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Question about flashbacks

5K views 21 replies 15 participants last post by  maintenanceguy 
#1 ·
Not trying to be intrusive or ask nosy questions, but I was wondering..... Has anyone experienced a genuine flash back of a traumatic event?

I don't mean thinking about the event and getting upset.

I mean where you are immersed in the experience as if it was happening to you in the present (or long after the original trauma). You think and feel things as if it was happening 'now'. You emotionally feel the way you did at the time, even physically feel it. Fear, physical pain, weakness, and you remember with perfect clarity what was said or where you were when it happened. Down to minute details like smells or the way the sun was shining on the trees or who said what and when.

While you are feeling, emotionally and physically, the traumatic event, you are somehow not 'attached' to your body. I feel like I'm floating above and slightly behind myself, watching the event. And I remember at the time of my traumatic event I had the same sensation, that I was not in my body somehow.

How do you handle it when you or maybe a loved one has a flashback? Can you get control of yourself or your loved one, or do you just have to let it play out?

And yes, I am seeing a professional about this. I am just curious what others may do when this happens.
 
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#4 ·
I mean where you are immersed in the experience as if it was happening to you in the present (or long after the original trauma). You think and feel things as if it was happening 'now'. You emotionally feel the way you did at the time, even physically feel it. Fear, physical pain, weakness, and you remember with perfect clarity what was said or where you were when it happened. Down to minute details like smells or the way the sun was shining on the trees or who said what and when.

While you are feeling, emotionally and physically, the traumatic event, you are somehow not 'attached' to your body. I feel like I'm floating above and slightly behind myself, watching the event. And I remember at the time of my traumatic event I had the same sensation, that I was not in my body somehow.

How do you handle it when you or maybe a loved one has a flashback? Can you get control of yourself or your loved one, or do you just have to let it play out?
Absolutely. Multiple times in the past, though not in quite a few years. I have had extremely vivid flashbacks, almost to the point of watching a rerun of the event. I have also had I guess hallucinations which were related to the event itself.

I have basically just let it ply out in the past. Now when you ask how you "get control of yourself" I haven't had anything that felt like I was out of control. No, that's not quite correct. Things felt out of control at the time but it really wasn't the flashback it was simply the fact that I was having one and felt like I was losing my mind.

Remember, these things are natural reactions to unnatural events and your mind is trying to put things in perspective.
 
#5 ·
I've never had a flashback while conscious/awake.

Asleep however it's somewhat routine. It's exactly what you described. Sights, sounds, smells, along with fear, and helplessness. All of it in probably greater detail than I can remember when conscious.

It bothered my wife and family at first but now they just let it be. Besides over time it seems to happen less often.
 
#6 ·
I've had flashbacks but not like you describe. More often it is very vivid dreams where I am trying to "get out".

My husband does not have flashbacks, interesting considering he suffered a lot of trauma. Maybe the head injury has something to do with it.

I have never required any "help" if I was having an issue, I just pushed it away. I found praying for the attacker (he got away) to be helpful. When dreaming my husband suggested I fight to remember I am out of my abusive childhood and hang onto that. That has been very helpful.

It isn't too bad these days. My sister was whining about having PTSD one day, how I wouldn't understand, I was on the phone and I smirked and did not respond.
 
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#7 ·
Thanks everyone, I appreciate the replies.

This is while I'm awake, and I didn't want to say anything about hallucinations and feeling like I was losing my mind. But yeah, I've had some hallucinations from this, hearing things related to the day it happened, to the place, and physical sensations like I am experiencing the same physical trauma as the day it happened. Even smells. The smells are a fore-warning that a flashback is about to happen. I have migraines too, have had all my life, and as the sensitivity to light, odors, and things touching my skin are precursors to a migraine, the smells associated with that day are a precursor that I'm about to have a flashback.

It is also triggered by seeing or hearing things associated with the event. People I see, places, even things like pieces of furniture or colors, textures, songs, smells, anything that was 'contained' in the event can set me off.

I've struggled with this problem since the day it happened, and it's been years. But I have never had a flashback until the last week. Never.

I feel I need to control it because..... I can't stop it. Because it washes over me like a wave and it almost feels like its drowning me.

Thank you all for your replies and insights, I do appreciate them. They give me something to think about, food for thought.
 
#9 ·
It could be a mild epileptic seizure or it could be nothing at all. Since it just started happening I would get it checked ASAP. A neurologist will hook you up to an EEG and try to trigger it with flashing light.

I have visual aura's and they come and go, but it is disturbing. I think mine are migraines.
 
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#8 ·
If you are hallucinating that is a medical emergency and you need to treat it as such. A couple of lines of text on your screen are not going to fix that. Medication and therapy will. My psychiatrist treats PTSD victims using some of the medications I take.

I am sure if you look you can find a specialist to help you. Many doctors accept patients paying cash. Many of the medications are incredibly cheap and have few side effects.
 
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#10 ·
I don't know if this would be a flash back or not. Maybe it is dejavu. I don't know. Awhile ago though I kept thinking I needed to buy exercise synthetic shirts to keep cool and can handle sweat. I had a though that my house was going to be overly warm and that I would need to call a new airconditioner repair guy.

Now my air conditioner has broken today and I'm trying to think back what made today important. Very odd and mystical. Has me feeling a bit odd waiting for the new repair guy to arrive.
 
#15 ·
For some of us, the brain doesn't process traumatic experience the same as mundane everyday life events. The extreme emotion that would accompany a traumatic event doesn't hit until sometime after the event is over. It's a survival mechanism. The brain setting aside emotional response so you can take care of business instead of freaking out. The downside is it makes you prone to PTSD, which is basically a memory that get's stuck in your brain instead of being processed and fading.

EMDR seemed ridiculous to me at first, but it does work for many people. It worked for me. It doesn't erase memories, but it drains the emotion and allows them to fade like normal. It may not work for everyone, but it's completely noninvasive and can't do any harm.
 
#16 ·
I did but it was a long time ago when I was around 10. I had been molested by a couple of teenagers in a riverbed near my home in California. I was traumatized for at least a year. For some reason, I would re-live the event when the song "Horse With No Name" by America came on the radio. I loved that song before they "got me" but couldn't listen to it for a very long time. I'm back to loving it and I no longer (at 58 years old) have nightmares or flashbacks.
 
#17 ·
Birdy B, I know this thread is a couple of moths old, but I have experienced a couple of flashbacks before and I just wanted to reach out. I do not have diagnosed PTSD from my time in the military, but I the two flashbacks I have had were very severe and unsettling, not your typical uncomfortable daydream or nightmare! I am glad you are seeking help for this. Please know that you are not alone, and that there are others who know exactly how crazy this feels! I have lost several Army buddies who took their own lives because they did not think others would understand. If you need anything, please feel free to PM me :)
 
#18 ·
Check all your food labels, make sure they haven't substituted in new stuff.

Have you started any new proscriptions? Switched from name brand to generic.

If this is a new problem you should have a check up, might be an issue with hormone balance or something going wrong with the pituitary gland.
 
#19 ·
Not trying to be intrusive or ask nosy questions, but I was wondering..... Has anyone experienced a genuine flash back of a traumatic event?
Yes, several times, but not like you describe, mine are while awake and, generally, come from some sort of stimulus.

I hadn't had any for many years but maybe a month ago the wife and I were out for a walk and suddenly I was back, sounds, smells, the whole kabob. I can't attribute it to any stimulus at all, and it's been 20 or more years since the last time.
 
#20 ·
Yes. In my case it started in childhood and is triggered by a smell. Depending on the severity, I might not be conscious of any of my actions for a time surrounding an incident. It scares me, but the people around me worse.
The only solution is to separate me from the trigger ASAP. Sometimes I can do this on my own by running away from the area, that presents another problem because I KEEP running. I've came back to myself in some pretty strange and a few times, dangerous places. Another trick of the mind, I usually I forget I am an adult who CAN drive.
Lucky the smell is not common and can be avoided in most cases. I got therapy for it as an adult that had no effect. The last incident was, oddly enough at home (my MIL brought in the smell) nearly 4 years ago.
 
#21 ·
I saw a 60 minutes program on this treatment and found it fascinating, I know several folks this might be helpful for , not only for PSTD , but for facial and spinal pain management. Although there can be some complications, it seems to be extremely simple and effective for those who have had it done.

Evidence Brief: Effectiveness of Stellate Ganglion Block for Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK442253/

https://www.google.com/url?q=https:...GCQIQFggdMAM&usg=AOvVaw2LjYAEPTKm7y0lHQiI9aD-

https://www.google.com/search?q=va+ptsd+nerve+block&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-m

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk
 
#22 ·
I've had two close calls where I had several minutes (in one case it may have been hours) where I truly believed I was going to end up dead. It's really strange that those things just sit somewhere in the back of your brain and never seem to go away. I'll be fine for years and then something tiny triggers a memory and I'm all choked up. Fortunately it's been when I was alone or in a place where I could excuse myself and not make a public spectacle of myself.

I don't know if I've had flashbacks but I've woken up in a panic a very small number of times. I guess I was dreaming and it was so real that I though I was there again for a few seconds after waking up. I quickly realized that everything was okay but my heart was pounding, adrenaline was pumping, and there was no chance I was getting back to sleep. It's a terrible experience. Fortunately it's a very rare occurrence.
 
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