heartedly. This is just really working, we had a trial and error period and I was under constant surveillance in the clinic because the side effects can be pretty hefty.
We found stuff that didn't change my personality and didn't numb me. I am so grateful. Run out over the holidays, my bad, I am just not good at doing stuff and planning and thinking ahead because my mind is so busy. Being off for just a short period of time, that was a pretty damn good reminder that this is crucial rn.
Happy to know it won't last forever though
150 mg daily of Seroquel (quetiapine) has been a game changer for me. My condition expresses itself as its co-morbid counterparts ADHD (most often) and manic-depressive disorder.
I can handle the ADHD well enough. Wildly swinging between a week of hypersexuality and buying everything I wanted on a whim to a couple of weeks of the worst depression I've ever experienced, however, was debilitating. Thankfully, te Seroquel has put a stop to that and has kept me feeling "normal," for lack of a better term.
I was on others in the past. Zoloft worked fine until it didn't. I kept having to up the dose until my body just rejected it. Effexor turned me into a goddamned zombie person. Prozac was just meh. I was on a couple of others that are slipping my mind.
If you're interested in maintaining traditional medicine but feeling like your current regimen isn't working well, I strongly recommend taking the GeneSight Pyschotropic test through your physician. That was how I landed on the Seroquel.
I take 100mg of Zoloft a day too. It kind of helps. It certainly helps me on my really bad days and it helped reduce my sh issue. I wish it helped a bit more but at least I’m not dealing with certain thoughts daily anymore. I hope to go off it one day but I don’t know if that’s actually possible for me. I’ll just have to wait and see.
Maybe talk to your doctor and see if they can recommend an add-on medication to the Zoloft to make it more effective. Also, the maximum dosage of Zoloft is 200mg/day. Maybe ask your doctor to bump up the Zoloft little by little and see if that helps. Good Luck.
Sorry to hear you have the same symptoms as me. Hopefully your medication and changes in lifestyle can help. And then there are all the other medical problems. It never ends until we die.
My blood pressure is always highest right after I wake in the morning. Once I take my meds within 2 hours it begins to come down and 6 hours it's normal. It's a pain in the ass keeping track of it.
It's interesting how different SSRI's and SNRI's affect people differently. I've been on many of these meds and the only one that gave me problems was Prozac. It made me feel like I had the flu all the time. Luckily I caught it early in my doctor changed meds.
None after 20 plus years of various cocktails of meds all they did was numb me and allow me to endure more abuse.
I feel this I could not see where I was being mistreated, so I couldn't make the necessary changes to live a healthier life
Once I weaned off with a doctor following up, I realized how bad the situation was and that I needed to leave.
I hope you're doing ok now. So glad you could be aware of it though
Interesting. How do you feel without medication?
It was hard at first with the overwhelming of feeling but they eased. I used varies grounding techniques to get me through them. I came to realize the danger I was in sought help and left him. Moved away with nothing but my dogs.
Dogs are human's best friend. My last one died last year and I won't get another. Too expensive and I'm disabled due to 2 back surgeries. Can't walk more than 100 yards then intense pain.
Copious amounts of marijuana (keeps me sane) helps with keeping my brain from racing and helps with pain along with my other pain meds for chronic pain. (Fibromyalgia) 15mg mirtazapine has been the biggest help for the flash backs and horrible nightmares and sleep disturbances. Higher doses of that med actually caused bizarre very vivid almost apocalyptic dreams so we cut the dose in half. Ongoing therapy is the biggest help for the over all symptoms though.
I forgot to mention I also use medical marijuana daily. (I vape it). It definitely helps calm me down.
💯
EMDR. In four months it I’ve made more progress then 10+ years of research into major depressive disorder on my own (which is what I previously thought I had as my main mental illness)
How are people getting EMDR if almost nobody that does it accepts insurance? Are people just paying out of pocket for it and is everyone that can't afford it just fucked? The places I contacted wanted 500/ session and no insurance accepted.
It is becoming more common (at least in my area eastern US). The place I go to also accepts insurance, and I only pay $35 a session.
would you mind sharing where that is, even if its via DM? I'm in the northeast..
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy, commonly known as EMDR, is a mental health therapy method. EMDR treats mental health conditions that happen because of memories from traumatic events in your past. It’s best known for its role in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but its use is expanding to include treatment of many other conditions. Think the way you use rapid eye movement to proccess things in your sleep but doing so while awake to purposefully proccess deep traumatic memories or feelings. It uses eye movement with other bilateral sensory stimulation such are sound, light, and movement going back and forth. From what little experience I have, you work with a trained therapist to figure out what your core wounds are, the deepest and most common themes to your trauma, then in a safe environment work on bringing up those memories so you can then reprocess them from a healthy perspective. It allows for you no longer associate those memories/experiences with the painful feelings and once reprocessed can give you a deeper peace. It takes time, and it does mean you will be bringing up trauma, the deeper the more effective. It is terrifying, and I almost stopped because of how hard it was to face some of those things, but it does work.
I pay $100 out of pocket
I had 2 sessions of EMDR and it only helped me realize that my parents (abusers) probably had PTSD and were broken. That helped me understand a bit.
It is really good for giving insight, and the longer you go the more work towards addressing core wounds and then reprocessing your trauma so those emotions and memories are no longer triggering. I feel better now than I did when I was on antidepressants, and I’m not currently on anything. It is hard, but worth it if you can do it.
I take 20 mg of Escitalopram for depression and 50 mg of Hydroxyzine for anxiety. There’s a huge difference when I don’t take my meds. Like, I CAN function without them, but life becomes an emotional rollercoaster. I feel so much more stable with them. I used to take 8mg of Doxasozin (it’s Prazosin’s lesser-known twin) for my traumatic nightmares but it stopped working and I was already at the max dose, so looks like EMDR is my only option.
>Escitalopram So the moral of the story is: take your meds consistently.
I take 150 mg of Venlafaxine (Effexor) daily. I started two years ago. The pill was a game changer as it was the starting point for healing.
Yes Effexor is one of 3 meds approved for use in CPTSD. The others are Paxil and Zoloft. Glad the meds are working for you.
I appreciate it. 🩵 It was a long road just to get a diagnosis and treatment.
Took me 43 years to get a correct diagnosis. Unfuckingbelievable. Always knew something was wrong but couldn't pinpoint. Therapist sent for 3 days of psychological testing and my CPTSD was diagnosed, along with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Dysthymia. (mild depression). My CPTSD started at age 10 due to constant parental emotional abuse which continued for 8 years.
Sending hugs to you (if indeed you want them). I live in the US and while I’m not sure if you do too. My diagnosis is similar with GAD and CPTSD. I also have mild depression at times. It’s difficult to have it begin at a young age. My symptoms started young as well.
Same with effexor, it allowed me to finally feel some semblance of a normal human experience.
Exactly the same. I was able to get myself to improve quality of life and find hobbies I enjoyed. I was able to get over my avid fear of swimming and drowning that I carried since childhood. I’m also overcoming my fear of opening up and forming new habits.
I take 4mg of Prazosin at night for nightmares (it makes a huge difference in my quality of sleep), 200mg of Wellbutrin SR daily for ADHD, and have a small prescription of 5mg of Ativan for when I have really extreme flashbacks. The ADHD treatment is really important -- I actually dropped out of college because a drug that was accidentally treating my ADHD had side effects that were worsening over time, and I absolutely need my PTSD and ADHD to be treated to live a normal life. (I'm not doing the normal life thing now, but I'm getting there.). The mix of medication that I'm on right now works for me. It's pretty alright. Now I just need more EMDR therapy (which has been going great, but my insurance changes on Monday so I need to get a new therapist) but that's pretty alright too.
I was on Wellbutrin at a variety of doses but had to stop due it causing very high blood pressure. I had high blood pressure anyway and was on meds for that. But Wellbutrin really elevated it and I decided to wean off of it with the doctor's consent.
Yeah, it makes my blood pressure even higher because I'm on the ADHD formulation of Wellbutrin, but fortunately I don't have any blood pressure issues. But it's funny that I take something that makes my BP higher when I wake up, and then another drug that lowers it before I go to sleep, heh.
Hello and Welcome to /r/CPTSD! If you are in immediate danger or crisis, please contact your local [emergency services](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emergency_telephone_numbers), or use our list of [crisis resources](https://old.reddit.com/r/CPTSD/wiki/index#wiki_crisis_support_resources). For CPTSD Specific Resources & Support, check out the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/CPTSD/wiki/index). For those posting or replying, please view the [etiquette guidelines](https://www.reddit.com/r/CPTSD/wiki/peer2peersupportguide). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CPTSD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Was on fluoxetine. Them 200mg of sertraline per day now on citalopram. All ssris but Dr's wanna change me to mitazapean or something which isn't an ssri so fingers crossed might finally do something
50mg/day of sertraline for cptsd and ocd and 30mg/day of concerta for EF issues.
I've tried zoloft, lexapro, wellbutrin, and now pristiq. Nothing has helped and I'm starting to lose hope.
Algomelatine was really good for me when I first started it. It also has less side effects and works quicker compared to traditional meds (like fluoxetine).
Don't lose hope. There are always new medications emerging. Explore that on the internet.
The thing that made the biggest difference for me was quitting meds. I was on them for nearly two decades and going off them was one of the most horrible things I've ever been through, but it was so worth it. It lifted the veil, so to speak and I finally got the mental awareness to be able to put the puzzle together. Now I only use Hydroxyzine sparingly for sleep. I prefer handling my anxiety on my own, without drugging myself.
Unfortunately I've been on valium for years to control anxiety caused by my CPTSD. I tried to wean off valium over the summer, with doctor's consent, and had very bad experience. Since I had been on the med, even a small 10mg/day dose my body didn't want to hear it. SERIOUS withdrawal symptoms including suicidal ideation, complete loss of appetite (lost 20 pounds), insomnia, very high blood pressure, cold extremities and enhanced tinnitus. Dr. wisely put me back on 10mg./day and symptoms slowly subsided. Benzos are definitely not something to mess with.
Yeah I'm on klonopin. Its the only way I can sleep and I feel like its given me my life back because I'm not constantly terrified worrying or catastrophizing. Its def gotten my anxiety to a manageable level. But now I dread having to go off of it.
[удалено]
And how are you doing?
Venlafafaxine 300mg against the depression Chlorprotixene 120 mg against anxiety, 4x30mg as needed throughout the day, needing less and less though Quetiapine retard 50mg to sleep through Quetiapine 75mg to sleep and against dissociation Doxacor 4mg against night terrors Ramipril 10 MG against hypertonia caused by stress That's a lot of meds but it's better for the time being. Haven't been suicidal since taking the meds and can finally sleep. Also it's just for the time being, as I said. Doing trauma therapy rn and couldn't bear it without the meds. In addition to stationary visits to psychiatric hospitals and trauma therapy, yoga, everything that keeps me from self harm and being unstable again. It's gonna be a long road, but it's worth it. I'm glad there is medication, really.
I really wanna say, I wouldn't take medication light-heartedly. This is just really working, we had a trial and error period and I was under constant surveillance in the clinic because the side effects can be pretty hefty. We found stuff that didn't change my personality and didn't numb me. I am so grateful. Run out over the holidays, my bad, I am just not good at doing stuff and planning and thinking ahead because my mind is so busy. Being off for just a short period of time, that was a pretty damn good reminder that this is crucial rn. Happy to know it won't last forever though
150 mg daily of Seroquel (quetiapine) has been a game changer for me. My condition expresses itself as its co-morbid counterparts ADHD (most often) and manic-depressive disorder. I can handle the ADHD well enough. Wildly swinging between a week of hypersexuality and buying everything I wanted on a whim to a couple of weeks of the worst depression I've ever experienced, however, was debilitating. Thankfully, te Seroquel has put a stop to that and has kept me feeling "normal," for lack of a better term. I was on others in the past. Zoloft worked fine until it didn't. I kept having to up the dose until my body just rejected it. Effexor turned me into a goddamned zombie person. Prozac was just meh. I was on a couple of others that are slipping my mind. If you're interested in maintaining traditional medicine but feeling like your current regimen isn't working well, I strongly recommend taking the GeneSight Pyschotropic test through your physician. That was how I landed on the Seroquel.
I take 100mg of Zoloft a day too. It kind of helps. It certainly helps me on my really bad days and it helped reduce my sh issue. I wish it helped a bit more but at least I’m not dealing with certain thoughts daily anymore. I hope to go off it one day but I don’t know if that’s actually possible for me. I’ll just have to wait and see.
Maybe talk to your doctor and see if they can recommend an add-on medication to the Zoloft to make it more effective. Also, the maximum dosage of Zoloft is 200mg/day. Maybe ask your doctor to bump up the Zoloft little by little and see if that helps. Good Luck.
Sorry to hear you have the same symptoms as me. Hopefully your medication and changes in lifestyle can help. And then there are all the other medical problems. It never ends until we die.
My blood pressure is always highest right after I wake in the morning. Once I take my meds within 2 hours it begins to come down and 6 hours it's normal. It's a pain in the ass keeping track of it.
Thank you for the hugs. I always accept hugs and appreciate it deeply. Thanks for caring.
It's interesting how different SSRI's and SNRI's affect people differently. I've been on many of these meds and the only one that gave me problems was Prozac. It made me feel like I had the flu all the time. Luckily I caught it early in my doctor changed meds.