[enigma]

If I ever really did come out of it?

Since my teens, I've always imagined it in terms of only having to come out of it once, and from then on never having to worry about dp/dr again.

Yet since coming here, I've read so many accounts by people who say they were dp/dr-free for years, only to suddenly slip back into it again without warning (usually not long before coming here), that it's come to seem rather typical.

So does this mean that dp/dr is like polio and alcoholism, in that you're never really cured of it?

You can seem fine for years at a time, but the spectre of it is forever lurking in the backdrop, ready to lunge upon you when you least expect it?

It makes the quest for an end to it seem almost futile, since there doesn't ever seem to really be a final end to it.

Can anyone ever really emerge from it permanently?

If you emerge from it, beyond simple luck what guarantee is there that you won't slide right back into it a minute, an hour, a day, or even years later?

Is this something we are all destined to be forever haunted by?

e

 

[rainboteers]

No wise words to say, but I know what you are saying. I feel so hopeless most of the time.

 

[Sojourner]

Niggy,

Have you read this thread? "Some progress...Janine-style"

Read it beginning with the first post...

 

[Ben]

You can seem fine for years at a time, but the spectre of it is forever lurking in the backdrop, ready to lunge upon you when you least expect it?

It makes the quest for an end to it seem almost futile, since there doesn't ever seem to really be a final end to it.

I think the more accurate thought is that the symptoms of DP/DR can, definitely, leave us if we learn to challenge the causes. I'm not familiar with polio, but the analogy you made to alcoholism is actually a fairly good one, in my opinion. There is one sure way to prevent yourself from falling back into the depths of alcoholism, and that's to avoid drinking. In our situation, it is to avoid the variety of things that can spur the disorder (which can be different for each and every one of us). When we are "free" of it, we simply forget to do the things we felt we had to in order to come out of it the first time; and so it eventually creeps back into our lives.

For me, consistency is important - a consistent sleep schedule, living patterns, et al. Also important is interaction with people and keeping myself from over-ruminating. These things I learned to do (by accident) after my first episode. The second time, however, I got a divorce, moved to a different place of residence, started staying up nights, overworked myself, and generally picked up a bad living pattern again and, voila, suddenly I had DP again (a few months ago).

No, I don't think the disorder, on its own, is here to stay; I believe the patterns that cause it must simply be worked against consistently.