thank you for starting the group Amy, and thank you for your
support. If anyone wants to send people to my Katrina group, if you
know of anyone, please feel free. Thanks. I left the link on one of
my other recent replys.....

Thank you everyone who responded. I was really needing some support.
It helps a lot, as I'm sure some of you, if not all of you know too
well.


> welcome to the family, my name is amy i am the founder here. you
> are right to feel that you are experiencing early signs of PTSD.
> catching it early is a good thing it means you can get help before
> it evoles any further. I commend you, you did the right thing,
and
> the same thing most of us hope we would do in the same situation.
> as for your friend who does not understand, some people never do.
> until someone can see the devastationm up close some people will
> never understand it's full effects. you are experiencing empathy
for
> those people you saw, met, and befriended there. your friend does
> not have empathy, only sympathy. this is not always a bad thing,
> but empathy is much harderer to deal with. someone who is
> sympathetic says i feel bad for them. someone who is empathatic
> says i can feel thier pain. i found the first step for me from
> turning my empathy into sympathy was to write out everything i
> feel. everything i saw and everything i did. it allowed me to
> begin to remember what happened, and remember what i saw...without
> reliving the feelings themselves. i can now look back and say i
> remember being there i remeber being scared, hurt, angry,
> terrified...but i dont feel scared hurt terrified now as i
remember
> it....it is remembering...not reliving. yes you didn't lose
> everything you owned...but yes you did lose a piece of yourself.
> You lost a sense of security you had, because u saw how those
people
> there had a sense of security..and it was taken away from
them..and
> you saw it first hand..this would affect most people..it can make
> you greeatful for what you do have, or fearful of what you may
> lose..most people with PTSD are the ones who go to the fearful of
> what may be lost side...which causes us to relive over and over
the
> events...
> for your friend...tell him until he has lived through it, he has
no
> precident to tell you how to feel..and ask him to change the
> subject. he is not someone who will help u in the process of
> regaining your life, but he may still be someone who can bring a
> smile to your face..and smiles are always a good start.
> please feel free to post anything you like, and hang around here
as
> long as you like..we are a family here...we don't judge
> anyone..things do get better, it just takes time, and some work.
> i have to get going...time to go food shopping...i will be around
> later if you want to chat.
>
> amy
>
> --- In emsfirepoliceptsd@yahoogroups.com, "Stephanie"
> <amstar1212@m...> wrote:
> >
> > I am a volunteer paramedic who lives in the capital region of
NY.
> I
> > have been an ems volunteer for 12 years. August 22, 2005 I
arrived
> > in New Orleans to join attend a national EMS conference at the
> > Morial Convention Center there. The last day of the conference
was
> > Saturday August 27 when I first found out that there was an
> > impending hurricane getting ready to hit New Orleans. My flight
> was
> > scheduled to depart New Orleans Monday morning and I had no
rental
> > car. The hurricane hit Monday morning. I went to the Superdome
on
> > Sunday after the mayor announced a mandatory evacuation. I could
> > have stayed at my hotel, but I wanted to find out if they needed
> > help at the superdome, since it had been widely publicized that
> the
> > superdome was the place for all the people with medical
challenges
> > to go that could not evacuate. Well, living in NY State and
seeing
> > the massive response to 9/11 I figured there would be the same
> kind
> > of overwhelming response. Especially since there was a national
> EMS
> > conference going on with an attendance of around 5000 people.
> Guess
> > what? Only me and 3 people from Cincinnati showed up at the
> > superdome (from the conference) to help with the medical needs
of
> > the thousands of people. In fact, there was not a deluge of help
> and
> > they needed us badly. I do not have the energy at the moment to
> get
> > into everything that I experienced before, during and after the
> > hurricane at the superdome, but suffice it to say it was an
> > experience that left me with what may now be considered PTSD.
From
> > what I understand, the symptoms need to last for at least a
month
> to
> > be considered PTSD instead of Acute Anxiety Disorder. Well it
has
> > been over a month now, and I am still having the symptoms, there
> is
> > no doubt about that. I have never experienced anything like
this.
> At
> > first, I had no idea what was happeneing, because I totally did
> not
> > expect it. I had nothing to reference it by since I had no prior
> > experience with it. Eventually through talking to people on a
CISM
> > team I started to figure out what was going on. I have not been
> able
> > to go back to work.... at my paying job. I am getting treatment,
> but
> > I just recently had a really bad conversation with a man I have
> > known for over 3 1/2 years. He basically has no clue what I am
> going
> > through and keeps telling me to snap out of it...get over
it...he
> > does not want to hear about it...what's wrong with me...there
are
> > other people who lost everything, why should I have a problem?
He
> > believes that what I am going through could not possibly be
> realted
> > to the four days I spent in the superdome...seeing and
> experiencing
> > everything you can imagine and MORE! Not even to mention
going
> > through the hurricane myself and not knowing when or if I would
> get
> > out of there (alive), having my own life threatened more than
> once,
> > sanitation, violence, death, shootings, suicides, rape,
impending
> > loss of generated electricity, leading to more safety and
> sanitation
> > issues, etc. etc. etc. What should I say to this guy? What would
> you
> > say to him? and what advice can you give to me in dealing with
> this?
> >
>