Feel so strange...

[Lissa101]

I would say I had it in total for around 18 months, although there was a slight improvement from 6 months onwards. Its really easy to become hopeless and scared of the future but try to focus on the positive stories of people who have recovered. I was very lucky to have a boyfriend who suffers from bipolar and knew all about mental health issues. Otherwise I would have been certain I'd lost my mind. He would tell me 'I can't promise it'll never come back but I can promise it'll go away'. And it did eventually. The really crucial thing for me was to keep being around other people. No matter how awful it feels you have to make sure you keep socialising as much as poss. I isolated myself to start with and getting comfortable around people again was really hard x

[Sugarplum001]

Thank you for replying again. I'm really struggling again this evening...completely feel like I don't know who I am and desperately trying to check how I know I haven't forgotten when I feel so strange and like I've not been here. It's just so upsetting and I'm so scared I will forget because it feels so strong. Thank you for the reassurance that it will go eventually. Xx

[Lissa101]

Are you still managing to work/see friends? x

[Sugarplum001]

If I'm honest I don't really have many friends and my partner works away. I spend time with family but recently I've not been attending family events and I've been working from home. I'm just so scared it's getting worse. I literally wake up and am in immediate panic that I don't have a clue who I am and feel like I've never been a person. I just can't explain how it feels like it's changing...it's making me feel so sick and breathless because i can't stop questioning if I've been here because it doesn't feel right. Sorry if I repeat myself I just get so upset and constantly need reassurance it's still dp feelings and I will be ok xx

[Lissa101]

It's just the feelings of panic that cause the sensations of unreality. Like what 'normal' people feel when they get a scare. Only if you're scared all of the time then you'll feel unreal all the time. Are you getting any support from your GP or a therapist? I'd really recommend going to a group if you aren't already. I used to go to one when I had DP/DR real bad and I wasnt leaving the house much. It really helped me when I could connect with people in a non-judgemental environment x

[Petesy]

Hello,
Sorry if I'm repeating myself from my previous posts but I'm struggling quite abit. I literally feel so strange to be a person! I feel like I've just been put in this body 5 minutes ago and nothing feels right at all. I feel like I don't know who I am and my whole body feels wrong and weird. I have been making myself go out but I'm finding it hard to distract myself at all as I'm constantly petrified of this strange feeling. It literally feels like I've never been a person before and being in a body looking out feels very strange. I've been suffering for a while now (about a year and half) but before I could feel the intensity rising and then after a little while it would lower and I could engage in something but for the last couple of months (especially these last couple of weeks) the intensity just keeps rising. I wake up early and then can't get back to sleep as I lay there feeling horrendously strange checking if I know who, where and what I am. Each day I feel like it gets worse and I'm just so scared that I'm just not right and I can see everyone getting on around me and I'm just stuck feeling like I'm never going to be right as I feel like I've forgotten what 'normal' feels like. Is this still dp?
What can I do to even get back to lowering the intensity?
Many Thanks
Xx

I'm feeling this way right now and it's definitely not the first time, it's one of the most horrible feelings and symptoms of anxiety... I was looking at myself and didn't know who i was, saying to myself where am i the walls looked different questioning where i was total unreality and so overwhelming.. Like i was looking from the outside in, it frightened the life out of me that i had to phone my mum and who's suffered from anxiety for 30+years and said to her "I feel like I'm me but I'm not me" if that makes sense! She told me it was depersonalization and that she's had it numerous times and told me what i was feeling which made me feel better known i wasn't dying or losing my mind.

So you're not alone