Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Support Group

I'm sorry that took so long, and was so stressful on you.

I am still awaiting my SSD to be approved, though now I am waiting for a Hearing, for my PTSD.

Try to see if you can get in with a therapist and talk with her...and consider a Pdoc, if you're not already seeing one.

The grieving and stress doesn't help your CFS, probably making it bits worse.

Do you have any friends that you can spend time with, even at your house?

Isolation feels comfy, but it can really set you back, and it gets hard to break...I've been there, and still am partly there.

Hope things get better.
Hugs!

I'm sorry you are going through such a time also. I have a psychiatrist and take prozac. It is just the CFIDS has left me pretty much homebound and everyone seems to only care if they think there is money to be had otherwise I am left alone. My church family only helps when my pastor gets onto them about it. I'm not very comfortable with it being necessary for people to feel pressured into caring. I think in time this may change or at least I hope it will soon. It does not help the severe depression gets really bad when the CFIDS are severe.
Thanks for chatting about it with me. That seems to help more then anything else.
Patricia

I just joined the group. I have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with Mood Swings. I find it difficult to talk about my feelings with my family and living in a rural area counseling etc is limited. My daughter suggested an online support group to me today on the phone so I went on line and after much searching found this site and thougth it looked promising.

Hi BrightStar,
I think you may have mistakenly posted to my thread instead of beginning a seperate thread of your own.
Patricia

Yeah, my social security journey has been really abusive. The system sucks.

Hey, have you tested your cortisol recently? It's been linked to PTSD and chronic fatigue. It's a big deal. It's a fasting blood test between 8 and 9 am in the morning. Make certain they check it over time (every 6 months) just in case it's in the "normal" range at first. If your adrenal glands are failing, it will continue to decrease over time.

Let us know how it goes! :)

My cortisol was one of the first things the doctors checked. It stayed within the normal rage during the entire morning fasting test. My blood work was abnormal for ESR and ANA when tested over a period of a couple years. That was one measure the rhumatologist used to diagnose my CFIDS. That was part of the hard factual clinical evidence that social security used to finally approve my disability. For the first several months they even refused to talk to my doctor and never would return any of his phone calls. It tood the appeal process and my contacting state senators to get the ball rolling in the right direction. It caused me to become severely mentally ill and caused the secondary depression to be the worst it has ever been. I now am ill at home most of the time these days. It also caused me to develope the worst panic attacks I think a person could have. Just awful. I have now been ill with CFIDS since 1996 but while my husband was alive I at least felt good about life overall even with having this illness but going it alone with only SSA there to help has been a nightmare.

Patricia