[Guest]

I just did a search through the old archives to see what types of things i wrote back in 2000 when I first had DP. I don't know if it was a mistake or not, but what I saw kind of made me sick to my stomach. I had forgotten how desparate I was to get rid of it. It was all consuming.

I almost feel like that was a completely different person. Maybe it was. I haven't had DP/DR at all in about 2 years now. I'm a 1L in law school and doing fine other than the occasional bout of laziness. I just wanted to let you guys know that things can get better.

Joe

BTW. Here's one of my many posts on the old board.

"Dreamer,

What's interesting is that pschizophrenia took about 15 minutes to diagnose. I never had a psychological evaluation, reality testing or none of that. I was on Prozac and Klonopin for 2 weeks. When I went back to the doctor I swear it was 15 minutes. He went through his checklist questions(you know suicide, appetite, etc, etc). My responses were no, no, no. I said I am am a little better, but still having bad derealization. He said take Risperdal, it will take that away, not mentioning neuroleptic or pschizophrenia. Me, being naive and desperate at the time, thinks "alright I'm gonna get rid of this". At that point I studied up, felt worse on Risperdal. I went to a psychologist who I spoke with for an hour(once again no testing). He said I am having a psychotic episode. I said isn't it neurotic if I know its happening and I am still based in reality. He too enforced Risperdal and recommended upping the dose. I, being still naive and thinking doctors must be right, did up the dose. Next psychiatrist visit, he on the sly asks me to bring a family member, I guess so they can learn how to live with a pschizophrenic in their midst. At that point I accepted the diagnosis, even though i could still brush my teeth and dress myself, things schizophrenics have a hard time doing. I got on the internet to look up schizophrenia and found nothing that related to my symptoms. Luckily I stumbled across DP and it matched me exactly. I took some evidence to the doc to prove I had DP and not schizo. I'm not gonna believe the internet he says, even though one of the things I brought in was the DSM IV description. He sent to me to another doc for a 2nd opinion, a much more sociable doc, who confirmed DP, but suggested underlying PTSD.
Now I want to change docs permanently, but apparently this is not socially acceptable between psychiatrists in East Texas.

Sorry for the long post, but those of you in big cities are lucky to receive quality healthcare. In smaller towns its hard. I'm really starting to get fed up with the system. Also sorry for the bad grammar.

Joe "

 

[kenc127]

What a crappy doc. 14 years of school and he goes around firing a diagnosis like schizophrenia at someone despite adequate and sufficient proof. He should lose his license. Im glad you're better and hope that it continues that way for you. After you get your JD then go sue him for malpractice.

 

[Guest]

Hey Ken,

Thanks.
No joke he was a crappy doc. I don't think there's a malpractice case there though. I didn't leave there worse off and doctors don't guarantee results. I'd be happy if I could just talk him into destroying the records, but I haven't seen him since I left Texas 4 years ago. It did sour me on Western medicine though for a while.

Ultimately DP/DR and my mental symptoms were caused by physical problems. In my case, blood sugar problems. I'm not currently taking any meds and haven't taken anything for almost 3 years.

Joe

 

[kenc127]

Blood sugar problems? Interesting. How did you end up finding this out?
Also, when you corrected the problem, how quickly did healing come?

 

[laquw]

hey Joe.. I am a survivor just like you from 2002 though. I too am very lazy and I think its due to the DP/DR just obliterating my motivation and energy. Do you feel the same way or were you always this lazy?

 

[Guest]

Ken,

I went to a nutritionist/acupuncturist. He said he had seen my symptoms before and never had a problem alleviating them. I didn't really believe him, but I did it anyways. I think the nutrition and supplements were the main thing. I really don't think acupuncture did or does anything at all, but I still go. I started feeling better in a week, and I was perfectly fine in about 6 weeks.

laquw,

I don't think the laziness is DP related. I was lazy as hell in undergrad. Having DP was almost like a different person. It's hard for me to even believe that it dominated my life as much as it did when I look back.

Joe

 

[Guest]

Wow Joe, that is amazing, you felt better in six weeks! Congratulations. So......you really think it was a matter of correcting your blood sugar problems and taking supplements? Do you ever eat sugar? I tend to be hypoglycemic and always wondered if some of my dp/dr symptoms are from the hypoglycemia. What sort of supplements do you take?

I am so happy for you that you recovered!!!!!

xo
Sassy

 

[Guest]

sassy,

yeah reactive hypoglycemia and insulin resistance were basically what caused my dp. The hypoglycemia got much worse during the 3rd year of DP to the point where I had to eat almost constantly just to have enough energy to do anything. During that 6 weeks of getting better, and before the insulin resistance got better, I found I was sensitive to a lot of different foods. I don't avoid any food now except for refined sugar and dairy products, but I can tolerate dairy fine now, I just don't like it anymore. I can even tolerate sugar, but I don't like it much now either. If you are hypoglycemic and have DP, I would definitely look into it.

Here was another post of mine I found on the old board yesterday, which was actually the one that had me upset because if I would have run with that then, I wouldve saved myself 2 and 1/2 years of pain. My symptoms were nearly identical to this guy, Jason's, although he doesn't mention the static vision that drove me nuts. And I was tested for candida and did not have it.

"Hey J,

Tell me more about the sugar thing. How much did you eat before you went to bed. Before I knew I had DP, I though diabetes was a possibility and one day I went crazy and ate like the whole sugar jar full. I might try some before I go to bed and see what happens though.

Joe "

That was in response to:

"Hi Dreamer, Thanks for responding. My DP feels like a dark cloud surrounding my head, a kind of cloudy pressure over my mind. The world looks unreal to me, dreamlike. I'm hyper aware of two different aspects of myself, one doing things and the other one WATCHING while I do it. And the whole room that I'm in always seems to be about 10 shades too dark, like someone has turned down the lighting. Bugs the hell out of me. It's worse the more tired I am. As far as food allergies go, I never thought I had a problem with them at all but was recently tested and can no longer eat wheat (or any grains), dairy, corn, oranges, etc. Avoiding these foods has really helped with the CFS but has done nothing to help the DP. For some crazy reason, I've found that if I eat sugar (or something with a lot of sugar in it) at night before I go to bed, I wake up the next morning totally free from DP and it lasts half the day or so. I have no idea why that is or if others have had that experience too. But because of the candida, I can't eat sugar anyway. Getting a diagnosis of CFS is pretty much useless because most doctors don't recognize it and those who do, don't know how to treat it and everyone responds differently to all the treatments, so it's totally a crap shoot. I've done a LOT of research in this so if I can help in any way, feel free to email me. I hope you feel better. Jason"