Hi everyone. I could really use some advice here. I am a 25 year old male and I am suffering from what I believe to be Derealization. I have actually self-diagnosed myself with it because it all started back in May of this year and I went to two doctors because I wasnt feeling right and both ran blood tests and both found absoultely nothing wrong with me. So basically their attitute is that I am fine and the feelings that I am experiencing are "nothing". It certainly doesnt feel like nothing but thats what they are telling me. Anyway the reason for my post is that I need to say a few things and also seek some advice.
First of all, I have been reading alot of these posts on the boards as well as the replies about people asking certain questions about ways that they are feeling and they want to know if the way they feel is related to anxiety. Firstly, let me say this everyone who is here and not feeling well should be on the phone with their doctor making an appointment to go get checked out to rule out anykind of ailment that might be causing their feelings. Just as an example, all of us that suffer from anxiety know that anxiety can cause chest pain, personally I have never experienced chest pain from anxiety myself but alot of people have, but if your having chest pain it is not a wise idea whatsoever to just write it off as anxiety and not have it checked out. It doesnt matter if you are 18 or your 97 years old. Anyone can have a heart problem. Just last week I heard a shocking story about someone I knew who was only 23 years old and he died of a heart attack. So if something hurts or feels funny or whatever it might very well be anxiety but it might be something worse so it should be checked out by a professional.
The next thing I really want to say is a question actually for anyone who might know the answer...my question is that from what I understand DR is considered to be a coping mechanism used by the brain to protect itself from the onslaught of stress and things like that..ok fine that part I understand. What I dont understand though is that if my brain is being so "protected" from this DR then why is it that I feel worse now then I did when I just had lots of stress and anxiety and no DR? I've been feeling like this every single day since May and some days are worse then others but I havent had a totally DR-Free day in almost 5 months and I feel very upset and disturbed by the feelings whereas its not that I cant physically do things I mean I work a full time job 40 hours a week which by the way is a challenge to do when you feel like this, but the whole thing is that I have no motivation to do things when I feel like this because it scares me and I keep kinda saying to myself ok..you dont feel right so you shouldn't go out and push yourself when you dont feel good,instead you should stay home and rest. But then staying home and resting and being bored and having all kinds of time to concentrate on my symptoms doesnt seem like such a smart idea either. So I am very confused about that whole process.
The last question I have is about depression. I dont know whether the depression caused the DR or the DR caused the depression but I seem to have both of them. I seem to have all the textbook symptoms of depression including the insonmia and the constant tiredness all the time. Then when I do fall asleep I usually dream alot and probably 9 out of 10 of the dreams are depressing dreams so I guess my mind is doing everything it knows how to tell me I am depressed. I believe that I know alot of the reasons why I am depressed and I have been trying to work on correcting all the bad things in my life and my hope is that when I do that and my life is better then I will not have depression anymore. Hopefully I am right, but what I would like to know is that if anybody has any ideas about how to keep themselves motivated as your trying to fight off the depression and make your life better I would be really interestered in hearing about that because I always feel so down and tired all the time I feel like who even wants to go out and do anything feeling like this but at the same time I know that I have to as part of the cure.
Thanks for listening everyone!!
First of all, I have been reading alot of these posts on the boards as well as the replies about people asking certain questions about ways that they are feeling and they want to know if the way they feel is related to anxiety. Firstly, let me say this everyone who is here and not feeling well should be on the phone with their doctor making an appointment to go get checked out to rule out anykind of ailment that might be causing their feelings. Just as an example, all of us that suffer from anxiety know that anxiety can cause chest pain, personally I have never experienced chest pain from anxiety myself but alot of people have, but if your having chest pain it is not a wise idea whatsoever to just write it off as anxiety and not have it checked out. It doesnt matter if you are 18 or your 97 years old. Anyone can have a heart problem. Just last week I heard a shocking story about someone I knew who was only 23 years old and he died of a heart attack. So if something hurts or feels funny or whatever it might very well be anxiety but it might be something worse so it should be checked out by a professional.
The next thing I really want to say is a question actually for anyone who might know the answer...my question is that from what I understand DR is considered to be a coping mechanism used by the brain to protect itself from the onslaught of stress and things like that..ok fine that part I understand. What I dont understand though is that if my brain is being so "protected" from this DR then why is it that I feel worse now then I did when I just had lots of stress and anxiety and no DR? I've been feeling like this every single day since May and some days are worse then others but I havent had a totally DR-Free day in almost 5 months and I feel very upset and disturbed by the feelings whereas its not that I cant physically do things I mean I work a full time job 40 hours a week which by the way is a challenge to do when you feel like this, but the whole thing is that I have no motivation to do things when I feel like this because it scares me and I keep kinda saying to myself ok..you dont feel right so you shouldn't go out and push yourself when you dont feel good,instead you should stay home and rest. But then staying home and resting and being bored and having all kinds of time to concentrate on my symptoms doesnt seem like such a smart idea either. So I am very confused about that whole process.
The last question I have is about depression. I dont know whether the depression caused the DR or the DR caused the depression but I seem to have both of them. I seem to have all the textbook symptoms of depression including the insonmia and the constant tiredness all the time. Then when I do fall asleep I usually dream alot and probably 9 out of 10 of the dreams are depressing dreams so I guess my mind is doing everything it knows how to tell me I am depressed. I believe that I know alot of the reasons why I am depressed and I have been trying to work on correcting all the bad things in my life and my hope is that when I do that and my life is better then I will not have depression anymore. Hopefully I am right, but what I would like to know is that if anybody has any ideas about how to keep themselves motivated as your trying to fight off the depression and make your life better I would be really interestered in hearing about that because I always feel so down and tired all the time I feel like who even wants to go out and do anything feeling like this but at the same time I know that I have to as part of the cure.
Thanks for listening everyone!!
