Fireworks ignite painful memories for PTSD sufferers

Fireworks ignite painful memories for PTSD sufferers
FOX 4 News
by Andrew Lynch and Charly Arnolt
July 3, 2013

OTTAWA, Kan. – For some war veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the sights and sounds on the Fourth of July can be nothing short of a shell-shocking nightmare.

“The sounds, the appearances, the smells…they send me back to where I once was,” Allen Hill of Ottawa, Kan said.

He’s been back from Iraq for nearly six years, but due to PTSD he still can’t shake the feeling of being in battle.

“Think about something that scared you once and then that moment is seared into your brain,” Allen said.

Every Fourth of July, Allen fights that battle.

“When he has an episode, he’s not here, he doesn’t see us,” said wife Gina Hill, “If he sees us we’re someone in Iraq instead of his family, so for him it can be pretty dangerous.”

Allen said he and his family prepare for the worst on the holiday with a back-up plan.

If the fireworks prove to be too much, Allen will go into his “quiet room”, equipped with soundproof walls and special equipment to block out the noise.
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