What Can I Do If I Think I Have PTSD?

I have thought about talking to a therapist to sort through the trauma that happened in my life. I was sexually abused very young by a neighbors son, pushed into a room by his siblings and they held the door closed. Another incident a family member tried to force me to have sex but i said i would scream if he didn't stop and I ran out and i traumatically lost a child to a miscarriage at home in my bathroom 16 years ago. I am 35 now and I was diagnosed with PTSD by a therapist_ I sometimes notice that i get more angry then i used to if i have to repeat myself more then once or if i feel like the person I'm talking to isn't listening. I have had more anxiety in the last year then I've ever had in my life, I get anxious riding on the expressway while others are driving and traffic makes me nervous. I used to love driving but now all i think about is the reckless drivers(i was in a small fender bender while driving). Recently my ex was hit by a car and i began to hyperventilate immediately, which has never happened before in my life. I do not know much about PTSD other than for someone who is a VET, but i am not. I don't want to be labeled but i want to know my triggers and the symptoms so i can understand the changes I see within myself. I was just really anxious reading comments about people being in a rage due to PTSD. Sometimes i feel like i wish i wasn't told this because now I keep trying to separate what is me before PTSD and what is me after.

[TW: sexual assault]

My family doctor believes I may have PTSD after a miscarriage. Since the miscarriage I've been very down about myself. If it's not my loss, it's my living conditions, it's my relationship and finally my anger about my epilepsy and how it could be connected to being sexually abused (licked to the point of orgasm) when I was in grade 1 by another girl my age. Kept that a secret for so so long. I'm tired. So much is wrong with this world, whether it's covid or saving for your first house. We are vultures.

I think I have PTSD. I was sexually abused and assaulted when I was 7 years old; I'm now 13. I was in a class once, in the past 3 months and we were talking about slavery with black people. We were told that slavery is over; it's not. Hundreds of thousands of people are being human sex trafficked. I had a huge panic attack. I was sweating, trembling, shaking, and out of breath. Overall, I was also very angry. I get short of my breath quite often. I don't know if this is PTSD, or if it was a PTSD attack, but if someone could let me know that would be amazing. Thanks. -P.E.M.

I'm not really sure if this counts as a valid trauma, but what if you had seriously strong urges to grab out a knife and run at somebody with it and anger beyond control, but it wasn't your fault that you were angry and the person threatened to fake call 911 to piss you off, and then get yelled at and hit, and threatened to be sent to military school without a choice, and you still think about it to this day even if it happened 3 years ago? Does this count? I'm just wondering. And yes, I have flashbacks and nightmares, I can't even look at, even use knives anymore, I use a butter knife for almost everything.

I really feel like i have ptsd but i don't want to self diagnose. i want to seek help from a professional but i'm only 17 years old. i was sexually harassed by my cousin. it happened for almost 3 years. he was really horrible. he stopped the harassment 2 years ago. i couldn't tell anyone because i'm really afraid. i still live with that person up until now since nobody knows about it. sometimes when i'm lying on my bed i feel like someone's touching me. it's like reliving the horrible experiences. my heart would pound like crazy. i live in this house where i experienced those sexual harassments. i can't use the bathroom unless i make sure that he wasn't here because i feel like he's watching me secretly just like before. when i think something similar was happening or something reminds of those moments or i feel like i'm in danger my heart would beat so fast like i'm having a heart attack. my whole body would shake and i found out that it's a panic attack. the last panic attack that i had was just last week. it's so frightening because i think i might die. sometimes when i feel that he was walking around the house, i would wake up and once i wake up i won't be able to go back to sleep anymore because that's how he was able to harass me for almost 3 years. there were times where i can't pee and go to the bathroom at night because he's still awake. i would endure it until morning so that there's lower possibility that he's watching me again while using the bathroom. maybe some people might think that it's also my fault for not leaving this house but i don't have a choice. for the first months that he was harassing me i told my parents that i don't want to sleep in this house anymore but they kept on asking me why and i don't want to tell them since i'm really scared that they might not believe me or it might cause trouble between our families. i don't want that to happen that's why i endured it for years. i want to get better and have a normal life. i really want to seek help but i still need parent's consent to go on therapy. maybe i will endure this until i'm on legal age.

I feel like i either have ptsd or anxiety. In october of 2020, i got into a car accident. I was sitting in the passengers seat and the person who was driving (who i will not subject) was making a left turn and we got T-Boned, it was a tramatic experience because i was hit on my side, the passenger door. When it happened i immediately started crying, panicking, and worried for the other people. A little boy ended up getting hurt in the other car because he had a disability that caused him to have a seizure. I think what affected me from that accident was that 1. I was hit from my side at about 25 mph (it doesnt seem that fast but its definitely fast enough to make airbags deploy and make a lot of damage), 2. A little boy had to be taken into the hospital, and 3. Me and the driver were both underaged and i was mostly scared for what was going to happen with the police. The reason this accident happened, was because the driver (same one who made the left turn aka the car i was in) made an improper left turn because he did not check for the car that hit us, so there for, it was the drivers fault. About a little over a month later. I get into another accident with the same driver. We’re on the highway headed towards a mall. This time it was not the drivers fault. Okay in getting tired of saying driver so im just going to say zach whenever im talking about the driver. Zach, me, a cousin and my sister were all in the accident. This highway was a 5 lane highway. The car who caused it was in the middle of the highway (the middle lane) we were in the lane to the right of the middle and then there was another car in the lane next to us the right of us (farthest right lane). And im mentioning this car because it was a three car accident. What happened was we were directly next to the car in the middle lane (im going to call the driver Tim). Tim was getting too close to the car in front of him, and instead of braking, he decided to change lanes and when he did that, he hit us, and then we hit the car to our right, the car in the farthest right lane. The car was damaged all around. One thing i forgot to mention in the other accident, was that, thar car was not drivable, and now this car was not going to be drivable either. What made me start being scared of everything with being in a car, was that 1. I got into another accident and i didnt want to be in another one 2. Every time i have to leave the house and go onto the highway. Im constantly looking behind us to make sure that we wont get rear ended, wont get crashed into, looking forward at the car in front to see if they’re going too slow or braking quickly and could cause an accident. And constantly being alert of other cars. (I dont have my license if your wondering if i do this if i was driving, i do this if im in the passengers seat or i just dont trust the way the person drives). To me these accidents felt very different. The first one was more traumatic but less damage to the car. But the second one was more quick and just the feeling of being crushed but no one was hurt, and then the damage on our car was worse. I dont know how im supposed to express to my family that i want to get checked out because i dont want to seem like im exaggerating and they know im traumatized by this but its like they think i wouldnt be really traumatized to be diagnosed with a disorder like ptsd.

I feel like I have PTSD. I have tried to kill myself many times and started in childhood. In the 80's parents used to beat you and some did it every day. Then I started to stay away from people but tried still to fit in. I was beaten up at school and then at home!!!
When I got older I was beating up sometimes by other guys.
One day I became a murderer (he was a bad guy but didn't deserve it). And paid for it big time and I'm glad I did. But I don't know why I did it. I always avoided fights.
Now near 40 and have been out for 5 years. I have no friends because I can't stand people. I have depression heavily. I think of dying every day but I can't leave my animals alone. They need me.
I am stressed almost all the time and stay at home away from people. Can't trust anyone, can't talk to people without feeling awkward.
I study animal medicine but it is hard to be at the university. I can't have a relationship and hurt people that love me by being distant.
Every time I smile it feels awkward.
Can't talk to people or relate with them whoever it is.
I don't have nightmares. At least I can't remember them but many times I wake up angry and it's hard to find peace in my mind.
I try not to remember my past because I just can't find anything good, just bad memories and sadness. I want to die so bad, so bad but can't yet. I don't know what is going to happen to me but I have to pay some more. The world isn't finished with me! And I'm going to leave this world feeling like I was never supposed to live. That's what I feel.

My trauma started the day I was born. {early 60's} Born into this world alone .... unwed person gave her info about her life to people and left me there .... just walked out. The trauma that day of my adoption have screwed me up. I am having a problem just holding on. Going on 60 soon and All i am looking for is PEACE in my life. Everything in my life triggers me.

I am so very thankful for all the heroes in these posts. I'm truly saddened by all your traumatic events and looking over mine even the ones I had therapy in the past although growing up in the 70s mental health wasn't a big priority. And apparently bullying makes you tougher? That coupled with many many instances of traumatic events in various contexts beginning with separation anxiety I was adopted at a young age. I had a physical deformity that required surgery but was bullied all through school because of it. All the while, my pediatrician was molesting me (he later killed himself after other families accused. Add being raised by a narcissistic father who was very abusive and abused my mother in front of me. I was an endangered runaway for many years also because of it just trying to run away from the abuse and the no advocacy. Fast Forawrd a few years my fiance was murdered by a drunk cop only got five days off suspended pay . I feel like I'm just one walking PTSD on and off like it is never goes away even after I get counseling and therapy. I thought building walls was going to be the thing that would help me keep me insulated and really it just made me to distracted and I couldn't pick up on other things like terrible past relationships with men and the workplace bullying I've been undergoing for a while and I'm in an essential worker I can't afford to quit. So one of my narcissist at the school i work at is a screaming, cursing, misogynistic, very racist man that gets in my face and I went to HR I filed complaints, but not much was done and harm happened. The other 2 passive-aggressive narcissists I work with have undermined me, sabotage my work threatened my job, bullied, lied and started of rumors I was racist when I'm not, and gossip and drama. I'm kind of numb I'm really sick of it. And just when it can't get any worse, in February 2018 my daughter was molested by The Stepbrother at the dad's house it went on for nine months until she was able to tell me about it. Boy, talk about re-traumatizing. I went immediately to the authorities and followed up swiftly with counseling for my daughter but the CPS didn't do enough and the boy & mother weren't forced to take any classes or get any help and she is a terrible mother and refuses to get help, even victim-blaming my daughter. Just trying to stay strong sometimes as the daily sure but I got to do it as a single mom make it work never give up.

I don’t remember a large chunk of my childhood. Still don’t. My dissociation was really bad when I was younger, it still is I suppose. Growing up I thought I was an evil person for the things I did till later I found out I did those things because they were done to me and that’s all I knew. I can’t sleep and when I do I have really bad dreams. I wake up constantly because of certain sounds. I have bad thoughts and flashbacks when I hear the sounds. I’m hyper vigilant all the time. Also, I have an extreme aversion to sex and all things related. When I read stories of abuse I for some reason find a sort of comfort in it. Perhaps it’s because I find it relatable? I don’t know. I’m not sure what to do. I want to get help but I don’t know how.

You really should add a few things to your list, you can get PTSD from anything perceived as life threatening. It’s under studied but women do get it from traumatic birth or pregnancy loss as well as other medical procedures. Post partum ptsd does exists but is confused with post partum depression. I developed signs of PTSD from having a baby surgically removed in order to prevent my death from internal bleeding (I almost didn’t make it), it was pregnancy loss as well. 5 years ago but still suffer daily

I don’t know whether I have PTSD or not, when I was for my 14 year old cousin forced me to make out with him I kind of never thought about what happened after the police were involved but didn’t do anything. When I was 8 tho I started getting flashbacks and nightmares, something’s they're worse than others. Now I’m older and having had a history of self harm I’ve started talking about it. I don’t want to seem stupid or pathetic because it’s not like he raped me, all we did was kiss, but he took advantage of how young I was. I constantly feel alone and confused but I also feel a burning rage towards him. My counsellor mentioned to my mum the possibility of me having PTSD and then I started researching about it and the more I read the more I feel like I relate. But I’m still scared