# Helpful Info On Improving DP/DR



## SnakeyMLT (Jun 25, 2010)

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## SnakeyMLT (Jun 25, 2010)

So i was browsing the internet, as usual, about things that may improve DP/DR, heres what i found :

Life style:

In order to reduce your anxiety and so get rid of your depersonalization you need to start treating your body beyond adequacy. A healthy life style will boost the regeneration ability of your brain, the healthier you live the faster you will feel relieved. Some simple steps you should incorporate in your daily life routine:

1) Drink water! - Drinking a lot of water will help you with a bunch of bodily processes such as flushing of waste substances or helping you with blood circulation. Drinking water has proven to help reduce the severity of anxiety attacks, many psychologist/psychiatrist will advise you to do so.

2) No alcohol or tobacco! - Alcohol is a well known central nervous system depressant, although you may find a short relief it will make your anxiety worse in the long run. The same goes for tobacco and other recreational drugs.

3) Exercise! - Exercising daily will help you achieve a better attitude, improve your health and distract you from all the anxious thoughts going through your head.

4) Occupy yourself - Don't think about your anxiety/depersonalization, don't try to analyze every possible trigger of your anxiety and don't analyze your thoughts all the time, but rather keep yourself occupied with something you like to do. Even if you don't feel like doing anything try to force it, it will keep your focus away from anxious thoughts and will help you slip yourself into doing something productive.

5) Rest your mind - Meditation allows you to empty your mind and relax your body. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing, give yourself enough rest, because when your rest your mind rests.

Helpful supplements
Supplements are essential for a brain to function properly. The chances that your anxiety is due to a lack of some chemical substance is quite high. Do not underestimate the power of simple supplements such as vitamin B12 as deficiency of this particular vitamin can cause symptoms of mania, psychosis, fatigue, memory impairment, irritability, depression and personality changes

GABA - A supplement that is essential for anxiety disorders, GABA does not cross the blood brain barrier (BBB) but it indirectly calms you down (the exact process is yet not known). I find it great for reducing anxiety, I can actually tell whenever I pop that pill since I get this tingling feeling on my skin and you may find it hard to breath for a minute or two so don't freak out when this happens. GABA serves well as sleeping aid, I recommend for insomniacs. Once or twice a day of 750mg should be enough (morning/evening before sleep). This dose can be exceeded, but in such case it may have rather paradoxical effects and increase anxiety.

L-theanine - Extract from green tea that evokes a state of relaxation without making you tired or excited. It is also a good mood-enhancer and improves thinking which might come useful in dealing with brain fog or cognitive dysfunction. Take 2-3 pills daily, goes good along with GABA.

Aniracetam - A nootropic (memory enhancing) dietary supplement that is immensely useful when your thinking is fogged by anxiety. Depersonalization often causes brain fog and therefore I found it to be an outrageously helpful when learning/working and even beyond that since it also has anxiolytic properties (reduces anxiety). Take 2 - 3 750mg pills daily.

Piracetam - Another nootropic from the racetam family that increases cognition. It is suspected to be a NMDA glutamate receptor agonist which is essential for learning. Dissociative drugs such as Ketamine are NMDA antagonist which is the opposite to what piracetam does and since depersonalization is a form of dissociation it might prove to be helpful. I take it 3 times daily (1200mg x 3), but highly advise you to take GABA or Aniracetam with it since Piracetam tends to increase anxiety from time to time.

Lecithin - Not only it does reduce the frequency and severity of migraines, but it also helps you to achieve an overall calm state of mind. I found it profoundly good in reducing panic attacks which many people report along with depersonalization.

Vitamin B, Omega 3, Fish oil, Magnesium, Zinc - these are not only ordinary vitamins and supplements, they play a huge role in brain functions, lacking any of these can cause severe anxiety. Imagine your brain as being an engine and these vitamins and supplements are its oil. What does an engine if it has lack of oil? It will have lack of lubrication causing overheating meaning that it can wear out much more easily and cause damage. Therefore it is important to keep your brain "lubricated" by supplying it with its natural oil.

Prescription Medication
In case you choose to visit a psychiatrist to help you with management of your anxiety, these are some of the options you have and will most likely be presented with. However I do not advocate the use of prescription medication as they tend to be addictive and have many unpleasant both short and long term side effects. Prescription medication only creates a room for your anxiety to hide in and as soon as you quit with them anxiety will most likely escape this room and haunt you once again, sometimes even to a greater extent

SSRI's - Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors are a favorite option for many psychiatrists. These medications such as Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil and many others increase the levels of Serotonin in one's brain and thus intend to relieve anxiety. However these proved to have a low rate of efficiency (around 15%) and many times make matters worse. It takes couple of weeks before the body adapts to the medication and effects start to show (if any show) and these medication usually have tremendous side effects including sexual problems. SSRI's also make you more numb and this is not wanted by depersonalization sufferers as they are looking for the exact opposite, to feel emotions to a greater extent.

Benzodiazepines - Strong anxiolytics, anti-convulsants and hypnotics that enhance the effect of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). These are very helpful especially with panic attacks, but do great for anxiety too. However these are incredibly addictive and therefore I would not advise to use them long term, maximum of twice a week should eliminate development of any dependence upon this psychoactive drug.

Buspirone - Is a psychoactive drug that has proven to be quite efficient at treating anxiety and is to a lesser extent an anti-depressant. It has also nootropic properties as it increases spatial learning and memory. It takes couple of wees before the anxiolytic effects become noticable, but it is worth to try as it has few side effects, especially does not affect sexual drive as many anxiolytics tend to do.

Hydroxyzine - Primarily an antihistamine, but has shown to be successful in treating mild anxiety. It has also hypnotic properties making it suitable for insomniacs. For me it proved to be quite helpful, you may notice changes in appetite and drowsiness.

Naltrexone - is an opioid receptor antagonist that is used in managing opiate dependence. It is not an anxiolytic but several studies have proven that it can be helpful in depersonalization sufferers. This is because opioid receptors have the ability to alter perception (therefore while on opiates you may feel depersonalized), since it is an antagonist it binds to the opioid receptor and blocks the access of any agonists. The studies carried out had quite positive results: participants were treated for 6-10 weeks, at a fairly high average dose of 120 milligrams per day. Three individuals were very much improved, another one was much improved, and on average a 30% decrease in depersonalization symptoms were reported.

Pregabalin - Used for peripheral neuropathy (nerve pain), but has proven to be great at relieving the symptoms of Generealized Anxiety Disorder. Its efficiency is comparable to the one of benzodiazepines, but is much less addictive.

Last, probably most essential step
So you are starting to exercise, drink plenty of water and supply your body with essential vitamins, good start! but not the finish line. All the steps above will help you reduce the severity of your anxiety, but most likely not eliminate it. In order for your anxiety to disappear you need to start thinking differently, you need to be able to analyze the sources of your anxiety and learn to resolve them. Your mind is a great device, but requires an even better operator to master. Once you learn to master your thinking, keeping a cool head and rational thinking during all times, your anxiety will eventually be no threat to you.
To learn to master all these vital steps, you will need a good mentor. You don't need to pay a hypnotherapist or a famous psychiatrist to be your mentor, but in fact many books addressing anxiety resolving do a pretty great job.
From my personal experience, I read through quite a deal of anxiety books, I didn't find any faulty ones. They provide you with pretty much all the information on how to reform your thinking and reasoning and include many good anxiety tips.
Some of the good ones out there are:
1) Panic away!
2) The Linden Method

... what do you think ? :]


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## BusyBee (Aug 7, 2010)

Hi. Thanks for this. Some of you readng this may be interested in my post on adrenal fatigue. Its titled 'Adrenal Fatigue?' in the research section. Again, i take no credit as the latter part of the post is copy and pasted. I have a real thing about adrenal fatigue at the mo as me, and my doctors have drawn a blank on everything else. I like to take advice but im struggling to. For a start excersise makes me so light headed and derealised I feel as though i'm about to cark it. I spend most of the day busy as i (as many of you amazingly do) do a full time job plus horses to look after. I cant read books as the words wont stay still, i just cant focus, another symptom of adrenal fatigue or sometimes refurred to as 'burn-out'. I may be wrong! But hope it helps.


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## Hoopesy (Dec 8, 2009)

Good guide! I would also add to stay away from caffeine and alot of sugar. Sleep is very important too. Getting a good 8 hours can be the factor between a good and crappy day.


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## ramza04 (Oct 25, 2007)

Some great info here! As for SSRI's i had taken zoloft for about a year and after the first 2-3 months my DP/DR symptoms completely faded. I consider myself lucky due to most people reporting that SSRI's have no significant effect on it. However, despite this, I am left with complete numbness of feelings. I mean I was numb before i started Zoloft but i figured since most of my DP/DR symptoms faded that in turn this complete lack of feelings would subside as well yet they have not. I don't know what to do. I used to have plenty of emotions but did suffer from a lot of anxiety especially social anxiety. My DP/DR was triggered from severe depression over the ending of a relationship. It has been about 3 yrs now since that ended and have since moved on and gotten married, had kids...etc. After all these good things happening in my life i thought I'd start to feel, yet the numbness still stays strong. One thing I miss feeling is the feeling of nostalgia. I have so many good memories in life that i no longer feel anything towards, good things that i used to miss doing growing up. Now whenever i think of these things i feel nothing. I so want that again and as such i have started to look towards supplements. Right now I've started on: DHEA 50MG 1/day, Lethicin 400mg 1/day, Vitamin B-12, Multivitamin, CoQ10 2/day. Fish Oil 2/day. I'm praying and hoping for the best.

Status: Numb


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## Kitr (Jul 7, 2009)

Great article man!!!


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