Anxiety.. that spacey, detached feeling..

[leedsmeister]

Hi guys, i'll just introduce myself as im new :)

Been going through 2 months of pretty life-altering anxiety after I scared myself one weekend. It all started when I got drunk and tried a drug for the first time. stupid I know, but I don't intend on ever doing it again so go easy on me... :yesyes:
I was fine in the days that followed apart from the shame of what i'd done, until I had a scare one night over having cancer because of a feeling i'd had in my bowels for years, which turned out to be IBS. It really scared me though and I was just lying awake trembling the whole night.
The next day after I'd been checked out I noticed i felt a bit different mentally, like a tired unfocused feeling which hasnt gone away since. If i worry about a part of my body the feeling almost goes away, or at least i dont notice it, but when i calm down i notice it more and more until I just feel the need to close my eyes.

The 2 weeks following my scare were followed by regular trips to the doctors to make sure what I took hadnt damaged my brain and they reassured me it was just anxiety.

I can't help thinking ive damaged something in my brain.

does anyone else get this weird feeling?

cheers.

[milly jones]

feeling detached and spaced out are symptoms of anx hun

have u read the website for information?

welcome to nmp by the way

nice to meet u

milly x

[leedsmeister]

Yeah i've browsed the whole forum really, some of it makes me worse though-the bits where people list their fears or symptoms of chronic illnesses, i'm not sure why but it makes the blood drain from my face with fear :(

It's just that this feeling seems to last all day sometimes and i feel tired constantlyu because of it.. ggrrr i HATE this feeling!

[AtmoLav]

Hey Leeds,

That spacey feeling is what I call an "anxiety comedown". After a period of intense worry and anxiety your brain is just tired and you feel a bit out of it. Almost a bit stoned, although not in a good way. It will go very quickly once you have come to accept it and distract yourself away from it. The longer you dwell on it though the worse it will get.

Don't worry about the drugs, they haven't messed you up - it's just the fear that's got to you. Also, don't worry about long-term illness: anxiety isn't and illness, despite what you might read - it's a learned behaviour which can be un-learned.

Take it easy,

Atmo

[Nicola Cook]

Hi,

Yes, I totally sympathise with that spaced out panic come-down feeling. It's just your body telling you it's time to relax now after feeling such intense emotions and it won't clear straight away.

I actualy felt like this loads last year, but now I know to expect it after a period of panic / anxiety. I just tell myself I'm floating in dreamland temporarily and try (I know it seems impossible) to make a bit of a joke out of it with myself. The anxiety will only go away when you stop fighting the symptoms. I know they're ultra-scary, but just try to accept them and they will go away - it won't be quick, so just be patient and believe that you will eventually come through it when your body is ready.

Nicola x

[leedsmeister]

It's reassuring to know other people get the same constant feeling as me. I've been to the doctors probably 20 times this last month or so, had ECG, full blood tests even HIV which i thought i could have got from sharing drinks (i've lost all rational thought...!!)...all clear.

The doc even did a 'neural examination' which seemed fairly exhaustive, balancing hearing and the like. I've been to the opticians a couple of months ago, all fine. But i STILL can't get it out of my head that ive got a brain tumour, it's ridiculous. The docs say any malignancy would show up in the blood tests but still I worry.

I now think the only way i'll get over it is with a brain scan, but the doc has just booked me in to see a therapist. I'm a little stuck for options now i feel.

:(

[Matty H]

Seems like after the situation with the drugs you convinced yourself it was going to have permanant effects on you. This new anxiety managed to convince you that the ibs you might have had for some time was cancer. That's pretty much classic health anxiety. If you've had the ibs symptoms for a long time you might have had underlying anxiety that you never realized. The constant worry about the drugs probably acted as the catalyst needed to push your nerves over the edge.

Like everyones explained so far, many anxiey/panic attacks (especially your first) will cause you to have that spaced out feeling where you almost feel like your outside your own body. When i get those feelings it's almost like i'm watching myself in the 3rd person view, like I have no control and i'm just sitting back for the ride. It can be scary but it's important not to let it overcome you, because that feeling of uneasiness can throw into a cycle of attacks. It's really just your nervous system calming down and trying to calm you down. It's hard in the beginning but you just have to go with the flow and it will subside. Don't feed into the fear, but don't be afraid if the feelings don't immediately go away. You're safe, just be patient.

What seems to have happened is that you're in that cycle right now. You said you actually feel better when you worry about your body? But when you don't you end up with those spacey feelings? Yup, that's pretty much how it works. Worrying about your body is just a distraction, and shouldn't be used to make your anxious/spacy feelings go away. It's just your constant underlying worry that's making you feel funny, like you're worrying about your health even when you think you're not. So realize that it is possible to divert the fuzzy feelings, and use more positive activities to take your mind off the feelings. Like reading, exercise, spending time with friends. The less time you give yourself to do nothing but worry, the less you're going to feel spaced out. Over time you'll hopefully stop worrying about your health all the time in general, but it can take alot of patience. Stress and anxiety contributes to IBS's symptoms, just like fear feeds panic attacks. Breaking the cycle of fear is one of the keys to ending your worries for good.

Going to the doctor was great, but listen to them. Don't fight it and don't always go looking for second and third opinions over everything. I went to doctor after doctor looking for them to tell me something was horribly wrong until after awhile it felt like I WANTED to find something wrong with me. Something to blame the panic on, maybe a defect in my brain. But that's all it really was, anxiety. It can cause you to have all kinds of perceived symptoms that aren't dangerous at all and aren't connected to any illness.

I can tell you that over the long term it's more unhealthy to worry your entire life and discover an illness than it is to live your life worry free and later find out you have some sort of illness. Is it worth it to spend all your money and time convincing yourself you're ill? I have a high sensitivity to how my body feels, especially my heart. I can almost always feel it beating, and I have a very bad habit of feeling my chest or my pulse whenever i don't notice it beating. That's silly! Even though I know it's silly I still find myself doing it. What, just because I don't feel it does it mean it stopped? No, and so what if it did my clasping my chest isnt going to start my heart beating again anyways. It just isn't worth the constant worry. No amount of mri's or ct scans, blood tests, ekg's, are going to help you escape something if it really wants to occur. It's reality, it's very sad, but any one of us can drop in an instant right after a doctors visit for tons of reasons. Don't dedicate your life worrying about when and if something is going to happen. Practicing that got me through my health worries.

[hopeseed]

Have any of you ever had that spacey feeling for over a week straight?

It gets a little less sometimes but is always there...if it came and went it would be better but I've felt like this for a week, had tests. A lot like the stories I read on this forum. I do have a history of anxiety and was really anxious the whole day last sunday then I started to feel lightheaded and have been pretty much since then. The third day or so I started to get a little headache that comes and goes and then my face and lips go a little numb off and on, it's worse when i get freaked out, but I've been freaking out all week, missed three days of work (I'm a teacher so it's a big deal for me to miss that much) been to many different doctors (ear, chiropractor, ER, had multiple ekg's, bloodwork, an mri of my head...nothing, so it must be anxiety...but it feels horrible. I'm sick of it, can I do another week of this? Ugh.

[srthomas21]

Yes, I have had it for prolonged periods of time. I didn't really know what it was at the time. I just felt kind of spaced out all the time. It gradually built to a full blown anxiety attack which really freaked me out.

I'm on Klonopin which has helped the spacey feelings. There was a time where I didn't think I'd ever feel normal again. I felt better for a few weeks and now its creeping back again. I think its kind of cyclical . It sucks I know. You should try to get some kind of treatment or it could build into anxiety attacks which aren't too fun :)

[Dazo]

I can say that i have had this for some time now and i really hate that feeling.
My arms and legs can feel strange and i seem to be in another place when i talk to other people.
It scares me but i am working hard to ignore it.

[koqie]

Spaced out, I had that feeling today, I am a bagger and I looked at a child in his cart, he just looked at me, and for that split second I felt like the world stood still.

[lavender]

I've been suffering with this detached/spaced/unreal feeling for quite a while, about 3 months constant, its had me in tears daily, and for me the worst symptom of anxiety, i had some paperwork from the gp saying it's to be expected, and one of the main reasons people go running to the doctors at 100 miles an hour wondering whats wrong with them, you mentioned that for a split second 'the world stood still' i know EXACTLY what you mean by that, like as if you're losing conciousness, this normally happens to me when im talking to someone or staring at something, my mind drifts off when im talking to people, this is classic outcome for a tired/stressed & worried mind i'm beginning to realise that now. Theres nothing nice about anxiety and this spaced feeling is very common you know.

I'm having a hard time with this myself, it's really upsetting to say the least, i too have wondered if this is drugs causing it because i too have had a go at drugs. Anxiety can make you feel like you're losing your mind or going mad, i know this because am currently going through this stage. Slowly but surely though i am accepting i will get better in time and for a few minutes a time in the past few days the strange unreality feeling went away, then came back, then went again, but when i first started having anxiety, i seriously thought it would never go. The effects of stress are evil and i wouldn't wish this on anyone, but take it from me it IS anxiety, 4 trips to the hospital, 3 doctors and 2 councillors have confirmed it is. I had to watch my mother die in hospital and at the time i thought "ill be ok" "i can cope" but two and a half years down the line BANG it hit me like a ton of bricks, depression & anxiety set in bigtime, and it all started with the flu believe it or not.

You can't go through this much and get away with it, that i do know now, the thing is with depression and anxiety (closely linked) is that your thinking is jumbled, concentration is non existent and outlook on life in general is crap, add that to constant disturbing thoughts, anger, irritability, worry and fear, it's no wonder your mind doesn't work properly and you have feelings of unreality and confusion it's too busy dealing with all of this crap that's happening to you. I feel a bit of a hipocrit saying the unreality feelings are something you shouldn't worry about though, because it scares the hell out of me even now, but remember this you WILL get better and this problem WILL go away, because i'm starting to feel it less and less lately until in the end i KNOW it will be gone forever, 4 hospital nurses, 3 doctors and 2 councillors can't be wrong. Oh i know it's hard REAL hard but as i said it WILL NOT last forever. You didn't have this before anxiety and you won't have it after anxiety has gone.

Hope you've understood what i've said and this helps you out m8.

1: get as much sleep as you can, doesn't matter what time of day it is soon (when you feel tired)
2: start on a vitamin b slow release complex (your urine turns bright yellow with vitamin b don't worry)
3: try your damn best not to worry about it, instead look at it like this "it's to be expected with anxiety"
4: drink plenty of water
5: eat ONLY good food, ie: green veg, brown bread, fruit
6: remember it's only stress
7: stop looking in the mirror all the time, depersonalization will upset you if you do
8: depersonalization is the main reason why us anxiety sufferers think we're going mad FACT: WE'RE NOT

[shaunyboi69]

ive had it for a month now and each day i look forward to getting up in morning to see if it is gone it can make me frustrated at times. This spaced out feeling makes my eyes feel out of focus as well which makes me concentrate on wat i c in my eyes. i then start thinking somethin rong with my eyes it is horrible and hard to not notice

[helpme!]

i'm the same mine started 4 years ago i was convinced i was dying every time id get so scared and ring an ambulance i was told there was nothing wrong ive had a brain scan eeg all normal even now when i get an attack i feel an urge to ring an ambulance.in the last three years ive had bad anxiety but this last week its been unbearable.what terrifies me is the images that go through my head at the time like harming people and my own voice screaming at me its terrifying i feel so scared i cant function and i definately cant control these things .i've been staring at the prozac tablets for a week but cant taske themincase they cause a reaction and kill me also it says symptoms get worst at the start and i cant handle no more i honestly think im on the verge of a breakdown should i take the prozac?

[reallyfedup]

If you take the Prozac then you know you might be worse for a while but it will pass and if you don't take them then you will never know if they can help you?!?! you may be lucky and get no or mild side effects x big hug to you as I know how it feels. Having a crap anxious panicky time myself. X

[lavender]

Anxiety and depression is a breakdown, all emotions that you normally used to feel like happiness and love are very limited for the time being. This is what life does to you i'm afraid, plus actually noticing that there is something wrong indicates we are not mad, just angry and frustrated about it all.
Tricyclics and other anti-depressant drugs cause emotion blocks aswell, that's their purpose as unpleasant as it is.
People with above average intelligence are prone to anxiety along with people that are perfectionists, so how can we be mad if we are so intelligent? eg: knowing those bad feelings of wanting to lash out at someone are wrong is another indicator that you are not mad.
If the mind is constantly thinking about nothing else but yourself (because anxiety does this) you will experience unreality feelings, in fact i would say its not unreality but a sense of strangeness you cannot easily explain which upsets anxiety sufferers further. Anxiety neurosis is a very evil thing to go through, and like going through a tunnel, there will be an end to it, and like any other illness the body needs time to heal itself and repair, this you have to accept as hard as it is.
I'm pleased to say those feelings of strangeness and not feeling like i'm even existing are very nearly gone now, at first was constant every minute of every day, now it's happening to me only when i think about it and start to panic about it. It will take time and your own memory will bring it back, but as time goes on it happens less and less untill in the end it will be gone forever, when the anxiety goes so will this strange feeling. When i first became ill with this i used to pace around in circles and googled all my symptoms which came up with about 500 different illnesses, at first i thought i was a skitzofrenic then i thought i was suffering from psychosis and losing a grip of reality, (this is why i don't call it unreality) in the end i thought everything was wrong with me and this made me really ill, constantly worried about having an incurable disease, so please don't do this, trust your gp, if he says its anxiety then it is. Anxiety has a nasty habbit of making you think there is something else wrong with you, the truth is there's not! I feel lucky really having anxiety because it could be worse, at least in time it will go.
At the moment i'm feeling 75% only another 25% to go, all of you anxiety sufferers take care, it will be gone sooner than you think.

[Kyra714]

I have the same feeling going on right now, and from pretty much the same scenario.
About two weeks ago my friend convinced me to try weed, and I thought okay, but only because I thought I was entitled to my experimentation, and had never planned on doing it again.
so I got high, completely disregarding my fear of no control.
Everything I saw freaked me out, my heart rate was through the roof, and I had experienced my first Anxiety attack. (though I had no idea it was anxiety at the time)
I eventually calmed myself down by telling myself it was just the weed. And it worked.
I got sober, went home, fell asleep.
But then, I had this dream where I was high, and woke up with an anxiety attack.
It scared me out of my wits. I was completely convinced that I had caused myself brain damage. I was freaking out, demanding to be taken to the hospital for evaluation.
My grand-parents took me, and I was assured by the doctor that this was Anxiety.
I still felt uncertain, and was convinced that it was the either brain damage or I was insane.
Nine more hospital visits that week assured me though.
And ever since then, I have had the strange detached feeling, which is unfortunate because it reminds me of being high, and I start to freak out again.

Now I have the irrational fear of being Insane.
though I have been tested negative by three different therapists.
It's just really scary to think that this feeling could go on for such a long time.
And sometimes, I get these things where I suddenly realize how consequential everything around me is, and I feel like I've ruined my life from that one experiment. I feel trapped in my body, and It REALLY freaks me out. Has anyone else ever experienced this?

[Sambapati85]

About 8 months ago i was doing my usual routine smoking weed all weekend long, watching movies being a loser and such, when i experienced my first intense panic attack ever. Before this i had been smoking weed regularly for 2 years straight, and i have had weed freakouts before, but this was different ... something where if elt i needed to go to the hospital. The next day i too had the spaced out stoned freaking out feeling. I recently rid myself 95% percent of this feeling , and guess what almost a week ago ago another intense panic attack and now i have this feeling again.. man life sucks . Atleast we know that there are others who have gone through exactly the same thing,i mean when i tell my parents family or girlfriend aobut it , they are like " ohh , you're fine" but if they ever felt this feeling they would certainly be horrified . This feeling in itself is a disease. I wish you luck, and hope you can get rid of your derealization soon. Once you feel normal again it is the most amazing feeling in the world...

[Kyra714]

Sam, I would just like to thank you, and let you know that you have helped me alot with that small paragraph.
I could never really put a pin to what the last bit was, the 'derealization' and neither could any of my counselors.
But thanks to you, I know now that it is perfectly normal along with anxiety, and that I AM not insane and have nothing to worry about.
Thanks!

[Sambapati85]

Well thank you as well for having experienced the same thing as me. I cannot give much advice on how to beat it , it does go away... it just takes a little time , distraction and acceptance. Do not dwell on the feeling just try and pretend like you are normal when you are actually not and don't let it affect you. Few things help this go away

for me : Video games ( World of warcraft, counterstrike) , a nice long bath/shower / or a steam shower if you can, Sleeping !!!!, being out during the day around people and working ,

it took around 7 months for me to start actually feeling alot better. PArtially because the first 7 months , i didn't know why i felt the way i did, and because i didn't trust the blood tests, EKGS , chest xrays or doctors. The Derealization / Lightheaded feeling is very overwhelming and feels like there is certainly a problem and that you could die at any minute.
I hope it doesn't last long for you and if you want to talk, message me anytime.

[ecb]

Hi all, I have to say it has been extremely comforting reading this post as I have recently been experiencing a much higher level of this feeling and have been feeling really scared about it.
I have suffered from anxiety for 3 years now and its symptoms have varied somewhat through the cycle. I have seen my GP countless times for fear there is something seriously wrong with me, but like every other anxiety suffer, nothing has ever shown up. I have tried anti depressants for 6 months and I've tried counselling, hypnosis and CBT. Nothing has miraculously cured things but sometimes I wonder if thats because I'm a perfectionist in a high pressure job where the work will never be complete.
Shopping, eating out and exercise are still hard for me but I fight through. Recently the overwhelming feeling of brain fog has overtaken me and how I feel. I wrote a list of how it makes me feel.....
Feel like a zombie, Vision not right, Off balance. Light headed, Fatigued behind eyes, Lethargic, Glazed eyes, Not feeling alert, Head and body not in sync, Pressure in head which makes me feel like someone is pushing down on my head and it needs to move, Sensitivity to light (eyes) and Foggy headedness.
I particularly notice this when i am standing up and focussing on things or people. I too also wondered if it was my glasses but had my eyes retested and they were fine. As a consequence of this though, I am wearing my glasses much more often because without them, I feel the blur is much more prominent and may contribute towards making me not feel in touch with the world and what I am doing.
I am trying to tell myself that this is just because of a bad few weeks at work and am trying to make my out of work time as relaxed as possible. When you feel like this constantly though, and its been a few weeks of this now, you can scare yourself with the thoughts you have because you just want to feel normal again. I only have this for a few minutes a month I'd say at the moment. When I do feel it, its like the best feeling in the world. No one should ever take for granted that normal feeling of not feeling anxious or sick or light headed or fuzzy. I hate living in this world because it takes so much out. However I am confident that no matter how long it takes, I will recover from this, slowly but surely.

[Starscream]

Posted this in another thread - let me know what you think-

This is incredible.

Other people have this too then ?

I have often thought that I had Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. The doctors said it sounded like it.

I have had this issue BEFORE my anxiety was ever brought into play. I never really used to be anxious as a 10 year old kid and I got this a lot.

But who knows. Maybe my mind just has never been relaxed from a young age.

It is a HORRIBLE feeling. I agree.

It's like everything around you is not real and you can't say anything to anyone at the time cos it doesn't make sense. You feel they are not really there and you are living in either a dream an alternate reality or just some kind of purgatory environment.

Am i right with those descriptions ?

[Starscream]

Tell you another thing - whenever I am out drinking, it happens.

It ALWAYS happens more if I am drinking, and I go to a bathroom in a club/pub and 9 times out of 10 as soon as the bathroom lights hit me, I get this feeling. I Don't understand it. When I am out socialising and drinking I am NEVER anxious. I feel better. So I think anyway.

It's horrific.

A dreadful feeling.

[lavender]

Tell you another thing - whenever I am out drinking, it happens.

It ALWAYS happens more if I am drinking, and I go to a bathroom in a club/pub and 9 times out of 10 as soon as the bathroom lights hit me, I get this feeling. I Don't understand it. When I am out socialising and drinking I am NEVER anxious. I feel better. So I think anyway.

It's horrific.

A dreadful feeling.

Yes this is correct, fluorescent lighting makes it worse, it's the way the bulbs work, they're flashing off and on 50 times a second (50Hz) and it really amplifies the problem. You will notice the detached feeling can start if you're in a room with fluorescent lighting and having a conversation with someone, all of a sudden you feel as if you're on another planet for a few seconds, but it quickly goes away.

[Almost_there]

Tell you another thing - whenever I am out drinking, it happens.

It ALWAYS happens more if I am drinking, and I go to a bathroom in a club/pub and 9 times out of 10 as soon as the bathroom lights hit me, I get this feeling. I Don't understand it. When I am out socialising and drinking I am NEVER anxious. I feel better. So I think anyway.

It's horrific.

A dreadful feeling.

omg! that's so true1 i only get this feeling when i'm at work and sit away from the window so can't see the day light, sitting under those types of lamps, it's horrid! it only goes away once i leave the room and go outside (and then comes back again when i'm back) arghhh. hate it.
That's one of the reasons i keep thinking am i still anxious? i don't feel anxious but i have this symptom?????? how can i have it without being anx at the moment? the only way i can explain it it's like an "aftermath" of anxiety, it hangs around even when you're not anx anymore...

[Timetochill]

This post and these responses are just what I needed! Omgoodness... Whoever said its like being stoned but not a good stoned was so on the money. Iv been going through some shit myself but all has come good now and iv been left with this constant spaced out... A little disoriented feeling... All of the time. So when I notice it I have yet another flat out panic attack😁 I thought I had a brain tumour or something. I have 3 little kids and the thought that I could leave them just engulfs the attack. How long has it lasted those of you who have experienced this? I'd love some peace of mind! Just became a member to this forum. Thanks for having me.👍😉

[pugs3686]

I've pretty much felt this way for the past month. I feel like one day something changed in my body or brain chemistry. I'm always tired, on edge, and just feel out of it. I'm always paying attention to how my body feels and it keeps escalating.

[Mike_NY]

I had to register just because of this post. I am an expat, living in NY and I started getting bad anxiety towards the end of last year because of chest pains which turned out to be acid reflux. To this day I have been worrying and panicking about everything in life and any little pain in my body. I went into decentralization mode last Saturday and I have literally been crying my eyes out, worried and having panic attacks because I just feel disconnected from the world. I was smokin an ecig and getting some light headed from it and feeling spaced out. On Saturday it happaned again and I never really returned to normal. I spoke to the doc and he said my anxiety made it worse and gave me Xanax for when I have panic attacks. I'm pretty sure if it was a nicotine OD it would be out of my system by now so I guess it is decentralization. It's a horrible horrible feeling, but I have gotten my first bit of comfort from this thread after browsing and posting on various forums. I know i'm not alone and I know what I gotta do now to beat it.

How long does it take do beat? Does Xanax help? My doc gave me a referral for a psychiatrist but I don't know if that will help. Also I don't want people to think i'm a nutcase!

[Ms07430]

Hi,
I have suffered from anxiety and panic since I was 18 years old, triggered by trying weed one time. I'm in my 50's now and still have severe flair ups with my anxiety, I take Effexor an Ativan as needed but I have had a very spaced out feeling the last 3 weeks and I am starting to freak out about it. This is so scary, I have tried everything to get rid of it and nothing is working. I went to the Doctor to get an antibiotic she said I didn't need one but gave it to me anyway because I told her my head was all congested. I use a steam inhaler and a netti pot I try everything! Will I ever be clear headed again? I have been under a lot of stress lately & I find it near impossible to work and this is making my depression and anxiety worse than ever! Help!!! Plus I think I am going thru menopause, I had a partial hysterectomy when I was 46 so I have not had a period since then but still have my ovaries. I just want to feel normal again:weep: