.
.
I saw an article about a new drug, to help with ptsd. It helps people forget. Don't take it. Don't even think about it. I won't say I took such a pill(s), but then how would I know. All I know is I have stuff scrambled in there, just out of touch. It can happen with severe cases, memory loss that is. There are a lot of reasons why memory can be lost. And, truth be told, I have zero proof that... anything happened, ever. Most information I have suggests nothing of the sort. As would, I presume, if you took that medication, your file. Of course, for some, remembering or not, their file is scrubbed. That's just business. Dirty business is secret business by it's very nature. The thing is, you do not want to forget this stuff. It WILL come back to get you anyway.
There are two parts, at least, of the brain, that store memory. One of them they can scrub, if this medicine works. One of them cannot be scrubbed. The part(s) that cannot be scrubbed creates a muscle/brain memory of the events and will lead to reactions accordingly when in similar situations. They can't scrub that. More... I do believe echoes from that part of the brain imprint into the rest of the brain. If it can't quite recreate the lost memories, it can... like ultra-sound... flesh out the notions. Sort of like a negative, not the picture but... you get the picture. Believe me, you don't want to spend the next thirty years of your life trying to figure out why you can kill people like a pro, do things that seem psychotic to the uninitiated, and have to deal with those echoes as they surface, but without the skills and training and memory of friends, allies, instructors, and such to help you cope with what you are seeing. Alone, you will be, and in the very darkest of dark. You will either figure it out or kill yourself. Maybe a bit of both. Same as if you never received a moment of treatment, to be honest.
Oh, and another suggestion? Don't bother with V.A. therapy. They will betray you. Find veterans groups, combat vets, and stick with them. Truth is, you will never be over it. There is no reason to throw your rights away for no good reason. Check with the Veterans of Foreign Wars, perhaps Disabled Vets of America, and some other groups. If they advise you to use the V.A., find another adviser. There are some out there. But don't even think of taking that pill. You've earned the right to know. And there isn't an easy way out. Fact is, you'll spend the rest of your life figuring this crap out. Heck, it's probably altered you genetically. Oh? Do some research on the children of combat vets. Different. Just... like... you. Don't fear it, though. Personally I think it's a... well... more good than bad.
Creating a drug which makes one forget the reasons behind PTSD sounds an awful lot like "sweeping it under the rug".
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be best to find out the circumstances responsible for PTSD and eliminate those?
No. There is no method to eliminate anything. The best, I believe, one can hope for is to learn to manage reactions to certain stimuli, in fact. As I suggested, it even effects children of those who have been in combat. So it's just not something that can be removed, erased, or eliminated. I'm not even sure recalling, in raw form, is the best of ideas, save in the beginning, to sort of set the stage. Actually, combat computer games are better. You can readjust your emotional states with no risks, mostly.
ReplyDeleteA permanent enemy within, if you try to ignore, "handle", or push it around. If you can learn to communicate with that aspect, then it stops being quite such a terror, or enemy. Memory lapses are terrifying. Eventually you can, sort of, become friends. It's not unlike befriending a wild animal though, it's a tenuous relationship.
The thing is, from what I have seen, "it" is in charge. It can bowl me over and shove me (my conscious mind) into a cabinet and shut all access if I'm not doing my part or am jeopardizing it's security or function. I've negotiated with it so that it allows me to 'see', when it triggers (which happens much less as time goes by, and in a good area to live, and without certain other stresses *cough* finals *cough*), and it will even take advice now. The good thing is, basically, it's looking for the path of least resistance, mostly. Some guys aren't so lucky.
It won't abide even MY nagging. Slow it all down, talk calmly to it, and suggest things. Think of having a pet lion. You don't just hit it upside the head, or yell at it, when it is excited, distracted, or a bit off. You can help it help you, or agree to a little distance, or get slammed into a cage. If you fight it's decisions, you might not even know what ended up happening.