Complex PTSD & PTSD exhaustion

The exhaustion which comes as a result of suffering with the above conditions is constantly present. No matter how much you sleep or rest, you never seem to feel completely rejuvenated.

The following blog post by Roland Bal further explains this:

https://rolandbal.com/trauma-and-ptsd-exhaustion-fatigue-and-tiredness/

Love Athina ♥

© All blog posts and images are owned by me and Courage Coaching. Please don’t use without consent and only re-blog if you would like to use the information on here.

Healing from abuse

The sad thing about healing from abuse is that many people who haven’t themselves been abused, can’t possibly understand the survivor’s journey.

Healing from abuse is unique to each individual who has experienced it. The survivor will be emotionally damaged and/or physically hurt and unfortunately this damage is sometimes irreversible. Abuse leaves behind scars unique to each survivor’s experience.

Although healing means that your mind and body are able to recover, this doesn’t mean that the person can return to being ‘normal’.

The aftermath of abuse is usually permanent.

There might be long-lasting Complex PTSD for those who suffered child abuse, human trafficking, kidnapping or other severe types of abuse.

For some individuals abuse might be all they have known. They don’t have a pre-trauma or pre-abuse identity. They might not know what it is truly like to feel safe.

To all survivors of abuse or trauma,it is very important to remember this:

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Love Athina ♥

© All blog posts and images are owned by me and Courage Coaching. Please don’t use without consent and only re-blog if you would like to use the information on here.

 

A great resource for CPTSD sufferers that have trouble sleeping

moon-769918_1920 I came across this wonderful website & blog known as ‘Beauty after bruises’, which is a voluntary website that provides invaluable support for those with CPTSD and/or Dissociation.

The links I am adding here are very useful for those of you who really struggle with sleeping and generally dread the night time. Please check them out if you think they might help you and feel free to re-blog this post so it also reaches others.

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Love Athina ♥

© All blog posts and images are owned by me and Courage Coaching. Please don’t use without consent and only re-blog if you would like to use the information on here.

 

Narcissistic abuse-Trauma bonding with a parent

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As many of you already know, my journey to qualifying as a Life Coach, was based on my own recovery from my narcissistically abusive parents.

For those of you who don’t follow my more personal blog, I wanted to just give you a little insight into my own struggles.

In the last few days, I have been struggling with contact again from my father, after 1 year and a half of not speaking.

I sent him a letter, so he could stop harrassing me by phone.

I never exclusively told him I wanted no contact, but after a very traumatic time following his attempted suicide, (as a way of stopping his wife from leaving him) he gave me the silent treatment for a year, so I just went along with it.

I was not willing to respond to him and was already in a grieving process, even though there was no closure of any sort.

When he finally decided to start hoovering me back in with his phonecalls and sudden caring, I continued to ignore his calls. This communication from him went on for 8 months. I finally got fed up with the constant calls that I decided to send him a letter to end our relationship. I briefly explained my reasons and gave him the chance to reply.

I received his reply and it hit me really hard! More than I expected it to.

I realised that I still had a tiny glimmer of hope that he might change his behaviour and this was a huge setback for me. I also realised how incredibly strong the trauma bonding is between us, even more so than with my mother.

As a means of coping with my recent distress and the final letter to him, which I am in the process of writing at the moment, I created the below video!

It outlines what I have been going through and what many other survivors of abuse face all the time.

Please feel free to share it, if you think it may help others.

Just visit my Youtube page and embed it into your page.

Thanks for reading

Love Athina ♥

© All blog posts and images are owned by me and Courage Coaching. Please don’t use without consent and only re-blog if you would like to use the information on here.

2nd Video on emotional flashbacks

Hello fellow bloggers & friends,

I hope you had a good weekend and have started your week with hope in your heart. I have been unusually busy over the last week, as hubby has been on holiday from work. My mornings have been completely transformed from work & ‘me’ time, to long breakfasts and lots of ‘us’ time. We just celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary on Saturday and took a mini break away in the wonderful town of Braunschweig. An escape from the usual routine we are well accustomed to, is so incredibly refreshing and enriching.

Although hubby is still on holiday this week as well, I want to make sure I keep up my blogging and Youtube Videos, even if at a lesser frequency.

I have finally managed to set up my new webcam and got the sound on the microphone to the level it should be at. I can safely say that the quality of my Youtube videos will finally be at an acceptable level.Hoorah 🙂

Although I started off my video today thinking it would only be a very short trial one (to test out my new webcam), it ended up being a long one!

The video is about emotional flashbacks once again and how to manage them.

The video below is the 2nd one I have posted on this topic, as I have received a few more requests to talk more about this difficult area of CPTSD.

Love Athina ♥

Ps: I finally received my full & approved ‘Certificate in Coaching’ today after completing the written assignment and waiting a long 12 weeks for the course tutors to correct it.

Unfortunately, they forgot to add my married name in brackets as I had originally requested but despite this, I am very very pleased 🙂

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© All blog posts and images are owned by me and Courage Coaching. Please don’t use without consent and only re-blog if you would like to use the information on here.

Trauma is a loss, so it must be grieved

Trauma happens to all of us..We all go through life with a few small traumas. Most of the time, small traumas or small losses don’t leave emotional scars. We just keep going and adjust to whatever life throws at us.

If on the other hand, the trauma or loss we suffer is profound, then this means that we will be more deeply affected by it and will need longer to overcome it or learn to live with the affects.

In this video, I touch on the importance of grief and the 3 main stages of grief you go through when dealing with a major loss or trauma.

Love ♥ Athina

© All blog posts and images are owned by me and Courage Coaching. Please don’t use without consent and only re-blog if you would like to use the information on here.

Shame

Shame is caused by negative messages. The shame I am highlighting in this video is caused by dysfunctional parents. Shame is insidious and can have detrimental effects on the way we view ourselves and others.

This is something I am very familiar with as a survivor of narcissistic abuse and I want to highlight the cause of shame, so people can maybe identify with what might have been said to them as children and so they can find a way to move forward and heal.

Love ♥ Athina

© All blog posts and images are owned by me and Courage Coaching. Please don’t use without consent and only re-blog if you would like to use the information on here.

 

CPTSD= Courage Progress Tenacity Survival Determination

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Healing from PTSD is tough! Healing from Complex PTSD is even tougher.

In honour of World Suicide Prevention Awareness Day, I want to tell every single one of you survivors out there that you can look at your PTSD & CPTSD differently, just for today! ♥

C-PTSD = COURAGE PROGRESS TENACITY SURVIVAL DETERMINATION

Love ♥ Athina

© All blog posts and images are owned by me and Courage Coaching. Please don’t use without consent and only re-blog if you would like to use the information on here.

 

YouTube video:Is it possible to completely cure Complex PTSD?Tips for a better chance at healing.

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend to the best of your ability.To those of you struggling at the moment, I hope you are doing ok and reaching out for support. The blogging community is filled with wonderful, caring people and it is important to keep this community positive and encouraging. To those of you who need it, I am sending you a big hug! ♥ Take it one step at a time ♥

As some of my regural readers know, I am off to London tomorrow until Thursday to visit family and friends, while my husband is away for work.My Youtube videos are usually posted every Monday, however due to the fact I am off to London tomorrow, I decided to do this one a little earlier.

I talk about Complex PTSD once again, as there are so many of you who suffer with it and I am pretty sure that you need some hope, to keep fighting it and keep moving forward. Through lots of research and from my own personal experience, I talk about the most helpful things you can do to support your healing.

Much love Athina ♥

© All blog posts and images are owned by me and Courage Coaching. Please don’t use without consent and only re-blog if you would like to use the information on here.

Symptoms of anxiety that you may not know about

Anxiety can affect our body in so many ways that sometimes it is very hard to differentiate  between anxiety or something much more serious.Some symptoms are exactly the same as symptoms caused by more serious health problems, so how do we tell the difference? 

It is usually helpful to get check ups with a doctor to rule out anything more serious but most of the time, a doctor can tell you if what you are experiencing is caused by anxiety.

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The below symptoms were directly sourced from: www.anxietycentre.com This website is the most helpful and detailed website out there regarding anxiety, that I have recommended to clients, those suffering from an anxiety disorder & also therapists.

This would be useful, to anybody out there who suffers with Generalised Anxiety, OCD, phobias, panic disorder, PTSD, CPTSD & Social Anxiety.

This website, helped me identify a lot of my own anxiety symptoms several years ago, when I was in a constant state of hyperarousal and anxiety. Shortly after this period, I was diagnosed with Complex PTSD, which finally gave me more insight into my condition.

The symptoms list on this website, were very validating for me at a time that I literally felt like I was going crazy with anxiety.

I personally have experienced the following symptoms, in addition to the most well-known symptoms that most people know about.

  • Eye problems, vision symptoms
  • Eyes sensitive to light
  • Tingling & numbness in arms
  • Frequent urination
  • Bad taste in the mouth and anxiety
  • A tinny, metallic, or ammonia, or unusual smell or taste
  • Depersonalization
  • Derealization
  • Brain fog
  • Tremors

Which of these symptoms have you experienced from your anxiety disorder?

Below is a detailed list of all the symptoms associated with an anxiety disorder. Did you ever think there were this many?

Body Anxiety Symptoms:

  • Back pain, stiffness, tension, pressure, soreness, spasms, immobility in the back or back muscles
  • Blanching (looking pale, loss of color in the face or skin)
  • Blushing, turning red, flushed face, flushed skin, blushing, red face or skin
  • Body aches, parts of or your entire body feels sore and achy, feels like your body and muscles are bruised
  • Body jolts
  • Body zaps
  • Body shakes
  • Body trembling, shaking, anxiety symptoms
  • Body tremors
  • Body temperature increase or decrease, change in body temperature
  • Brain zaps
  • Burning skin, itchy, crawly, prickly or other skin sensations, skin sensitivity, numbness on the skin
  • Burning skin sensation on the face, neck, ears, scalp, or shoulders
  • Buzzing sensation in the feet, toes, hands, fingers, arms, legs
  • Chest pain anxiety symptoms
  • Chest pains anxiety symptoms
  • Chest tightness feeling
  • Choking
  • Choking feeling in throat
  • Chronic Fatigue, exhaustion, super tired, worn out
  • Chronic pain and anxiety
  • Clumsiness, feeling clumsy, co-ordination problems with the limbs or body
  • Cold chills, feeling cold all the time
  • Cold flashes, flash
  • Cold hands and feet
  • Craving sugar, sweets, chocolate, usual craving for sugar and sweets
  • Crazy thoughts
  • Difficulty speaking, moving mouth, talking, co-ordination problems with the mouth or tongue
  • Dizziness, feeling lightheaded, dizzy, feeling dizzy
  • Electric shock feeling, body zaps
  • Excess of energy, you feel you can’t relax
  • Falling dropping sensation
  • Feeling faint
  • Feel ill and sick, yet can’t describe how you feel but that you feel ill in some way
  • Feel like you are going to pass out
  • Feel cold, chilly, cold all the time
  • Feel wrong, different, foreign, odd, or strange
  • Feels like floor is moving, swaying
  • Flu-like symptoms, feel sick or ill, feel like you are coming down with the flu
  • Flushed face, red face, flushed skin
  • Frequent urination
  • Frequent urination at night
  • Frequent urination in men
  • Hair loss, hair is thinning, or clumps of hair are falling out, balding
  • Headaches, migraine headaches, anxiety headaches
  • Head and Brain Zaps
  • Head and brain zaps – medication causes
  • Heart palpitations, racing heart
  • Hot flash, flashes
  • Hyperactivity, excess energy, nervous energy
  • Hypersensitivity; super sensitive nerves, hearing, touch, tastes
  • Increased or decreased sex drive
  • Infection – increased infections, persistent infection
  • Motion sickness feeling
  • Mouth or throat clicking or grating sound/noise when you move your mouth or jaw, such as when talking
  • Muscle tension, stiffness, aches, pains
  • Muscles that vibrate, jitter, tremor, or shake when used
  • Muscle twitching
  • Muscle weakness
  • Nausea
  • Nausea vomiting
  • Neck, back, shoulder tension and stiffness
  • Neck tension
  • Nervous cough
  • Night sweats, waking up in a sweat, profusely sweating at night, anxiety night sweats
  • No energy, feeling lethargic, tired, exhausted, chronic fatigue
  • Numb tinging hands
  • Numbness
  • Numbness tingling, numbness and tingling
  • Numbness and tingling fingers
  • Numbness and tingling, and other skin sensations on hands, feet, face, head, or any other places on the body
  • Pins and needles: all over, in the hands and feet, fingers, left arm, etc.
  • Pounding heart, heart feels like it is beating too hard
  • Pulsing or throbbing muscles. Pulsing or throbbing sensation
  • Racing heart, heart palpitations
  • Red skin, skin looks like or is turning red
  • Rib or rib cage tightness, pressure, or feeling like a tight band around the rib cage
  • Sexual Dysfunction, sexual uninterest
  • Shaking anxiety feelings
  • Shooting pains anxiety symptoms
  • Shooting pains, stabbing pains, and odd pressures in the neck, head, or face
  • Shooting pains in the face
  • Shooting pains in the scalp or head
  • Skipped heart beats
  • Sore or tight scalp, headaches, neck tension
  • Startle easily
  • Sweating, profuse, excessive, uncontrollable sweating
  • The floor feels like it is moving either down or up, swaying
  • Tightness in the ribs or rib cage area, may also feel like a tight band around the ribs or rib cage area.
  • Tingling numb hands
  • Tingling, tingly, pins and needles sensations – anywhere on the body, including the hands, feet, legs, arms, head, mouth, chest, groin area
  • Throat or mouth clicking or grating sound/noise when you move your mouth or jaw, such as when talking
  • Trembling, shaking, tremors
  • Twitching
  • Unsteadiness, dizziness, feeling dizzy or lightheaded
  • Urgency to urinate, sudden urge to go to the washroom, sudden urge to pee
  • Warm spells
  • Weak – feel weak, weakness, low energy, light, soft, like you may faint
  • Weak legs, arms, or muscles
  • Weak limbs/extremities
  • Weight gain; sudden weight gain
  • Weight loss; sudden weight loss

Fears Anxiety Symptoms:

  • A heightened fear of what people think of you
  • Afraid of being trapped in a place with no exits
  • Constant feeling of being overwhelmed.
  • Fear of being in public
  • Fear of dying
  • Fear of losing control
  • Fear of impending doom
  • Fear of making mistakes or making a fool of yourself to others
  • Fear of passing out
  • Fear that you are losing your mind
  • Fears about irrational things, objects, circumstances, or situations
  • Fears of going crazy, of dying, of impending doom, of normal things, unusual feelings and emotions, unusually frightening thoughts or feelings
  • Feeling afraid all the time
  • Heightened self awareness, or self-consciousness
  • Need to find nearest washrooms before you can feel comfortable
  • Need to sit near exits

Head Anxiety Symptoms (associated with the head):

  • Anxiety headaches, migraines headaches
  • Brain fog
  • Burning, itchy, tight scalp
  • Dizziness or light-headedness
  • Frequent headaches, migraine headaches
  • Feeling like there is a tight band around your head, pressure, tightness
  • Hair loss, hair is thinning, or clumps of hair are falling out
  • Having a humming, droning, rumbling, throbbing, vibrating-like, hissing, fizzing, or other types of sounds in your head
  • Headaches, migraines
  • Head, neck or shoulder tightness, stiffness, or pain
  • Head zaps, head tremors. brain zaps
  • Giddiness
  • Numbness
  • Numbness tingling, numbness and tingling
  • Shooting pains, stabbing pains, and odd pressures in the neck, head, or face
  • Shooting pains in the face
  • Shooting pains in the scalp or head
  • Tingling in Head
  • When you close your eyes you feel like are beginning to, or will, float upwards
  • Sore jaw that feels like a tooth ache
  • TMJ (Temporo-Mandibular Joint) – clenching of the jaw or grinding of the teeth

Heart Anxiety Symptoms (associated with the heart):

  • Chest pain or discomfort
  • Chest pains anxiety symptoms
  • Concern about the heart
  • Find it hard to breath, feeling smothered, shortness of breath
  • Frequent yawning to try and catch your breath
  • Heart attack or anxiety attack (panic attack)
  • Heart Palpitations – beating hard or too fast, rapid heartbeat
  • Heart – Irregular heart rhythms, flutters or ‘skipped’ beats, tickle in the chest that makes you cough
  • Pounding heart, heart feels like it is beating too hard
  • Radiating pain in the left shoulder and arm
  • Shooting chest pains
  • Shortness of breath
  • Stabbing pains in the back, fear heart problem
  • Tight band around the chest, fear heart problem

Mind Anxiety Symptoms (associated with the mind and thinking):

  • Afraid of everything
  • Altered state of reality, consciousness, or universe feeling
  • Brain Fog
  • Crazy thoughts
  • Deja Vu, a feeling like you’ve done or experienced something before
  • Depersonalization
  • Derealization
  • Desensitization
  • Difficulty concentrating, short-term memory loss
  • Difficulty speaking
  • Difficulty thinking
  • Disorientation
  • Easily distracted
  • Fear of going crazy
  • Fear of losing control
  • Fear of impending doom
  • Feelings of unreality
  • Frequent feeling of being overwhelmed, or that there is just too much to handle or do
  • Having difficulty concentrating
  • Memory loss
  • Nightmares, bad dreams
  • Obsession about sensations or getting better
  • Slow motion feeling
  • Repetitive thinking or incessant ‘mind chatter’
  • Short-term learning impairment, have a hard time learning new information
  • Short-term memory impairment, can’t remember what I did a few days, hours, or moments ago
  • Spaced out feelings, feeling spaced out
  • “Stuck” thoughts; thoughts, mental images, concepts, songs, or melodies that ‘stick’ in your mind and replay over and over again.
  • Trapped in your mind feeling
  • Underlying anxiety, apprehension, or fear
  • You often feel you are carrying the world on your shoulders

Mood Symptoms; Emotion Symptoms (associated with mood, emotions, and feelings):

  • Always feeling angry and lack of patience
  • Chronic Fatigue Anxiety Symptom, Syndrome
  • Depersonalization
  • Depression
  • Dramatic mood swings
  • Emotionally blunted, flat, or numb
  • Emotions feel numb; emotionally numb
  • Emotional flipping (dramatic mood swings)
  • Emotions feel wrong
  • Everything is scary, frightening
  • Feeling down in the dumps
  • Feeling like things are unreal or dreamlike
  • Frequently being on edge or ‘grouchy’
  • Frustration, frustrated, anxiety frustration
  • Feel like crying for no apparent reason
  • Have no feelings about things you used to
  • Irritability, irritated, easily annoyed
  • Mood swings
  • Not feeling like yourself, detached from loved ones, emotionally numb
  • Underlying anxiety, apprehension, or fear
  • You feel like you are under pressure all the time

Mouth, Voice, Stomach, and Digestive System Anxiety Symptoms (associated with the mouth, voice, stomach, and digestive system):

  • Bad taste in the mouth and anxiety
  • A tinny, metallic, or ammonia, or unusual smell or taste
  • Aerophagia (swallowing too much air, stomach distention, belching)
  • Burning mouth, feeling like the inside of your mouth is burning, or tingling, or like pins and needles, or all of these together or at different times
  • Burping, belching, frequent or excessive burping and belching, gas
  • Burning tongue, feeling like your tongue is burning, or tingling, or like pins and needles
  • Choking
  • Constant craving for sugar or sweets
  • Constant lump in the throat feeling
  • Constipation
  • Diarrhea
  • Difficulty swallowing
  • Difficulty talking, pronouncing certain letters or sounds, mouth feels like it isn’t moving right, slurred speech
  • Dry mouth
  • Esophageal spasms
  • Feeling like you can’t swallow properly or that something will get caught in your throat
  • Feeling like your tongue is swollen
  • IBS
  • Lack of appetite, Loss of appetite
  • Lump in the throat, tight throat, something stuck in your throat
  • Mouth muscles twitching/jumping
  • Mouth or throat clicking or grating sound/noise when you move your mouth or jaw, such as when talking
  • Nausea
  • Nausea vomiting
  • Nausea or abdominal stress
  • Nervous stomach
  • Stomach upset, gas, belching, bloating
  • Teeth grinding
  • The thought of eating makes you nauseous
  • Tight throat, lump in throat
  • Throat or mouth clicking or grating sound/noise when you move your mouth or jaw, such as when talking
  • TMJ
  • Tongue symptoms – Tingly, stretched, numb, frozen, itchy, crawly, burning, twitching, jumpy, aching, sore, or swollen tongue (when it isn’t).
  • Urgency to urinate, frequent urination, sudden urge to go to the washroom
  • Voice changes: shaky, crackly, raspy, unsteady, hoarseness, broken, cracked, weak, random pitch, uneven tone, loss of voice, etc.
  • Vomiting

Skin Anxiety Symptoms (anxiety symptoms associated with the skin):

  • Burning itching skin (hands, feet, face, lips, etc.)
  • Burning skin sensations, skin sensitivity
  • Itching burning skin but no rash
  • Numbness
  • Numbness tingling, numbness and tingling
  • Red skin, looks like your skin is red or turning red for no reason
  • Skin feels cold, wet
  • Skin problems, infections, rashes

Sleep Anxiety Symptoms (anxiety symptoms associated with sleep and sleep problems):

  • Difficulty falling or staying asleep
  • Frequent bad, bizarre, or crazy dreams
  • Hearing sounds in your head that jolt you awake
  • Insomnia, or waking up ill in the middle of the night
  • Jolting awake
  • Waking up in a panic attack
  • You feel worse in the mornings

Sight Anxiety Symptoms (anxiety symptoms associated with the eyes and sight):

  • Distorted, foggy, or blurred vision
  • Dry, watery or itchy eyes
  • Eye tricks, seeing things our of the corner of your eye that isn’t there, stars, flashes
  • Eye problems vision symptoms
  • Eyes sensitive to light
  • Spots in the vision
  • Flashing lights when eyes are closed
  • Your depth perception feels wrong

Touch Anxiety Symptoms (anxiety symptoms associated with the sense of touch):

  • Burning skin sensations, skin sensitivity
  • Feeling cold or chilled
  • Numbness
  • Numbness tingling, numbness and tingling
  • Pain
  • Pins and needles: all over, in the hands and feet, fingers, left arm, etc.

 

Love Athina ♥

© All blog posts and images are owned by me and Courage Coaching. Please don’t use without consent and only re-blog if you would like to use the information on here.