PTSD comes in
many forms. Some are not as obvious as what a normal person would consider
PTSD. It is not always a person becoming startled during an event. Some
symptoms could be short-term memory loss, or avoiding situations that could
spark an old memory. Those symptoms are some that Dripps suffers still today.
With shortly finding out he had PTSD after being deployed in Iraq, Dripps personal experience was originally explosive outbursts of anger. He also stated “That doesn’t typically happen these days unless triggered. I still have trouble with large crowds and tend to lack emotion.” However along with his PTSD Dripps lives the normal family life.
Dipps himself goes into greater detail of what it is like
dealing with PTSD, including some interesting statements.
Dripps married Stephanie Foster on July 4th, 2008 and they now have 3 boys ranging in the ages of 2-7. She said “Something that can get frustrating about his PTSD is Steve's sleeping patterns. While in Iraq, he would be put on 24-48 hour shifts. From months of doing this, when he would nod off to sleep, his body would twitch to stimulate himself awake. Years later, this is still a habit of his. When he starts to fall asleep, he twitches. It usually lessens a couple of hours after he falls asleep, and then usually half way through the night he has one huge twitch that wakes us both up.”
Along with the statement above Stephanie continues to discuss
what it is like living with someone who has PTSD in the following videos. She also mentions how she found out Steve had PTSD.
Everyone has their own way of dealing with PTSD weather you’re
the one suffering from it or a close family member. Stephanie said “It can be
frustrating at times and I have to remind myself that it's not his fault and I
refuse to be mad at him for anything associated with it. At the end of the day,
we are extremely fortunate that his PTSD is limited to memory, sleep, and
crowds.
Recently Dripps attended The South University
obtaining an Associates in Information Technology in 2012 and a Bachelors in
Information Technology in 2014. He currently works for the United States
Government.
In closing Dripps said “My symptoms are
currently still occurring, however over the years I have learned how to deal
with them better. It’s easier to avoid stressful situations.”