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Thread: Feeling strange as if everything is slightoy different (dp/dr?)

  1. #1

    Unhappy Feeling strange as if everything is slightoy different (dp/dr?)

    Hi all,

    First post here. I’ve been diagnosed with GAD, had it for over 10 years now and haven’t worked or anything really since apart from for a few months. I finally felt as if I was overcoming the worst of that but a new thing has popped up which I’m finding harder than ever.

    For about the last 3 years I’ve had this really strange feeling. Sorry if this doesn’t make any sense and I’m rambling but the best way I can describe it is like when you come home from holiday (vacation) and your house feels strange and unfamiliar for a few days until you settle back into your old routine. It’s also like the homesickness I used to feel when I went for sleepovers when I was a kid and although you could be watching the same tv show or whatever that you normally do, it doesn’t feel quite the same because you’re in an unfamiliar place with people who aren’t your family.

    I’ve been feeling like that for 90% of the time lately. Everything is exactly the same, I’m still living in the same house and doing the same things but I just don’t feel the same anymore and it’s really freaking me out. Even things that are normally comforting to me feel slightly off now. Is this dp/dr? Depression? Has anybody else had anything like this? I just want to feel normal/ like me again. Thanks for reading this!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Posts
    68

    Re: Feeling strange as if everything is slightoy different (dp/dr?)

    I have this at the moment and I keep freaking out thinking I have Alzheimer’s because things seem “off” and I’m scared that im not recognising things. Odd thing is, when I stop thinking about it and doing mental checks (overthinking about memories of home etc) it passes! I keep worrying I will forget where I live but I never have done, even when I’ve walked out of my house in the middle of a panic attack! I figured it must just be dp/dr and a new scary fear I have which has tacked itself on to it. The more anxious I get and the more I mentally check, the worse it feels which confirms to me this is just a new exciting avenue my anxiety is taking.
    The other reason I feel confident that this is the case and I don’t have Alzheimer’s or psychosis is that my other usual worries arent there and when they do pop up, this one fades away.
    You aren’t alone xx

  3. #3

    Re: Feeling strange as if everything is slightoy different (dp/dr?)

    Hi thanks for getting back, it is nice to know that I’m not alone! Exactly the same as you, when I stop obsessing about it so much, it passes! Every morning I found myself checking how I felt, if I felt normal yet etc and that just brought it on- such a viscous cycle haha! I’m glad to say that over the last few weeks I have felt back to “normal” most days.

    One of the things that helped me a lot was reading this book called “At Last A Life” by Paul David. It’s such a helpful book for anxiety and dp/dr so if you want to I would definitely try to get a copy but basically he says that the odd feelings are from mental exhaustion and always monitoring how you feel, and the fear of what you’re feeling which makes it so much worse.

    I’ve just been trying to accept it and say “okay, I feel weird but this is just a symptom and I know it isn’t anything sinister, so I will just carry on with my day regardless.” So I’m not trying to run from the feeling but I’m accepting how I feel and carrying on anyway, not obsessing about it and touch wood, it has faded so much these past few weeks.

    I know it’s not easy but if you keep at it, hopefully you will feel better too. If you ever want to talk, get in touch and please let me know how you are! Anxiety is such a miserable thing to live with but like you said, we’re not alone xx

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Posts
    68

    Re: Feeling strange as if everything is slightoy different (dp/dr?)

    Quote Originally Posted by luv2horseride View Post
    Hi thanks for getting back, it is nice to know that I’m not alone! Exactly the same as you, when I stop obsessing about it so much, it passes! Every morning I found myself checking how I felt, if I felt normal yet etc and that just brought it on- such a viscous cycle haha! I’m glad to say that over the last few weeks I have felt back to “normal” most days.

    One of the things that helped me a lot was reading this book called “At Last A Life” by Paul David. It’s such a helpful book for anxiety and dp/dr so if you want to I would definitely try to get a copy but basically he says that the odd feelings are from mental exhaustion and always monitoring how you feel, and the fear of what you’re feeling which makes it so much worse.

    I’ve just been trying to accept it and say “okay, I feel weird but this is just a symptom and I know it isn’t anything sinister, so I will just carry on with my day regardless.” So I’m not trying to run from the feeling but I’m accepting how I feel and carrying on anyway, not obsessing about it and touch wood, it has faded so much these past few weeks.

    I know it’s not easy but if you keep at it, hopefully you will feel better too. If you ever want to talk, get in touch and please let me know how you are! Anxiety is such a miserable thing to live with but like you said, we’re not alone xx
    I’m glad you’re feeling a bit better, like you things are a bit better for me with it too. I honestly think the best way forward with this is to focus I other things and the feeling passed. I think it’s a bit like when you stare at something for a while, it starts to seem off and wrong and because we’re so focused on these feelings and checking, the same happens!
    DR/DP is the worst though as it makes you question everything. I will check out that book, I have been reading the overcoming book about DR/DP and that’s good too!

    Definitely keep us posted on here though how you’re feeling! Xx

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Posts
    72

    Re: Feeling strange as if everything is slightoy different (dp/dr?)

    Hello luv2horseride,

    I think I've had this feeling often. It used to scare me. Recently I've realized that when I feel out of place or feel like something is new to me that I have seen every day that I am actually in a 'moment of clarity', out of my usual funk of day-to-day life. I try to not let the feeling scare me anymore, and if I can do that I start to enjoy a lot more little things in life, even enjoying more things that I see or people I'm with every day.

    Its really hard to explain, and it takes a deep-down understanding that things are OK before you can start enjoying those things and the fear changes to enjoyment. The feeling of things being unfamiliar can actually be you being hyper-aware of things due to moments of clarity.. you can turn that feeling into a good thing.

  6. #6

    Re: Feeling strange as if everything is slightoy different (dp/dr?)

    Yes, this is one of my many symptoms. I haven't felt much apart from existential terror for the best part of a year but what I have noticed in anxiety is that all other emotions are stripped away but the body is still prone to feelings like nostalgia, and a strange, almost grief-like feeling, just without an immediate or obvious cause. Nothing is forever

  7. #7

    Re: Feeling strange as if everything is slightoy different (dp/dr?)

    Thanks for all the replies. I’m sorry that everyone is going through this horrible feeling but it does help to know we are not alone in these things.

    This feeling has become much better now, most days I feel back to normal, and I found what really helped was just accepting the feeling and saying to myself that it wasn’t anything wrong with me, it was just the anxiety and that I’ve felt normal before and so I can feel normal again.

    Unfortunately, it seems to have evolved and now I feel like I’m having an existential crisis of sorts. I’m going to post on a different sub forum as I feel that this doesn’t suit this one. It’s so frustrating though as I feel that once I have conquered one problem, a worse/different one crops up as if my mind has said “okay, you’ve solved this one- let’s try a different one!” I’m hoping that it is just my depression and anxiety and when that starts to improve, my mind won’t worry about unsolvable things or things that most “healthy” people don’t worry about.

    I hope you are all doing well.

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