Page 519 - Total War on PTSD_FINAL

series of issues — the deaths of my parents, moving, and continued health problems — depression derailed me.
I started to recognize that I had an issue with PTSD. Initially, I wrote it off to the type of jobs and lifestyle I was leading. Lots of dominos fell and I couldn’t get my act together. I went into the VA and was getting counseling concentrated on the issues I was having at work. By then, I had blown out my ACL which made driving difficult. Finally, I was diagnosed with PTSD as a result of the MST. I had always felt that you just “pick up and keep going on.” But all of this came to a head and I knew I had to do something different.
The VA wanted to medicate me, but that didn’t get at the source of the problems. I had no alcohol or drug issues, however I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, depression, TMJ and hormone imbalance. Following a car accident, I also suffered from concussion syndrome, which is similar to Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
Josh’s photography classes came at a time when I was transitioning out of the job market. “I’ve always worked and it was so scary to me not to have anything there.” My key idea of retirement was to see the sights and enjoy the outdoors, so the classes were “a bit of a lifesaver.” Photography was always something I had wanted to do and now I had a way to build my skills.
Photography has served me in a lot of ways. I grab the camera and it gets me out of the house and the group events get me engaged. “Like the old firehouses, I am used to the bell going off and all of that adrenaline – I gotta do something for someone else.” So it’s important for me to serve others. Photography gets me out of the house and working with other people.
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