River: Flashback?

[mdlbear]

So... A week ago I had something that might have been a flashback. I think it depends on which definition you use. It was definitely an adrenaline spike triggered by remembering a stressful incident; N said at the time that the exact definition doesn't matter. One of the definitions given by thefreedictionary.com's medical dictionary is "2. In posttraumatic stress disorder (q.v.), the sensations resulting from strong emotional sequences acting as triggers."

I don't think the association with PTSD is particularly accurate -- I wouldn't describe the incident in question as traumatic, just very stressfull and potentially dangerous. And I don't think I process such things the way other people do. Like previous spikes, it was basically just a collection of symptoms that I've come to recognize. If there was an actual emotion going on there, I didn't notice it. I rarely do.

Also, like previous spikes, the symptoms showed up well after the trigger was over and done with. No idea whether that's "normal", but in most past incidents it made it difficult for me to identify the trigger, and in some cases I never did. Last week's was a bit unusual in that I'm pretty confident that I identified the trigger, while the spike was happening. I may be getting better at that.

I don't know whether any of this is interesting to anyone else; I think it was probably useful to me, so I'll keep on writing this kind of thing from time to time.

Comments

[alexseanchai]

A bunch of text you seem to mean for under the cut is in the cut, fyi

♥

[mdlbear]

Thanks. Actually I'd started to write the cut text and then decided a cut wasn't necessary. But forgot to edit out the start of it.

[redsixwing]

The thing where the symptoms are delayed from the trigger is a known function of cPTSD, for what it's worth. I get that (no diagnosis here, but.)

And the thing where it might not come with an emotion rings familiar, too.

[mdlbear]

Interesting. I do seem to show some -- not most, I don't think -- of the symptoms mentioned in the articles I read; what I don't have, as far as I can tell, is the history of abuse. There's probably something else going on.

[redsixwing]

Fair 'nuff!

I've often found it useful to see there's other people experiencing similar things, even if the shoe doesn't fit completely. (And who wants to wear a badly-fitted shoe?)

[mdlbear]

Yes; that's part of why I posted this. I'm still trying to figure myself out.

[alatefeline]

I’m interested in the topic in the abstract, and in what is going on with you in the warmly personal sense. Emotions are difficult . Good for you for IDing symptom-clusters.

[mdlbear]

Thanks!