Married to Wellness

Episode 8: Part 2 Understanding PTSD

Ted and Jessica Nemecz Season 1 Episode 8

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0:00 | 35:18

This episode features Part 2 of Understanding PTSD.  Ted and Jess share an unscripted, candid conversation about PTSD, its impact, symptoms, and treatment options, including personal experiences with trauma and therapy like EMDR. They discuss the importance of awareness, early intervention, and mental health support for first responders and trauma survivors.


SPEAKER_03

Welcome to Married to Wellness, a Two Roads Wellness Clinic podcast.

SPEAKER_02

We're Ted and Jessica Nimitz, married for over 20 years and owners of Two Roads Wellness Clinic.

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After years in the wellness world, we've learned that caring for people is about more than just health. It's about relationships, work, family, and how we show up in all of it.

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Each episode we'll have real conversations about mental and physical wellness, cutting-edge treatments, changes in healthcare, and the messy, meaningful reality of running a business together while raising a family.

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If you're passionate about wellness, curious about new approaches to care, or trying to build a life in a business you love without burning out, this podcast is for you.

SPEAKER_02

Let's dive in. Hey everybody, welcome back. This is gonna be part two of our discussion on PTSD. Episode eight. Episode eight, the Ojo here on the Married to Wellness Podcast.

SPEAKER_04

Yes. So we wanted to dive in today. Uh, first, just kind of talking a little bit about symptoms of PTSD.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So quick recap. Um if you missed the first episode and just jumping on this one, uh, or part one rather. I kind of introed my experience of living with PTSD, um, attempting to treat it kind of on my own, so to speak, being resistant to seeing anyone about it. Um and then we sort of just started to dive into the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system responses to that. So we'll get into the nervous system responses here. Um, but we're gonna touch base on kind of the layperson's understanding of symptoms of PTSD that maybe you know folks aren't aware about. Um so yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. So I mean, some of the common symptoms, I think we touched on these last time, but definitely uh what we call hypervigilance, but you know, you're scanning your environment for danger. Um you're always like on guard, basically, uh because you don't feel safe in your body.

SPEAKER_02

Um I would say and and um so if we're gonna run down the list here as I'm as I'm firing it from the hip, uh irritability for really when it's unjustified, right? Like you're just angry. Angry, kind of pissed off with no no rhyme or reason.

SPEAKER_04

It's everybody else's fault.

SPEAKER_02

It's everybody else's fault. Yeah. You're well it's not, it's because you're a butthead to live with because your PTSD's untreated. So um what else? So sleep issues, we touched briefly on that. Like I've had some night terrors, which those are that's probably the worst part of it, honestly, is waking up freaking out, and you're like, your heart's about to explode out of your chest.

SPEAKER_04

Well, I was thinking I mean, you did have one recently that was maybe in January of this year, and you woke up screaming, and then I woke up screaming because it scared me. And then we're both screaming together. I know we're laughing about it, guys, because you know, that's sometimes all you can do. Uh, but it was not fun.

SPEAKER_02

It's a it's a serious matter, but I I laugh at inappropriate things and dark humor. So way of coping. Right, right.

SPEAKER_04

Um, so definitely nightmares.

SPEAKER_02

It's just the mental image of us both waking up, looking at each other, screaming and not knowing why.

SPEAKER_04

Right. Well, I'm your hair being all crazy. And I knew why, but yeah, yeah. Um but I didn't know what you were dreaming, and you couldn't remember the dream.

SPEAKER_02

So okay, so irritability, uh, sleep disruption, um, hypervigilance, anxiety is a big one. Depression. Depression comes with it. Um, what else?

SPEAKER_04

Uh, let's see. I mean, you touched on the big ones, like tearfulness sometimes, or just being numb and shut down, depending on the person.

SPEAKER_02

Right. Or I guess more specifically, if like a a sight, a sound, a smell, um, even for me, it got to the point where like certain weather patterns would trigger memory if I was in a location and a weather pattern hit.

SPEAKER_04

Well, we we even talked about like winter and how that's really hard um because of all the darkness. Like winter.

SPEAKER_02

I don't it that that one I I don't know. I feel like most of the bad crap I saw or experienced was I don't know, I brain dumped so much of it. It's like I feel like a lot of it summers are way more active on the law enforcement side than winter, but like more old people die in the winter and you get called to those where you're grandma's melting into the carpet because nobody's checked on her in three weeks.

SPEAKER_04

Uh trigger warning. We we always forget to start with that. Sorry. Yeah, I'm gonna be pretty open about this. If you um have symptoms of TST.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's fairly unfiltered.

SPEAKER_04

So yeah, we're just you're just getting us, you know, talking about acclimated, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So we we hit the we hit the symptoms there. Uh that's not all encompassing. What I want people to take away from that is if you have a loved one who is having those symptoms or a combination of them, you know, even individually, and it's not within kind of their normal personality, um, how they operate, it and they've experienced something. You may not think it's traumatic, but it it could be how they processed it as being traumatic.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, it could have been too much of something all at once. It overwhelmed their system and they just can't process it.

SPEAKER_02

Right. So if if you have a loved one who's kind of experiencing that, it it doesn't hurt to have that conversation. Like, hey, hey Ted, I think you got some PTSD. What, you think because of the night tears? Like, yeah, genius. Like, that's why, you know, waking up screaming at the top of your lungs swinging is not like that's not a normal, normal response to sleep.

SPEAKER_04

So, um, so we did want to share a little bit about some of the symptoms. And then you had wanted to share a little bit about your story.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so uh part one, I talked about a fatal crash I had responded to, and basically one of the victims uh dying why why while I held her. Um another kind of pivotal point in my law enforcement career that stood out to me is so I was a SWAT guy uh for pretty much as soon as I could get on the team once I was off probation, um, jumped on the team right away because it's all I ever wanted to do. And uh we got active quick. Um, it's some real violent years with uh, you know, for being just a part-time team. Um we got active real fast uh after I joined the team. Um and one of the pivotal moments I remember is getting, and this is when I was early on the job too, you know, um, wasn't a rookie, but I definitely wasn't a seasoned vet at that point. Um we get uh paged out. I gotta go to this low rent, you know, bed bug type of motel in this. I won't get the location because I don't know what the statute limitations are on this case because there was a civil case around it. Anyway, um, dude robbed uh a restaurant um at gunpoint, um kind of been not chased, but definitely pursued by the local agency that ended up uh paging us out as a SWAT team because we were multi-jurisdictional, meaning lots of different departments from different cities, counties, whatever, uh, or one county um fed onto this team. Anyhow, we get paged out to go to this um what's called a barricaded subject, meaning bad guy with a weapon in a known location. And if we open the door, either we're getting shot or he's getting shot, or most likely both, right? Um, so we end up at this hotel and we're on this, it's an it's an older hot, I say hotel. It's a it's a two-story motel, right? Because it's got a catwalk that once you come out your door, you're right there at the parking lot. We're on the second floor. This guy, after robbing a store at gunpoint, is barricaded in this hotel room. Um been snorting Coke all night, so he is just wired. Um, so I get I get that page at like three in the morning, right? Um, and the difference for me being a county guy versus you know the mean municipal guys is we had to take home squad. So for us, that meant sometimes we responded directly to scene. So the all of our gear stayed in our squads with us, and there wasn't much of a spin-up or a brief, really, to speak of until you you got on scene. Um anyway, we get our brief. It's me and like four other dudes, and we put a quick little reaction team together, a little plan, and we're like, well, I guess we're gonna, you know, the the all patrol dudes got the motel evacuated, we're gonna hole up here and try and talk this guy down and and talk him out of this room and hopefully we don't have to kill him. Um well, long story short, we were we were occupied as a team for so long that we had to call a second team in to come give us some relief. And uh so we rotate out, we still stay on scene, but we're you know, trying to take a break, go to the bathroom, do whatever we gotta do. And um they're talking to this guy. I've been talking to him. It started like, I don't know, one, two o'clock in the morning, something like that. Um by the time we got relief, it was probably 9 or 10 a.m., I think. And they're talking to this dude, and I I had been on point all night, meaning I was a guy who if the shot, if it come, if it came time to take a shot, I was the guy taking a shot. Um I got rotated out, thankfully. Uh the other, the backup team showed up, relieved me. So then I take up a different position. So I'm in like an observation kind of overwatch position. And uh this dude, uh, I don't remember all the details at this point, but this guy, he um the negotiations broke down. He bails out of this apartment. Uh not apartment, hotel, motel room. Good grief. Bails out this motel room. He's got a s what turned out to be not a gun. Pretty sure he pawned it for coke or sold it for coke, but um, it was a chrome pea trap. So the little pipe thing that looks that's in the shape of a pee, he took it from under the sink and come out and waved it, and uh the backup team put him down. He he tried to run away and uh he took rounds. Um and I'm sitting in my observe observation spot watching this, making sure he doesn't go, you know, get away, whatever. Um, and you hear pop pop, and then a couple three more uh less lethal rounds, um drop this dude. Whoop! He's face down on the catwalk. Uh and they move in, secure him up, and he gets shipped out uh in ambulance, right? Um he's dead before he ever hit the hospital because if the if you don't know anything about rifle rounds, certain rounds when once they enter the torso, they don't necessarily they're not designed to exit, they're designed to turn your insides to pudding. So that's what happened to this guy. Um anyway, I'd been by the time we debrief, because anytime there's a use of force of that magnitude, um, there's a the state police investigative team comes in and you're essentially criminally investigated as a police officer at that point to see if you know there's any wrongdoing in that use of force, right? Because somebody's dead. So um through that process, um, I think I'd, you know, run on like maybe two, three hours of sleep uh because I got off shift the night before, been up through that whole ordeal, uh, went home, crashed. Like, man, that that was a long night, whatever, you know, no day at the office, right? Um, I was working second shift at the time, get up, do my thing with the kids, get them ready, head and do the gym, smash my pre-workout, which was mistake number one, um, because uh ton of stimulants in a and a pre-workout, which is great when you're gonna go move some heavy iron, but um I did not realize what that would do to me physical physiologically, given what I encountered the the night before. Um and it basically I don't know if it was the event or the combination of the event and the pre-workout. I tend to think the latter. Um, but it triggered what I would call a panic attack. Like I I started having troubles feeling like I couldn't catch my breath, started randomly crying, right? And this is all happening in a gym, a public place. So like I I hightail myself into the bathroom and I'm just like trying to gather myself and I ended up calling Jess. I was like, uh, honey, I'm not doing so good. And of course you're like, you know, you go into you're looking at me now like I'm a like I'm a wounded puppy. But you you know, you went into therapist mode, and I think you left the office as soon as you could because you had patients that day, um, and came home. And then I'm that was when our pastor at the time came out to the house and I was talking to him. And uh wild thing was is we got paged out again uh while I was talking to him. And I was like, uh, you weren't home yet. And I was like, uh, dude, I gotta go. And he's like, what are you talking about? I was like, um, we got another bear kid subject. He's like, seriously? Yeah, like this time it's a different location. And so, you know, I he's like, Do you want me to watch the kids? I said, sure, Jess will be home in like 20 minutes, whatever. So threw all my stuff in the car and off I went. And just trying to get my head straight for round two. Um, but there's not there's not a lot of downtime between an incident like that and getting paged out for another one. I mean, it was less than 24 hours.

SPEAKER_04

Well, and I was thinking you were already in a heightened state, so your nervous system was was already activated. Then you take the pre-workout. Oh, yeah. Oh, that thing sent you over the edge with the lack of sleep, and then you're back in it again. So yeah, of course, that's going to um cause some problems, right? Yeah. So um, the way our memories are stored is with every like sight, sound, smell, you know, like what our bodies experience in the moment, that's all stored, uh, both in our our brain and our body. And so that's really what's coming up is it's not just a memory in your mind, you're feeling it, you know, with your your you know, heart rate changing.

SPEAKER_01

Right, right.

SPEAKER_04

You know, body experiences.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah. When I got the I'm I still remember sitting there in our kitchen with our pastor at the time and getting that notification. And it was like I had just started to come down. I think the pre-workout wore off, and I was just like trying to sort through, you know, because I'd never seen somebody killed in front of me before. And uh I was trying to sort through that, and then um that call-out hits again, and I was like, Oh, oh, I gotta I gotta lock in, as the kids say nowadays. It's like I better get my stuff together because we're it's go time.

SPEAKER_04

I don't think people realize how much police officers compartmentalize because that's not easy to see that and then have to go back out again. Yeah. You know, and be a part of it and experience it.

SPEAKER_02

Like you really have to Well then I went and worked shift like that the second SWAT call out in case anybody is wondering. It it ended up being nothing. It got and it got resolved before we even got to scene. Um, fortunately, it was all it was a much much better ending that that second go around. I think the patrol guys had got him got whoever the suspect was talked down, talked out of the building. But yeah.

SPEAKER_04

The one that I remember you bringing up to me was the one with the little kiddo and you tying their shoe. Do you remember that?

SPEAKER_01

Mm-mm.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

You can't you can't intro a story and not tell it, Jess.

SPEAKER_04

Well, I don't remember a lot about it. I just remember it really upsetting you that you were at some house, and it wasn't a very like it wouldn't be a place you'd want your kids at. Right. You got called to this house, I don't know what for. Um, but there were little kids there, and one of the little kids was having troubles putting on their shoe, and they asked you to help them. And we had little kids at the time.

SPEAKER_02

And boys were still little.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, you helped them put on their shoe and tie it, and that like that broke your heart. I just remember it coming up in your memory uh a lot and you dealing with that. I don't remember the outcome of the story or anything, like if you were called to a domestic or what it was, but I just remember you telling me a lot about it and how hard it was to see children living in those circumstances.

SPEAKER_02

Living in squalor.

SPEAKER_04

And that you couldn't really do anything about it, you know, other than I'm sure like if you if there was something to report you did, but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um but it's not like I can extricate children from homes. But it's a DCFS thing.

SPEAKER_04

And so like again, like police officers see stuff like that on the daily, and that's really hard too.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. That's well, like uh that's interesting that you bring that up because like the two stories I've shared have been kind of, you know, uh more on the extreme side of the spectrum, right? Like straight up death and carnage, and then like you're bringing up uh apparently I had to, you know, nurture some child and what seemed was most likely a hellhole. And uh like that one. Apparently I saw it at the time, I guess it hit hard enough that I'd talk to you about it. And it hurt my heart too.

SPEAKER_04

And I was like, what can we do? And we couldn't do anything.

SPEAKER_02

Right. Um so I it it just goes to show like how I guess complex PTSD can really be. Like it can be the smallest of things, you know, where I don't remember that call you're referencing specifically, but um it can be so dynamic that something that small can uh trigger a response in somebody.

SPEAKER_04

So when we brought up DNA uh in the first episode, uh we talked about PTSD. Um so again, not every trauma leaves us with PTSD, um, but some people do have a genetic predisposition to it. And Ted and I have both done, you know, Two Roads offers DNA testing. We both have done it. I don't have the gene for PTSD. Ted Ted does have the gene for PTSD. And basically when we saw his genes, we're like, wow, you should have never been in the military. You should have never been a police officer.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, my genetic profile was like the exact opposite of like I don't want to say resilience, but it was like, yeah, dude, you if you do that job, you're going to have PTSD. It's guaranteed.

SPEAKER_04

Well, and we know again, like our genes aren't like a sentence, like there's environmental factors as well, but you are more likely to develop PTSD.

SPEAKER_02

Well, it was it wasn't even just like one factor, it was like multiple, multiple. Like everyone that like of all the ones that determined your likelihood of PTSD, I had them all. It wasn't even like, oh, this one, but not that one. It was like, nope, all of them. Yeah. Full send.

SPEAKER_04

So that's yeah, not good.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Um and then we'd also talked about ways of coping a little bit last uh episode. But we were gonna talk a little bit more about that this episode. So um we want to talk a little bit more about EMDR as an option, um, which Ted explained a little bit about that. Stands for eye movement, desensitization and reprocessing. Um, and there's therapists trained across the nation, actually the world in EMDR. Um, and then there's also EMDR certified therapists. Um, I've been an EMDR trained therapist for oh my gosh, I don't even know how long now, 10, 15 years. Um, and it is, you know, it's my specialty, it's what I do. Um and I've seen people you know, recover from a memory that they're struggling with uh with their PTSD in one session. And then I've seen it take, you know, years, you know, to process through different, you know, especially if they have complex PTSD like childhood trauma and then multiple traumas throughout adulthood. So it just really varies, you know, if you need one session or you're going to need, you know, 52 sessions.

SPEAKER_02

The the cool thing I will say about EMDR is if you are resistant to going to like traditional talk therapy, like I don't want to talk to my talk about my feelings with some stranger. That's weird, right? Like with EMDR you don't necessarily have to do that. It's just directed by the EMDR therapist of okay, the memory that's giving you trouble. Like you don't even you don't even have to articulate it. Yeah you don't have to the therapist will just guide you hey if if this is giving you trouble then watch my light or I don't know. I'm butchering this. Right, but like that's okay. You know, you do the bilateral thing. Right.

SPEAKER_04

You're targeting the memory. Um you're identifying the worst part of the memory you're identifying the negative belief associated with the memory.

SPEAKER_02

So it's to encounter if you're already reliving that memory on a regular basis, to encounter it and not have to speak about it with someone in a space who can help you really physically overcome it is huge. Huge. I think that's why EMDR is starting to pick up steam so much.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah it's really healing. And there are a couple other therapies that um I think have come from EMDR are very similar like brain spotting and rapid rewire just to name a couple that are similar that can also be helpful.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah yeah so if you or a loved one is dealing with some PTSD give us a shout you know if you're if you're near a a two roads um we'll get you hooked up if not uh you know just look up online Google or Chat GPT whatever your preference is the an EMDR therapist in your area um and and go go get it because it's it'll make things better. Right. For sure.

SPEAKER_04

And your therapist isn't going to just jump into it with you. Like they they want you to feel safe first. There's actually eight phases to EMDR.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah they'll establish rapport with you. It's not just like oh hey Ted you got PTSD check out this light. Why whack whack whack you know like it's not it's not how it works. Right.

SPEAKER_04

So yeah. And then you know some other things that you know for family members of people with PTSD that you can do is just you know be supportive, listen, try to understand their perspective and what they're going through. You know, you staying calm in a situation too helps them, you know, that's called co-regulation. It's basically where you're calm and that helps them to you know bring down their nervous system a little bit too so they feel more calm using a a softer voice could be helpful. Even a gentle touch.

SPEAKER_02

Ted can you think of anything else that you would add to that so don't if you feel like they're keeping you out of something don't push it and make it a bigger issue than it is, right? As a as a family member or loved one, you know, friend whatever if you have somebody who's dealing with PTSD, it's not about you. It's they're trying to I I don't know how to explain it without sound cliche trying to basically break out of this mind loop that they can't and it's not anything to do with you as their friend or loved one on a personal level right so if you're like you know you have to let me in tell me what's wrong but like no that's it's just gonna it's gonna make it worse.

SPEAKER_04

Avoidance of the trauma is part of PTSD. Like they don't want to talk about it. Right.

SPEAKER_02

So so just be like not in the moment where the spicy deja vues at full throttle but you know when things have calmed down be like hey Ted I think you might be dealing with something heavy I don't know what it is you don't have to tell me but I found EMDR therapist Jessica online and I think it could uh you know I've heard good things about it. Right? And just frame it in a way that's like hey I think this might might uh be good for you. Ted specifically for like first responders do you have anything like to add I I hope my hope is that the awareness around the mental toll that comes with you know being fire EMS law enforcement um just seeing people on their worst absolute day um there's a mental toll that comes with it and to pretend like there's not is ignorant um and I know I did it and I told recruits to do it when I was training them it's like yeah I get you've got feelings about this situation but guess what it doesn't matter in the moment because you're there for you know the victim you're there for to apprehend a suspect like you have to suck it up and do your job at that point so everybody can go home safely right because if you if you break down and start sobbing and squalling like it's right you're compartmentalizing and I I guess what we've always taught our boys because we have our four boys is like I always told them like it's always okay to cry and fill your feelings it just matters when you do it.

SPEAKER_04

And who and who and who you do that with yeah yeah like you need to be around people that are safe for you to do that with not on the job.

SPEAKER_02

No right no and I I probably missed that was the point I was trying to communicate you know when I was training at the academy um but I probably didn't articulate it that well because I only had a couple recruits ever look at me like dude you're nuts right because they're like well what do I do I'm like I mean what you do you go arrest that guy like we what? Like you got handcuffs for a reason which is probably not the most appropriate response. Um but it was just you you're trying to prep those new kids for the street like this is the reality. It's hard.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah yeah you want them to be like strong in the moment um but knowing too like there's a place where you can let all that out. Yeah. And that's not a weakness. I guess that's important for people to know too like it takes courage to face you know the hard things that you have to deal with.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

It's way easier in some aspects to shove it way down but oh it's a hundred times easier. But it comes out we know it's like a I tell my clients a jack in the box and it will just pop right out. Surprise spicy day something and it comes out in the ugliest ways.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah yeah yeah so if if your first spawner listen to this and um you're wondering what to do um man all of any therapists worth their salt like the stuff is all locked down and is HIPAA compliant. Unless you're threatening to murder somebody or yourself um then they're not going to say anything to anyone about anything that's discussed in in your session. So I'd encourage you to look into it at least at least explore it. If you don't sign up right away that's okay. But it it take a step right towards doing better.

SPEAKER_04

I guess what we're we're saying is like it's good to get support like nobody can go through this alone you know or at least you shouldn't do you think do you wish you would have gotten support earlier?

SPEAKER_02

It's it's hard I didn't even come to grips with that it was a problem till I was post law enforcement right so that's that's hard for me to for me to answer honestly.

SPEAKER_04

Do you think it's possible for people that are still in it to deal with their stuff?

SPEAKER_02

Oh yeah. Yeah yeah I my hope is that you know the first responder I guess realm would start taking proactive measures towards it like recognizing hey guys and girls are gonna keep breaking because we're reactive instead of proactive right like that I I think of that recruit I basically told to suck it up in the academy it's like well this is the academy and and that might be the appropriate answer in the moment because there is not time to jump into hey new guys new gals you're probably gonna get exposed to high likelihood of BTSD here's how you proactively combat it right yeah um you know you then you get into budgets and politics and all the nonsense that tends to follow those occupations but um my hope is that a more proactive approach for like new recruits and even guys and gals on the job right now like hey we've got this EMDR therapist here talk to them I don't I don't know what the proactive answer is but something right yeah like what I hear you saying is like basically compartmentalize in the moment on the job let it out outside the job but let it out in a helpful way right meaning like you know if you're experiencing symptoms of PTSD get professional help talk to your spouse or partner talk to your best friend you know like get it out go for a motorcycle ride right you know cope in your own way as long as they're healthy ways of coping that aren't going to hurt you you know in some of the unhealthy ways which we didn't really talk about are basically numbing it out like you talked about drinking a fifth was it a fifth yeah tithy jack or whatever yeah yeah like drinking we know actually makes it worse um doing drugs makes it worse um you know like because it's affecting your brain in a negative way in the moment. Yeah and it's not just alcohol any any type of substance that you're trying to use to tamp that stuff down it's gonna take your career, right? Even if it's food. Because if you use if you're using food you're gonna get fat and you ain't gonna be fit for duty and then you're a liability on the street. So um fluffy fluffy you're so gentle anyway point is like if you try and self-medicate with things like that it's you're you're not gonna beat that beat that demon back on your own.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Well I think we just want to make sure um our listeners knew that they have support there's options and you're not alone okay well thank you all for listening.

SPEAKER_01

Have a good one y'all okay bye