# 6 years and 16 days of DP/DR 24/7



## <AGENT>teh345 (Apr 10, 2012)

So today marks 6 years and 16 days of continuous, non stop, 24/7 DP/DR.

I think I've lost all hope of ever recovering. I am so incredibly tired of feeling this way.

Has anyone here recovered after long term chronic DP/DR? If so I'd love to hear your stories and/or tips. I need a pick me up.


----------



## freezeup (Oct 1, 2016)

have you looked into Naloxone? Its available OTC in almost every state now. helped me a bunch recently.


----------



## <AGENT>teh345 (Apr 10, 2012)

freezeup said:


> have you looked into Naloxone? Its available OTC in almost every state now. helped me a bunch recently.


Anything is worth a shot at this point. Thanks.


----------



## heersting (Apr 27, 2017)

What does constant DP/DR feel like?


----------



## forestx5 (Aug 29, 2008)

I was ill from 1971 to 2013. 42 years. Panic attacks and migraines and a major depressive episode every decade. Horrible insomnia and nauseating anxiety. Also, the hopeless desperation of realizing I was seriously mentally ill. SSRIs stopped the "panic attacks" after 20 years of suffering. Through research, I finally discovered my illness had epileptic origins. My panic attacks may have been temporal lobe seizures. I had diagnostics done and my EEGs were significantly abnormal. "significant pathology" in my temporal lobe. I had ECT in 2013 - 10 or so grand mal seizures. The last 4 years have been a new life for me. I would never have thought it possible.


----------



## dope (Aug 31, 2016)

> teh345" data-cid="454442" data-time="1493319723">
> 
> So today marks 6 years and 16 days of continuous, non stop, 24/7 DP/DR.
> 
> ...


Please, keep seeking help and don't lose hope. You'll make it!


----------



## Billy D.P. (Apr 12, 2016)

I'm in my second bout of DP after recovering about eight years ago. I'm 28 and have had DP for seven years total. A quarter of my entire life and more than half of my "adult life" have been spent battling this condition. I've recovered once and am on my way to recovering again, though both times will likely take at minimum four years. This condition does not dissipate slowly so even at six years you can't give up. There's so many advances in brain science right now it's only a matter of time before we start to get treatment.


----------



## 106473 (Feb 7, 2017)

forestx5 said:


> I was ill from 1971 to 2013. 42 years. Panic attacks and migraines and a major depressive episode every decade. Horrible insomnia and nauseating anxiety. Also, the hopeless desperation of realizing I was seriously mentally ill. SSRIs stopped the "panic attacks" after 20 years of suffering. Through research, I finally discovered my illness had epileptic origins. My panic attacks may have been temporal lobe seizures. I had diagnostics done and my EEGs were significantly abnormal. "significant pathology" in my temporal lobe. I had ECT in 2013 - 10 or so grand mal seizures. The last 4 years have been a new life for me. I would never have thought it possible.


Glad to hear. Just curious, apart from SSRI's, did you have any other treatment?


----------



## forestx5 (Aug 29, 2008)

I took klonopin as one might take Xanax. I think it was because I was highly functional that no physician/psychiatrist who ever treated me recognized the seriousness of my suffering. Psychiatrists are reluctant to prescribe certain things anyway, and they weren't going to base their decision simply on my oral complaints. That is what I believe.

I once went 52 days without real sleep. I know what sleep is. I have slept normally most of my life. But, for this period of my depression, I could only attain a few hours of unconsciousness every 2 or 3 days. And, it wasn't what you would call sleep. I was hospitalized for several days. Three times per night, the nurses would crack the door to my room and do a bed check. I was lying still and resting, but I was awake.

So, for 52 days I complained frequently to my psychiatrist that I was not sleeping. It was horrible. I was dying. He nodded and did nothing, because the hospital nurses had reported that when they did their bed checks, I was asleep. Only after I solved my insomnia issue and confronted him about it did he tell me this. I could have shot him dead without remorse. How I solved the insomnia was I went to the library and read a book on it.

The book mentioned that, for some people, a small dose of amitriptyline provided a hypnotic effect which opened the sleep window. I asked my psychiatrist if he would prescribe it and he did. It gave me my first real sleep in 52 days. When I explained this to my psychiatrist, he was cocky. "Oh, I prescribe that for a number of my patients" he said. Bullshit. For 52 days of my suffering, he didn't even care enough to discuss my issues with the more experienced psychiatrists in his practice. But when I embarrassed him by solving the problem for myself, he suddenly became an expert on the problem. I was motivated to join a local mental health advocacy group. We tore that hospital and their psychiatrists a new asshole by reporting the deficiencies in mental health treatment. The press was very favorable to us. We met with the VP of Mental Health weekly for several years so the hospital could hear our complaints and respond while keeping it out of the media. lol Things are a lot different and better over there now.

Apart from the SSRIs, I did use the older tricyclic amitriptyline. I did use Seroquel on two occasions for a couple of months each time. I did use klonopin to help with anxiety during my depressive episodes. I tried lamitrogine But for me, the treatment that changed things was Electro Convulsive Therapy. I don't know why. Neither do they. It just did.


----------



## 106473 (Feb 7, 2017)

Thanks so much for that read, i'm trying to push doors myself and my doctors are not liking my research.

Also your story sounds like mine, I don't share it here much because no one believes me but I went 10 days without any sleep, UK record I've read.

I proved this by going to A&E every 2/3 nights begging for something to sleep, once I was there 4 time day 10 I had OD trying to sleep.

It was a perfect storm, was banned from sleeping tablets as I went through like 60 Zopicolines or something in 4 months, A&E would not believe me, My GP was also in disbelief because he gave me Mirtazapine which he upped to 45mg, which made me go completely manic (we did not know i was bipolar, well i had an idea, but had been told i wasn't by 4 'specialists' and my doctor.... all wrong, turns out I did know my own mind). Also turns out that I have Adrenal Fatigue with extremely high Cortisol and Testosterone is 17.7 instead of 1.7.

I really know how you felt. I've not been able to sleep in 10 months now, my eyes are purple below them and my ENDO keeps going back to the drawing board and taking 3 months in-between meetings. "I don't want to treat you before I figure out why"... okay fair enough but what about sleep?

Sorry I just feel like you can relate to my story so much. I'd appreciate if you read my latest thread would love your opinion Forestx5.

Electro Convulsive Therapy is actually something I haven't even considered yet.. hmmmm, glad you are out!


----------



## forestx5 (Aug 29, 2008)

The effects of a long bout of insomnia are pretty drastic. I went from 205 to 175lbs. My clothes were hanging on me. My eyes had bags under them. My face was thin and gaunt. Sleep deprivation is use as a torture tool. Insomnia raises the risk of suicide. Coupled with anxiety, insomnia and anxiety are the killing components of depression.

It is very frustrating trying to do something that you have done all your life, and finding it impossible.


----------



## 106473 (Feb 7, 2017)

You lost weight? i've gained. I was a nice M and now I am L/XL t shirt. It's so depressing. I've no idea how you lost weight, maybe it's my hormones.

Yeah i don't think i'll ever get the deep wrinkle under my eyes out.

Yeah my depression is rising all the time from lack of sleep.


----------



## forestx5 (Aug 29, 2008)

I lost weight because my anxiety was so intense. Chewing food made me nauseas. At times, I had difficulty swallowing food because the anxiety made me nauseas. Ergo, I had no appetite. I was a very sick puppy.


----------

