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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (526772)	11/7/2009 2:09:18 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1578283

We know of the recent failures at Walter Reed Medical Center, where soldiers were stranded in substandard barracks infested with rats while awaiting treatment. I was in Walter Reed myself at that time seeking counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder, which, ignited by a barrage of Iraq headlines and the loss of my United States Senate seat, had simply consumed me. People do not understand how insidious PTSD is.....it effects you mentally and physically. I did not go to war and so I can't imagine how severe their trauma is but I do know what my diagnosis has meant. It means at any given moment, I will freak out about doing something. Every time I meet friends for dinner or drinks or a game my breathing accelerates and it takes me 3 times as long to get ready. I don't know why. I changed internet connectors recently to save money. They sent me a new modem.....I have changed modems numerous times......it took me two weeks before I could change the modem that came. I was uneasy and I don't know why....consequently the box with the modem sat on a chair for two weeks. When I finally got it together to do it, it took 20 minutes. I have no idea why I waited so long to do it. Anything different, any thing out of the ordinary.....causes tremendous fear that I have to overcome. Friends want me to date....want to fix me up........trust me, it would be more than I can handle. Every single date would be a nightmare. To get rejected because I am disabled would be more than I could bear. Just going on a date would be killer. In the meantime, I am trying to get a part time job so I had to go for an interview this past week with an agency. This is how it was for me getting ready......first put my shirt on....stop...slow my breathing for a couple of minutes. Put my pants on...stop....slow my breathing for a couple of minutes. Put my shoes on..stop.....slow my breathing. Get ready to go out the door....stop....slow my breathing. Get on the front porch....stop...slow my breathing. Get down to the car...stop....slow my breathing. Get in the car......stop....slow my breathing. Drive to the interview...slowing my breathing all the way. Its a frigging nightmare and it takes me forever to get ready and go. And this is after 11 years since I've been diagnosed with PTSD with me working diligently to overcome it. And I used to be fearless.....to pull trees out by their roots. Nothing was too scary for me. Now these guys coming back from war........I can't even imagine where their heads are at......their psyches must be totally shattered. Here in Seattle we have one of them suicide about once every few months. Now going back to Hasan at Ft. Hood. I think the dude was messed up before he started treating all these guys with PTSD. And so, treating them only made his pysche worse. And then he got demoted and was told he was going to the place that probably has become the source of his worst nightmares from listening to returning vets. So he exploded. And the results......there are countless more soldiers who were in that room of death and violence who will be diagnosed with PSTD in the following months. That's how the disease is spread. Violence begets more PSTD. Thanks for posting the article.