Living with PTSD

I hope everyone is enjoying this hot Saturday and staying cool. I’ve started my morning with a couple of dabs and now I’m ready to start the grind. Kids are up running around, full with energy. It makes me happy to be able to enjoy these moments in life!

Living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is hard for everyone: yourself and all those close to you. I’ve ruined relations and over-reacted to situations in the past. Drinking seemed like the only option at a time in my life. Today, with cannabis, I’m me! I slow down and listen to people. I want to care and I can show it. I’m here, alive today because I was vigilant and aggressive in mind and body in the past. I don’t need those actions in daily life now. I medicate so triggers don’t take over.

I was talking to someone in the medical field and she described PTSD, as I relate with aggression, perfectly! Those with PTSD, veteran or not, male or female, have experienced something traumatic in their lives. This trauma trigger the sub-conscience fight, flight, or freeze instinct all people have. This trauma is so severe, even years later the person can experience triggers. These triggers when fired in normal day life, again initiate the fight, flight, or freeze instinct. The difference between those that live with PTSD from others, this natural instinct is now hard coded to always act in one action. The initial trauma is severe enough to chemically change the person’s natural instinct, thus making it hard for the person to cognitively control his or her reactions in times of stress. For me, being a veteran and being in harm’s way, my natural reaction is aggression and the fight instinct. It kept me alive!!

I’m proud for serving my country; I have very few regrets in life. Cannabis is definitely not one!

This was enlightening to me and my wife. I hope this helps others understand as well! PTSD is not something to be afraid of, with proper medication and therapy there is hope!