 I have another candle and I have my lighter. My alarm's still there and I'm probably gonna set it on, but you get all the candles. What's going on? You're welcome back to my channel. If you're new here, hi, hello, my name is Lydia and I make mental health videos here on YouTube pretty much every day. Today's video is another tag video. So today I'm doing the PTSD tag. I didn't know this was a thing. I did not know this was a thing. But we jump into the video. I quickly want to add this. I'm not a professional nor am I trying to be a professional. I am simply someone talking from experience and sharing my own story. I've got no intentions. I'm being a professional and nothing I say in this video or any of my other videos should be taken instead of professional advice. If you are struggling, please reach out for support. And with that, let's get on with the video. Number one, what is the cause of your PTSD? So I'm diagnosed with complex PTSD. What triggered off PTSD for me was witnessing suicide and then exposure to death. I kind of remembered all my childhood after that. It's kind of hard to explain but my childhood was traumatic. There was a lot that went on. Then I lost my ex to suicide and he killed himself in front of me. I've made a video before talking about this. And then this year I lost my friend to suicide. Suicide for me is a big trigger and life was hard with it. It is hard. Number two, when were you diagnosed and are you in treatment? I was diagnosed with PTSD when I was 17 I think. I think when I was 17 I was diagnosed. Am I in treatment? I take medication at the moment. I'm not currently doing any therapy. My medication is for a variety of different mental health issues. And I've talked about it in previous videos. But just a quick rundown of what I take. I take vanilla vaccine, tracidone, typaene, tonazopam, lorazopam and ZopiGloin. I'm not going to give explanations as to why I take that combination. I just do. Three, who knows about it? The internet. Everyone. The internet. My mum, my grandparent, everyone in my life knows about it. What are your symptoms? So, I have flashbacks. I have nightmares. I have very intense anxiety. It caused my depression. You know, it's a mind field. Symptoms are. It really is. I say the biggest ones to me are flashbacks, depression, anxiety. And my anxiety comes a lot around getting trained, going out in public and having friends and getting close to people. That's like a lot of what the anxiety is. Number five, what is the hardest part of living with it? The hardest part for me about living with it... I'm getting cold and I'm in the middle of filming a video. The hardest part about living with it is knowing that nothing can change it. It's there. I'm not ready to do therapy for it. And I think that for me, that's the hardest thing. The flashbacks can be very debilitating. Coping skills. So, for me, I do rely on medication for it. I'm not going to be around the bush, I do. But distraction, really. Distraction is the main and only coping skill I can really think of from the top of my head. Avoiding triggers, you know, a lot of different things. A misconception of PTSD that only people who get a war can have it or that people who young can't have it, that is one of the biggest misconceptions and one of the things that irritates me the most is when someone turns around to me and says, you're too young to have PTSD, you didn't get a war, you can't have PTSD. It's like, since when did mental illness have an ache? Like, please point to me in the DSM, the Diagnostic Manual, where it states that to have PTSD, you have to be a certain age. What would you like to say to others? Question number eight, sorry. What would you like to say to others with a condition? One, you're not alone, but it's hard. It is really hard to deal with and live with and I think this video shows that. But here's a comment. So, I've got this video. Thank you for watching. If you are new here, make sure you hit the subscribe button. My left ear has just gone. Anyway, I'm getting into the video with that. Bye, guys.