I suffered a new instance of trauma this week. it was medical trauma; this happens to me once in a while, given all the healthcare I need to get, and given the special needs I have (that providers disbelieve)
(basic overview: I told them 3-4x I was very sensitive to a medication and needed a low dose, they didn't totally believe me, they didn't stop administering more when my reaction started, and then my full reaction was so bad that they freaked out and kept asking me if they needed to call an ambulance because they had no idea what to do)
((mind you, I saw this provider because they have 5/5 stars, hundreds of reviews, supposedly absolutely amazing. still, apparently I can't avoid these incidents))
idk, maybe this was my worst instance of medical trauma. it's hard to compare these things due to recency bias.
as this week has continued, I've been thinking about how unskippable the trauma reaction feels. like I feel like I have some mini PTSD thing going on this week. (I guess it's PTS before it's PTSD. maybe there's a normal amount of PTS before it becomes a disorder?)
like, the world feels much more hostile now. everything feels worse. other distressing things keep coming to mind. and I think "how long has this been true?" and then I realize, again, this was just a mindset shift starting the day of the incident.
I think I'm a very mentally healthy person! I'm full of good coping strategies! I'm great at getting over stuff! I don't ruminate etc. nonetheless, again, the post-traumatic stress seems unskippable
I figure my mind will feel a lot more normal within a week? or three?
(anyone have One Weird Trick for not getting traumatized?)
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in reply to kip • •Ok random update on this. I now have a suspicion that I had physical trauma-effects that were delayed (and longer-lasting) compared to the psychological effects
The noticeable psychological impacts started after a day or so, and lasted maybe 4-5 days?
And I didn't have post-exertional malaise (PEM) right after the incident. But I started getting PEM really easily from other stuff
Here are charts from one of my health trackers. The incident was on the 17th. The top chart is my physical exertion per day (measured with HR data). (Ignore the final entry -- it's only so low because the day just started.) The bottom chart is my morning HRV readings. As you can see, they trended lower for a while after the incident.
Perhaps this decline will persist, but in the last few days, I started getting the feeling that I'm returning to a somewhat-less-severe baseline
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