The problem is I dont know...

I was told to write an essay on one of my problems in life. Unfortunately the biggest one that came to mind was that I didnt know what my problem was.

Problems come in many forms.  Some forms of problems are physical, emotional, and mental.  These forms of problems can derive from many different occurrences in someone’s life.  For instance, If your loved one dies, that would be a type of occurrence that creates emotional turmoil.  Now, say you and your loved one are in a car accident, your loved one dies and you survive in critical condition; this would create an occurrence that causes both physical and emotional turmoil.  Mental problems can be defined as being caused by mind altering situations that create a type of psychosis.  All of these types of problems can be diagnosed from the minute a situation occurs to create the turmoil, throughout the rest of the person’s life.  Sometimes, physical trauma can trigger mental or emotional distress.  Unfortunately, the more years go by after a specific event occurs without being documented by a doctor, when problems do arise years from the occurrence, it is harder to pinpoint how a person has the current problems and how they relate to the original incident.
                Physical problems arising after a specific instance can show up instantly or years from the initial incident.  While I was stationed in Iraq, my four man team and I were in a convoy to drop off medical supplies to a local hospital.  My truck was hit by a road side bomb.  We were evacuated to base for evaluation by medical personnel.  One soldier suffered from a concussions and one had injured his knee.  These physical problems where found immediately after the incident took place, allowing for the
problem to be fixed in a timely manner.  I, to my knowledge, was not physically injured, nor did I have any emotional trauma relating to the bombing directly after the event.  Four years after the event, I began to experience major back spasms and the left side of my body ached from my neck to my ankle.  I went to my local non military doctor one night because I was having severe pain and loss of vision in my left eye.  The doctor explained that I was having muscle spasms and asked if anything had happened. 
The only thing I could remember was when the bomb had gone off.  Until then, I had taught myself not to think about Iraq.  Once I began to recall that incident, I started crying and having a panic attack.  The doctor calmed me down and told me that I had possible psychosis and sent me to Saint Mary’s Hospital.
Once at Saint Mary’s Hospital, I was admitted into the psychiatric ward.  The doctors asked me a few questions, some of which I answered by explaining about the bombing in Iraq, and what had happened when I went to see my doctor earlier that day.  The Saint Mary’s Hospital doctors determined that I did not have psychosis, but that I had post traumatic stress disorder.  They explained that as long as I was not seeing things or hearing voices, I was not psychotic.  Although I had told to them about my flash backs and seeing my friends who had died overseas, the hospital proceeded to discharge me and tell me to seek therapy.
A few days later I had my first appointment with my veteran’s association therapist.  After a half an hour of speaking with the therapist he informed me that I did not have post traumatic stress disorder, but that I was suffering from depression.  He asked that I make an appointment with him for the following week and also suggested that I make an appointment with the Veterans Outreach Center on Westfall Road.  Additionally, I was to make an appointment with my regular doctor and with a psychiatrist who would be able to prescribe depression medicine to me via my therapist’s recommendation. 
As of now I am more confused than ever.  My problem isn’t a specific issue; it is that I don’t know what my problem is.  No one person in my opinion has spoken to me long enough or thoroughly enough to make a proper diagnosis of my mental and physical condition.  Being properly looked at by a doctor after a sustainable event is the best way to prevent problems in the future.  A sustainable event can be in the context of a car crash, divorce, or any mind altering event.  Seeing a doctor immediately documents your current symptoms and the instance that had happened to you. 
This documentation also gives viable evidence of the results of the event.  The documented diagnosis also helps the doctors understand what happened or if anything may occur in your future which may have derived from the event.  In my case, a bomb exploded and I put it out of my mind because I initially sustained no physical injury.  Only when I felt physical discomfort did I seek help, and this set off a chain of events.  Now I realize how physical and mental symptoms can resurface after many years.  To this day, I am still working through my problem.  My problem is that I do not know what my
problem is, and nobody has taken enough time to find out what is really the matter.

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[andrea]

I have currently found out what was going on and If anyone would like to read my diary entries it will explain more in detail what I went thru and what is going on currently with the situation.