# Looking for tips on dealing with DP/DR



## djepsilon (Oct 29, 2014)

Hey everyone,

My name is Evan. I'm totally new here, but have read many, many posts over the last couple of months. I'll try to give a short overview of my story.

I first experienced derealization when I was 13 or so playing hockey. It scared the beejeezus out of me. It was pretty persistent for the first while, but eventually it only occurred in certain scenarios. Open spaces, driving on highways, playing hockey, flying in planes... I'm now 30 and have dealt with this crap for a long time.

Anyway, about 2 months ago, I started getting bad derealization and depersonalization constantly day in day out for no reason. I've finally decided enough is enough and have done a lot of work to try to finally rid myself of these feelings.

So I would say I am on the road to recovery. A lot of the constant feelings of DP/DR have subsided, but I still struggle with the thoughts and memories of how I've felt the past couple weeks. I know a lot of people say that the cure is to just not give DP/DR energy and to ignore it. Or simply just accept that you get these feelings and move on. I guess that is where I am struggling. Acceptance. I can't help but think of these weird, stupid existential thoughts which of course, increases my anxiety, which of course, increases the DP/DR sensations.

I wonder if anyone has any good tips on how to fully accept these thoughts and feelings? Or how to stop obsessing about these thoughts. It's like... If I can about it logically, I'm fine. I'm real, life is real, life is normal. But then I can't help but think about how I've felt... that shithole of fucked up thoughts and messed up sensations... and that makes me depressed and anxious and brings on more of those feelings. I constantly obsess about existentialist type questions like: How fucked up is it that life exists? How fucked up is it that I exist? Am I the only person who actually exists? blah, blah, blah...

Anyway, any tips or tricks to help getting over these thoughts would be GREATLY appreciated. Also on a side note, my doctor has prescribed me Cipralex to help. Wondering if anyone has any experience with it and DP/DR. Thanks for any comments.


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## Guest (Oct 30, 2014)

Hi Evan and welcome to the site.

I struggle with the idea of acceptance and not to give dp energy and just ignore it as well. So you're not alone with that one. I guess in the long run, acceptance is a good idea, b/c it's not going to help if you constantly try and deny you've got dp/dr. But then again.. a little bit a denial can help too!! lol It's true though, sometimes going into denial is one way to forget this condition for a little while.. But it's not a place where much healing is done. Hope that doesn't sound too confusing for you! I'll try and explain more if you want.

I think you'll find as you look around the site there're lots of different ideas and ways people approach this. My advice is take the good things that resonate with you, and leave the rest behind. Also try not to get too triggered if you can.. ie self care is important.

Cheers.

Zed


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## Kingjoah (Nov 8, 2014)

make sure you exercise, swimming is helpful, when you do feel dp/dr id suggest listening to very loud music to connect with your body sense, try placing ice cubes on your hands swell, headache tablets sometimes help me. and just say fuck it, helps a lot.


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