Page 239 - Total War on PTSD

which plagues me to this very day. The difference is my level of knowledge regarding my condition has increased, which is my first rule of overcome trauma, “You are your first line of defense”. Thanks to help from teachers and students, I was able to observe the lectures via computer, my wife purchased my books, and the students volunteered to have the study groups in my hospital room. With their assistance I completed the first year. I began attending class during the second semester but kept dozing off. I was taking prescription medication Vicodin (two pills every four hours) for pain. One professor informed me I would not successfully complete the program if I kept falling asleep in class, and I would have to find some other solution to my pain if I wanted to graduate. With some adaptive yoga and physical therapy, I weaned myself off the pain medications, and currently take a few Tylenol as needed once every few days. I am still completely opioid free. I would have never known it was a problem until my professor pointed it out to me. You never know the changes in your life you must undertake to complete a journey, until you actually attempt that journey. This is another reason why many people with PTSD do not get diagnosed properly until years after the life- threatening event.
The truth is almost every life-threatening injury or situation will have a component of PTSD attached to it. The intensity of the PTSD is dependent on a number of factors, but each individual has a different personal experience. It was during this early stage of my injury that I learned my most valuable lesson. Regardless of the type of injury, or its level of damage, the tools we use for healing are the ones we develop before we become injured. All our adversity skills: dedication, determination, perseverance, optimism, and strength, do not mysteriously manifest themselves during our healing process, they are developed by our experiences, teachers, leaders, and parents throughout our lives. It is during our rehabilitation when we reach down and draw upon them to help get us through, but first we must get over our fear and anger in order to access them. We could avoid a lot of future emotional struggles if the individual were assessed immediately after the life threatening event with PTSD, and even if there were not any symptoms present at
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