Post-Dramatic Stress Disorder (PDSD)

**Disclaimer: The intention of this post is not to make light of an actual serious illness of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder...but rather to provide a therapeutic outlet for myself as a recovering PDSD sufferer.**

What is PDSD?
It is an emotional condition that develops as a result in participating in a dramatic production. The symptoms generally start developing after closing night. It is an acute disorder that has a good prognosis. However, once one has experienced this disorder, they are more likely to experience it again in the future!

Symptoms may include two or more of the following:
-Feelings of sadness
-Randomly inserting lines from the play into everyday life
-Having flashbacks/nightmares about the play
-Erroneously believing that they have to go to rehearsal.
-Wishing they had some fake eyelashes to wear
-Headaches
-Nausea, Vomiting, and Diarrhea
-Oliguria
-Cardiac arrhythmia's

Treatments:
There has been very little research done in the area of treatments for this disorder. One sufferer of this disorder stated that keeping in contact with cast and crew members helped diminish the symptoms. Drinking a hot cup of tea and reading a good book also been known to help ease the suffering. Talking about your experiences with others (even if they get sick of hearing about all your stories) is another recommended therapy.

Prevention:
The only prevention is abstinence: Do not get involved in any dramatic productions, EVER! But really, who wants to do that?

P.S. In case you're wondering...I only experienced 3 of the 9 listed symptoms...I guess it was a mild case. :)

Here goes nothing...

I always said I'd never teach anything because I am bad at explaining things. Words don't come to me on the spot. (Probably one reason why I hate improv). I don't mind going in front of a crowd of strangers and saying words that someone else has written...but when I have to make up my own words, I start to feel my palms get sweaty and my heart start racing. A lot of my friends are teachers, and I have never envied them. Well, I am a nurse...and guess what comes with that job, TEACHING!! I do a tonne of teaching everyday regarding care for babies, how to take care of healing incisions, when to come in and get things checked out. I do a pile of education about medications, surgical and medical procedures....and the list goes on and on. Who would have guessed. Had I known that was involved with nursing, I may have been scared out of going into this profession. But now I am doing it, and it's not as big of a deal as I thought. I am now taking that next step in stretching myself and have agreed to teach prenatal classes. I am finally okay with the "informal" one-on-one teaching with my patients...but this will be in a classroom, and I will have to talk for a long time...and I hope it will make sense! I am quite nervous to say the least. All the information I will tell them, is stuff that I teach my patients everyday who are in labour. It will just be in a different setting with many different couples listening and asking questions, instead of just one couple. What if I can't answer their questions. What if I totally lose them and don't make any sense. What if I'm really boring and they hate it. I guess we'll find out tonight. I guess I should prepare a bit for this lesson...

"Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater." -Gail Godwin

Water

"When the poor and needy search for water and there is none, and their tongues are parched from thirst, then I, the LORD, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will never abandon them." -Isaiah 41:17

My sister showed me this link to a couple of video's and articles from the Winnipeg Free Press about the shortage of running water in Manitoba. This is the type of stuff that makes me angry. I am not normally an angry person...but situations like this upset me a great deal. There are many people living in third-world conditions in our own province. What are we doing about it? How can we make this right? I know it's all very complicated and political and everything, but these are real people who live in an environment where infections and diseases are bound to spread. This does not promote healthy living, in fact it can be fatal. Some of them don't even have the option to make some of the healthy choices we make everyday (like washing our hands with clean water, or flushing the toilet to get rid of waste). It's not right. What CAN I do about this? I feel so helpless.

"And if you give even a cup of cold water to the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded." -Matthew 10:42