Regained some reality. Hallelujah!

Livingthenightmare said:

Great- hopefully you get the same results with this rinse too. Btw- I have a deviated septum too- also to the left. And I dunno about what part anxiety may play in your DP but it seems to me that if you could get rid of it completely with a sinus rinse that would mean anxiety or no anxiety it's possible you won't be able to have DP symptoms without sinus problems. Hopefully that's the case. I know when I get my ear full of wax it drives me completely nuts- btw how did you take out the ear wax, you never mentioned that ?

For sinus surgery- better do a baloon sinoplasty- no knives involved: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_sinuplasty

I'll have to see what medication I can try too.

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MissLana said:

Yesterday, I was pretty depressed. I hadn't seen a shift in my DP for a few weeks. Usually, before, my DP would clear up little by little over the course of the weeks. It actually had a set back and got a bit worse. My vision got more distorted, more flat looking, my DP and dissociation from my body got worse, etc etc. Usually, I mostly had visual disturbances, things looked blurry, felt like I was in a dream, and I had this terrible brain fog. Now, my body felt weightless, like it wasn't even there at all.

So, yesterday, I was in a pretty dark spot. I was very depressed.

Then, my DP and DR both virtually went away for a beautiful hour. Completely gone! Then, I went to bed, and I woke up to find that it got so much better overnight. I still have it, and, my vision isn't 100% clear and the DP is here, but, it became so much tolerable. Don't get me wrong, it's still here and annoying me, but, I did a happy dance because it's so much better than it was yesterday. It almost feels like this was a blessing. I was starting to feel I had stopped making progress and I became so depressed and mad at the world.

Then, I did something that somehow managed to help me so much. I cleaned out my ear wax very diligently, and, there was a lot of it. Then, I did a sinus rinse with a saline solution, and, I went up into my nose (gross, I know ) to find that there were so many dry boogers clogging up the very top part of my nose, so, I took the liberty of cleaning out my nose and even had a bit of wasabi to unclog whatever else might have been clogging it. Lets just say I spent some time cleaning out my ears / nose.

Then, after all that was done, the most miraculous thing happened. My DP literally went away for a blessed hour. Vision was like it was before DP, and, my body felt heavy again and real! Part of my problem with DP lately has been that my body doesn't feel solid enough, like it's full of air or something. But, my vision cleared up, my body regained the heaviness I missed, I could see SO clearly and I felt connected to my body and reality again and I was laying there thinking "Thank you God, thank you, thank you!"

And, by the way, no, I'm not confusing DP for severe sinus problems. Four months ago, when I got DP, my vision was completely 2D and a complete blur and I felt like a robot. I did nasal rinses every day and took natural allergy meds but it didn't phase my DP at all.

But, when I did all that last night, I literally felt a shift in consciousness right before my eyes. Usually, I go to sleep and wake up to find my DP gets slightly better / worse. This was like someone unfogged my brain, took pressure out of my eyes, realigned my vision and made everything look less 2D and more 3D, etc etc. I was even able to recall memories again! This was one of my problems, too -- it felt like I forgot the past because my brain had trouble recalling memories. Also, the blur in my eyes stopped being so bad, and, my body felt mine again! My anxiety also went away for that one hour, and, my anxiety hasn't come back today... yet. I don't feel anxious at all and anxiety was my #1 problem. I'd wake up with anxiety and spend the whole day with anxiety. I have a nervous system dysfunction and an illness that affects the autonomic nervous system, so, relaxing while DPed has not been easy for me. But my anxiety sort of took a hike for an hour last night before bed and it hasn't come back today and I've been awake for four hours now.

All because I cleaned my ears and nose?!

I am going to do everything I did last night every day now to see if it'll work. I think the vitamin water is also a good idea. I'm going to be making vitamin water every day and use coconut oil in my food. I used to just take fish oil capsules but now I'm going to start doing coconut oil on top of it to see if it helps.

Edited: I listed a bunch of steps that I thought could have contributed to my reality shift, and, I did another experiment and concluded it was the sinus rinse and none of the other healthy things I did that day.

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MissLana said:

You just mentioned cortisol which struck something with me. I produce too much cortisol when I get these infections (doctor checks) Thing is, all you have to do is type in "Sinus + depersonalization" or "Sinus + anxiety" or "sinus + vision" and see how many people with infections or chronic sinus problems have anxiety, vision distortion, lightheadedness, dizziness, feeling 'out of it', and some people even feel depersonalization from sinus problems. I have searched sinus + depersonalization and got many hits on various search engines and read many posts from people who never experienced depersonalization until they got sinus issues. Someone was describing sinus problems and depersonalization and this is what a professional responded with: "What you describe sounds an awful lot like depersonalization, a uniquely unpleasant sensation that usually comes on first during a period of concentration or focus so intense that one "loses" one's self momentarily and the subsequent state is one of unreality with difficulty hearing, seeing, etc., almost as though a veil has dropped over the subject. Not blurred vision, just a kind of "wrongness" with the lighting or something, same with the hearing, as though one can hear perfectly yet be somehow baffled (physically) in that area. Usually this will begin also in situations involving artificial overhead lighting as in most classrooms. Sometimes it is a neurological problem, sometimes associated with sinus blockage or infection, and sometimes an almost seizure-like activity which can be precursor to panic attacks. It usually first occurs during some stressful event or activity. " Here is what another article said: "If you are prone to anxiety, a sinus infection can intensify symptoms. If you have never experienced anxiety before, chronic sinusitis might trigger it for the first time. A sinus infection can make your head feel fuzzy, lethargic or disconnected, and cause your cognitive symptoms to worsen. Sinusitis can exaggerate a sense of depersonalization-not feeling real or connected." My main #1 problem is derealization. My vision is messed up, I'm dizzy, head spins, I get pressure behind my eyes, in my forehead (around where the pituitary + pineal glands are), I get horrid headaches -- and, by the way, you know what is common with a headache or migraine? Something called an 'aura' -- An aura is a visual disturbance that comes with a headache. When I've had them before, they were just like how derealization has distorted my vision, except, I feel more down to Earth. Fact of the matter is, that all of that is all up there in the brain / eye area and those trigger a vast array of symptoms. No, sinus problems didn't trigger my derealization. I have anxiety and panic just like the rest of you do. But when I had my first sinus infection a few months ago, my derealization was at a 8/10 severity. Now it's maybe down to a 3 or 4/10 severity. When my doctor saw my x ray of the sinuses, he didn't even want to tell me how bad it was. He used the word "very significant" while describing my sinus infection. I asked him if it could worsen anxiety, distort vision, make me light headed, make my head spin, and make me feel 'out of it' -- he said yes. I got SO much better after my first round of anti biotics, and, I'm not joking. My DR was horrid. I was the type to sit in a corner, pondering the universe 24/7, flipping out over every little thing. I took my meds, got on a very low dose anti-anxiety, and I had days where I felt like I was literally a week away from 100% recovery. Then my sinus infection came back again, and, my anxiety got worse, too. I think part of the anxiety is also that I can't breathe as freely so I restrict air, causing my brain to sort of worry about the amount of air I'm getting. So, I got on anti biotics, felt a bit better, saw some improvements, and then BAM, went downhill. Despite me taking my low dose of Klonopin which gets rid of my anxiety and cuts my DR by half or so, despite eating healthy, having a positive attitude, and keeping my anxiety under control, my anxiety came back, and my DR got worse and this time around, I'm actually having DP with my DR which I didn't before. Anxiety is a side effect of a sinus infection. So, anyways, I am going to the doctor today but I already know what he's going to say. How do I know? Because everytime I get up, I feel gravity pulling on my sinuses and my head pounds which is what always happens with an infection. So, here's basically what happened to me. DR got tons worse --> I got a sinus infection --> took meds --> got VERY close to recovery --> felt a lot better --> then, got more anxious, DR got worse --> got another sinus infection --> Got meds --> felt a lot better --> weeks later, DR and anxiety got worse, DP got worse too --> 99% sure I have another sinus infection, will go get meds today I don't see how I can feel so close to recovery that I feel 1 - 2 weeks away from it only to keep having major setbacks. Unless this was somehow involved. So do I really think sinus infections and sinus problems can worsen DP and DR? No doubt in my mind. Just read up on sinuses + anxiety. You'll see lots of people complain of it. If anything, this could be a trigger that people aren't even aware of. I'm not saying everyone has sinus problems, but, I really don't see why it couldn't trigger it. We don't even know enough about DP or DR to make too many factual educated guesses. So far, everyone on this forum keeps saying "Just ignore it and it'll go away." as if that's the only advice out there. Yeah, you can ignore it, but if there is by chance some medical problem that is triggering it, you can ignore it all day long, but, it may still be triggered. In fact, I don't think the general advice should be to just ignore it and hope it goes away. People shouldn't ignore it. They shouldn't just accept that this is their reality and hope it goes away. What if some people have underlying medical issues that may trigger it, or, if it's something in their environment or diet? It could be a number of many things. Yes, we know that anxiety and stress trigger DP, but who can say that certain things don't prolong it or increase it's severity? And those things shouldn't be ignored, they should be targeted and addressed. I started taking Claritin because Singular isn't that powerful of an anti histimine.

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