Lived Experience Forum

[Ann4]

Hiya, hoping I can connect with others who are struggling. I live a very isolated life because of past trauma. Just want to experience some kind of kinship with others like me. I am taking anti anxiety medication, never been hospitalised. 

[Historylover]

Hello there, @Ann4, and welcome. A lot of us here are doing isolation, myself included. Personally, I find it my safe, peaceful place where I can attend to my own wishes without persuasion to change course. It can be nice when we use it to our benefit. I hope others will be along soon to welcome you. I just wanted to say Hello.

[Ann4]

What kind of history? I was lucky enough to travel & loved the history aspect. Especially Europe, awesome museums etc gee they were brutal way back! Thank goodness times have changed

[Historylover]

All kinds of history, @Ann4 and I thoroughly love the history we can observe through travel. As for museums, I wasn't able to take advantage as much as I would have liked. I did such extensive pre-travel preparation, that when I got there I knew where I was and where to go for the sights I wanted to see. However, I crammed so much in that when I got home, my head took weeks to recover. (I couldn't even read my watch!) Travel certainly broadens the mind! And once we have experienced other countries, it's impossible not to want more. It's unfortunate that we don't have Europe on our doorstop.

[ClockFace]

@Ann4 

I live with my parents and sister but we all pretty much do our own things. I got a range of MH issues, anxiety being one as well. Im on anti-anxiety medication to stop my hands from shaking but I had a psychiatric review recently and I think increasing the dose is being recommended because Im not managing my overall anxiety, like its off the charts most days and the meds I had for when it got bad have stopped working. 

Ive got CPTSD from my childhood, had a bit of trauma as an adult as well. The CPTSD diagnosis is new so havent started treatment for it, kinda brought up my past when I was diagnosed and that wasnt fun. 

I post in Malens Babble if your interested in a read, they are generally pretty long and raw. Its just me talking about my issues and life which is really complicated. Happy for you to include me in your posts and Ill reply a fair bit

[ShiningStar]

Hi @Ann4 

I just wanted to reach out to welcome you to the forums - it’s great to have you here 💜

I’m so sorry to hear about some of the ways that trauma has impacted your life  and (in my experience) it can be incredibly distressing when our world begins to shrink and we become further isolated 💜

One of the things that I love about our community is that it’s full of so many amazing people from all different walks of life and as such, I have no doubt that you’ll find yourself in wonderful company here 💜

Sometimes, participating in some of our social threads can be a really gentle way to ease yourself into community life and meet some other members of our community 😊 As such, I’ve just shared the link to our social spaces just in case you would like to take a look and join in some of the conversations 😊

https://saneforums.org/t5/Social-Spaces/bd-p/le-forum-0003

Also, just while I remember, one of the things that really helped me when I was new to the forums and still finding my way around, was that if you would like to chat with another forum member, or reply to one of their posts, place @ in front of their username just like I did at the start of my post to you i.e. @Ann4 that way, they will receive a message that you have contacted them 😊

Please know that you’re always welcome to reach out to us here whenever you need to 💜

I look forward to seeing you around the forums 😊

Take care,

ShiningStar 💜

[Little_Leopard]

Hi @Ann4.

I have trauma as well!

I think you will find many trauma survivors here in the forums.

childhood and life trauma is highly correlated with all kinds of mental illness which means meany people here will be able to relate to your struggles regardless of their formal diagnosis. 

Some of the best support I have received has been from people with different kinds of diagnosis than what I have. To me what really helps is the understanding and compassion that comes from anyone who really understands what it’s like to really struggle. 

One time I spoke to this really amazing lovely guy on the phone. He had some kind of cognitive disability not related to mental health and I just found him to be the best person in the world to speak to because our struggles and stigmas and interpersonal challenges are relatable even if they are different. 

I know this sounds weird but I resonate and find comfort in people who have different diagnosis than what I have lol. I find their experiences, perspective and life challenges to be refreshing and an eye opening for my own person growth.

[Ann4]

@Little_Leopard i don’t how to control my anger. Do you have a suggestion? It’s unexpected, think it’s triggered when my blood sugar is low. Perhaps when I have a couple of drinks on top of medication. Can’t be certain, but it’s destroyed so many friendships. Two of my kids stick by me, but not sure this will last. One child has worse anger than me, probably from witnessing my behaviour.

[Little_Leopard]

Yeah @Ann4  I have some suggestions!. I also have inappropriate, unexpected and out of proportion anger/rage responses. Very common with trauma survivors and people who’s mental condition cause emotional disregulation. I find mindfulness and grounding techniques to be useful.  It’s important to learn to feel what you deal without reacting. Just observing. It’s also important to leave or create a safe space for yourself to calm down until the big emotions pass. Then you will be in a much better state to deal with the issue later and avoid making others the subject of your anger/rage.

head to health and headspace are some good free resources. I use the Calm app daily as a mental tool but I pay for it.

I have also learned a lot about grounding in therapy. 
there are some great meditation masters like Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche who teaches high quality and easy to understand mindfulness tools in YouTube. Shinzen young has developed very good meditation and mindfulness based practice.  thich nhat hanh also some incredible insights and teach mindfulness from a zen perspective. All of these can be accessed freely on YouTube. 

Yeah I would not recommend taking alcohol or drugs with your medication if you know that they interact.

@BPDSurvivor  might also want to share some insight of their own?

[Ann4]

@Little_Leopard thanks. I am getting trauma therapy & that’s helping. Just can’t control myself sometimes, need something to hold perhaps, might pack a fluffy toy in my handbag. Would that work?