# DP in my arms and hands



## Guest (Sep 14, 2005)

Hi; I'm new here. Used to suffer from bad DP about 14 years ago which went away on its own after two years. Recently my Doctor prescribed me 
SSRI's for OCD and after I took the first pill it triggered all the old feelings
of DP, feeling totally spaced out, out of body etc. These wore off on the 
second day (after I decided to discontinue the SSRI's). Now I'm left with 
really bad DP but just in my hands and arms, they feel weird as if they're
not mine and any surfaces my hands touch just feels somehow "wrong".
I'm not panicing as I did in the past but feel really uncomfortable.
Can anyone relate to the surface thing? It's freaky.
regards Dermot


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## Crumbles (Aug 19, 2004)

I can't relate to the "surface" thing, but the DP I have is only in my arms and hands as well.

For some reason it stopped bothering me though even though it's still there.


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## Dreamer (Aug 9, 2004)

Interesting. Though I'm fully DP/DR, I have an uncomfortable experience of my arms and hands "not being mine" and it is particularly bothersome when typing, and of course one uses one's arms and hands all the time -- a constant reminder.

I find this connection goes to my theory that the DP experience can certainly be seen as a lack of proper "communication/interpretation" in the brain of external (DR) and internal (DP) stimuli. The internal stimulus would be those proceses that communicate body awareness as in the phantom limb experience.

I've found the only thing that helps me with the limb experience is as always to try to "ignore it", try to keep going along in spite of it.

It's interesting that this is less troublesome for some/not all. That makes sense. Disruption of the feeling of a limb for some people would certainly be less distressing than full body DP, etc.

I hope this makes sense.

This puts DP in the Capgras/Cotard's syndrome category, as well as my feeling this has to do with a glitch in our fight/flight response. They could be two separate versions of DP/DR... or part of MANY different causes that all lead to the disruption of "Sense of Self."

I'd say cases that involve body parts ONLY, and I've heard others say it's only "their hands feel like dough and look as if they aren't theirs", etc. They also have less anxiety about it. This could indeed be one of those "different" forms of the DP experience. I do believe that the same pathways, parts of the brain are affected though.

I keep recommending this book, "Phantoms in the Brain" by Ramachandran. DP/DR is also mentioned in his "A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness" in the context of this "body mapping failure" ... lack of communication going on in the brain for some reasons -- neurons, chemical pathways, who knows.

Google, V.S. Ramachandran, Capgras Syndrome, Phantom Limbs, etc. You can get his books anywhere - library, bookstore, amazon, etc.

These are my theories of DP/DR and they may be hogwash. But I have been really researching this stuff the past few years and it makes a helluva lot of sense. I REALLY recommend "Phantoms in the Brain" -- not difficult to read and fascinating.

One striking example. Some individuals born without one or more limbs still "feel" the limb is there. The brain has a "map of the body" and the limb is perceived by the map in the brain even though it isn't there.

I'm not explaining this well, and again it is a theory. No one here is the same though we understand each other to one degree or another.

Fascinating. Troubling. Miserable. But fascinating nonetheless.

Best,
D


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## Crumbles (Aug 19, 2004)

I just found both of these books at my local Barnes and Noble. I'm having them hold them for me so I can grab them on my way home from work. Total (with tax) came to: $33.16

Not bad for the two books. I think if you buy them off of Amazon.com you can get the two books together for about $6 cheaper. However, I'd rather pay $6 so I can start reading them tonight ...

In fact, if anyone wants to buy these two books together, here is the Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... 0?v=glance

Scroll down to the bottom where it says: "BUY THESE TWO BOOKS TOGETHER"


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## Guest (Sep 15, 2005)

Crumbles and Dreamer, thanks for the replies!
I'm going to try and look up those books.
How do you experience the DP in your hands? Does it interfere with
abilty to use the hands? I've been trying to explain it to my friends 
and they think I'm insane in the mebrane.
Dreamer, I think your're right that DP in a limb is less distressing
than full body DP. I used to have full body DP and I was totally
caught up in the "I think I'm going insane" cycle.
I'm at that stage where I know that it will only go away if stop tuning in,
and thats the hard part!


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## Crumbles (Aug 19, 2004)

Dermot said:


> How do you experience the DP in your hands?


They just seem unfamiliar to me. Like they aren't mine, but I know they are ...



Dermot said:


> Does it interfere with abilty to use the hands? I've been trying to explain it to my friends and they think I'm insane in the mebrane.


No, it doesn't interfere with my ability to use them at all. I first noticed this problem when I was driving. I used to always keep my left hand at 12 o clock on the steering wheel so my arm and hand was always in my vision. That's when I started to notice that they seemed different somehow. I just do stuff differently now (it used to bother me back then, but not so much anymore, but I still do these things out of habit still) such as keep my hands at 7oclock and 5oclock on the steering wheel so they are out of my vision.



Dermot said:


> Dreamer, I think your're right that DP in a limb is less distressing than full body DP. I used to have full body DP and I was totally
> caught up in the "I think I'm going insane" cycle.


I think I MAY have the full body too. I know if I look at myself in a mirror for a while it creeps me out. I think to myself: "is that me?!!" But again, I know it really is, and I let it go. I think I just look weird to myself because I don't spend hours everyday looking at myself in the mirror, and when I run across a mirror I still have this "minds eye" of how I looked when I was younger (before the DP) and it just startles me sometimes that I'm 10 years older now. It's weird, it's like I fried this image of how I should look in my brain, and now when I see how I really look the two images don't match up. Sort of like seeing someone you haven't seen in 10 years again and they've lost 100 pounds or something.



Dermot said:


> I'm at that stage where I know that it will only go away if stop tuning in, and thats the hard part!


Yea, it went away for me once, but it has been with me again now for quite some time. Very annoying. but alas... I still live on and work full time ...


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## boohoo (Aug 4, 2005)

Sometimes I get a sensation where my fingers and hands feel really small and thin. Well, they are, but even more so... minute. I have had a long term health problem where I get a lot of fever as high as 105 and it happens then, too, but other times with dp. Has anyone else had this?


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## Crumbles (Aug 19, 2004)

boohoo said:


> Sometimes I get a sensation where my fingers and hands feel really small and thin. Well, they are, but even more so... minute. I have had a long term health problem where I get a lot of fever as high as 105 and it happens then, too, but other times with dp. Has anyone else had this?


Wow, pretty weird how you said you get this when you have a fever. This is almost verbatium from the Pink Floyd song: Comfortably Numb:

_"When I was a child I had a fever.
My hands felt just like two balloons.
Now I got that feeling once again.
I can?t explain, you would not understand.
This is not how I am.
I have become comfortably numb."_


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## Guest (Sep 17, 2005)

Hey Crumbles, Strange how these things can come and go, I was DP free 
for about eight years and suddenly it's back. I think the SSRI triggered 
something in my brain chemistry so I'm hoping that it will stabalize soon.
I've got the mirror thing too always try to avoid them. Although I've had that as long as I can remember....It's really freaky
Boohoo, I don't have that exact sensation but anything I touch feels 
strange, I think DP always gets worse with fever
Those Pink Floyd lyrics I can definitely relate to at the moment.


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## livinginhell333 (Feb 19, 2005)

for me i have it all over my body. i feel like i don't have a body. anything i touch i can't feel. kinda like my skin, fingers, hands aren't mine. its horrible and there is nothing i can do about. maybe one day my body, mind, spirit, soul will actually come back to me. hopefully.


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## boohoo (Aug 4, 2005)

> Wow, pretty weird how you said you get this when you have a fever. This is almost verbatium from the Pink Floyd song: Comfortably Numb:
> 
> "When I was a child I had a fever.
> My hands felt just like two balloons.
> ...


God, that's weird. I've got kidney disease and get a lot of fever. When I got help for my dp I saw a psychiatrist, who seemed to think that the high temperatures I'd been having were the triggers for my dp, not just the smoking weed like I'd always thougt. Delerium does do some crazy things, doesn't it


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