Happy 2010

Have an excellent evening wherever you are. We're staying in with out pizza, decaf iced tea. And connecting globally online. You have to protect yourself.

From A to Z

Happy early New Year :). Have big plans? We're debating whether we should go out or not. In the past, we'd go into a club. And then ten minutes later we'd go home. You have to protect yourself.

We're still having lucid dreams in the middle of the night. Is it one of our multiples or my little kid screaming to be heard? We're not sure. We talk as much as possible. We trust each other. Earlier today, a therapist says maybe they will? We'll see what happens.

One minute there's some balance. The next, terror and fear hits hard. We still at times feel like everybody who ever treated us like s**t is trying to beat us down. Which means you have fight your way thru it all.

How do you cope with this despair? Some say dealing with trauma is like early sobriety. Eventually it does even out. Yet, how do you cope with the extremes when they happen?

Post your thoughts. Or email to ptsdsurvival at gmail.com.

The Global Perspective

Greetings to our growing global audience. Thanks, and please keep getting the word out on our site.

How's it going? Stocking up on our herbal tea and meds (to help get over bronchitis). The nice thing about most Chinese herbs? There's no such thing as an overdose.

How are you coping with holiday flashbacks, triggers and other stuff? We're still sticking to compartmentalize it. Don't avoid it. But break it down into manageable sections.

Maybe that's one common thing with trauma survivors? The feeling that you can singlehandedly save the world. And then you have to fight that urge and think, right. Instead of that, let's start over here.

Because while it's a nice idea, it's not your responsibility. Protection comes first.

Set boundaries. Watch the diet. And edit everything that you need to. It can be a pain in the ass to do it 24/7. Then again, you really don't have a choice.

One last idea. Should you multi-task or not? Try not doing it for a day and see how it goes. One idea is that not doing it will let you follow thru more and give you more free time later on. Kind of the anti-multi-task-approach.

There's a best seller in there somewhere...

Latenight Thoughts

Staying warm in your part of the world? Here, nice and warm and being nice to ourselves. One rule of thumb: stay away from midnight snacks. They ALWAYS lead to nightmares, lucid dreams and other horrible stuff.

How are your symptoms? We're still staying away from all triggers as much as possible. In the diet, B-12 twice a day seems to help some as well. The idea being that since you're fighting stress so much, megadosing on some vitamins and herbs is ok. Just do your research to be sure.

Another tip: ginsing in the morning instead of coffee. Caffeine depletes your chi (body energy). So if you have to have some, try no more than two cups a day. Actually, herbal tea throughout the day is all right. Then mix in some white tea for a little variety.

Listening to Radio France Intl. online. Let's see what Sarkozy is up to today.

The Day After Boxing Day

How's your weekend (for those of you still in the weekend)? Then again, maybe you're still on holiday. Which means the first sentence is rather silly.

We did a little shopping. But we fought the urge to fight the crowds at 5 a.m. to be the first in the store. What's the point?

How's your online security these days? The best thing we do is to think like a hacker.

If somebody wants to hack you, what would they do? As you go down the list, create a block. That way, you're effectively covering your tracks.

Coming soon. Some more multimedia stuff to make this hopefully better for everyone. But NO ads.

Any comments? Post here or email to ptsdsurvival at gmail.com.

Boxing Day Thoughts for You

Happy Boxing Day. Here in the States some people call this Black Day II. Thnaksgiving is the first day when people stand in line at midnight to be the first ones into the store. Today is the day for those who didn't do it the first time to catch up.

How are your symptoms? Coping ok right now? Setting boundaries is helping some here. You can kick back on the diet for a while. But at a certain point you can still be in holiday mode AND be nice to your body.

Enjoy the weekend. And feel free to post or email to ptsdsurvival at gmail.com.

Xmas Stuff

Happy Xmas. Hope you're having a cool time and can maintain a happy balance.

Positive karma to everybody :).

Time to Stay in

Happy early Xmas. Pacing is everything in this global whatever :).

Is it a worldwide thing for people to fight over gifts in stores 6 hours before Xmas? Or, is it only in the States? Not sure.

How are your symptoms right now? Coping ok with the holiday stress? We're politely setting boundaries. If we have to, we politely say thanks for the invitation. But no. We're staying in.

You have to protect yourself. And that's ok. Sounds basic to say. But it's true.

Be happy and cool whatever you do.

Post comments or email anytime to ptsdsurvival at gmail.com.

It's All About Balance

How's your Wednesday? Some rough points here with dissociating and anger. But also, nice to just chill and do what you feel like today. Caught up on some reading and looking ahead (a step at a time).

Enjoy your evening.

Lunchtime Thoughts

Almost done with the Xmas shopping. But so much to eat and drink :).

Doing ok this week with your symptoms? Be very cautious with triggers. Holidays can be a rough time when you're feeling bombarded everywhere you turn.

Have a nice day :).

Holiday Thoughts

We all know that everybody's different in their trauma, healing rates and more. With that in mind, when you can take 30 seconds or so and think about those other survivors. They didn't ask to be traumatized. And to have PTSD and the other s**t that goes with it.

Nobody pays attention to them. So why not pay attention. Even if it's only for 30 seconds.

Holiday Stuff

Sating in tonight and catching up on email, presents and food :).

What helps to keep your stress down right now? For us, my multiples, little kid and I talk as much as possible. This has helped in many ways. But despite that, we're still getting hit with flashbacks and horrible dissociating.

Do you have times when you just curl up in the corner because the world is beating down on you? Maybe for us the worst part of it is this. NOBODY is going to help you. they may have a million different reasons why. That still doesn't take away that terror of nobody helping you. To deal with something horrible that you didn't ask for.

We compartmentalize to cope. And, we take things in segments. In addition, you have to fight the urge to singlehandedly save every survivor. It would be nice to do it. However, you can't.

Which means it's protection comes first. And you work in channels where you can. The MSM doesn't want to pay attention. Fine. We'll make our own channel(s). And get the word out that way.

For our Stateside readers: heard from a source that another blizzard is on the way. Expect possibly 1 foot of snow (or more) by Wednesday.

And global warming has NOTHING to do with it.

Latenight Stuff

How's your weekend? Tonight, it's herbal tea and maybe a brownie or two. Your body can only take so much salsa and chips (crisps for the rest of the world)?

Anyway, today's been a rough day with anger and occasional flashbacks. You're in a crowded place and want to scream. Everywhere you look people are out to rape and kill you. Probably not. But all trauma survivors know you HAVE to protect yourself. Even if it's a lucid dream, you have to fight back. I've never met another survivor or reputable therapist who had another solution. Which means you go with what works.

How are you on setting boundaries? Is it possible to do that firmly with a smile on your face? Yes, it is. You fought bloody hard to get to this point of balance. Therefore, why mess it up?

Here's a useful grounding trick. Touch your fingers really fast back and forth (like you're warming up to do coin tricks). It does help to focus because it's like doing EMDR. And some people might be impressed by your skill. You might even get some gigs too.

If you do, you don't have to pay me 10%.

Copenhagen and PTSD. Is There a Connection?

In a broad sense there is. Trauma can be many things to many people. PTSD can come from many different types of trauma. And what could be more traumatic than realizing that your country could literally disappear?

That's a common theme of trauma survivors. Fighting not to snap. Fighting not to literally fall apart and vanish. Maybe your multiple personalities are fighting to be heard. Do you have PTSD blackouts? If you do, what happens? Where do you go and what do you say? How do you deal with that afterwards?

One aspect of being a survivor? Politicians will always use you as a political football in some ways. The key is to compartmentalize it so you can keep going.

Any thoughts on this? Post a comment or email to ptsdsurvival at gmail.com.

Is It Snowing In Your Neighborhood?

Greetings to our global audience. In the U.K., lots of snow. Here, cold but no snow. In Australia, no snow and much warmer. And keep in mind, global warming has nothing to do with it.

Having said that, how are your symptoms? Today, white tea's helping some. But at times dissociating and anger lash out.

Have you ever snapped in a public place? Have you had a PTSD blackout recently? In our case, not for a while. It just feels like trauma is all coming out.

Do you know of any good sites that have PTSD apps? Something to help you focus? If you do, please let us know.

Take care of yourself. Post a comment or email to ptsdsurvival at gmail.com.

The Great Health Food Mystery

Usually there's lots of depressing stuff happening. Which means we need a break from it all.

With that in mind, here's a question. If health food is so good for you, then why is it twice as expensive? Sometimes up to five times. Example: peanut butter for $10 a jar.

If they think there's a market for this, then why are they advertising to many people that they know can't afford this?

The answer? They're probably owned by a global food megacorporation. The idea is to get you to buy health food. Then you see the prices. You get depressed and buy junk food. And this corporation is making all the profit.

Sounds like a global conspiracy to me. Does Ron Paul have any connection with this?

Global Stuff

Climate change in Copenhagen. The World Cup. Sounds exciting.

Now, the bad news. Can't afford to go. But that's ok. A step at a time.

How are your symptoms these days? We're still trying to find a new therapist. It might mean continuing long-distance with our current one. You do what you have to.

Do you still have extremes in your symptoms? One minute you feel like there's some clarity. Then you're terrified as flashbacks and more hit you.

What helps you to maintain your balance? Diet seems to play a big part right now. Another part is setting boundaries. Does this work for you?

Feel free to post your comments. And email to ptsdsurvival at gmail.com.

Can You Actually Make a Difference?

Just had an interesting talk with someone at my local health food store re: making a difference. Her point: can you actually do something global, not charge a lot for it. And help as many people as possible? Call it activist capitalism. (Hope she doesn't sue me for copyright violation).

The idea is this. Global capitalism in it's present form is essentially predatory. Unless the proper controls are put in place, people naturally will go for massive profit despite the "risk" that's staring them in the face.

Is it wrong to work hard and get rich from that? No. But since we live in a world of laws governing various behaviours, there have to be some controls in place. The problem with that is that many politicians who can implement these are in the pocket of the big corporations that oppose them. They say we get "campaign donations" from them. Actually, they're bribes.

Now, do you have to be Bill Gates, Bono or Bill Rodgers to do something like this? Sure, being rich already and a global celebrity does help. But what if you're neither of those?

You can. Why can you do it? Because the MSM won't consider something for a long time until it has "legs". Then suddenly it's "news" (when actually it's been news for a long time).

It's a matter of your "brand", the niche you're trying to fill. And the channels you use to get the word out.

How many billions of sites and blogs are online? Who knows. But the point is this. Quality content will stand out. Even if it's something taboo like talking about rape survivors, PTSD or other stuff.

Now we could charge you for the content here. Then maybe we could retire early and buy that beach house in the Bahamas. But that wouldn't be right. So we'll continue to keep this free.

In return, we ask that you help to get the word out. Consider it guerrilla marketing. If the MSM won't help you go elsewhere. Use other channels or create your own. Because if the content is helpful, the audience will show up.

Post your comments or email to ptsdsurvival at gmail.com.

Worldwide Pressure

How are you coping with the holiday stuff? For some, there's no snow to worry about. No ice to scrape off your car. For others, just how long will I be stuck in this %^$% airport?

In all of those, how do you cope with managing your symptoms? A person in Toronto (who's a cancer survivor) told me a good point. It's like being in remission. At times you have good days. And then you have horrible ones.

This can help in some ways. However, for us we don't want this hanging over our head forever.

One helpful thing is to have something solid to hold onto. You're focusing on that (along other ways to ground yourself like deep breathing, staying off caffeine, and others).

Feel free to add other ideas. Post here or email to ptsdsurvival at gmail.com.

Pacing is the Key

It is Monday, right? How's the week looking? Just got back from checking out apts. in the new location. It's doable overall. A little more expensive. But more of everything.

How are your symptoms going? Adrenalin surges and dissociating still flare out at times. You try to stay as healthy as possible. Despite that, it's hard to focus at times.

Are you feeling like people listen to you? If not, how do you cope with that? You can't instantly change everyone. But you also would like ONE person to pay attention.

My multiples, little kid and I talk as much as possible. And at times you feel like you're getting assaulted by stimuli everywhere you turn. How do you stay grounded and not scream and snap?

Please pass on your comments. Post comments or email to ptsdsurvival at gmail.com.

FAQ's

Hope you're liking the new stuff here. But this means answering some FAQ's:

Email- Thanks for that. But keep in mind ANYTHING with attachments will be deleted. In addition, we're writing the address out (instead of an @ symbol) to stop the spiders, spammers and others from bombarding us.

Tracking- Unlike the CIA, NSA and other groups, we DO NOT keep a global database of names, IP addresses and more. We only use the map as a tool to show where the support comes from. And, everybody loves a cool map that's full.

Donations and ads- We will NEVER post Google Ads on this page. We have way too much respect for you to do that.

As for donations, right now thanks but no, we don't need them. This blog is totally free and hopefully will help a lot of people.

Copyright- All material on this blog is copyrighted by us and occasionally others. If we use a picture, etc. of yours and you want it taken down, please send a polite email. And we'll do it.

In return, if you want to quote something from here, please name us as the source. And, if possible link us where you can.

More to Come

Staying warm right now with our gluten free browni. Which maybe isn't a great idea before dinner. Then again, in this global economy anything can happen :).

How are you coping with symptoms? What helps you to keep a balanc (especially during the holidays)? For us, setting boundaries helps in some ways. Another is to pay attention to what you eat, drink and do. And when to stop and say, do we really need this?

Do you really need the large pizza, giant bag of Doritos and case of (fill in the blank)? Maybe not that much. This doesn't mean a spartan lifestyle. Instead, just a little more thought at times to why you're doing things.

Can this carry over into dealing with PTSD symptoms? Yes it can. Example: the feeling that the rest of the world could care less about you. You know that NOT everybody's like that. Yet, on those bad days how do you keep that perspective?

Compartmentalize. Take on sections of stuff and see how it goes. At night, my multiples, little kid and I have our meeting. The deal is I listen to them. But go as easy as possible.

The bottom line is balance and protecting yourself. That's rough at times to think about. But the truth is nobody else will do it. So what choice do you have?

Thanks for the support. The map in the upper left hand corner is NOT designed to give me your home address, mobile number and more. It's hopefully a cool way to see that there are others like us all over the place who find this site helpful.

As always, comments, suggestions and more: email ptsdsurvival at gmail.com

Getting Bombarded

How many times have you checked YOUR email today? Why do you have to check it every five minutes? Unless Obama's emailing you, how do you cope with that compulsion :)?

We're really trying to stick to boundaries. Stay away from triggers and information overload. Watch the diet. And when you have to, turn everything off. Go for a walk. Go for a nice lunch.

In this tight economy, maybe the lunch is easier said than done. But there are things you can do.

Does this help you? Feel free to pass on tips to here or at ptsdsurvival at gmail.com.

The First Clip

Keep Your Balance

Into the weekend, and we're really trying to keep our balance. Part of it is really watching what you eat. There's more awareness of what you eat. And when to say enough. You have to change parts of it. But the nice thing is that after the initial shock, you can adjust. It's not a spartan routine. Just more awareness.

Some soothing Santana to make your day :).

Stay in and Stay Warm

Too cold to go out tonight. So instead, we're staying in with our Friday night snack and listening to World Cup news online.

From time to time we'll be posting holistic stuff about diet and more. If you come across something helpful post a comment with a link. And then we'll check it out.

Anger's a real problem tonight. So time for some meditation and tai-chi.

No Tiger Woods Posts Allowed

It is Thursday, right? But for those of who already into Friday, let us gently ease into it, ok?

How are your symptoms these days? Here, we're really trying to stay as healthy as possible. Tonight, a nice bottle of aloe and a few salt-free chips. For now, we're talking a break from the corporate-food-conglomerate-salt-fight. If they don't want to deal with it, that's their loss of our money. For Canadians, feel good that you're smart enough to stay away from high-salt foods. And the 72-oz. Mickey D's cups. That's one six pack in one cup. We tried to interest some people in a 96 oz. cup. But no luck. Which means no chance of breaking into the mainland Chinese market. Then again, do you really want 1 billion overweight Chinese? We don't think so.

How do you cope with severe swings in symptoms? One minute, there's some clarity. Then, violent symptoms. Everyone we trust says it's trauma flooding out. However, at times we curl up in a corner and rock back and forth because it feels like everyone's trying to beat us down. You compartmentalize it as best you can. But the fear still happens.

If Obama really thinks that no national health care is a national emergency, then why not us his Executive Order power to declare one and implement universal care? Set aside all the political spin and other rubbish. And look at it from a human decency angle.

10% of the population in the States has some form of PTSD. That's 30 million people.

How come this isn't a threat to the security of the States? Is it worse than terrorism? That's another post. However, it IS a threat to the security of the people. And Obama does have the power to implement this.

So frankly it's very disappointing to see stupid political crap endlessly taking up the daily 24 hour news cycle. And apparently most people think it's perfectly ok. To be fair, some are protesting and getting arrested in the process. But how much time do they get on-air? Maybe 20 seconds. How much time do Tiger Wood's "alleged" affairs get? In one week we've gotten over 200 emails on this. (NOTE: Do you really think he'd sue if we were the ONLY blog on the Net to say he had multiple affairs? You're rich enough as it is. Save the money on legal fees.).

It's beyond astounding that PTSD is just another political football to get people elected. Meanwhile, what about the survivors who could be denied "health coverage" because of something they have that they didn't ask for?