[Guest]

After reading different discussions, I'm glad to see some people do share similar symptoms i've had in the past and still have. I think I have a DP/DR problem. One thing that bothers me a lot is the way the colors appear to me, as though they are extremely more intense. When I look at faces, the details strike me and it can be frightening. Like some faces look like alien or animals. I know this sounds crazy and I often think I am. Another problem is the way audio stimulis sound to me. Let's say I'm walking. Sometimes the sound my footsteps make will become words and sentences having the same syllables as the beat. Same thing with running water. I'm diagnosed OCD but am often afraid I will flip out from reality and become psychotic.
Anybody had similar experiences?

 

[jft]

Manextdoor. That sounds like a tricky one, but if you were diagnosed ocd then give your doc some trust in that he/she does not see this as psychosis and you need not fear it going to psychosis because the two are totally different animals.

I remember when my dr episodes were most intense that colors would intensify, that auditory stuff would get real wierd (sounds would not match the situation) and magnify and even the visual thing where it was hard to look into peoples faces. It almost felt like I was on acid. If you notice all three of these are empirical events, meaing they are sensory. From what I gather when we are going into overload with our dr/dp that our senses maybe can be in overload (looking for too much?) and thus all this stimuli is too much for us and it gets wierd. I know the feeling though you describe, the one about fearing losing it to psychosis. The fear level when you reach these episodes is so high it literally feels like you are going to snap. But you will not. And the more you realize this the better off you be. All of this happened to me many many times and after a good sleep it was always knocked out.

jft

 

[bat]

yes with dr i get these visual effects; intense colours, faces etc like everythings more real, as jft says like acid. i haven't experienced the auditory side.

 

[agentcooper]

yup, in my dr hey-day i would look at a face and it would appear that the person's eyes were right in front of my eyes, yet the rest of their face would stay where it was (like 2 ft. away)....or everything would be all jittery...i couldn't even walk at times because the fact that i was bouncing up and down nearly drove me mad.

as for auditory things, i still get the thing where i say something, and it will echo in my head for seconds. it also seems like i didn't just say it, i screamed it at the top of my lungs...scary!

 

[jft]

Agent Cooper. That auditory echo thing...so wierd. That one was so strong for me and can still happen I guess. I always described it as if I had a coffee can over my head, like I was talking into a tin can, and wondering if my voice went anywhere but the can. And then too like you after my last word I would for a moment wonder if I had jsut said something or not, wondering if I was even in the converstation etc. So wierd, and so acid like for me. I almsot felt like my consciousness was temporarily encapsulated and shut off outside of me. Unreal or should I say dereal, but not psychotic.
jft

 

[Guest]

jft, when u say you had trouble looking at people's face, was it because it was scary? That's exactly like I feel, as if I had taken acid. I never tried that drug, but I know the effects cause I've read a lot about drugs. It feels as if I had taken hallucinogens. Eventhough things looks different, I still keep contact with reality. Sometimes I test myself. Like I say, this is a table, this is a lamp, etc. I have way too much imagination. I can alos see faces and shapes in objects. It's not hallucinations, cause the stimulis are there. They are just over amplified.

 

[Guest]

Yes, yes, yes and yes. I have this too. Colors appear overly lucid and shimmery. If you've ever looked of the top of an open flame, how the objects viewed through it appear shimmery and plastic, that is how everything looks to me.

 

[jft]

Never really scary manext, those faces, unless we make them scary. To me I just seemed not to connect to them as I would personally if I was not symptomatic. If one freaks because he cannot temporaily relate to a known face then I guess it would escalate to being scary. I always just experienced a short time frame when I knew my symptoms were not allowing me to conncect to my situation, and this is called derealization. But I always remained intact so to speak. I felt wierd, and things seemed wierd, but I knew something was amiss but that I was still me. This is the difference I think with what we speak of as psychosis. This fear that occurs is not necessary for we always come out of it. These symptoms are almost peripheral for us, for they are not us. We are still intact. The fear of the fear of anything else will nail ya, big time. You said you still maintain reality checks, and that is why you need not worry about psychosis.

Your imagination is your worst enemy. I can see all kinds of things if I look for them (visually). Please do not dwell on looking for visual stuff. Anybody can see those things if they look long enough (even "normal" people) What we need to do is just get on with it and stop dwelling on pink elephants. They are there if we look, but if we passively experience a placid lake with loons singing that is maybe a better option. In other words, please quit "testing yourself". You do not need to do this

Just my opinions..
jft

 

[Guest]

I used to have the faces looking like animals thing really bad. On one
particulary bad episode everybody looked like giant pantomine mice.
Even my loved ones looked totally strange and foreign to me.
I was totally convinced I was losing it. That was nine years ago and it went away after a few weeks. I never did go crazy. Every now and again
it reoccurs but now I find it amusing and it always goes as soon as I get
distracted by something else. So I can vouch that it's not a sign of
impending psychosis, just the mind playing its old tricks.

 

[university girl]

yep

 

[ShyTiger]

relate very much to details in faces and them appearing alien. Also with color thing. Sometimes i would have the walking thing. I found that not focusing on intensity of situation helped as when i did it would just freak me out even more. Its hard when the world bombards you with everything in such an aversive way.