Terrifying Depersonalization/Derealization

[ANXIETY26]

I've been doing fairly well in my road to recovery over the last few weeks. On Wednesday I had a slight glimpse which I was really happy about and went to bed that night feeling really positive. Woke up the next morning suffering with really bad derealization and it has been with me ever since. It's terryfing in fact, it's like I have no sense of where I am (although I obviously do). It's got to the stage this morning where im to scared to be alone incase I lose my mind. My head feels like cotton wool and seems as if it's hollow. I've reasearched this condition on the internet and they say to try and just ignore it but i find that more or less impossible. The thing is it's been permanent now for the last few days where as before it was happening in patches. Has anyone ever managed to overcome this without medication.

[nomorepanic]

Anxiety

I overcame it without medication but there was no miracle cure. It was just a case of ignoring it and getting on with other things in life that distracted from it.

Exercise really worked for me as it gave me something to focus on.

I am afraid the more you think about it the worse it gets - a vicious circle.

Nicola

[trac67]

Hi Hun,

Try going for a walk when you feel really bad, just to get out of the house and take your mind off of it.

It really is all to do with positive thinking and distraction, just keep thinking back to how you felt wednesday, and focus on those feelings.

Take care
Love
Tracey XXX

'Live your life with arms wide open, today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwritten'

[bradley]

hey,

i had really bad derilization to the point where i thought that it would never go away. how i got rid of it, is when i got to the piont where i just dident care anymore, i dident care if i lived the rest of my life like that. but the weird thing was, is when i dident care anymore it compleaty went away and i only get small spurts of it now. and im am not on meds. so you just got to stop resisting and give in to it and it will go away. atleast thats how it worked for me.

hope you get better.

Brad.

[desperate]

Maybe just try and accept it rather than resisit it?!

Sarah

[Meg]

If you've had a glimpse of it now, this is one of the signs of sure progress.

It does happen in recovery that you flip in and out of it

Meg
www.anxietymanagementltd.com

Your anxiety is the human representation of the pictures that you paint using your many vivid colours of revolving and reoccurring thoughts.
How big is your gallery ?

[Sue K with 5]

Hello you!

Its going to be ok ! you have been through this before and you came out of it and you can do it again.

This is all part of the detoxification process when coming off the medication. You will beat this as you have before and you will suceed through your own determination.

Remember how far you have come and keep focused ok


Take care


Sue with 5

scknight

[Tomimo]

It is very scary and I can really sympathise.

I thought that I was really going to go totally crazy and nothing felt ral but I didn't and I am still here. I am having good days and bad but not stopping to be scared. I just keep ploughing through, not fighting it and trying to accept it. It's not easy but it does get better and it doesn't last forever. The brief glimpses of normality show you that you can experiecne life without it.

Annie x

[Meg]

Annie

Wow - you're doing better !


Meg
www.anxietymanagementltd.com

Your anxiety is the human representation of the pictures that you paint using your many vivid colours of revolving and reoccurring thoughts.
How big is your gallery ?

[Floozie]

I understand how terrifying this all is, at least I have done for the past two months. At first I did not know what it was but found myself putting it into words without being aware I knew.

The only time I get relief is either when sleeping, I sleep 10-12 hours at night and again 1-2 hours in the afternoon, thank heavens I can sleep so well. The only reason I do sleep is exhaustion from the stuff going on. However at a daycentre I attend I have found if I really, really concentrate on doing something, last week I was sewing something basic, then whilst it is still going on i have managed to blank it out.

I have been offered no medication, yet! Floozie

[chop]

I get it too! Terrible, terrible feeling. Think I am going crazy but guess what, when you accept it and let it come, it goes away. It takes time and patience and I still get it at times but it does go away if you are confident it will and can accept it (dont try to forget it as that can make it worse - as already said)

the more you focus on it, the more it comes... As said, vicious circle.

And yes I know it, I had it off and on for 5 1/2 years and sometimes it was with me for months at a time, almost always. It runs you down and feel terrible, but the only thing that ever helped it was to stop thinking about it by a combination of distraction, positive thinking and exercise.

I still get them but they get less and less each time as I am learning to pay less attention to it (as scary as it is).

Cheers
Paul

[kimmy]

I had d/p for months!!!!!! It will go, I can understand your concerns about mediacation, I had them too BUT personally I believe it was the best thing I have ever done. It took the edge off my tension eventually letting my barriers down. I thought I was going to lose it too, I never wanted to be left alone. I havnt lost it, I never will. I fear that the most.
thinking this kept my d/p with me. I didnt want it to but it did!! It was extreamly hard but it did go.

you can do it, you worrying about having it at the monment is probably feeding your anxiety.

Good luck mate xx

[kristay1988]

I'm going thru it RIGHT NOW. Agreed, vicious circle, thinking about it in depth only makes it worse, and can cause me to panic. The only thing that helps is ignoring it, and keeping busy. Yes, sleep too helps, but makes it worse because waking up is hard because in my sleep i'm totaly fine, then wake up and BAM there's that feeling again. I'm gonna push thru it and not let it take over me!

[Sarahjosephine]

I know this is such an old post but is there anymore advice? Is anyone better? I hate this :( :(

[rchippex]

I have had this for quite some time now however last week and the week before that I was making real progress with it and it was all but gone. This was due to simply accepting it and moving on with whatever I was doing whether it was there or not. It was incredibly hard. This week after slipping back into bad habits of not enough sleep etc it came back. I think I basically tried to run before I could walk. I thought 'yeah I feel better so now I can do what I want' but that was a mistake. I am beginning to accept it again now as simply anxiety as that is really all it is.

[Jenijar]

Sarahjosephine and rchippex, how do you find it affects you? Do you have existential type thoughts all the time? I think how we are all just atoms and dwell on that and I analyse everything and think life is all so incredible how can it be real