During my initial 12-month period upon returning to work, it was evident that my health and wellbeing was spiraling downwards. Whilst I was trying my best to stay strong and positive, I had a series of mental breakdowns both at my workplace and at home.
The amount of pressure I had on myself to push through all of these ailments that were occurring, each day learning more about what my body and mind were doing was physically and emotionaly exhausting. I felt extremely vulnerable as a result of my own critical opinions of my reduced capabilities. It was a big responsibility trying to make a diagnosis for all of my ailments on my own, taking notes of occurrences in the case I may identify a pattern or some relationship.
Sounds like I’m a Hypochondriac I know but you need to understand that as far as the Doctors were concerned I had a work stress incident. Rest and time to slow down was prescribed in order to bring me back to health…but I knew something wasn’t right.
I was later diagnosed with Anxiety, Depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
PTSD is a psychological disorder that can arise following exposure to traumatic events. PTSD has a range of symptoms such as;
- Reliving the trauma, flashbacks, nightmares or becoming very upset when reminded of the trauma
- Avoiding or staying away from places or people because they remind you of the trauma, cutting yourself off from others, feeling emotionally flat or numb
- Increased arousal such as feeling on guard, being irritable, trouble sleeping or startling easily
The symptoms of PTSD can lead to problems in functioning in social settings, family life and at work.
