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Anxiety is the problem?

3K views 21 replies 6 participants last post by  Shelly 
#1 ·
The first time when I had this DP trip was when I smoked marijuana, gee that was the worst panic attack at the same time that I have ever had.

I could feel that my conciousness has left the body and death was awaiting for me somewhere nearby. It all seemed very true, although I still could think rationally, questioning myself - WTF is going on. Because of all those side effects I could never experience the real high from smoking marijuana, if such exists, maybe some people seem to enjoy these DP trips, but I don't. Last time I smoked pot was about 3-4 months ago and experienced pretty much the same thing again, except now I knew what it was and how to cope with it.

One website suggests that DP's primary cause is constant anxiety, if you cure it, DP will dissapear. I can see the link between those two, the more anxiety I get the stronger DP symptoms become over me.

I got prescribed to take Xanax. 0.25mg twice a day. I ve been taking it only for 2 days and feel some relief from anxiety.

Has anyone else here had a positive experience with XANAX to cure DP?
 
#2 ·
The way I see it is like this. Anxiety or a panic attack unleashes DP in people. But if those successful enough to get rid of anxiety, the DP still stays. That's how it happened for me. Anxiety unleashed the demon. Then I was able to cure my anxiety with luvox, but the dp has never gone away. It melts into your brain and becomes your new pattern of thining.
 
#3 ·
Hey. It seems your questions and comments have differing answers, but mine is that if dp has a total relationship with anxiety, then xanax would have cured me years ago. Anxiety has a relationship with dp, but what it is someday I would like to know definitively. Is it causal? Does it only exacerbate? Did it do its part to casue dp/dr and when dp/dr was entrenched, anxiety is no longer needed to keep it going? Is anxiety only part of the equation? Inquiring minds want to know. Xanax calmed things down for me and took some of the edge off of dr/dp but never satisfactorily treated it for me so I got off it and use it now only when I am feeling real bad or anxious. Also a person does not have to "feel" anxious in order to be suffering from anxiety problems. Anxiety disorders exist without the typical anxiety symptoms.

Pot causes dissotiative states, that is part of what makes it fun for people. But I wonder if pot produces something more in some people, such as myself, that is unique only to us. I.e., my high on pot is of course different from everybody's, but because I am one that was predisposed to getting dp/dr (my backround and psych makeup) that what I experienced while high was dp/dr in its classic sense. The first couple years of smoking was fun for me, but the last couple only through me into introspection, hypervigalence, paranoia and etc.....it was always uncomfortable and somewhat familiar to what my dp/dr is like now.
Thos are jsut my thoughts. I bet pot and especially hallucinogens can cause dp/dr without any predispoition.

Good luck with what you do.
jft
 
#5 ·
hey Depersonalized,
you'll find that this board is split between two types of people. some think DP can exist without anxiety because they don't beleive that they're anxious, and then ppl like me, who think without anxiety there's no DP.

I agree with jft, you can still be having an anxiety disorder without feeling anxious or having any typical symptoms of anxiety. your nerves become sensitized after prolonged periods of anxiousness, desentisizing takes a bit of time, even when you're completely symptoms free.

Xanax helped my DP a lot, for a few days. but it doesn't necessarly cure anxiety, no benzo does. you have to learn relaxation techniques, breathing, distracting yourself, exercising, etc...and most of all, don't pay too much attention to some of the negative views you'll read online. DP can go away, and it has for a lot of people.

--ru
 
#6 ·
Do you think that alcohol could also be the cause for increased DP symptoms?

I was never a heavy drinker, most of the time just a few beers before bed time, 3-4 times a week.

DP symptoms seem to become stronger after I stoped consuming alcohol completely. I hope it's not gonna last long.

P.S.
Xanax helps indeed
 
G
#7 ·
drinking alcohol worstens dp, I dont believe that if you cure anxiety then your gonna cure dp, dp is its own disease. I believe that dp/dr affects perception and primarily the temporal lobes of the brain. I think its basically brain damage.
 
#8 ·
hi all,

I agree with rula, although i know a lot of people on here disagree with it. I think anxiety causes dp. I think if you look at things that make the dp worse, you'll notice that they are a direct result of inducing the physical symptoms of anxiety (ex. alcohol exacerbates anxiety, therefore one feels more dped when they drink heavily). And i think that if one can conquer the anxiety (not through numbing it with drugs, but by actually coping with it naturally), then one will quash the DP.

re. drugs. I think they have their place in terms of "taking the edge off", and as a quick fix in the worst of times. But i would be very wary of relying on them for a long term fix, if DP/anxiety is your only problem. Frankly, i even found SSRIs just made me feel worse, if anything at all. I've never even tried a Benzo before.

Anyway, just my opinion...

s.
 
#9 ·
I hate to say it, but I found beer to be a friend when nothing else worked. I am fairly ignorant of neurochemistry, but I assumed that alcohol "worked" the same brain parts as benzoes. Beer does not necessarily cure the immediate symptoms for me, it seems to alter them to a manageable level.

I have not understood when folks say booze makes dp/dr worse. It jsut ain't the case with me. Hangovers yes.

I went five years without a drop and have at different times abstained for months jsut to see if it made things better. No change for me.

Problem with booze is that one gets dependent on it if used medicinally and you open up the floodgates for all kinds of secondary problems. And it is poison too. I know.
jft
 
#11 ·
Chris said:
The way I see it is like this. Anxiety or a panic attack unleashes DP in people. But if those successful enough to get rid of anxiety, the DP still stays. That's how it happened for me. Anxiety unleashed the demon. Then I was able to cure my anxiety with luvox, but the dp has never gone away. It melts into your brain and becomes your new pattern of thining.
Great.
 
#12 ·
Johnny_Utah said:
drinking alcohol worstens dp, I dont believe that if you cure anxiety then your gonna cure dp, dp is its own disease. I believe that dp/dr affects perception and primarily the temporal lobes of the brain. I think its basically brain damage.
Jesus fuck. Sometimes I think reading this board does me more harm than good.
 
#13 ·
jft said:
I hate to say it, but I found beer to be a friend when nothing else worked. I am fairly ignorant of neurochemistry, but I assumed that alcohol "worked" the same brain parts as benzoes. Beer does not necessarily cure the immediate symptoms for me, it seems to alter them to a manageable level.
Oh, i agree. I'm not saying that i don't drink. I consume oodles of wine on a nightly basis....well, maybe not oodles, but a few glasses a night. The trick, though, is not to overdo it. I hate to sound like a "Stay Sober" commercial, but if you can control how much you drink it can actually help, in the sense that it relaxes and soothes. But if i, for one, go past the limit...i mean, sure i feel great that night...but the next day, the aftermath is dreadful, and it exentuates the anxiety to a great degree. It's a biophysical fact....in fact, i think it promotes anxiety immediately, but our brain is so overwhelmed with the intoxicating effect that it over powers the anxiety....but when that wears off, the next day, the anxiety lingers. That's all i meant.

s.
 
#14 ·
I came up with that question about alcohol since the worst hangovers i've had were with severe anxiety and DP(at the time I did not know what it was, just felt strange like something was not right) symptoms. I haven't took a sip of alcohol for more then a week now and things seem to return to normal a bit.

One doctor also told me that when you need alcohol just to feel normal again, it is considered to be alcoholism. If my DP symptoms are linked to alcohol I might develop a phobia to it, and won't drink ever again, what would suck in a way.
 
G
#15 ·
Jesus f---. Sometimes I think reading this board does me more harm than good
listen you could believe what you want, its just a theory dont take it too seriously, what do you expect everyone to nurture you like your mommas little baby ? No this gives no progress into finding whats really wrong with us. Studies have been done in Depersonalized people and "normal" people and the mri's showed that the dpd people had significant changes in the part of the brain that controls emotion. Our brains aren't working right! i think the anxiety thing is to give us hope and try to calm us down. Possibly to keep us from commiting suicide.
 
#16 ·
DP probably does not go as far as brain damage, since while the symptoms last the person remains sane and is able to make clear decesions and think properly. DP is a state of mind which can be triggered by either drugs or emotions.
I also have a theory that it could be a skill that humans develop, think about all the strange ideas that came to your mind while being overwhelmed by DP (yes they are scary, but they make sence even when everything is back to normal)
 
#17 ·
Johnny_Utah said:
Our brains aren't working right! i think the anxiety thing is to give us hope and try to calm us down. Possibly to keep us from commiting suic***.
Dp is a state of mind, just like depression, it is NOT brain damage. depressed people's brains don't work "right" either, but that doesn't mean it's hopeless, and it doesn't mean they stay depressed forever. Are you not aware that Janine, homeskooled, and many other people HAVE recovered? the anxiety explanation is not just a hoax to keep us simple minded folks from jumping off the roof. heck, i had a whole day today DP free, I sure am glad someone lied to me like that.

-rula
 
#18 ·
I wasn't having a whinge about your post. People on here can say whatever the fuck they want. You may know that one the main fears Dp'ed people have is that they have some kind of irreversible brain damage. touchy subject I guess, especially since I myself have had CT and MRI scans to prove to myself that didn't have brain damage.

btw brain not working right does not equal brain damage.
 
#20 ·
Johnny_Utah said:
rula do you have chronic dp symptoms or do they come and go ? After a while when you have chronic symptoms you tend to lose hope
johnny, i understand the losing hope thing, trust me. and yes, i had it chronic for 5 months. it wasn't 'till i met people who have recovered, and read a few good books, and found a good doctor who looked at what i was doing to my body as a whole (not just what's going in my brain) that i began to lose the FEAR of what's happening to me. Fear and negative thoughts feed DP and keep it going strong. I was like you at first, not sleeping well, felt completely hopeless, and really didn't beleive there was a way out. but there is.

--ru
 
G
#22 ·
I understand how Johnny feels.Lately I've probably almost given up hope.

I don't think dp is permanent brain damage.I do think it's dysfunctional temporal lobe activity.
I'm not completely convinced of the anxiety theory.I certaintly know dp causes anxiety(in most people).

Even though some here no longer have dp or chronic dp,more of us are still struggling with it day in and day out.
It can wear you down.
If you sometimes lose hope or find yourself resigning to the idea you that you might just have dp a lot longer than you first anticipated well that seems normal enough to me.

There have been many times over the last few years where I thought my dp was a minimal part of life only to be hit by dp like a lightening bolt from the blue ,swept up back into the labyrinth of this bewildering disorder.

If you are able to keep hope alive every day more power to you.
If you fall behind and find yourself in despair than that's what this site is about,talking about all of our feelings,the highs(the few that there might be) and the lows.

best wishes to all,Shelly
 
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