Struggling with Worsening PTSD Symptoms

Keep reaching out, you have us. Can your therapist help get you treatment for your adhd?

I’m struggling, they’re giving me a BPD diagnosis but I know I don’t have it. I have CPTSD and untreated adult ADHD and the two combined that are not being treated can look a lot like BPD. It’s frustrating me because they’re not testing me for ADHD rn (I had it as a kid and the dr when I was an adult stopped treating it and it’s been left untreated for over a decade). I’ve told my therapist I want to do CBT and she said she’ll try to get me approved for it but I’m running out of any hope for any healing. I have almost no support because of narcissist abuse, slander and smear campaigns against me, I’ve lost everyone in my life pretty much. I’m grateful I still have my pastor and his wife, but I have no family, my friends left me except for a couple who aren’t local (and I can’t move again), I’m stuck….and I just don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel…even people who were once close to me don’t care they’re being manipulated and used as tools to kill me…but Idc anymore….I just want the pain to stop and it hurts more and more every day….I beg God every night to not let me survive the night because I’m stuck rn in a short-term recovery unit because my therapist doesn’t feel I’m safe to go back to my group home…and she’s right in that….I need a service dog…but I can’t afford that….nor could I have one while I’m in the group home….and I’m too suicidal to get approved for trauma work….people don’t care about the damage they do to others….even if they once cared for them….I’m getting used to being everyone’s sacrifice at this point….so idk….idk how to keep going….

Trauma release exercises and tapping helped me a lot, so maybe that... Also, make sure you're talking to your supports, and get some good therapy. If you're Christian, a good church can help... and support groups are great, especially if you don't have many friends or family members or if your family and friends are unsupportive.

I have ptsd and narcissistic abuse syndrome. I suffer the most from the latter. Talk Therapy didn't help me, or meds. For me it has been knowledge and research about my own conditions and about narcissistic type behaviors as well as sharing my story and talking to other victims/survivors that has helped me the most. The more you can make sense of the situation helps.

Is your therapist aware of what is going on? Meaning does she have all the facts? I ask because it took me a long time to find the right therapist and start opening up. Once I did it stated helping. Are you working with a psychiatrist? Medication ignited be helpful to get you over this hump too. It’s nothing to be ashamed about, everyone needs help. I hope this helps and keep us updated

I would recommend looking for a trauma informed therapist and looking into EMDR. It has really helped me and I hope it can help you too. 💕

Well I do know there are places that help you get a service dog, and some insurance will cover some of the cost for one, but upkeep is definitely expensive. CBT might be a good thing to try. If you want an animal that’s not as expensive as a service dog and that can do pressure therapy during panic attacks/PTSD episodes and surprisingly help a lot, maybe try adopting a cat? I’ve never been a big dog person, so I got two cats. One of them comes up to me when I am having an episode and rubs against me and his soft fur and purring calms me down. The other one lays on me when I’m laying down and/or sitting and the pressure is calming (much like a weighted blanket) and she sleeps directly next to my side when I sleep. She has a habit of climbing onto me anytime I’m starting to have night terrors and it wakes me up from them. But if you can’t afford any animals at all, definitely try CBT and maybe DBT as well

I’m on Prazosin but it doesn’t stop the nightmares, it just stops me from screaming in my sleep. Although the past couple nights I haven’t had nightmares, I’ve either had dreams of good but painful memories or dreams of my brain trying to give me false hope and both makes things more painful when I wake up. Flashbacks and dreams/nightmares can be so bad I’ll sometimes vomit. I’ve wanted to try CBT and I think I really need a service dog at this point to even somewhat function, but I can’t afford a service dog, I can hardly afford myself 😥

I’m currently in DBT (for the hundredth time) with no help. I’ve also tried cog therapy, talk therapy, and even been hospitalized and had to do all kinds of group and individual therapy. Certain things work different for certain people. My experience has been that cognitive therapy coupled with talk therapy has helped the most, but even then it hasn’t given me a major breakthrough. My worst of it is at night with night terrors and I’ve found that when that flares up, I talk with my psychiatrist and get a script for prazosin. It’s used in small doses for blocking night terrors (I’m talking 1-2mg doses a night). Just like everything else, that doesn’t help everyone either. But that’s what’s helped me the most. Have you looked into a group therapy for what your trauma involves? Sometimes talking to like minded people who are suffering as well in a group setting can be a huge boost to your mentality (like knowing you aren’t alone, getting helpful tips, etc)

I would definitely talk to someone ASAP if you're feeling suicidal. I did DBT and I found that to be the least helpful. May I recommend an app that may help relieve some of the stress at least? It's called The Tapping Solution and is a tapping meditation. It may help bring you some calm at least until you can talk to someone.

I’ve been doing talk therapy; I was going to do prolonged exposure therapy but I’m so suicidal and stressed out that I don’t qualify for any kind of trauma therapy. They’re wanting to put me in DBT but I’ve done DBT before and it wasn’t very helpful for me.

What type of therapy are you doing? I've been doing EMDR/Brainspotting and I sometimes felt like it was getting worse before it got better but things eventually calmed down and I felt better. I personally found doing any kind of talk therapy made me feel much worse and constantly retriggered me. So I think it may depend on the therapy model you're doing and whether or not it works for PTSD.