Superstorm Sandy and PTSD: Clarity and Aftermath

I explained in the previous post that I was getting really amped up and didn't know how to shut it off.  Well, as the day and night unfolded yesterday, the reasons for this became abundantly clear.  My body was preparing me for action - action that had the potential to go on for a long time.  There was no saying how bad this storm was going to be in our area.  I didn't know if I was going to be taking my family on a flight to safety, if I was going to have to deal with potential looting, if my friends were going to need my help, etc.

What I realized is that I was amped up, not anxious or nervous.  I was just ready. When I say ready, I mean READY.  My body saw the potential threat in the coming storm and started priming the system for action days in advance.  If something would have happened yesterday, I would have acted immediately to resolve the situation, no hesitation, no fear.

This effect on my body was predominantly primal, physiological.  The docs at the VA and elsewhere have been talking about the 'battle brain' or 'fight or flight' and how that part of the brain taking over is what causes some of the issues we have with PTSD.  While I understood the argument intellectually, I didn't fully understand the depth of what that meant until my body started amping me up in preparation for this storm.

Many of us can turn this on, short term, when the need arises, but there is still a lag before the clarity of purpose sets in.  Getting amped up days in advance for what could happen reduced the lag created by needing to 'flip the switch' down to near zero.  Hence the pre-storm build-up.  I would have been ready for anything - running for cover, protecting my family from the elements, protecting my family from people, killing if the need arose to protect me and mine.  Morality and gray areas be damned.  Yet through it all, I knew what was happening this time.  I knew the necessity of it and I knew that it could scare people to see the side of me that allowed me to survive outside the wire in a hostile environment with just three other guys to watch my back.

It was surreal.  I was just along for the ride yesterday.  I could freak out in my head all I wanted to and still trust that instinct would direct my body to make the best choices to ensure my survival and those I choose to protect.

Today, the threat ended.  My body turned it all off and I crashed.  I slept almost 10 hours during the day AFTER I woke up to start the day.  The adrenalin dump was so extreme that my kidneys hurt and I felt like a junkie coming down off a high.

Then came the fear and anxiety, the anger at myself.  How could I lost control like that?  The thoughts of what I could have done yesterday (and the things I did have to do in Iraq) haunt me.  This one is going to take some time to work out.  I am just glad that it's over and I can start to work through the new wrinkles that this experience has introduced to the party.

I know a lot of my readers were in the path of this storm.  I hope this finds you all well and in good health.