Here I am again!

[chloe40]

I didn't think I would need to post again but after finally being free of awful flashbacks, I am once again experiencing them.

It seems to be every time I go to bed which prevents sleep as well as odd times during the day. I really thought this was finished but now I'm worried this is going to be for the rest of my life, is it?

Chloe

[Sepsur]

have you had any specific help with this - like EMDR or CBT? Or did the flashbacks just go of their own accord?

[chloe40 in reply to Sepsur]

They went on their own.

[Sepsur in reply to chloe40]

Firstly, I’m not medical so if please don’t take my understanding of PTS as gospel. Trauma can alter your sense of time, causing you to relive memories again & again.

You see, in life, our brain is like a filing cabinet with three drawers.

The bottom drawer is the largest, and it holds the past. It’s stuffed full of every moment that has already happened, and all of the sensations. The next drawer is for the present. It only has one folder in it, the present moment, so it is a bit smaller. And the smallest yet, the top drawer, is for the future – although, it should be empty because the future hasn’t happened yet.

But trauma likes to mess with the filing system.

Suddenly, a bunch of the past folders are all stuffed into the present, and there may even be a few spilling out of the tiny future drawer.

What complicates all this is that we are ashamed of not being able to resolve this on our own but we do need help, EMDR & CBT reactivating the time-keeping part of the brain, so that we can more easily identify a beginning, middle, and end of each event.

“Anything is bearable as long as you know that it’s going to come to an end.”

[chloe40 in reply to Sepsur]

Thank you Sepsur

I do understand your explanation, many thanks.

[BigH63]

Hi.

I still get flashbacks during the day and some nightmares. Mine have eased over this first year, but still there. I find they just pop in to my head at least a couple of times a week, but that’s less than six month ago and three months age so things will get better or have for me, and I’ve not had any of the therapy Sepsur has mentioned. I would if I could I’m assured it could help.

Hope things get better

[chloe40 in reply to BigH63]

Thank you BigH63

I am the same, I think it could be stress at certain times that could be the problem but I’m not sure. One thing I am sure is every time I have a hospital appointment or any medical appointment, it starts again and it’s distressing, so I’m hoping for a solution, thanks again.

[Rhyl1 Partner Moderator ICUsteps]

For some patients having flashbacks when they have hospital visits can mean they try to reduce medical care. I would agree with Sepsur that you need some therapy. Before I retired I was EMDR trained and found it worked very well with ICU memories. It’s about putting your experience in to the right drawer as Sepsur says, the past drawer.

[chloe40 in reply to Rhyl1]

Thank you Rhyl1

Your reply makes a lot of sense, I’m grateful 🙏