ptsd Ptsd And Uncontroled Symptoms?

[BoonDoc]

I have been on Hadit.com long enough now to ask a question that I'm ashamed to ask, but I understand that most of you have more experience in dealing with the symptoms of PTSD, as well as so many other mental diabilities, than I do.

I was raised by a dad who is now 73 years old, and an Army SGT. who is as hard as "woodpecker lips" and I was raised as a boy to never show my emotions in front of anyone.

Well, I was wondering if some of you who have, or have worked with those who have PTSD, have times when you have outburst in to "weeping" for no apparent reason. I'm not talking about just crying a little...I'm talking weeping that you can't stop. I am so embarresed to even be telling this it make me sick at my stomach feeling guilty since I'm not supposed to cry as a man or was taught this.

I often have no reason for the weeping, it can hit when I'm actually laughing at a movie, or just by myself, and then out of no where I get "hit" with these episodes of weeping, then it stops as quick as soon as it started, and I'm left wondering what the Hell just happened and why? I have taught my son at home that crying is a normal human reaction/emotion and not to hold it back when you have to...that's part of being human, and that it doesn't make you less of a man...just maybe try not to cry whwen it's not appropiate, like loosing the basketball game wouldn't be a good time to brreak out crying at 12 years old, etc! But, don't feel guilty about crying either.

I have had it happen in Wal-mart, and I "freaked" and ran to the restroom until i could get my composure back.

I am back on Xanax again, and it doesn't happen in public as often, but then again I don't go in public if I have a choice!

If you have any input please let me know since this is such an embarressing event that I don't really want to talk about it, but want to find out what is happening to me....and there has to be somebody else out there who has simular symptoms as I am having.

It may not have anything to do with PTSD, but I have assumed that it does.

Going out on a "limb" here...

Boondoc

[Berta]

Boondoc:

"since I'm not supposed to cry as a man or was taught this"

I think it is the mark of a man to be able to shed tears-

My husband used to say he wished he could just sit down and cry-his dad would hit him if he cried as a kid-

Part of PTSD - that I saw with combat vets- is that they "stuff" normal emotions so much that they forget how to feel them appropriately -

and this comes out at unusual times-

I saw this at a funeral for a vet -one of the PTSD vets broke down and I went outside with him-

the deceased had some sort of job that involved whenever the vet center vets went to the Newark VAMC- this vet had never met him-so I asked why he was so upset-

he said this funeral seemed to bring back a lot to him that he never wept over before-

he didnt know the guy at all-

I bet your feelings and sudden sorrow are not as unusual as you might think.I am glad you shared this with us.

I have seen Congressmen with tears rolling down thier cheeks in interviews with Ollie North or others about their combat experiences.Senator Dole and many others have been caught by the camera in an emotional state when talking about their service.

The "Post Trauma" part of PTSD is what I think can bring this on-stress and sadness of decades ago- just stuffed somewhere-and it has to come out at times-it can be the sorrow of a loss or catastrophic injury of a buddy-30 years ago- that under fire- you could not even acknowledge-at that time-

I imagine it upsets you if it happens in public-

but does it at all make you feel better?

I regret that older generations taught us that crying was weakness-it isn't at all-

As SLA Marshall said - War is a supernatural event-

you put ordinary people into a supernatural experience like warfare and you get a profound psychological consequence.

Marshall received a battlefield commission when he was 17 years old-and his book "Men Against Fire" has excellent insight into not only the problems of battle command but how

combat affects the nature of anyone in it.

PTSD is a normal consequence of an abnormal event-as old as time- and recognized as that by all military tacticians.

Thank you for sharing this with us.We aren't here just for claims-we are here for all types of support.

[john999]

Boondoc

I was testifying in a civil trial and the lawyer was asking me about my background and such. As soon he mentioned the fact I had served in Vietnam I started to cry. I don't know why and I was embarassed as heck. I don't know where it came from but I think I had a lot of pent up emotions and that was just the straw that broke the camel's back. I was under a great deal of stress at the time and I felt better afterwards.

[Jazona]

Boondoc,

What Berta said and here's more...Do Not try to hold this back. Do not be embarassed about it. It is just your emotions have built up to the point that their overflowing. To hold them back only makes them build up more and perhaps find a much less desirable outlet. It's not immature. It's a grown veteran that has a heavy cross to bear and is responding in a human way. My way happens to be funerals. At my wife's, I was able to keep in together (hold it in) for an hour or so but turned into an absolute waterfall.

I didn't care what people thought of me and sat down and cried my heart out. It was a safety valve. When it was over, I didn't, under the circumstances, feel much better, but my burden was lighter. Think of it as cheap insurance; when it happens, it relieves stress, stress-relief makes you live longer, feel better and have a better life. What could be better than that?

Take Care

jaz

[Objee]

BoonDoc,

Hell, most of us were raised that way. I don't have PTSD - only "depression." Social worker and I were talking about non-combat stress, in my case CG search and rescue failures. When I strated talking about one particular event, the tears started to flow. Here I am still "running the old tapes" for her and crying at the same time. Screw it. Go ahead and cry!! Feels good when you're done..

Ralph

I have been on Hadit.com long enough now to ask a question that I'm ashamed to ask, but I understand that most of you have more experience in dealing with the symptoms of PTSD, as well as so many other mental diabilities, than I do.

I was raised by a dad who is now 73 years old, and an Army SGT. who is as hard as "woodpecker lips" and I was raised as a boy to never show my emotions in front of anyone.

Well, I was wondering if some of you who have, or have worked with those who have PTSD, have times when you have outburst in to "weeping" for no apparent reason. I'm not talking about just crying a little...I'm talking weeping that you can't stop. I am so embarresed to even be telling this it make me sick at my stomach feeling guilty since I'm not supposed to cry as a man or was taught this.

I often have no reason for the weeping, it can hit when I'm actually laughing at a movie, or just by myself, and then out of no where I get "hit" with these episodes of weeping, then it stops as quick as soon as it started, and I'm left wondering what the Hell just happened and why? I have taught my son at home that crying is a normal human reaction/emotion and not to hold it back when you have to...that's part of being human, and that it doesn't make you less of a man...just maybe try not to cry whwen it's not appropiate, like loosing the basketball game wouldn't be a good time to brreak out crying at 12 years old, etc! But, don't feel guilty about crying either.

I have had it happen in Wal-mart, and I "freaked" and ran to the restroom until i could get my composure back.

I am back on Xanax again, and it doesn't happen in public as often, but then again I don't go in public if I have a choice!

If you have any input please let me know since this is such an embarressing event that I don't really want to talk about it, but want to find out what is happening to me....and there has to be somebody else out there who has simular symptoms as I am having.

It may not have anything to do with PTSD, but I have assumed that it does.

Going out on a "limb" here...

Boondoc

[Pete53]

One of the symptoms I have had to endure with depression is uncontrollable crying and sobbing which is very embarrassing.

[Testvet]

I have to raise my hand here to, I can't explain it, I was raised by the same kind of father "men don't cry, suck it up" my Dad was in the 7th Calvary when they still had horses in 1914- 1916 he and my Uncle Gideon were part of D Troop based at Douglas Az, and were on the campaign into Mexico after Pancho Villa, and no they never met Blackjack Pershing,

I coped my way thru life, very badly, but he taught me well, I didn't even cry at his funeral in 1972, I didn't cry a lot of times I probably should have, when my oldest daughter was hit by a semi truck and was in a coma for 2 weeks and lived, I never shed a tear, I never shed a tear when my best friend was killed in a car accident in Germany, I never cried for anything until October 2002 and I learned my nation turned me over to Nazis at Edgewood Arsenal for human experiments in 1974. After WW2 the CIA/OSS snuck about 2100 Nazis into the states the same program that brought us Werner Von Braun, Dr Strughold of the Air Force etc, 8 of the scientists ended up at Edgewood because of their experise in human experimentation.

I never thought my Chain of Command would have allowed 7120 men to be abused this way, the ends did not justify the means, I ended up in the lockdown ward, I wish I had heard Joe Galloway's line that war taught him how to cry......that is what he learned from war....don't be ashamed of crying it's normal people that don't cry are the abnormal ones