ptsd Triggers...do You Know What They Are?

[halos2]

Triggers...wow what a common subject brought about to us, especially those with PTSD(other mental/behavioral conditions).

So you are diagnosed with PTSD. You put in your va claim because you can't take it anymore...you wait...maybe get a c&p with-in a year, if lucky.

Then wait ...tension builds, you become more irritable, this does not just effect your mental status, but all of your body systems. You go through all the gambits, depression, maybe addictions, laugh/mostly cry, yell, fight, avoidance, introvert, or extrovert s/s, secrets abound you, paranoia sets in...you wait... scream, isolate yourself, demand to others"I am not crazy!"...you don't sleep, or you lock yourself in a room and try to use sleep as your coping mechanism...waiting for a reply, you check the mail, call the va#'s but it just increases the anxiety. Still waiting on your claim..grant/deny/low ball/appeal/bva/etc.

There are so many symptoms we all go through but how we can try to cope with these is something we all have to hopefully find to HELP us along the way. To have some type of sanity in our disturbed life. Finding some solace.

I think here at hadit I personally can find some peace, even if a brief moment..I find "friends" who don't really know me but care about me...care to listen/read and mostly offer encouragement, in a very private place where I can be me, no judgements/no phoney bologna just me. They can be frank and direct and still show kindness and compassion.

I had some issues at the VA yesterday, and as it progressed my B/P and Pulse rose...thump thump thump my head was pounding and I could feel my pulse abounding in every nerve/muscle of my body...I requested the policy and procedures they were trying to use with me...after 30 minutes they gave me a copy"I was right there was nothing in them that validated what they were doing/why they were doing it...I won, but I lost as they say"We have the right to change blah blah blah...But I made it known to put in addendum of exception rule? Who know...

My point I contacted Pete53 prior...can I change it/probably not...is it worth it to let them with "their triggers"(or as I chose my triggers at that moment) make me physically and mentally and emotionally sick? No...I stepped away cried, got more pissed off, then took his advice, don't let them make you sick! Yes I know easier said then done, but the more anxious I got the more it dawned to me..."Let it be and Think of me!' Went to a 3 hour pain group after this...did a relaxation exercise and told EVERYONE ABOUT HADIT!

I think I get caught up in the system and let the "triggers" run me instead of stepping back and "letting it be and thinking of me." That I will try to use as my new motto, at least sometimes/maybe/hopefully. What can I change/not/accept and LIVE.

Today I will try to avoid some triggers, if not I will try to choose to accept what I can and breathe...breathe...deeply breathe...BTW I have known the techniques for years but application has not been practiced.

Thanks to so many friends here at hadit letting a hard headed right person vent!! :D

Edited October 27, 2009 by halos2

[john999]

I knew a guy who had an appartment near a major hospital. The sound of medivac heliocopters was a trigger. It drove him wild.

[halos2]

How about getting more letters stating they are working on your claim, months after they send you the SSOC with a DENIAL! Come on people(VA) wake up...do you know what's going on??

When will you ever get it right?

[Commander Bob]

How about getting more letters stating they are working on your claim, months after they send you the SSOC with a DENIAL! Come on people(VA) wake up...do you know what's going on??

When will you ever get it right?

I filed my NOD nine months ago, after receiving the denial letter, and haven't even received a note or SOC or anything from the VA yet...LOL... At least you are getting computer generated letters from the VA saying they are working on it, halos2. I feel your frustration, and hope they get to you soon. Me??? I'm willing to wait till hell freezes over to get my justice. I am thinking about adding a few more SC disabilities and a retro back to 1968, on that little PTSD correction. On my "statement in support of claim" form 21-4138, I mentioned that a "clear and unmistakable misdiagnosis" was originally made, because PTSD was not even created by the medical community until 1980. I was willing to let the retro go, as long as they gave me that diagnostic code of 9411... Now they are going to have to address all that back pay, bilateral eye condition, arthritis, acne, etc..etc..too... I know I will add five years on to my wait, but it's like you said, halos2, "When will they ever get it right".

Edited November 1, 2009 by Commander Bob

[john999]

Bob

When you get your rating appeal decision on the PTSD expect it to be full of mistakes, misinterpretations of what you have sent them, or said, and perhaps downright lies. Was there anything in your SMR's, or early VA records about anxiety or depression? You are right that the VA did not even recognize PTSD as a disorder for a decade after Vietnam. I am wondering how you might get an EED for anxiety or depression. I don't imagine anyone who loses a leg at 19 or 20 is jumping for joy. About the only way to get an EED for PTSD back to 1968 is to file a CUE claim. For this you need to comb your SMR's and C-file for any indication of emotional problems that were mentioned in your medical retirement. For this I think you need someone who has expert knowledge of CUE. Was there a formal, informal or inferred claim for anxiety, depression, or what would become PTSD? You need all your SMR's and C-File. Otherwise, the VA grants claims when you file them even if your records were plastered with medical issues 40 years ago. They don't go back to the time you were hurt. They go back maybe one year from the time you file the claim. A really good lawyer might find some issue that should have been inferred, or some informal claim that was never adjudicated. If you have a current DX of PTSD this is a no-brainer for a PTSD claim retro to the date you filed.

[Commander Bob]

Bob

When you get your rating appeal decision on the PTSD expect it to be full of mistakes, misinterpretations of what you have sent them, or said, and perhaps downright lies.

Thanks John, ... I am prepared for anything after reading the VA's letter of denial. I'm surprised I was not accused of willful misconduct for my actions in Vietnam. Actually I was 18 years old, serving in a light weapons infantry line company, as an RTO, when I entered a mine field along with my company commander to render aid to several comrades who were wounded, dying, and trapped. Incoming fire was reported. I survived till the 4th explosion, and was severely wounded when someone close by trip an IED. The incident was well documented. I have many after action reports, as well as many expert accounts of that Sunday morning. As coincidence would have it, I found in my military doctors' notes and other medical reports during my treatment and immediate recovery that indicate, what we now would label as PTSD. Of course, at the time, with the lack of knowledge of PTSD, the symptoms went untreated. Hindsight clearly shows that I have the nexus in my military and early VA medical records. I have had VASRD's of 9400 and 9410 and even an early-on NSC rating for a nervous condition. LOL. The denial letter is a pathetic attempt to underplay my combat wounds and activity in RVN. Forty years ago, survival guilt embarrassment and for other reasons, I let all that ride. However, as I sit and stew over this denial letter, and recall all the injustice to other vets I have witnessed over the years and have read here on Hadit, the more I fell motivated to compel the VA to grant all the SC conditions that goes along with getting blown up at eighteen years old. Even if it takes another twenty years. Again, thanks for your support and advice.

Edited November 1, 2009 by Commander Bob

[john999]

Yes, when the VA practically accuses you of blowing yourself up on purpose it does motivate you to really go at them. They bring it on themselves by their disgraceful treatment of vets, especially our generation. I would get everything I could get from them. My DX'es amounted to name calling. The idea that a vet who has lived through hell might be anxious or depressed because his mommy was mean to him is the kind of thing the VA tries to sell.