How to Cope with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome Part 1/2
I was in Iraq for seven months. I came back home January 5th this year 2007, and we came back home, I have to suffer from PTSD and traumatic rangers.
Back in August of last year, I and my squad are walking to a school to survey it, and I was about 30 feet away. They blew the school and the action force blasted me back—more on side bomb and blasted me back and knocked me unconscious for about 15 seconds. When I came to, I looked up to the next 30 feet away from me and I saw, and wreck you commend with half her face blown off. And then their arms, it was a kid. With more shot, there is more tearing to his body. When I try to get up, I fell back down from the dizziness and eventually we met a bus back to hospital. That explosion caused me to have a traumatic brain injury.
Five months later, I came back to Missouri. I have tried to find a way to deal with brain injury, post traumatic stress as I have ever since. Certain parts of everyday life kind of affected. When I wake up, I often check the house just to make sure that no one’s broken in, there’s no one there. I brush my teeth, shave, shower, but I do all of that with the door open. Kind of preparing a way I think. After that I usually go upstairs, hit the day, that’s kind of impaired by my stray of vision that’s been damaged from my brain injury.
I often have double vision, my depth of perception is pretty much non-existent since the blast. I have severe difficulty telling how far a sign is, how close cars are. I usually just set in decide that by size alone. I can’t usually tell how close I am to a liner another passing vehicle, just those sorts of things. I listen to music a lot. I watch movies.
I used to run a lot ever since my brain injury. Once I run medium to long distances I get severe dizziness and often make me feel spinning around, usually knock my conscious for a few seconds. Because of that I have to stay around others so I’ll usually with them in gym for five days a week.
First off it takes conversations. I’ll often forget what the conversation is even about. In mid sentence I forget that I'm talking. My friends and family, on top of that, I get violent mood swings or break stuffs and it’s a totally unjustified. On top of that the PTSD kicks in and having series of thoughts that just make me duly unpleasant for person. I've blown up around my father, I—it’s impossible to be close to friends and family, just because they don’t want to be around me.
My condition is being treated by a VA, it’s getting better. PTSD is treated to counseling and getting sleep aids to help me sleep at night. And so the rest helps a lot. With the traumatic brain injury I'm going through a lot of coming to exercises, trying to restrengthen my brain. And just help me live out my life.
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