Hello guys,
As many of us here, I got mine from a panic attack. It was a stressful time since I was about to leave my country to go to university (Oxford) to study maths and in the process I would have to leave behind my girlfriend of one year.
The preceding year was stressful (with the university admission process and the final year exams) but I would also say that it was the best year of my life. Which contrasts a lot with how I've been doing these past 2 months.
At first my dpdr was intermittent. It would be there especially when I would go out to meet people but in the first month it would almost always go away in the night for some reason, no matter if I was in my room or if I was outside. However I started getting more and more scared about the episodes and with the time of leaving nearing in it got worse and worse to the point where it became continuous. I have to say that I mainly experienced derealization and I have never had problems with not recognizing myself in the mirror / concentration etc.
On 22th of September I had to leave for university. I had a very bad episode right as I left my family and my girlfriend for the airplane. However when I arrived and boarded the bus to the city I had this immense moment of clarity in which I realized that I managed to get to this great university and I felt completely in tune and in control. I however started fearing that it might start again and a couple of moments later it did.
I had to quarantine for 2 weeks because of the pandemic and during this time the stress of being away from home and the questioning of whether or not I would be able to do well in university with this condition started weighing in on me. The derealization became pretty much 24/7 and it was a big cause of distress. Not feeling connected with your environment and then being plopped into a completely new place away from your friends and family really didn't help.
I however became better and better at managing my anxiety and became less and less fearful of the sensations. I have to say that despite this condition I am still able to do well in university (i guess this means that I have a rather light form of it, since a lot of people complain that they have problems in school/concentration but I can handle the workload rather well).
Last week I had a talk with my girlfriend and I realized that me speaking so much about my fears and my condition is a big emotional burden for her and I really didn't want this to be something that would ruin my relationship. I told myself that I have to get my shit together and that I had to stop obsessing, which worked quite well.
At this point i'm in a weird state. The derealization hasn't been as obvious in the past week (in the sense that something feels off but it's hard to really put my finger on what). And even though the symptoms are fading, I still feel pretty weird. Like something is missing. It's hard to imagine myself walking carelessly down the streets thinking about random things the way I did before. But i guess that this is just anxiety. It's a really weird experience and I have had a couple of serious breakdowns. But right now things seem to be getting better, although I still have a very weird feeling that something isn't right. Am i just imagining that i still have derealisation? is it not there if it's not completely obvious that it's there or is this just a weird stage of recovery?
Here is a list of symptoms I had during the worst phase:
1) Felt like I was in a dream
2) Dolly zoom effect on objects (felt like they were much more in front of me than it made sense for them to be)
3) Feeling like people around me are robots, devoid of feelings or a soul
4) Feeling stuck in my own mind
I never felt that body parts are not mine or that my voice is not mine or that I don't recognize myself in the mirror (maybe to a very small degree but it was not distressing). I also don't think I had too much emotional blunting (in the sense that my girlfriend telling me that she misses me or seeing her sad or the thought of becoming emotionally numb towards her because of this shit really make me cry) but this past week I'm starting to feel more and more apathetic about things even though it feels like the feelings are subsiding.
This is my story. Am i doing well? Does it sound like I am heading towards recovery?
As many of us here, I got mine from a panic attack. It was a stressful time since I was about to leave my country to go to university (Oxford) to study maths and in the process I would have to leave behind my girlfriend of one year.
The preceding year was stressful (with the university admission process and the final year exams) but I would also say that it was the best year of my life. Which contrasts a lot with how I've been doing these past 2 months.
At first my dpdr was intermittent. It would be there especially when I would go out to meet people but in the first month it would almost always go away in the night for some reason, no matter if I was in my room or if I was outside. However I started getting more and more scared about the episodes and with the time of leaving nearing in it got worse and worse to the point where it became continuous. I have to say that I mainly experienced derealization and I have never had problems with not recognizing myself in the mirror / concentration etc.
On 22th of September I had to leave for university. I had a very bad episode right as I left my family and my girlfriend for the airplane. However when I arrived and boarded the bus to the city I had this immense moment of clarity in which I realized that I managed to get to this great university and I felt completely in tune and in control. I however started fearing that it might start again and a couple of moments later it did.
I had to quarantine for 2 weeks because of the pandemic and during this time the stress of being away from home and the questioning of whether or not I would be able to do well in university with this condition started weighing in on me. The derealization became pretty much 24/7 and it was a big cause of distress. Not feeling connected with your environment and then being plopped into a completely new place away from your friends and family really didn't help.
I however became better and better at managing my anxiety and became less and less fearful of the sensations. I have to say that despite this condition I am still able to do well in university (i guess this means that I have a rather light form of it, since a lot of people complain that they have problems in school/concentration but I can handle the workload rather well).
Last week I had a talk with my girlfriend and I realized that me speaking so much about my fears and my condition is a big emotional burden for her and I really didn't want this to be something that would ruin my relationship. I told myself that I have to get my shit together and that I had to stop obsessing, which worked quite well.
At this point i'm in a weird state. The derealization hasn't been as obvious in the past week (in the sense that something feels off but it's hard to really put my finger on what). And even though the symptoms are fading, I still feel pretty weird. Like something is missing. It's hard to imagine myself walking carelessly down the streets thinking about random things the way I did before. But i guess that this is just anxiety. It's a really weird experience and I have had a couple of serious breakdowns. But right now things seem to be getting better, although I still have a very weird feeling that something isn't right. Am i just imagining that i still have derealisation? is it not there if it's not completely obvious that it's there or is this just a weird stage of recovery?
Here is a list of symptoms I had during the worst phase:
1) Felt like I was in a dream
2) Dolly zoom effect on objects (felt like they were much more in front of me than it made sense for them to be)
3) Feeling like people around me are robots, devoid of feelings or a soul
4) Feeling stuck in my own mind
I never felt that body parts are not mine or that my voice is not mine or that I don't recognize myself in the mirror (maybe to a very small degree but it was not distressing). I also don't think I had too much emotional blunting (in the sense that my girlfriend telling me that she misses me or seeing her sad or the thought of becoming emotionally numb towards her because of this shit really make me cry) but this past week I'm starting to feel more and more apathetic about things even though it feels like the feelings are subsiding.
This is my story. Am i doing well? Does it sound like I am heading towards recovery?
it’s normal to feel as something is off when the derealisation-feelings disappeared, I think it would be rather weird if you didn’t feel as if something is missing. When you’ve been feeling a certain way for a long time it’s obviously going to have some effect on you when it disappears. Anyways, I think you’re doing great! Keep going, you’ll be alright 
