[Guest]

I have been to this sight before but have never actually posted. I found that reading your posts and symptoms were very comforting. I have a couple of questions that I know you have all answered a thousand times before but I am going to ask you to answer them again. Do you find that you are constantly doing reality checks during the day such as saying your name to yourself, phone number, address etc just to prove that you are still you? Do you find it hard to remember what you were like before this came about? Do close friends and family members seem like strangers at time? Thanks in advance for your answers and support.

 

[rainboteers]

I find it almost impossible to remember what I was like before this, and when I do remember it makes me cry because I feel so different now. Yes at times friends and family seem like strangers. I know they are not but I can't connect with them the way I know I used to. You are not alone...

 

[mulder]

I used to do the reality checks all the time, but having been like this for nearly 2 1/2 years, I don't do them so often, although I still do them everyday. I think that I do have a slight feeling of not knowing who I'm talking to sometimes, especially if I havn't seen them for a few days. That said, I bumped into somebody I havn't seen since before I got ill tonight, and apart from not recognising her due to her change in hairstyle, I knew who she was and what she'd been doing when I last saw her. She is rather pretty though, maybe I find it easier to remember because of that

 

[Ben]

I used to do the reality checks a lot - and I still do them from time to time. I get panic attacks - have had them for a long, long time - and usually when I'm in the middle of one I have a tendency to do something very ritualistic like turn on the TV and watch the news or something like that - to kind of ground me.

I think these are all grounding techniques - and they seem to work very, very well.