[Zpgrimm]

Hi All,

Does anyone feel like they don't have any emotions at all? Seriously!!! Recently my Dad broke down and started crying and I felt nothing at all, I tried to comfort him but felt absolutely nothing. I can watch a comedy and not laugh. I seriously feel absolutely nothing. Does anyone else have this?

 

[Al_pk]

Yeah man, absolutely none. Like really, none. Nothing. I've forgotten what emotions really feel like. This happens, usually in anxiety because emotion is a higher brain function which shuts down when we are in fight or flight mode. It's hard work, and makes life flavourless and unrewarding

 

[RunToMe]

Hey Zpgrimm and Al PK,

i have the same core symptom of emotional numb. Addional to that i have no hunger/appetite, libido or get tired.

How you both can live with that ? For me i cant bear it. I only can resist this silent hell by drinking beer, because i can cover that state and get into little sleep. Long-time its bad to drink beer i know, but i dont know what to do...

 

[Al_pk]

I deal with it by focussing on my recovery. There is not one thing you can do to regain your emotional core right away, so you may aswell be smart about it.

I also have the appetite, libido and don't get tired thing.

I was saying earlier to a mental health practitioner the thing i missed the most was the different feelings you got in morning, afternoon, and night. And the nice tired feeling at evening time.

I don't drink often because when I do I have 20 pints and am a bit of a fuck head. Drinking will not help you towards recovery, but if it helps you sleep, it's okay.

It's been 1 year 9 months since I felt an emotion. It can last for a very long time. Decades. I've had other things improve for me, but not that. I have recently been able to cry again, but I still lack the feeling behind it

I deal with it because I have no other choice

 

[RunToMe]

I am stuck now 1 year after weed, which my exgirlfriend gave my as christmas cookies, in this hell. in the beginning i could cry but the last months nothing goes anymore...and a choice is to commit suicide...

 

[Al_pk]

You've been given a challenge, a trial. Your job is to fight for yourself and regain your peace of mind. Are you really going to end it all because you have a temporary loss of emotion?

 

[RunToMe]

nobody knows for sure that it ends...

 

[Al_pk]

We all have our burden to bear. No recovery will happen if you end it. Years from now you'll be at perfect peace doing what you love. You really guna sacrifice that because you didn't want to fight on in the present moment?

 

[forestx5]

Think of it as an opportunity to expand the role of your intellect. I lost all my positive emotions. I had no choice but to become "Spock like". I had been a B student, but I was driven to graduate at the top of my technical school class. I had fortune 500 companies knocking at my door.

It took a decade or more, but my emotions finally came home. Don't sweat the petty stuff. (and don't pet the sweaty stuff).

 

[Al_pk]

It's hard, before I was a very instinctive person so to lose all that you do have to start recruiting other parts of your being such as calculation. When I lost my emotions before i lost all the good ones but also all the self conciousness and introverted crap. I started being able to public speak and became hyper confident with women. It was pretty good when I got used to it. Felt like the terminator

 

[Diezell]

I've been without emotions for about 6 years. No idea why, no idea how I can get them back. They're obviously still in my subconsciousness influencing my actions, but my conscious mind is always completely empty, save for bodily sensations and a rare unhelpful thought. Like a connection in my brain has been severed. The only things I experience writing this comment is looking at my screen and moving my hands. I'm so tired of living in this hell, but I don't even have enough motivation to kill myself. Everything is a pointless chore, and nothing I do means anything. The only goal worth pursuing in my life right now is finding out what is wrong with me and how to cure it. It's clearly not just going away on its own.

 

[forestx5]

I have this theory after reading the book "The Genome" by Matt Ridley. In that book I learned that psychological stimuli can cause genetic processes to change. If a gene switches off, a key protein which facilitates a process is no longer created. Stores of that protein then dissipate, and the process is discontinued. I have read so many descriptions of

people who had "panic attacks" on Cannabis, and 2 days later they felt a significant transformation into dp/dr hell. I'm reminded of a comment a neurologist made to me when I told him a friend had been severely burned in an accident. I had just visited the friend at the hospital and he was in good spirits and

seemed to be doing well. The neurologist asked what percentage of his body had been burned. I said "85%". He said frankly (as only doctors can do) "he won't make it." And, he was right. The skin is an organ and after the majority is burned, you have about 3 days before the residuals dissipate and

you die. A gene being switched off might account for the 2 day delay, as the body may have enough of the protein in store, to last for a few more days. I had the vast majority of my symptoms resolve shortly after having electroconvulsive therapy. I like to think I had my genetic firmware restored to factory defaults.

It's as good a theory as any. lol

 

[cyberafrica]

nobody knows for sure that it ends...

Yes it does, I had it DP/DR for almost 4 years back from 2007 to 2011. 100 % completely cured, and got on to live a very successful life. I unfortunately got it again due to prescription medication last year. I'm not giving up, it just takes time for it to dissipate.