[Arohi Chavan]

Hi everyone, my name is Arohi Chavan.I have recently joined this forum. I have been having this feeling of severe dp/Dr since March last year. I have never been diagnosed though...the Dr have ruled it down to anxiety . I have never had anxiety issues before that, but whenever I would be anxious... usually before exams or interviews....I would feel the intensity of the anxiety a bit too much...but it would subside gradually...so I felt it was under control....after this Corona virus came in.. ironically I caught cold at the same time....and I started worrying...one day while doing a bit of deep breathing excersise I felt a pull in my chest..and it started having trouble breathing for a brief period....my heart was beating fast as if I was about to die...but it subsided ..so i knew it was a panic attack...things were normal after that...but again after a few days...I was lying in bed watching a funny YouTube video and all of a sudden, I get a copy of fear kicking in...and I felt like I couldn't breathe once I would sleep...I thought it was sleep apnea...I couldn't sleep at all that day...and that's how the days of horror began.
I had a lovely childhood ..not a traumatic one and just recently started to enjoy life . I have a bf a job and was looking forward to explore life. But there was this huge plot twist waiting for me.

Symptoms for 1st 6 months
___________________________

.Severe insomnia. Lost the feeling of sleepiness.
.Extreme depression...not being able to feel positive feelings at all.
. Extremely fearful all the time.
. Everything seemed alien and unrealistic.
.Severe muscle twitches, unable to remember anything.
.Feeling as if acid was running through my body . Feeling like an unholy force was squeezing my head and not allowing me to think.
.Feeling like the old memories were not my own.
The list goes on.

Fast forward to now, I feel a lot more better, my insomnia is gone, I have started to go to work, but I still have a lot of issues
. I still feel dp/Dr , I feel like something is stuck in my throat all the time and a pressure in my forehead, it feels like there is a block in front of my forehead and chest...but the intensity and force of the block is decreasing
. I have huge trouble concentrating, remembering things and organizing.
. I still have intrusive thoughts.
. I have muscle twitches everywhere especially in the centre of my chest
. I don't feel emotions as intensely as I did it seems like a block inside is obstructing me to feel even if I want to.

I have not taken any ssri as it did not help me at all. All I am doing now is taking homeopathy and trying to live my life as normally as I can , along with these symptoms. I do skipping in the morning for 15-30 min and I walk for 30 min in the evening, not regularly though.
I have definitely seen a difference from when it started to where I am now, but I am just tired living with these symptoms every day. The road to recovery seems too slow.

I wonder if anyone could relate, I would love to hear suggestions as well. Did u also feel emotions were less intense or an abnormal pressure in your forehead and chest.

Thanks for taking time to read, if you have made it through the end.

 

[AnnaGiulia]

Hi Arohi Chavan, I read both of your posts.

It seems to me that you are doing everything right, considering your daily routine and managing your symptoms, and even you see some improvements in comparison with how it used to be.

Since you asked for suggestions, it would be perhaps useful for you to read other people's experiences, for comparison's sake, regarding coping techniques. However, I would warmly recommend that you continue with talk therapy. CBT, but especially EMDR, if possible. From what you shared, I believe you have some unresolved issues that are causing you all this. We don't have to have one big trauma in life in order to develop dissociation as a coping mechanism. When paired with anxiety and panic attacks, and also some somatization, such as with head and chest pressure that you experience, dissociation always rings some unresolved issues to me. Of course, I do not know you, and I am not an expert, so take this advice, as any other, with a grain of salt.

Wish you all the best,

Anna

 

[Arohi Chavan]

Hi Anna thank you for your advice. I have been following this forum for quite a while now. I can understand that there might be some unresolved issues, but I am not able to identify what they are . Where can I find more about EMDR Therapy?

 

[AnnaGiulia]

Hey Arohi, I learned about EMDR through writings of leading trauma experts such as Bessel van der Kolk and Janina Fisher, but the founder of the technique is Francine Shapiro. There is a lot of material online about it.

If you are able to find a good EMDR therapist, they will be probably combining some CBT/REBT approach with EMDR. It helped me.

Again, I do not imply you have trauma of any sort. But then again, some things may have been traumatizing for us, even if we don't see them as such. Ofc, not all DP is down to trauma or stress. I believe that sometimes we are not even talking about the same thing in here. However, something in your posts prompted me to suggest this. It may be worth a try.

Good luck!