derealisation.....help!

I've been getting these awful feelings that I guess are best described as derealisation. Out of the blue I will all the sudden feel like I've stepped into a dream and objects will loose their association a little bit.....I still know what they are and everything but I see them more as like shapes & colors. It's hard to describe. I've never felt this way before this year. I feel like I'm going insane! And I really fear that this wont ever go away. I've been taking pain killers for about 6 months (only one or two per day) and I notice that I get this feeling more often when I don't have any left to take. I also have been experiancing panic attacks occasionally. These are different than any I've had before this year as I now experiance fear for my life sometimes during the panic attack or before. I do know what sort of things set off that feeling. Anyway, I don't have the money for a doctor right now and no one in my family can relate to this....I need some advice.....the panic attacks I can handle but it's these weird feelings of loosing touch with reality that scare me to death! Please help

I think many people with anxiety can relate to what you just described. I feel like I cant focus on objects sometimes and its as if there was something wrong with my eyes or my brain. Its scary. But certain medications can also create these strange visions. You mentioned you are taking pain killers. Maybe the pills also play a role. I notice that when I take depressants, I feel more more spacy, and everything around me feels strange. But I think its mainly the anxiety that creates these problems. If I feel dizzy from panic most of the times, I guess seeing things differently can also be accredited to anxiety!

Gosh, interesting, I knew I wanted to read a bit more about de-realisation, but this matches me a lot as well. I know logically what things are, but I lost touch with a proper or natural response to what I'm seeing, and my insights are mostly gone. Makes me feel very unpractical, and yes I focus on it a lot when I experience it, which is certainly not the thing to do. As that gives credibility and empowers worries and perpetuates the anxiety cycle.

Peter it seems as though you and I are experiancing close to the same thing. It's so scary to me and I've tried to explain it to my family and they have NO idea what I'm talking about. That makes me feel even MORE crazy. :cry: Thank you both for your replies!! Every bit of understanding helps. I've read up on it a little bit on the net and so far haven't found anything to calm my fears about this.

If anyone has anything else to add that would be great! Feeling like I'm loosing touch with reality is the worst feeling I think I've ever had...literally. And I wonder if it will ever go away permanently???

Here is something I was wondering about.....

Since I don't feel anxious most of the time and my panic attacks are only maybe once a month, if that.....is the derealisation caused by anxiety or am I having anxiety BECAUSE of the derealisation??
I can't tell. And just how common is it?

It's a circle mister "guest", one empowers the other. You get onto the anxious track and then experience de-realisation is almost certainly the order. You might then focus on what you experience for 'derealizing effects' which further perpatuates the anxiety cycle, perhaps ultimately leading to a panick attack. It's because you WORRY about what your anxiety created, that you focus on it even more and empower it. Forget about it, shift your mind totally elsewhere, in fact give your concious mind a rest and let your subconcious do the work.

Greetings, Peter.

Stellablue, derealisation is a cause of anxiety and anxious thinking. You have this ability to become anxious, so at any time you have the ability to experience it. But the fact of the matter is, that it is a CHOICE, do you WANT to experience that again, and what do you find more important, your LIFE or your anxiety SYMPTHOMS?

Once you have proven to yourself that you CAN forget about it, it is only a matter of choice. What do you want to do with your life.

But to stick to your question and answer it again, you are the one that empowers your anxiety and worries, so you are also the one in control of experiencing it. This may sound odd or hard or maybe even untrue, but there's actually only your preferred interpretation to a given situation that makes up for how you respond to it. Life is FULL of possibilities, you can do ANYTHING, and that includes either feel good or derealized, but it remains a choice.

That is how I see it. And i'm not saying this is easy, which in fact it is, as easy as turning on tap water, but you have to do it of course, which is often the hard part. But we do make simple things very complex very often. So quit doing that and things become easy and enjoyable.

Thanks Peter.....I apprechiate your words and insight. It was helpful and it's nice to be able to speak to someone who understands it.

By the way the "guest" question was mine I just forgot to put my name down.

Thanks again!

I have experienced derealisation/depersonaliation where i thought what i am, where i am, why i am here etc, and then physically detached looking a t my body and seeing it as strange and why i have arms legs etc... mine was caused taking heavy halluciogenic drugs when i was 18. I went through hell, the most terrifying exeperience i think other than actually fying, actually i used to feel that would be a way out. Because of the intensity of my thoughts i started to lose emotions, feelings like love, hate etc. i didn't know what i was. I went numb in my body so actually felt i didnt exist. it passed with time, and once i got my life in order and got fit ( exercise is a cure ). i used to look back and laugh at how stupid my thoughts where, and actually forgot what it was like to experience them thoughts.

The best advice i can give is remember how ridiculous your thoughts are, it took me about 12 months from the start of these feelings to get rid of them. However, i was dealing with drug withdrawal as well. Its difficult but counselling helped me. You need to realise other people get these thoughts & feelings, the worst thing you can do is keep it to yourself. It will make it worse. Remember your in control, and with time you will realise that.

I only found this site today, what a delight to find I am not all alone, I have had these awful feelings of unreality for a couple of years now, it is very distressing I don't tell people as I know no-one would understand, but here you all are with the same thing as me, I am sorry you are all suffering but maybe one day we will all be OK. cheers folks

I like how DannyC coined it as derealisation/depersonaliation. I to feel like this from time to time and it tends to come without notice- talking to a friend, at a store. Very strange feeling. For me it eventually goes away after a few hours or so but during it is difficult to concentrate or socialize.

Hey all,
Please don't worry about these feelings, did you know that derealisation is one of the most common symptoms that people with anxiety get. When I told my psychiatrist about this weird and horrible sensation I was experiencing, he told me that every second patient who he sees experiences derealisation or depersonalisation, I am still struggling with anxiety but it's heaps better and once you get rid of the anxiety these feelings will go away. You need to relax your mind, try meditation it's a real cure and it's helped me, not like drugs that simply suppress your anxiety.

Good Luck to you all and try not to stress, heaps of people are in the same boat and double those people have overcome it!!!!!
:)

I only found this site today, what a delight to find I am not all alone, I have had these awful feelings of unreality for a couple of years now, it is very distressing I don't tell people as I know no-one would understand, but here you all are with the same thing as me, I am sorry you are all suffering but maybe one day we will all be OK. cheers folks



For the first time in years I feel understood and not alone. I to experience derealisation/unreality thinking, have also suffered from panic attacks for 10 years. Am handling job, new baby etc and find it so hard to keep it all together. I honeslty thought this unreality was a worsening of my condition and proof that I am the exection to the mantra 'nobody has ever gone mad'.

Everyday I wake up and think is this going to be the day it all falls apart and I have a panic attack so bad I am permently incapasitated by it. is this just me?

Laura