# For my friends at DPSelfHelp :-)



## Spike13 (Oct 12, 2008)

Hello all of you at the forum!

It's been a very long time since I last visited, I finally managed to get out of my dizziness, no, I didn't forget about you all. 
So now I'm back to offer my humble tips on how I got better, hoping it would perhaps help some of you still struggling with this
dreadful issue...I would be happy even if it helps only ONE of you









It all began for me with a prescription of Abilify, which didn't quite mix well with the topiramate pill I already had to take for my
migraine problem. It felt terrible for 8 months, I was totally disconnected. Then my therapist apologised for the mistake he made on my 
diagnosis, (no, I'm not shizo, just oversensitive







...good news) the medication was inadequate (you bet!







), and he put me on St.John's Wort,450mg, 2 tabs a day.I felt a little better...only a little. Lasted 2 years. 
Then the dose was lowered to one tab of 450mg, and as I had to take it as I woke up, I started to notice changes towards the evening. Huh? Hey? Twelve hours after I've taken it, things in my living room suddenly looked more present. I tried the next day to...not take it. Wow! Everything was brighter, livelier, almost like I remembered them to be "before"! The day after, I conformed to my treatment again ( hey folks, you are not supposed to stop like that...







...) but nonetheless gave my therapist a phone and told him about my DP vanishing after "forgetting" my pill. He said that it would be the right time to stop it.

One week later, at my appointment with him, we aggreed on it and I stopped taking St. John's Wort. The therapist said taking any kind of
antidepressor(even phytotherapeutic) when there is no more need to do it can damp the affective responses of people, leading them to lasting DP states. I was severely depressed and treated for it, but the mistake was to pursue the treatment longer than needed for fear of a relapse.
Psychotherapy works very well too, meds should not be taken longer than a few months...I was medicated for 4 years in a row, it's too much!









No wonder my brain was damped...Thanx the new therapist, he maybe made a mistake at the beginning for he did't know me, but at least he's not a big fan of heavy medication like the one I had before.

So If you are under medication for a long time, it could be the cause for your DP, or have triggered it. Even Phyto! The root of the problem is emotionnal response to the world around us, we should avoid anything that compromises our ability to "stay in touch" with it.

Just my experience, I sincerely hope it might help. Get very well soon everyone !


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## cyberafrica (Feb 14, 2008)

Hey Spike,

I have read your posts before,and it is so great to see smiles.Congrats on your road to recovery,and coming back and sharing it with the community. I haven't been on this forum for a while neither,but rejoice in your victory of healing. Me personally have not healed completely,as this caught me in my 40's,and the only reason I can put it down why I am not over the horizon yet, is due to having real life big stresses to contend with,which in my own assumption keeps me in the anxiety cycle, which seems to fuel the dreaded DP.

If there is some wisdom I can offer the forum, is that when we younger,we reckon we are kinda immortal & totally robust, and challenge our mental and physical well being, ultimately we are responsible for our care, and have to be good to our body and mind, and of course spiritually as well. It's all about balance, which I did not try and achieve when I was younger, now reaping some of the repercussions.Will just need to take it in my stride, the body is known to take it's time to heal, but look after it along the whole way.


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## ValleyGirl (Nov 10, 2017)

I had a similar issue with klonopin/clonazepam. I started it about a month into do because the anxiety was unbearable. I was on it for over a year. I too realized that things felt more real when my doses would lapse and so I weaned off. It took 8 months but I am now 6 months off of it and am like 90% recovered. I clearly see how, after a while, it was actually causing anxiety and making the unreal, detached feelings worse. I am happy to be off and feeling this well and plan to never go back.


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## Guest (Apr 5, 2011)

Congrats! Always good to hear good news, gives the rest of us hope!
Did you get other visual disturbances like visual snow?


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