Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Do I have PTSD? (If not then what is it?)?

I know the first thing people are going to probably want to say is talk to a doctor. Well I'm a female Navy Veteran and the VA doctors already evaluated me but I'm not sure if they did correctly. I was only in for 2 years before I was medically discharged after developing an anxiety disorder. I was raped once before joining the Navy and once after (no I didn't report either because I didn't want to draw attention to myself) and also before the Navy I had an ex decide to play Russian roulette with me with a 9mm Beretta after he decided not to check the clip or chamber before pulling the trigger (luckily both were empty) so I have a couple of traumatic experiences, not to mention while on ship dealing with all the B.S. of ship life isn't easy. It's been 3 years now and I have been having nightmares all the time for the past 2 years about random stuff and when they are not nightmares they are dreams about being back on the ship and I don't really associate with people now I just kind of stick around my fiance and his family. Someone suggested that I might have PTSD even though I wasn't in combat zones. I don't believe I had it before I went in either because I was still very social about 6 months before I got discharged my attitude started changing and then about 4 months till I got discharged is when a started having an anxiety disorder that still effects me today that I get prescribed Ativan for. I did a PTSD evaluation through the VA mental health and at the time the doctor asked me if the rapes still effected me today as far as dating or meeting new people. I said no but I didn't think of it at the time, that I had been with my fiance for the past 3 years so I wouldn't have known if it affected any new relationships because I met him before I got discharged and I didn't think about the fact that I have a few friends because I don't share the same mentality with a lot of other 22 year old females my age. I've become more of an introverted person. So after giving some history about me and my situation I need a second opinion to if I could possibly have PTSD. I still have my doubts about it, but I'm just getting really tired of remembering my past everyday. So if it's not PTSD what is it?

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