PTSD

Lady Gaga reveals her struggle with PTSD

2 Comments / Conditions, Depression, Patient Experiences / By

Musician Lady Gaga recently revealed in an open letter that she is living with PTSD. In the letter, posted to the Born This Way Foundation website, she discussed her struggle with the condition since being sexually assaulted as a teenager: “I have wrestled for some time about when, how and if I should reveal my diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). After five years of searching for the answers to my chronic pain and the change I have felt in my brain, I am finally well enough to tell you.” In the letter, Gaga touched on living with and managing the symptoms of the condition, and that she experiences something called dissociation, which can present itself in a range of experiences – she opened up about how it impacted her: “…my mind doesn’t want to relive the pain so ‘I look off and I stare’ in a glazed over state… My body is in one place and my mind in another. It’s like the panic accelerator in my mind gets stuck and I am paralyzed with fear,” she wrote. “When this happens I can’t talk. When this happens repeatedly, it makes me have a common PTSD reaction which is …

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Meet Christopher – “PTSD is not just soldiers whining and complaining about struggles in life”

2 Comments / Bipolar disorder, Conditions, Mental Health, Patient Experiences / By

Say hello to Christopher (ChrisBC), a father, musician and Purple Heart recipient living with PTSD and bipolar disorder. We recently caught up with him to hear about how PTSD affected his marriage and how his diagnosis pushed him get the help he needed and connect with his feelings. Keep reading to learn how he copes with stigma and the one thing he wishes people understood about PTSD. Can you tell us a little about yourself? What are you passionate about?   I was born in Seattle WA, and my family moved to Alaska where I grew up. I joined the Army when I was 19 years old and went to my first assignment at Fort Polk, Louisiana. I spent the next 22 years in the Army. During my time in the Army, I was stationed in seven different locations including Germany. I had five different deployments of varying lengths with three combat, and two peacekeeping. I received a Purple Heart as well as many others in my platoon during my Iraq tour for being wounded under enemy fire. I retired in 2014 and have one daughter who is 11 years old. I am passionate about music and I play the electric bass guitar …

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“I have been trying to push myself more, little by little.” Member Christopher shares his journey with PTS

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We recently got the chance to talk with Christopher (crine312), a computer-savvy dog lover and U.S. Air Force veteran living with PTS and bipolar. Christopher opened up about life after serving in the military — how he sometimes still  thinks in military time and tries to avoid news reports about war — and the challenges of holding a job with PTS. Get to know him him better below, and see what he has to say about the PatientsLikeMe community: “I keep coming back and posting in the hopes that I, in turn, can help someone else. Can you tell us a little about yourself and what you’re interested in? First, I am adopted. Due to being adopted, I have a rather LARGE family. I have five older brothers and sisters, and seven younger brothers and sisters. Due to the adoption, I am the youngest of six and second oldest of nine (my oldest half-sister and I were adopted by the same family). I grew up in Charleston, South Carolina as a Navy brat. My interests are reading anything I can put my hands on, computers, gaming and my dogs. After serving in the Air Force, how has it been adjusting to everyday …

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“I’m happy to say that I’ve made tremendous progress” – An interview with PTS and TBI member Trevor

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Trevor Martin, a Veteran of the United States Army was deployed to Afghanistan twice from 2009 to 2012 and was later diagnosed with both a mild TBI and PTS. He joined PatientsLikeMe to connect with others living from these conditions. Our friends over at PatientsLikeMe sat down with Trevor to learn more about his life with PTS and TBI. Here’s what we learned…. Some people talk about PTSD ‘triggers.’  Do you know your triggers, or do symptoms happen unexpectedly? I know some of my triggers, like trash on the side of the road. In Afghanistan they would put IEDs under piles of trash to hide them on the side of the road. So I know if I see that today, my heart starts to race, I get hyper-vigilant, and I start to think something’s about to happen that I need to avoid. You mentioned that you feel a lot of pressure to be who you were before the war.  How are you different since returning home?  I used to be the fun guy. All my friends would come to me and we’d go out and go shooting and joke around. It’s hard now because a lot of my friends don’t …

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The Patient Voice- PTS member David shares his story

Mental Health, Patient Experiences / By

Today is PTS Awareness Day, so we wanted you to meet PatientsLikeMe community member Cpl. David Jurado, who lives with post-traumatic stress (PTS). David developed PTS while serving in the military. After he retired, he continued to deal with daily symptoms, and he encourages members to connect with others on PatientsLikeMe, because “if you want to make changes for yourself and the PTS community, you’ve got to share your story. The same thing may be happening to them.” David is not alone – and neither are you. There are more than 1,000 vets living with PTS that are part of the community. We’ve heard members like David talk about how important it is for them to connect with people who ‘get it.’ Not a veteran living with PTS? You’re not alone either. With more than 8,000 PTS members, it’s easy for anyone with PTS to share their story and get support. Share this post on Twitter and help spread the word for PTS.

Give veterans access to the care they need

Patient Experiences / By

By Peter Chiarelli, retired U.S. Army general & CEO of our partner One Mind As originally seen in the Washington Post Soldiers listen as U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter (not pictured) holds a question-and-answer session with U.S.military personnel at Kandahar Airfield in Kandahar February 22, 2015. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)   The high-grossing film “American Sniper” was nominated for an Academy Award for best picture, but it deserves higher honors for highlighting one of the greatest causes of casualties in our recent wars: post-traumatic stress (PTS). The story of Iraq war veteran Chris Kyle, who was killed by a Marine veteran suffering from the effects of PTS and other mental-health problems, makes a powerful case that PTS needs to be a higher national priority. (You’ll note that I don’t include the word “disorder” at the end of PTS; the longer PTSD label actually discourages some service members from seeking treatment.) Since “American Sniper” debuted, Veterans Affairs and Defense Department leaders have been highlighting their programs for helping veterans diagnosed with PTS. But are those programs working? In too many cases, the answer is no. Our PTS diagnostics remain crude, and no drugs have been approved specifically for treating the condition. Complicating matters, because of genetic and other differences …

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“I am slowly building my self-esteem “ – PatientsLikeMe member SuperChick shares about her journey with PTSD

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PatientsLikeMe member SuperChick is a veteran living with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and her story is one of learning to cope with emotions and frustrations. She’s living proof that things can get better – she’s a loving mother of two, has a great husband and is managing several other mental health conditions. Below, she shared about the sexual abuse she experienced while serving in the military and explained how her previous husband physically assaulted her. Superchick also describes the symptoms of her PTSD and how the community on PatientsLikeMe has been “a huge help” to her. Read about her journey below. Note: SuperChick shares about her story of abuse, which may be triggering. Can you speak a little about your PTSD and what led to your diagnosis in 1986? I was originally diagnosed with PTSD after being raped while I was in the military. I believe I was more susceptible because I had been molested as a child and didn’t have good family support or dynamics. I worked through it, but was diagnosed again in 2007 after leaving a severely abusive marriage, where I was raped multiple times and choked at least twice. I was emotionally abused and didn’t …

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“You can get better” – PatientsLikeMe member jeffperry1134 shares about his journey with PTSD

Mental Health / By

Many veterans are a part of the PTSD community on PatientsLikeMe, and recently, jeffperry1134 spoke about his everyday life after returning home from military service. In his interview, he touched upon his deployment to Somalia in the early 1990s, and how his memories of Africa cause daily symptoms like anxiety, hallucinations and nightmares. But despite everything, Jeff remains upbeat and reminds us that there is always hope. Scroll down to read what he had to say. Note: the account below is graphic, which may be triggering. Can you tell us a little about your military service and your early experiences with PTSD? I entered the military in the Army in July 1990 as a heavy wheeled mechanic. I went through basic training and AIT at Ft. Jackson, SC. I went to my first permanent duty station in December in Mannheim, Germany. I was assigned to a Chinook helicopter unit. My unit was very relaxed and we got along well. As soon as the war broke out we received our deployment orders. We returned home in July from deployment. My PTSD was early onset after returning from Desert Storm. I experienced nightmares, depression, alcohol abuse and drug abuse. At the time …

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2014 recap – a year of sharing in the PatientsLikeMe community

ALS, Bipolar disorder, Diabetes, Epilepsy, Fibromyalgia, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, Mental Health, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Patient Experiences, Pulmonary fibrosis / By

Another year has come and gone here at PatientsLikeMe, and as we started to look back at who’s shared their experiences, we were quite simply amazed. More than 30 members living with 9 different conditions opened up for a blog interview in 2014. But that’s just the start. Others have shared about their health journeys in short videos and even posted about their favorite food recipes. A heartfelt thanks to everyone who shared their experiences this year – the PatientsLikeMe community is continuing to change healthcare for good, and together, we can help each other live better as we move into 2015. Team of Advisors In September, we announced the first-ever PatientsLikeMe Team of Advisors, a group of 14 members that will work with us this year on research-related initiatives. They’ve been giving regular feedback about how PatientsLikeMe research can be even more helpful, including creating a “guide” that highlights new standards for researchers to better engage with patients. We introduced everyone to three so far, and look forward to highlighting the rest of team in 2015. Meet Becky – Becky is a former family nurse practitioner, and she’s a medically retired flight nurse who is living with epilepsy and …

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Finding others with PTSD

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Sometimes it’s nice not having to explain yourself to people who don’t really understand what it’s like for you, and to surround yourself with people who just get it. As the PatientsLikeMe post traumatic stress disorder community grows, we’ve heard from our members who are veterans about how important it is for them to connect to other vets. Here’s a conversation with our Product Manager and former Marine, Sean Horgan and community member, David Jurado (Jrock121). They shared about their struggles returning home after war, and how they missed their rooftop cigar time with the boys. David shared some personal details about his journey living with PTSD: after self medicating with Jack Daniels and oxycontin, David found help and peace of mind, connecting with other Veterans, communing with mother nature, and stepping up as a role model for others. He now teaches people you can “replace bad memories with good memories” by working through your bucket list. The beginning of his transformation started with this cute pup, Willett. Named after a service buddy who died in combat, Willett helped David get out of the house and re-engage with society. David is now Executive Director of Companions for Heroes, a company …

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