Changing symptoms?

[shoestring]

I have suffered with anxiety for almost a decade, and up until now my symptoms have been mostly the same. Lately I have been feeling REALLY strange all the time, like I'm dreaming. I feel like I'm not really me but sort of living in a shell that is my body. My sense of time is really off...I will do something, like a task at work lets say, and it will feel like it has been ages since i did it, even though its only been 10 minutes. I feel really disconnected to the world around me. Kind of feels like I'm just floating here. It is very hard to describe and SCARY! Has anyone else experienced this? I am scared! Feels like I'm really losing it over here.

[sweetypie]

Yes, a lot of us have experienced it.

It's called derealization, I believe. I didn't learn that word, though, until I was on this site and heard a bunch of people use it.

I don't have it all the time, but I get it when I'm really stressed out and don't know how to handle a situation at all. My brain protects me from the situation, but drawing me out of it and making me feel like I'm not really there. That I'm floating somewhere else or whatever.

I got really sick with this last therapy appointment. My therapist had me roleplay and I guess we got REALLY DEEP into my emotions because I got lightheaded, dizzy, spacey, and not really there anymore. I thought I was going to pass out and my emotions disappeared entirely. I was hysterically crying and then suddenly I wasn't feeling anything at all because I wasn't there anymore. It freaked me out, especially since I wasn't sure what I was saying anymore and I'm scared I said something stupid or something because my mind retreated into a little corner because it couldn't handle what was happening.

[jayj404]

Well, It's probably depersonalization and derealization. Despite what anybody says, they are different. depersonalization is when you feel disconnected from your body. Like your somewhere else. Derealization is when you feel detached from life and in a dreamy state. You seem to have both. Bad news, they suck. Good news, you don't have the chronic one. People that have chronic dissociation (dp and dr) have it 24/7. Chronic disassociation is harder to recover from. If you want to recover, it's simple. Don't think about it. It can't even pass your mind. If you start to think about it, don't fight it. Just let the thoughts pass. You can start recovery at any time, but the longer you wait it will be easier because you become used to it. It only takes a couple weeks to recover, that is if you don't think about it at all. How do you know you're recovering? When you ask yourself if you still have it. When you have to think "is my dissociation still here" that means it's going away.

Good luck on recovery! Feel free to message me anytime.

[shoestring]

Well, It's probably depersonalization and derealization. Despite what anybody says, they are different. depersonalization is when you feel disconnected from your body. Like your somewhere else. Derealization is when you feel detached from life and in a dreamy state. You seem to have both. Bad news, they suck. Good news, you don't have the chronic one. People that have chronic dissociation (dp and dr) have it 24/7. Chronic disassociation is harder to recover from. If you want to recover, it's simple. Don't think about it. It can't even pass your mind. If you start to think about it, don't fight it. Just let the thoughts pass. You can start recovery at any time, but the longer you wait it will be easier because you become used to it. It only takes a couple weeks to recover, that is if you don't think about it at all. How do you know you're recovering? When you ask yourself if you still have it. When you have to think "is my dissociation still here" that means it's going away.

Good luck on recovery! Feel free to message me anytime.

It is chronic :( it sucks! And it's scary. It is really hard not think about it, but I will try. Have you experienced this? Thank you very much!