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A walk through Wally World or a drive down the road can set me off. Unexpected sudden noise can set me off big time. So can TV in some cases. First attacks put me in what I call the Brain Fog. I would loose concept of where I was at, why, how, etc. In Wally World I wanted the hell out of there because they were blaring announcements every few seconds. I was initially diagnosed with PTSD and General Anxiety Disorder. Any wrong noise and my upper torso spasmed like being hit by a cattle prod real violent lasting a second or three. Twenty years later I still live with that part. It can't be cured but it isn't PTSD either. It's sensory processing damage. I began associating the attacks with certain sounds. Some of the meds made it only worse because they were causing my sensory system to go into overdrive.

Two years into it I was able to finally connect that to some Inner Ear damage I was born with. That added with being in machinery rooms on the ship and in the guards in a Howitzer Battery didn't help. The PTSD came from traumatic events after I got out. The total sum stress set off a snowball effect. For about three days all I could do was answer yes and no questions. What I'm trying to get at is look for both issues because the Inner Ear aspect can compound the PTSD and vise versa. Agitation at certain sounds points to Vestibular Issues. If sounds are the major trigger a person may need to look deeper for damage in their Vestibular System. Understanding why helps a persons to deal with it.

On the other hand I know one guy set off by smell. He was in special Ops and laid in swaps for days. He had to make some choices to save his unit that were not pleasant and he carried for years.

If I know the fireworks are coming, after the first one I can tolerate them...The unknown explosions still creep me out for a few seconds...

Yep! I've been on the receiving end of plenty of artillery, and fireworks did creep me out a bit for a few years afterward. But I'm with x1stcav on this one; some of these new vets need to man up and get on with their lives. I don't understand all this pathetic whining from grown men who supposedly faced the devil. My father fought through much worse in WWII and his generation never whined about fireworks displays, and neither did we. When you realize it's not real, you know it can't hurt you.