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PTSD
River Rat
Member Posts: 9,022 ✭
Shell shock; battle fatigue. Your thoughts? Who's got it? Is it too common these days? Too convenient as an excuse?
I should have it, but don't. I do, however, have this muscle twitch that seemed to surface about that time. Had nightmares too, although they quit after 20 years or so. but I don't suffer from PTSD. [:)]
I should have it, but don't. I do, however, have this muscle twitch that seemed to surface about that time. Had nightmares too, although they quit after 20 years or so. but I don't suffer from PTSD. [:)]
Comments
You will have some PTSD if you have been in combat. It affects us all different and to varying degrees. The nightmares you were/are having is one of the symptoms. Mine became very infrequent after several years, but 911 brought them back. I am a VERY light sleeper since I came home for RVN and that has never went away. When I am asleep and there is a lightning flash through my closed eyes I am wide awake and alert. I 122 mm rocket hit the houch I was sleeping in my second tour. You think that might have something to do with this 'weird' response??
I was in denial for many years. The last think I wanted was anything that would 'label' me as unable to 'handle' my combat experiences. But it did not stop me from be a productive member of society. BUT I am on my fourth marriage and it is far from a good one. When I came back from RVN the first time I was a drunk. When I wife (x) pointed out to me I was spending more for booze than I was making I went cold turkey and did not drink fro 9 month. I can now take it or leave it. I drink one beer a night for 'good health' and no more than three if i socialize.
So, yes, it is real and it cause many negative effects. BUT I do thing it is also used my many as a excuse and it is abused by many![:(]
quote:Originally posted by Jim Rau
You will have some PTSD if you have been in combat. It affects us all different and to varying degrees. The nightmares you were/are having is one of the symptoms. Mine became very infrequent after several years, but 911 brought them back. I am a VERY light sleeper since I came home for RVN and that has never went away. When I am asleep and there is a lightning flash through my closed eyes I am wide awake and alert. I 122 mm rocket hit the houch I was sleeping in my second tour. You think that might have something to do with this 'weird' response??
I was in denial for many years. The last think I wanted was anything that would 'label' me as unable to 'handle' my combat experiences. But it did not stop me from be a productive member of society. BUT I am on my fourth marriage and it is far from a good one. When I came back from RVN the first time I was a drunk. When I wife (x) pointed out to me I was spending more for booze than I was making I went cold turkey and did not drink fro 9 month. I can now take it or leave it. I drink one beer a night for 'good health' and no more than three if i socialize.
So, yes, it is real and it cause many negative effects. BUT I do thing it is also used my many as a excuse and it is abused by many![:(]
Good points, Jim. I regret there is a school of thought these days that says one doesn't heal from such expereiences. I would say we do -- even if the effects never 100 percent go away. But they will change as we age: life, work, love, faith, family all help us heal.
When we came home, our emotional wound scabbed over with alcohol, drugs, anger, you name it. Forty years later, some are still there. I thank God I moved on. Good on you, Jim, for doing the same.
Although I still have this muscle twitch, and a heck of a case of tinnitis [:)][:D]
The point I was making is PTSD is real. It is not a terminal disease, but it is something all of those who have experienced combat MUST deal with. Some handle it better than others and some use it as an 'excuse' for bad behavior.[V]
I'm not belittling the Iraq/Afghan vets but I do think that PTSD is now becoming a guaranteed "meal ticket." Like the "bad back" of old, nobody can prove it doesn't exist. JUST MY OPINION
I can truly believe it IS tough to drive down a road and not know if an IED is going to take off your head. And, if it doesn't happen this tour maybe the next. Most of us in V.N. figured if we made it though one tour we were done. Now they go back 2,3,4 times. I think that feeling could be traumatic but then I'm expressing my opinion at 62 yrs old. Not an omnipotent 18 yr old who thought it may happen to the other guy but not me.
I'm not belittling the Iraq/Afghan vets but I do think that PTSD is now becoming a guaranteed "meal ticket." Like the "bad back" of old, nobody can prove it doesn't exist. JUST MY OPINION
I agree it is now being abused.
My son, who did one tour in Iraq as a mechanic, came back and got 30% PTSD because some rounds fell in the compound he lived in. He did get some deserved disability for the back and knee injuries he got there.
I have a 30% PTSD and had a 122 hit the houch I was sleeping in on my second tour, not to mention I was wounded twice and put hundreds of (stinking rotten)people in mass graves!!! Go figure!!![V]