J-a-W; sorry to hear that Chad is drinking, w meds, having marital problems, etc. He's not alone; would he be willing to seek counseling? I will continue to wish him improvement and better coping solutions.

Merry; your situation must also be really difficult ;esp. having to walk on eggshells when your Vietnam Vet husband is having scary flashbacks. I have no experience w this; but would you be interested in contacting fellow tbder, our wise, kind, resident, long-term, practicing therapist,MiltT? He has counseled/helped many tbd folks; and REALLY listens well.

Also, there is a Families of Service Members/ Veterans tbd group here; surely many of those families have, and are, expereincing loved ones with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I wish you strength, patience, and better resolution of your stressful situations with your PTD suffering loved ones.

ok JaW I finally took a good amount of time to read this closely and thank you for sharing this story. These are things we read about, hear about, but too often it is "someone else". And it is every war like this. When you hear statistics that 75% of our homeless are veterans you know there is severe problems. When you hear the latest suicide and AWOL statistics you know there is a problem. When you read stories of servicemen ordered to return to another tour of duty after a 15 month tour and not enough break and they shoot a kneecap so they don't have to return you know there is a problem. He will never be the same Chad I think we know that. When we send our loved ones to war we know they will not be the same when they return. But we still hope they can be whole, healthy, and happy. For people when they are troubled talk therapy is so good particularly when it is with a group of your own. With other veterans he will not have to explain because they will know. It may be very important for him to stay connected. A Vietnam veteran that I converse with regularly has returned to Vietnam three times since his service primarily to do volunteer work and he said many veterans have done that as a way of healing. He also said that it helps him to visit sites and see them now as places of peace in Vietnam. Thank you for sharing and how wonderful that you were there for him.

Thank You Southerbl , so far we have the meds and therapist and doctors but we just hit a really bad week weather wise and that was a major trigger for flashbacks. He did explain what the flashback/dream was and I don't know if that helped or not. It is just a one day at a time kind of thing. ;) Y'know I get by with a little help from my friends!

Merry; thanks,that's good news that your PTD suffering husband is receiving beneficial meds, therapy, and getting help from friends.

Also, I believe that jacquin's suggestions,above, to possibly join a fellow Nam/or other veterans support group; and/or volunteer , either in Nam;; or locally; for Vet's groups, hospitals, etc., were wonderful.

Sending continued kind,healing wishs to Chad, your husband,and to all dealing w these very tough PTD issues.

I wish he would, I even suggested it to him. He said that he tried the group thing, and the last thing he wants to do is sit around swapping war stories. I'm afraid his wife might have to take extreme action, if she decides it's worth it. It's a mess and I feel badly for the whole family.

It is so hard to know what to do when you have PTSD, for mine I tried group therapy and I felt like I was drowning and I tried talking about it witha therapist and I came home too angry to be a good parent. Finally I realized that learning how to relax was my job and a valid thing to do with my time. Lately crocheting is just like prozac to me. It has been a decade long journey for me now since the damage caught up with me with a vengance but I can finally say that I am more than just a disability.