Is My Anxiety Episode a Form of PTSD?

[Camden]

On Memorial Day, I had to go to the doctor for a possible ear infection. Upon entering the doctor's office and seeing the waiting room full of injured or sick adults and children, I immediately became unsettled and nervous. I checked in and sat on the far side of the room, far away from everyone else.

When they called me back and I told them why I came in, the nurse took me back to a examination room. They took my blood pressure and said that they could not proceed because my blood pressure was severely elevated (163/112). I was beginning to feel sick and dizzy and I decided I needed to lie down to try and force myself to calm down and decrease my blood pressure. I heard a child crying a few rooms away, and it made me even more upset and anxious. I began having flashbacks to a horrible experience from five years ago. I'm 27 and yet I'm terrified of doctor's offices and medical environments because of the experience.

Five years ago, my buddy and I were roommates in college. We were cooking dinner together and he knocked down the butcher block of knives. He reflexively grabbed the knife before it fell to the floor and ended up with a huge crescent shape cut in his right ring finger. His blood splattered all over the floor and the counter. He wrapped it in a bath towel and said he wanted to go to the emergency room immediately.

I drove him to the ER and they were able to see us immediately. I walked back with him and they did standard blood pressure checks, etc. before escorting us to the operating room. My buddy laid flat on the bed and the doctor began stitching up his wound. I got a good sight of his blood and the needles. All of a sudden I felt extremely ill. I had a headache, pain in my belly, and began sweating cold sweat. I felt like I was going to vomit, but I felt too weak to move myself to the bathroom. I tried to exit the room to find a restroom...

Next thing I knew I was flat on the floor with a nurse trying to help me up. I had passed out and fallen hard on the floor. As I went down, I fell against the corner of an open door and cut my chin open. When my buddy was done getting his stitches, they hauled me into the operating room and gave me stitches.

The fainting, seeing one of my best friends in pain and bleeding, and injuring myself made it a horrific experience. Do you think I have PTSD from this episode based on my reaction to my recent doctor's office visit for a simple ear operation?

 

[Sweet T]

Could be a trigger for you. Certainly lots of people get anxious when they go to the doctor’s office. Did they retake your BP? Was your ear issue resolved?

 

[Cuchculan]

Nice a nice episode to have to go through. My question would be what have you been like on any other visits to the doctor? We can't just look at one visit and base anything on that. If you had PTSD about doctors, this would have happened before as well if you ever had to go near a doctor. I could understand it happening if the doctor had to take blood samples from you. As the original thing involved a lot of blood. Don't see no connection with just an ear infection. Unless you had anxiety episodes in the past when visiting a doctor. Then we would have a pattern of it.

 

[Camden]

Could be a trigger for you. Certainly lots of people get anxious when they go to the doctor’s office. Did they retake your BP? Was your ear issue resolved?

After about 15 minutes and some deep breaths, they took my blood pressure again. It was still a little high, but they were able to move on with my examination. Turns out it was a fairly minor problem: impacted earwax that they could clean out.

Now that I think about it, doctors offices are certainly anxiety triggers for me. I don’t recall having PTSD like flashbacks/nightmares or other episodes outside of this “trigger” environment.

One of the biggest parts of the anxiety-triggering situation is the smell of rubbing alcohol. If I smell it anywhere, I associate it with getting stuck with needles and seeing blood. I associate it with pain.

 

[Sweet T]

The sense of smell can evoke memories probably more than any other sense. Br gentle with yourself. You stayed and got the help you needed. That’s a big win

 

[derrickmyles]

On Memorial Day, I had to go to the doctor for a possible ear infection. Upon entering the doctor's office and seeing the waiting room full of injured or sick adults and children, I immediately became unsettled and nervous. I checked in and sat on the far side of the room, far away from everyone else.

When they called me back and I told them why I came in, the nurse took me back to a examination room. They took my blood pressure and said that they could not proceed because my blood pressure was severely elevated (163/112). I was beginning to feel sick and dizzy and I decided I needed to lie down to try and force myself to calm down and decrease my blood pressure. I heard a child crying a few rooms away, and it made me even more upset and anxious. I began having flashbacks to a horrible experience from five years ago. I'm 27 and yet I'm terrified of doctor's offices and medical environments because of the experience.

Five years ago, my buddy and I were roommates in college. We were cooking dinner together and he knocked down the butcher block of knives. He reflexively grabbed the knife before it fell to the floor and ended up with a huge crescent shape cut in his right ring finger. His blood splattered all over the floor and the counter. He wrapped it in a bath towel and said he wanted to go to the emergency room immediately.

I drove him to the ER and they were able to see us immediately. I walked back with him and they did standard blood pressure checks, etc. before escorting us to the operating room. My buddy laid flat on the bed and the doctor began stitching up his wound. I got a good sight of his blood and the needles. All of a sudden I felt extremely ill. I had a headache, pain in my belly, and began sweating cold sweat. I felt like I was going to vomit, but I felt too weak to move myself to the bathroom. I tried to exit the room to find a restroom...

Next thing I knew I was flat on the floor with a nurse trying to help me up. I had passed out and fallen hard on the floor. As I went down, I fell against the corner of an open door and cut my chin open. When my buddy was done getting his stitches, they hauled me into the operating room and gave me stitches.

The fainting, seeing one of my best friends in pain and bleeding, and injuring myself made it a horrific experience. Do you think I have PTSD from this episode based on my reaction to my recent doctor's office visit for a simple ear operation?

Well, yes it seems like PTSD but do you feel these things all the time when you visit a doctor's room or hospital. If yes then yes you have PTSD.
And that's not a big thing everyone has this type of PTSD in their lives you can easily forget those thoughts with time I am sure.

 

[Camden]

One thing I need to do is get started with a general practice doctor with a routine checkup once or twice a year. It would be great to start having someone to go to about physical health. I really want to start exercising more this year and get in better shape, and I think a doctors’ visit would be a good start to learn how I can be healthier. I think visiting a doctor on my own accord (without a health or injury emergency) will help me to put my prior bad experiences to rest. I’ll begin associating going to the doctor with positive things like caring for myself and preparing myself to do more frequent and enjoyable physical activity.