SPACINESS/LIGHTHEADED?

[cskrone]

Hi Guys -

The past few weeks I've been under a lot of pressure at work (good pressure because business is booming!) but pressure nonetheless. I'm working very very hard. Also, I've been taking a multivitamin (6x/day) and fish oil (2x/day) and have been feeling spacy and lightheaded.

When I talk to people, it's like I'm not connected super well to them because of this spaciness and lightheadedness.

I kind of know this is anxiety but wanted to double check your opinions!

I'm also moving on June 15 (next Tuesday) so this could be an underlying stressor as well :)

Let me know,
CK

[alex1993]

This is called derealization, if you're disconnected from your surroundings. I get this too. I felt spacey and lightheaded for about two weeks, and it went away, and it kind of came back yesterday. How bad is it? do you feel super disconnected, or do you feel that you only a bit disconnected? The best thing is to not focus on it.

[Charmbracelet81]

Sometimes I will be doing something and all of a sudden my surroundings look "weird" and I feel like I am not really here, or I am dreaming. Stressors can definitely bring this on.

[cskrone]

Yea, I've had this symptom for a few years now. The strange thing is that when I live with roommate, it suddenly goes away. I am moving in alone on the 15th and it's come back again. Maybe it's just a sign of underlying fear/anxiety and nothing that bad.

[ebony]

is this the same as the black void or falling in a black chasm?

[Charmbracelet81]

Ebony-what are those? I tried searching on the internet for them, but nothing medical comes up.

[ebony]

Ebony-what are those? I tried searching on the internet for them, but nothing medical comes up.
I don't know if it's listed on the internet. I just know it's how I feel when I feel very bad. That weird out of self sense of just free falling over a bottomless chasm?

[alex1993]

As in metaphorically falling, or do you physically feel like you are falling? When I panic I feel like my body is dropping, and I detatch from my body.

[Charmbracelet81]

I found this that explains DR and DP very well......

Depersonalization and derealization

Depersonalization and derealization are two variations of the same experience. Depersonalization refers to a feeling of separation from your body; derealization to a feeling of separation from your surroundings. During depersonalization, an individual feels as though he has become removed, cut off or disembodied from himself. He feels as though he is a detached observer looking down from a separate place, dispassionately watching himself and his actions. The feeling lasts anything from a few seconds to a few hours and starts and stops abruptly. Derealization may involve mild feelings of unreality which persist for weeks; this is even more bizarre because it seems as though you are separate from the world in which you are walking about! Perhaps the nearest analogy is a theatrical one you are in the environment of the production, but not a part of the production itself. Both these types of feelings of unreality are a natural consequence of 'too much anxious introspection which of course means that one tends to concentrate on one's own feelings and experiences rather than on what is happening in the world around you.

The best way of dealing with depersonalization and derealization is simply to accept the feelings as a natural part of anxiety, because the problem eases when one stops worrying about the way one feels. It becomes even less troublesome as any background anxiety also decreases.

[alex1993]

I've had this saved on my favorites:

http://www.panicend.com/de.html

[ebony]

metaphorically.
thanks charmbracelet. the derealization does seem to be it.

[dimspace]

one thing i would recommend, rather than multivitamins (which dont contain very much), try getting a seperate vitamin B and vitamin D which contain much higher doses instead. Multivits are pretyt low in actual vitamins.

But it certainly sounds like derealisation.. its a warning.. its time to start slowing down, calming down, and taking it more easy.

Cutting out caffiene, alcohol and tobacco will help a lot as well.

[cskrone]

Hi Dimspace -

Yea, I think its derealization caused from super high anxiety.

I've had it at various points before and it's always gone away. During moves, it always comes for some reason.

I drink 2 cups of coffee per day and I have been taking 5mg adderall as needed for the spaciness BUT something in me wants to cut out coffee and go green tea, pick up morning exercise again, quit drinking for a month, and continue my 5 htp and see what happens.

I think caffeine, cigarettes, and alcohol are all bandages.

I'm actually praying that 5 htp will help!