[Ben]

I assume this is going to be a yes (at least for some), but anyone here get DP/DR bad when traveling? I seem to get it a lot in the morning when I'm on the road and I inwardly find myself obsessing about strange and peculiar thoughts like how far it is from home, and how odd it is that I'm here while my family is somewhere else and how someone can be somewhere while others are somewhere else (you know, pondering the whole physical nature of it all and whatnot) and, you know, on and on and on and on......

This disorder is the stangest thing in the world; sometimes it's like I was born just yesterday and the world seems so foreign and strange and peculiar - travelling seems to heighten my anxiety which, no doubt, brings about the whole instabilities that cause this damn condition.....

Man, what a crappy disorder!

 

[enigma]

If I travel beyond the city limits of my town, the dp/dr gets magnified about 10X.

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[enngirl5]

I remember reading something about that one time. I forgot who said it, I think it was on a panic disorder site, but it said some people feel weird about travelling because of the thought, "how am I here and others are somewhere else?" It's all the anxiety and dp. It sounds like a weird thought but I understand it and definietly remember reading someone else say the same thing a while back.
On a side note, I was driving thinking today and I had some random existental thought pop into my head, and I was like, "oh god, I wonder if anyone else has thought this or is it just me?" But then I decided, there is no end to the weird thoughts dp and anxiety bring so instead of obsessing over whether every new thought or worry you have is "normal", you pretty much just have to accept that it's all part of the dp/anxiety and move on. There are gonna be a million weird thoughts, but none of them really mean anything. It's just the anxiety.

 

[Ben]

Thanks for responding guys - I appreciate it. Your statements have me thinking....

I went to the gym (because, really, it's a good way to get out and around people and *grin* a good way for me to meet women); but there was hardly anybody there and I started ruminating a bit. I realized how hard it was for me, when I was a kid, to mentally reach out to people - I was so busy in my own head that I think I never got much of a root in the world around me. Popular trends and stuff would just float on by me, while I dreamed and dreamed...

For example, I find my mind drifting alot when I listen to the news, or hear people speak - sometimes I have to fight to maintain focus and attention on a subject that is external; and this act prevents me from being grounded a lot. When my environments change; the things I expected to be constant aren't anymore, and I'm left staring at the ground wondering if its going to fall out from underneath me.

A friend of mine mentioned that taking pictures is a good way of preventing the DP/DR from surfacing on trips - keep your mind focused on the physical things around you and take them with you (load them on your laptop, etc. which is especially good for me since I'm a programmer).

Sh*t, I should have been a plumber or something that requires use of my hands, perhaps that would keep me out of this damn mind.

 

[Scattered]

I just came back home from college and the DP has started again. I found myself feeling very scared about not knowing who I was and about not having a connection to my own home, now that I'm here. I also started feeling distanced from my parents. Plenty of thoughts like Why do I exist? just reverberating in my brain. My surroundings at times seem totally strange and foreign. I never had DP constantly and am scared that I'll end up that way, that this will go far beyond a mere symptom of anxiety and become its own monster.

I'm so stuck in my own head, sometimes its like I have to navigate a complicated labyrinthe to feel normal and to ground myself. Other times I feel completely grounded without having to think myself into it. I'm not sure how much control I have over my thoughts or how much control they have over me. I'm feeling very confused.

 

[mcsiegs]

Ben - my DP gets 100X worse when I travel..I am convinced that a recent trip in December to San Francisco (I live in Pennsylvania) triggered another episode of DP. I had the worst panic attack of my life while riding in a bus at night over the Golden Gate Bridge. Safe home was 3000 miles away and I felt that I would go crazy and die right there.

Interesting part about it was - I didn't go crazy, I didn't die. That is the evil of this disorder. Your mind tricks you into impending doom.

Thoughts may get more crazy as time goes on, but realize that YOU don't. You are always in there somewhere. I pray for all of you and fully understand and experience this disorder daily.

 

[Guest]

Travelling itself does not bother - the act of getting in a car, bus, train, whatever. But something else seems to - recent visits to London and other places have left me feeling...weird. Both times I was with my girlfriend - this is where I'm not sure what is causing it, or even what it is. Just a very strange, not enjoyable feeling.

 

[shadowness]

travelling really bothers me...the actual physical sensation of travelling really freaks me out and my mind seems to go into over drive!

i feel like i am really going insane...my dp and dr magnify to the point where i REALLY cannot bare it...when i stop travelling it is not so bad but the dp and dr are with me 24/7...

i often wonder how the hell i got to the place i travelled to and ask why...it just feels so odd to actually be able to be somewhere else if that makes sense...i just think to myself how the hell can i be here? it really frightens me...

 

[Ben]

Well, I'm here in Vegas now. Things are a little disjunct, but not too bad. We'll see about tonight. I'm gonna try to just relax and have fun and pay attention to the outside.

 

[agentcooper]

i'm so jealous you're in vegas! i want to be there too ...have a blast and put a dollar down for me, k?