post traumatic stress disorder

[harry hackedoff]

Hi Simon, SHHHH, we dont talk about your ex-troop mate round here. P.M. to follow.
yours H.H.

[harry hackedoff]

Hiya Lorraine,
PTSD is " a perfecly natural reaction to a totally unnatural situation" and you don`t have to be a big rugsy bootie to be included in that definition.
yours Aye,
Harry
P.S well done, it`s good to have your input.

[Mutley]

PTSD, Stress, Cracking Up - it doesn't matter what you call it, its all the same.

It doesn't matter how long the skeletons been in the cupboard, what sex you are, how strong you are, or how stiff your upper lip is (or anything else is, for that matter). As Harry says its all about an "out of the ordinary event" - not out of the ordinary for what you might be doing at the time or are used too - its about out of the ordinary for Joe public, Mr or Mrs average.


Never forget we all have each other!

Lorraine, All the best, never forget: Every day in every way - better and better.

[harry hackedoff]

Loz, Hi there,
when Muts says he`s ugly, he understates his case.
He ain`t called Mutley for fun. Chin up and P.M. to follow
yours, Aye
Harry

[harry hackedoff]

Loz, at least I didn`t say PMT to follow! The first Mrs Hackedoff used to get it, but it was yours truly who suffered from it!
And maybe it should be But-ugly? (er, no offence Ian)
yours,
H.H.

[Yorkie Malone]

Well... It has all got the ball rolling now, and yes PTSD comes in all forms.

I ended up in the psychologist ward at RNH Haslar. You eventually had to do a collage of your "incident" well mine went from Aden, through to NI to FI.
But having had a look through all those old collages that were "left" (as hopefully everything was left behind) was three basic themes
1) Booze
2) Relationships
3) Money problems

and when you link any of them to any of the other you run into a problem

The more you have to drink the worse the relationsip.
The more you have to drink the worse the bank a/c
The worse the bank a/c the worse the relationship so you go for a drink.

And here we go round the mullberry bush.

Yes we have stuck together, how I don't know, but she has seen some good in me that she thinks is worth while. And for that I thank her a great deal.

Whilst at Haslar I met up with an ex Pongo (all three services went there) and he was one step away from living rough.Whe i was asked why I was helping him by Morgan O'Connell (the top man) my reply was. Cos I'm (clicking my fingers) that far away from joining him.

I consider myself one of the lucky ones the govenment have now clsed all the places that took the likes of me.... No money.

And they wonder why I am part of the gang that is taking them to court.

Harry G&T on the TRAIN One I wouldn't use a train as they closed Tavistock's BOTH stations in 1959 ( or whenever Beeching had his powder) and two I couldn't afford it.

SyY

[Yorkie Malone]

Further to that lot.

There was also a civvie who lived locally to Haslar.
He had gone to his GP cos he was having problems sleeping, thrashing about in bed etc etc ... sounds familliar.

Having gone to his GP the GP was away and the locum just happened to be a naval doc, listened to his story and said I know the man for you. He was immediatley refered to Haslar

Whilst there on a outpatients routine we all talked together. AND you talk openly.

He thought himself a fraud in that we had been to war etc etc

But I put it no matter what the incident whether it be 5 secs, 5 minuts, 5hours, 5 days or months or years. It still causes YOU as an individuall a problem.

His problem he was driving to work one morning as per normal thumb up bum listening to the radio when an areoplane landed on the motorway, and his car was involved in hitting it.

AND he thought of himself as a fraud in front of us.

We all had long chats

SyY

Loz Tell your husband he has done well, very well. Cos I know I would not have been able to cope.
So much for the roughi toughi bit

[John_D]

Hi all,I have been reading your stories with great respect
for you all .I don,t know if any of you are aware but in
this months RBL magazine they have published an EMail
address for PTSD sufferers,

http:www.ptsd.org.uk


Hope this is of some use to you,

aye
John_D

[harry hackedoff]

Yorks, when you(personally) look back at the cause and effect of the big three(money booze and relationship) it must seem obvious that one will affect the other two. But at the time, I bet it wasn`t obvious at all and you kept going round in smaller and smaller circles, not being able to step back and say "why is this happening to me?"
When you went to Hasler, you recognised in that pongo what was one possible future for yourself and used that as the spur to begin your journey of self help. Reading your post this morning and realising how close you were to the abyss reminded me of these words:
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I`m found,
was blind, but now I see.

Sadly, it allso reminded me of the ones who found it too much. Not just the 260+(estimate) since 82, but the countless others from other conflicts who have gone un-noticed. And as I have said several times, "for every victim, there`s a victim`s familly"
I hope there are guys reading this thread who have realised that there is help. At the very least there is the support compassion and understanding they will find here. By your personal example in talking about your story I know it will make a differance to some of them. I wish there was a smillie for me putting my arm round your shoulder and saying" well done, mate"

as ever,
yours, Aye
Harry.


p.s. John, I will have a break now. Be back later ref your post HH

[harry hackedoff]

John,
my last was a bit emotional and I didn`t feel like responding to your`s straight away.Then, out of the blue my oppo rings and spirits soared. The craick was excellant, loads of piss-taking, you can imagine.
But, to reply, I would add not only the greatest respect, but allso admiration. I am aware of the site you mentioned and it does contain usefull information. I found it through the Ex Services Mental Welfare site( does exactly what it says on the tin--- looks after the mental werlfare of ex- services) Their site is called Combat Stress.
After several visits to that site, I contacted them last Wed for some information and answers to a couple of points. I mentioned this site and its address, suggesting that they read this thread. When they respond, I will post their information. This thing began because of an article I read about vets of 82. There are lots of other guys out there, I would like to say "if it`s Blue or if it`s Green, it`s still Royal Marine" It`s a big family, Once A Marine...................


yours, Aye
Harry

[harry hackedoff]

Yorky, hi there,
the collage thing, I know an ex matelot who had the same deal at Haslar, so it wasn`t just your artistic bent!
night all
Harry,

[SYB]

Evening all

Lorraine and Yorkie. What you said was very brave and honest.

Prior to being diagnosed with PTSD I used to deal with my symtoms by throwing myself back into work. This in itself was dangerous because of where and what I was exposed to.

When I had flashbacks, Hypervigilance, nightmares, avoidance, anger etc etc I used to try and think it was me being stupid. I tried to forget them and get on with work. Stockpiling the scenes and never thinking too hard about them.
During the years that passed I lost the ability to laugh about things.
I lost all my compassion for my family and the public I had to work with.

Then one day somebody handed me an article about PTSD. I didnt know much about it?

But when I read the article I saw myself being described. But what else hurt was when I realised what effect I was having on my family?

After Diagnosis and being dispatched from the service, I eventually recieved treatment.

Cognitive therapy was very difficult to come to terms with.
It took me a long while to trust my counsellor. It also took a long while to learn the technique of how to recognise and document my illness.
The days running up to a session would be terrible as I prepared my self for the confrontation with my own thoughts.

I learnt how to remove triggers form my life. Identifying what caused these problems and of course talking about it.
MAny months (infact two years) passed before I really started to benefit from the treatment.

The treatment is a personal thing. Everyone is different?

When I was a cop I used to wonder why so many homeless men were ex service men. With Hind sight I have began to realise why?
Being discharged with no family or follow up support is a reciepe for disaster?
ARe there any figures about homeless/alcoholic service men?


"H" Thankyou. That chap asking the question wouldnt get the steam off my S**t?
Best wishes

Simon

[Mutley]

Yorkie,
Pusser was paying!

Beeching was trying to stop rowdies going to Wembley to see Geoff Hurst!

HH couldn't have realise this thread would go like an express train (not a Virgin), I am sure there are many silent 'passengers' out there, drawing great support. Keep on trucking.

HH & Lozhop,
Aaaah twist the knife why don't u. I'm off for a face lift

PS
I would join in that hug but, with my looks, your spot and Harry's self confessed Homo/Myso/Xeno tendancies................

[harry hackedoff]

Boys,
It has now been a week since I e-mailed Combat Stress, to date no reply. I will ring them tomorrow. Watch this space.
That is all.


yours,Aye


Harry

[harry hackedoff]

Hi all,
as promised, spoke to Combat Stress today but the guy with the experience that I needed was not available . Will try again on Fri. Did have a good chat to the welfare guy who said they are aware of this site. Really helpfull guy. The important thing that came out of the conversation is that all of the people at C.S. are ex- services, so you needn`t be concerned about some civvie looking at you like you have two heads.
Lorraine, hi babe, you havn`t read what it says on the tin. Combat Stress is the name of the website, the organisation`s name is Ex Services Mental Welfare. And that means you, sweetheart.
What pisses me off is that whilst I`m typing this, some bastards are watching "An Ungentlemanly Act"


yours, as ever
Harry