Overcoming CPTSD

[k1m]

Hi all,
Wondering if there's anyone who's found a way to heal their CPTSD. I'd like to get through it without dying. I love being alive, I love learning, it's a lot of fun. I just can't interact with people anymore. I'm like an emotionless zombie, rotting away while everyone else lives their lives. I'm on medication but that gives me nightmares so I have to sleep in 2-3hr chunks, and I'm shaken for the first hour or so after waking up. I really can't live like this. It's not fair to the people who care about me. I've pushed away some wonderful people out of fear, I get flashbacks, I relive the worst moments every time I fall asleep, I just want it to stop.

 

[Dot]

Thre = therpy calld NARM on thred b-low whch anothr membr recmmndd aftr thy wre havng gd rsults

cld b wrth lookng in2

Different Therapy Methods & Alternatives Explained

"If you want to help someone you need to know something about them" - 'It's A Wonderful Life' Considering therapy but don't know where to start? Hopefully this can be a starting point about what all those different terms mean, and help to pick the right therapist. There are also options further...

sanctioned-suicide.net

 

[wishingonstars]

I can't offer a solution for most of that because I don't have a solution for myself but for the nightmares I would recommend talking to your doctor or psychiatrist about the possibility of trazodone. It is both an antidepressant and sleep medication and has really helped me sleep through the night, I still sometimes get nightmares in the couple hours before my alarm because the dose is wearing off but it has reduced my PTSD nightmares by around 90%. Also other sleep meds might work too that's just the one I take.

I also second dot about therapy. I haven't actually heard of NARM so I will be looking into that for myself too but EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) and IFS (internal family systems) are both shown to have very positive results for many people with PTSD and CPTSD. I am doing both of them currently and have helped me so much.

Also it sounds like your medication might not be working for you, you would know way more than a stranger who has only read a paragraph about what's going on for you but the first medication I tried for the PTSD made things worse for me so it wouldn't hurt to talk to your doctor about the possibility of trying something else. That being said though don't try adding a sleep med and changing the med you are currently on at the same time.

 

[T.H]

I can't give you some useful advice either cause don't know. but maybe you can read my situation for some reference.
I used to took 25mg or more Quetiapine for sleeping. but about one year ago only Quetiapine could not help any more. so I went to my doctor and she gave me minimum trazodone for sleeping. (but just this moment when i writing my reply i found myself ran out of trazodone... this is just another kind of nightmare...almost went into anxiety...also in my period and painess a lot. luckily i could went to nearby hospital when sun rise up)
I have the same situation as yours. without sleep med I could not fall asleep or only slept for 3 hrs. but although with all the meds, I still have nightmares and stuck in moods and my nightmare when I wake up. I tried my best but I cannot help. that's why CPTSD so destructive... I barely went to school and spent almost 3 months to clean up my small room (12 square meters)
I tried therapist but it is not so effective. I looked for EMDR therapists, but that's too expensive and distant. EMDR or IFS is not mature in my country which made it difficult to find a convenient and affordable therapist. Also mindfulness is complete useless to me. But life still goes on...
I have to commit that it was so hard to recover from CPTSD. And it is true that you are looking for the possibility of continuing instead of an end. Just like what wishingonstars said, talking to your doctor about the adjustment of your medication is a possible way.

*Because English is not my native language, I apologize for any possible offense or inappropriate tone in my words.