[Guest]

Hi,

I read all your posts and everyone seems depressed/anxious, but anyone can think DP is a worsening of depression/ massive anxiety. I doN,t understand. Do people can think DP/DR is a result of a untreated depression or anxiety? Why do people think it's just a disorder and all meds make it worse? :?: And we can't get out f this? And there is nothing we can do and we will NEVER cure of that? Or maybe in 25 years if we're lucky? When we read those posts, we just got more and more depressed and feel like suicide is the only solution. :shock:

Sorry but I feel like everyone has give up healing. And I doN,t think it's good for anyone with DP/DR to think that.

Again, sorry, but I may not be the only one who go here and feel more depressed after reading. Seriously. I doN,t have the answer but I am sure we can go better in a way?!!!

Cynthia xxx

 

[jc]

i dont think anyone on here has given up trying to heal...from what i see theres three kinds of people on this forum

1/the heavy duty posters who have been suffering shorterm
2/the ones who are still suffering but only use the forum when feeling really down/dped/dred or just to say hi
3/the recovered who visit to give back some of what was given to them

 

[Misty]

I have been giving up hope, but then I can come here and vent or ask a question to some people who aren't gonna be sided by knowing the people, and get their opinions. But I do agree. Some people have givin up hope, I've been one. I think that DP/DR is in relation to depression. I've haven't talk to anyone who isn't depressed who has DP/DR, although some people say they've got it from drugs/drinking. I just hope that they do make a medication that makes it go away either completely or die down so much that we don't notice. Since they just founded this, there is no cure. We only get perscribed antianxity/antidepression meds and are told that all they can do.

I promise I'm not tring to piss you off. Just stating my opinion. I hope they make a cure for DP/DR soon, but I think it's a part of depression more than anything....but then again, i'm no doctor so I could be completely wrong. :shock: But all I know is for me, I lost hope that it will ever go away. I feel like I'm gonna have this forever and it's just gonna get worse. But that's also the depression talking. (plus with the holidays, my depressions gotten worse so i've been getting worse) But hopefully soon, they will have a medication for DP/DR and we all can get on with our lifes.

I hope that there is a cure soon...and that we all get better. 8)

 

[Guest]

There are NO clear cut answers in any mental condition.

The thing that psychiatrists know and that patients don't want to face is this: We have mental pain because of a VERy complicated set of factors - some of those factors are:
1. biochemical proclivity for the condition from birth (inherited tendency);
2. psychological stress/causes provoking undue tensions;
3. psychological ORIGINS from years and years and years of living/thinking and being in ways that are counterproductive.

Add them all together and something's gotta give.

When it "gives" the person develops symptoms. Call it a nervous breakdown, call it a mental collapse, call it "sudden onset of unexplained symptomology" - it's all the same.

After that, we are treading water, trying to stay sane, trying to stay just this side of functional.

We try meds. Some meds help some parts of the problem. Not all. Some meds don't help at all. Some people aren't helped by any meds. No guarantees.

But...the thing I can promise you folks, is this: Number 3 up there in my little list is MUCH more the problem than you believe. Most people want to say "look, I was like this (doing the same kinds of neurotic stuff) for many years - I wouldnt' SUDDENLY have developed this crap?!" Yes, you would.

A smoker might smoke happily for twenty years. one day? Lung problems.

A runner who runs "wrong" might have great legs for 20 yrs. One day? Knees give out.

SOMEthing you were doing made your mind/defenses give out.

The way BACK to mental strength is to find out/work through all the stuff you carried aroudn with you in silence for many years. If you work through it, your symtpoms will go away. If you don't, you MIGHT find other solutions - meds, exercise, time, love, maybe....I'm doubtful it will solve it long term, but hey, anything's possible.

However, I know that those who do the indepth work on themselves, and undergo massive self-study and really really get to the bottom of the stuff that made them build defective defense structures...those people can heal. Guranatee.

Peace,
Janine

 

[sleepingbeauty]

misty.. have a chat with GavinD he has dp/dr panic disorder without depression or anxiety.

i think it varys from person to person but one common thread i see is obsessing.

 

[kenc127]

Hi Cynthia

I agree with Janine that there are no spot on diagnoses. What I can tell you is that both episodes I have had, both very severe, began with depression and then 1 to 2 months later DPDR formed. I think there is a huge link between depression and DPDR. I think depression begins at the beginning of breakdown, and this causes us to begin to self examine and obsess. Then bam, we are in the land of DP and obsessional thinking.
I'm not anywhere near being an expert on this, but I think its a hugely viscious cycle that begins as a depressive episode.

Good luck.

Ken

 

[Guest]

We did have a two ladies(most likely have been more people) here that I recall saying that originally their main disorder was depression,then later came dp.
With antidepressants and life changes as in leaving the main source of their depression behind thier dp eventually wore off.

My depression waxes and wanes,has done for years.Dp absolutely makes it worse.

I think some of us give up from time to time only to bounce back again.This dp stuff can wear you down.
I agree with Jc some of us come here when we feel in need of support,when lifes not treating us well.Otherwise we don't feel the need.

I think I'm in the 4th group,come here when I feel like I want to try and support others and in doing so feel better about myself,I might feel like crap or I might be feeling ok.
So many people have been patient and kind to me.I'd like to think I can sometimes do the same.

Cynthia,I think it's great how you keep trying even though each day is an
up hill battle.

Wishing all the best,cheers Shelly

 

[g-funk]

I agree that dp can be a symptom of depression but it can also come without depression. I've never had depression, only anxiety. Which of course made me miserable but never actual depression. Always remained upbeat and optimistic, and only at the very worst of my dp did that go, and that then was a more desperate feeling, sheer horror as opposed to depression. The moment dp lifts I am not depressed. Every body shows their pain in different ways, anxiety or depression, I think dp is just another way of it coming out.

 

[Martinelv]

I often wonder about this. Can you be clinically depressed without 'feeling' depressed ? Even during my most acute DR/Panic moments, I can't say I've ever felt depressed. Pissed off, miserable, but not depressed. Ever. I've had all the other sympyoms - DR/DP/Panic/Anxiety, but never depression. Strange.

People have told me that I'm depressed and that is at the root of my problems, but I've always denied this. Hmm.

 

[g-funk]

I think of it like this - we have ways of dealing or coping - ways we have developed over time, shaped by our environment. Coupled with chemical predisposition etc, I reckon that 'depression' or 'anxiety' is just an outward expression of whatever is going on, like a symptom maybe. Three people could suffer the same trauma and respond differently, one with panic disorder, the other with a specific phobia and one with depression. Maybe this is determined by a more physical nature, maybe our chemical make up. Maybe just by experience. Chances are Martin you'll probably never really suffer from depression, it just isn't how your mind works. A bit like it's decided early on in life whether or not any mental suffering will be on a neurotic or psychotic level. This is all speculaltion by the way, just how I understand it.

 

[g-funk]

Something I have noticed, is that the people who don't suffer from depression are the ones who are more baffled by their condition. Myself included, until recently. I had never considered myself an unhappy person, and essentially, I was 'happy'. Until the sh*t hit the fan and all hell broke loose in my head. Whilst I wasn't actually 'unhappy' there were things that I wasn't addressing that eventually built up and up til like I say, my mind went AWOL.
Depression is a much more obvious manifestation of mental suffering, causing people to seek help. Anxiety and dp are much more unpredictable and aren't always seen as a symtpom of something that may be addressed by 'therapy' etc. I know I'm sounding like I attended the school of Janine Baker, but I was so cynical about whether I could really be that unhappy, until I realised how the brain works. I was afraid of anything sinister I may uncover and it just isn't like that. All I have learnt is more about myself and how 'I' work.

 

[Guest]

Lots of symptoms can be "masking" a depression. For some of us and I'd include myself in that category, we have been pretty successful at using a kind of narcissisitic mania to "buoy" ourselves up quickly and mightily - we sense an underlying depression, but run from it fast and furious. The mind, if it's well-trained in how to bolster our fragile egos quickly, will provide the necessary stuff to push that depression back down.

Problem is that if we don't ever LOOK at whatever it is that might be threatening with depression, then we are destined to live in a constant race, running two steps ahead of the dark cloud and frantically spinning ourselve up and out to deny any such possibility.

Usually people who are pretty self-consumed have an underlying fear that they're not so special after all. But to avoid that terrifying thought, they just pump themselves up all the more. When they truly need a rest, they might feel dp. So many lies, so few places to hide.

 

[Guest]

Hi Janine,

But even you, you tried meds several times. And you took 2 meds for a long times I think, WITH therapy, to help you function, you know what I mean? To try to work, and seem normal, and feel less depressed or anxious? Even when you were in a intense therapy, you took meds??

That is what I want to do. Take meds in order to function. Work. Take care of my kid. Survive. Because I know many people here think meds are evil, but I do think they can help us to get rid of a massive depression and massive anxiety. And they aren't street drugs, everybody take those meds since many decades, and they are not all dp/dr/nuts because of them! Am I the only one who can think like that or I have to be scared of doctors/meds and rebel myself against the medical system and take no med and wait for my DP to go away in my home, reclused?

Sorry, I feel a bit angry sometimes.

Anyway, I mean, I agree with therapy, I agree totally, but in the meantime, life continues, and we have to work, pay bills, take care of the home, take care of the kids, see friends, make money, you know what I mean? Normal stuff, that can be helped with meds.

Thanks

Cynthia xxx

 

[Martinelv]

Cynthia - I don't think anyone (except the strongly anti-med) blame you for having to use medication to get by. I certainly don't. I've used, and continue to use, benzodiazepines to curb my most savage panic attacks. They are my crutch, and with their help I continue to live my life. I don't give a damn. I certainly don't feel ashamed, and neither should you. Like Dreamer, if your brain 'needs' these chemicals to get you through another day, then I for one wouldn't dissuade you.

Of course, it's not ideal, and it would be much better if you didn't have to rely on medication and could 'get by' with therapy, or whatever. But for my, 'getting by' isn't enough. I'm selfish that way. If they said I had to dress us as a milk maid and eat live jellfish every day, for the rest of my life, in exchange for stopping panic attacks, then I would. When I had DR, I would have done nearly anything...ANYTHING.

Anyway, with regards to the other posts on depression - I agree to a certain extent, I think, but I'm so unclear on this. Different people manifest their symptoms, be it Anxiety / Depression/ DP/ Phobias, or whatever, in different ways. In my case, in was 100% panic that caused my DR/DP, I'm certain of that. But then when the DR took hold, that it turn caused panic....etc etc. Luckily, my DR faded and with it, the panic. I'm still morbidly curious (albeit thankfull) why DR/DP, in my case, was only ever caused by drug induced panic, yet during far more 'real' life stresses it has never happened. Perhaps that's the reason..with 'real' (as against 'fake' chemical cock-up panic) life stresses are dealt with in a different way.......hmm.

 

[Guest]

Yes, I have NO problem with meds, none. I say if you need them, take them.

But for you personally, Cynthia, you have made an Obsessive Occupation with finding the RIght/Perfect med. The activity of the med SEARCH has become a symptom for you. Take the darn things, that's fine. But you have to accept that you are NOT going to find a med that doesn't make you feel medicated! LOL....

Just take what helps, and then go on with life. The preoccupation with meds is what's harming you, not the chemicals.

 

[Guest]

Yeah,

I know that. I do know that.

It's a OCD for me.

Finding a med who will help me (one) Finding a med who won't me feel drugged (two) Finding a med who will help me to sleep (three)

I hate to be ill.

Cynthia :x

 

[Guest]

I find it interesting what Martin said about not feeling depressed.
I have a friend who's been taking prozac for a long time.He claims it's for panic and GAD.
He has always claimed that he's not particularly depressed and yet to those who know him he displays many classical symptoms of depression.
He has almost given up on life............he calls this "feeling uninspired".
The weird thing is if I was in his position,I'd be so bloody depressed I'd think about checking out.......which he has thought about often(even though he's not depressed?)
I think it's possible that he tells himself his main problem is anxiety,perhaps it is his main complaint,the one he finds the most difficult to deal with.The focus is more so on anxiety.

I have also noticed the same as Martin,most times when I'd expect to have my dp going through tthe roof(life stressors),it's often no worse than usual?

I've never understood how a person could have dp and not at least sometimes feel depressed.
When people say they are not depressed,I often think they must not have the same type of dp I'm having LOL maybe they don't?

I find it difficult to grasp how some people are not afraid of their dp because it scares the living day lights out of me.
In fact dp frightens me even more than it depresses me.Then again I'm prone to being phobic.

Cynthia,please don't beat up on yourself.It's your life,your dp,your pain.
Feel free to tackle it in any way you choose,without any guilt.
It's an emergency,naturally you want to act.
Therapy from what I understand won't fix you over night.You already know this.
I completely understand why you so desperately want relief now,who the hell doesn't?
I think it's reasonable to try as many different meds as your doctor will agree to.It's likely you will find one that helps.
I don't know if you remember Rob,after a very very long time he decided to take klonopin.He's doing great at present.
I'm sure Rob realises it's not a cure but only a treatment.
Janine is suggesting how we can find a long term cure(not just band aid),so I guess that means long term work in therapy.

Although if I found a drug that took all of my dp away,Id be tempted to skip therapy,but that's just me.I'd be too busy flying about the world,naturally this magic pill would also take away my fear of flying :roll:

All the best Shelly PS I get angry sometimes too,welcome to the human race