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Treatment has helped me in numerous ways.
After taking that first plunge and going to that first meeting,
it opened my eyes to what was available to me,
that there were treatment options for someone with
military sexual trauma, that they were unique,
that it wasn't always something that everyone would understand
but that the VA did understand
because of their knowledge with how the military works
and the patterns that they see and the similar stories.
It was very, very beneficial for me to hear from these folks
who work with this on a daily basis that
"You know what, that's normal.
What you're going through, it's normal, and you're OK.
It took a while for you to get to this point.
It's going to take us a little while
to get you to where you need to be.
So, you don't need to be hard on yourself anymore.
The military might have been hard on you,
but we're not going to be hard on you.
We'll help you get to where you need to go
based on what you're comfortable with."
And thanks to the VA, I also stopped drinking,
so that's a huge accomplishment.
And I know that it's not easy for everyone.
I mean, alcohol's so easy to turn to because it's legal,
it's free, it's right there, but there's a downside to it,
specifically when you have PTSD, and I realized that
the hard way and would hate to see anyone else
go through that, too.
Especially if you're taking medication,
you have to be especially careful with drinking.
So now, I don't drink because I'm on medications.
I choose to be healthy as opposed to
put myself in any more danger.
I want to move forward with being able to control
what does happen now, and if I drink, that takes my control
away from trying to move in the right direction.