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Friendly Guildsman

Welcome to PTSD support!

What is PTSD?
PTSD, or post traumatic stress disorder, is a mental condition that deeply affects the way people with it live their lives. It can occur at any age and is triggered by either one large catastrophic event (assault, violence, natural disaster etc) or repetitive traumatic events (abuse, war, etc). There are several other terms related to PTSD. For example, combat PTSD often refers to the type of PTSD experienced by war veterans or other armed forces (law enforcement, National Guard). Compassion fatigue refers to PTSD that occurs with individuals who must care for others, such as doctors and nurses.

The Symptoms
PTSD is usually characterized by three suites of symptoms:
Reliving the event(s)
Avoidance of things relating to the event(s)
Arousal (not sexual, rather things like hypervigilance, startling, difficulty concentrating, etc)

Why the thread?
This is a place to safely discuss PTSD and its affect on your life. Whether you're interested in learning about what life is like with PTSD, you need help managing your PTSD, you want to support others with PTSD, or just want to chat, welcome!
How does PTSD affect your day to day life? Are you having nightmares? Difficulty sleeping? Do you want to self medicate your anxiety with alcohol or drugs? Chances are, there's someone who has been where you are and can help support you.

NOTE:
Since this is the LD, please be sure that you are staying on topic. Chatting should be kept to a minimum. We don’t want this thread to be chatterboxed.
This is NOT a place to be diagnosed. Only qualified professionals can do that.
Please be respectful to each other. We're talking about trauma and that is a sensitive subject.

Friendly Guildsman

Friendly Guildsman

Friendly Guildsman

PTSD Service Dogs
Also known as Psychiatric Service Dog
In the United States, anyone who has a disability can have a service dog.
You must have a doctor's note saying you require a service dog.
There is NO standardized testing so any dog can be trained to be a police dog.
You DO NOT have to get a dog from an agency.

Good Tests For Service Dogs to Take:
Public Access Test
Canine Good Citizen
Americans With Disabilities Act concerning service animals
List of service dog agencies and some info on them:

Alpha k9 (Sacramento, CA)
http://alphak9.org/
$10k for custom trained dog, $3k for basic service dog; both out of pocket
No proof of disability required
Estimated wait time 3 months or less (I got my dog in 1 month)
This is the agency I went with, the dog I received was extremely well trained and not reactive to anything, but did not have any extra tasks trained since he was a basic service dog

California Canine Academy Assistance Dogs (Merced, CA)
http://www.californiacanine.org/request_a_dog.htm
Must apply and requires a lot of things in the application
Does train psychiatric/PTSD dogs
Fee is $2775 out of pocket

Heeling Allies (Seattle WA)
http://www.mentalhealthdogs.org/Apply-for-a-Heeling-Allies-Dog.html
Requires application and 2 years minimum of disability
Fee not on website

ProTrain Institute (San Diego, CA)
http://protraindog.com/Protrain-Institute-Dog-Trainers-School.html
Need to send in video of your house
Estimated cost for PTSD service dog between $8k and $10k out of pocket

Doggie Do Good (California)
doggiedogood.com/
805-473-1701
$7k PTSD dogs for all people if out of pocket, also have nonprofit (free) option but there’s a long waiting list

Canine Support Teams Inc (California)
http://www.caninesupportteams.org/about-cst/
Cost and requirements for application not on website

NEADS Dogs (Massachusetts)
http://www.neads.org/
Application, Interview, 2 week training on campus
Requires you fundraise $9500, estimated wait time 2 years

Sterling Service Dogs (Michigan)
http://67.199.62.191/Main/tabid/93/Default.aspx
Minimum wait period 2 years
Cost free but must assist agency to fundraise $10k

Paws for Purple Hearts (Virginia)
Paws Assisting Veterans (Oregon)
K9s for Warriors (Florida)
Only accept veterans


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Okay folks, lets start supporting each other.
A little about me. I have combat PTSD from being a shooting while I was a police officer. I retired with honors after 3 years. I currently have a PTSD service dog that does things like find doors for me, guards my back (stands behind me when commanded to), and alerts on strange noises.

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My life is nothing like it was before PTSD. Simple things are difficult. Difficult things are impossible. How has your life changed due to PTSD?

Lunatic

I used to hallucinate a bit, and I'd have nightmares almost every night. I used to think I had schizophrenia then when it went away I realized what I had was really PTSD.

The most common hallucination was screaming overlapping, and my knees bleeding.

It's still hard relating to people, and I'm glad you made this post. It feels good to meet people who can relate.

I still have nightmares every once in a while, but not nearly as frequently. And I still can't watch scary movies, ever. Before everything started, I loved them.
Also I recovered from my depression. I credit that mostly to my vegan diet.

Friendly Guildsman

Thisistotallyridiculous
I used to hallucinate a bit, and I'd have nightmares almost every night. I used to think I had schizophrenia then when it went away I realized what I had was really PTSD.

The most common hallucination was screaming overlapping, and my knees bleeding.

It's still hard relating to people, and I'm glad you made this post. It feels good to meet people who can relate.

I still have nightmares every once in a while, but not nearly as frequently.
Also I recovered from my depression. I credit that mostly to my vegan diet.


Nightmares are the worst. I can't sleep without medication because of the nightmares. What kind of hallucinations were they?
So, what was the exact trauma for you guys?

Friendly Guildsman

Trials and Tribulations
So, what was the exact trauma for you guys?


Close quarters gun fight for me. But just a note, trauma doesn't have to be a single thing. It can be multiple things over a long period of time, like sexual abuse.
grinningjester
Trials and Tribulations
So, what was the exact trauma for you guys?


Close quarters gun fight for me. But just a note, trauma doesn't have to be a single thing. It can be multiple things over a long period of time, like sexual abuse.


Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but that's kind of cool.

Aged Regular

I can't stand being in a room without trees in sight.
And it's because of a past trauma.
Would that kind of count?

Friendly Guildsman

Trials and Tribulations
grinningjester
Trials and Tribulations
So, what was the exact trauma for you guys?


Close quarters gun fight for me. But just a note, trauma doesn't have to be a single thing. It can be multiple things over a long period of time, like sexual abuse.


Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but that's kind of cool.


I won't take it the wrong way. A lot of people think it is. But I promise, it is not. If I could take it back and never have had it happen I would.

Friendly Guildsman

Admiral Absurd
I can't stand being in a room without trees in sight.
And it's because of a past trauma.
Would that kind of count?

I'm not a professional so if you think you have PTSD, see a professional. What I know is that part of having PTSD is that it significantly impairs your life. If it does, then you may. Check the links in the resources section to learn more. I think that needing trees around you is an interesting result from trauma. You don't have to share, but what kind of trauma caused that?

Friendly Guildsman

lisachu
Aqib really likes damaged goods, he gets off to girls with mental disorders.


Not a girl, so I guess I'm safe.

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