# Night time panic attack - woke up depersonalized.



## TruRook (Dec 19, 2012)

Hello, first time poster here - 28 y/o male from Cornwall, UK. Apologies in advance for starting a new thread but I can't seem to find a previous one that matches my circumstances perfectly.

Last night I had my second ever major panic attack, the first one was only a week ago, but was far shorter.

*Circumstances of panic attack*
Smoked marijuana before bed, moderate amount - 3 joints. I have done this every night for 5-6 years, I usually combine my joints with *tobacco *but I'm trying to quit nicotine, yesterday was the first time I smoked a nicotine-free herbal tobacco.

*Life circumstances*
Full of stress right now. I'm currently fighting for access to my daughter after my partner took off with another man. I've been scared, angry, frightened of the future. In addition, I've been stressing lately about my parents going through a divorce, and the fact that I'll be made redundant in January.

*The attack*
I was half way through the last joint of the night, and watching a comedy show on TV. I realised my ears were ringing loudly, and the more I thought about it, the harder it seemed to focus on the screen and watched the show - it was too* intense*, I had to switch it off and take my eyes off the screen, does that make any sense at all? Then I realised something wasn't right, I stood bolt upright, switched everything off and ran out of the house. I stood in the rain for about 5 minutes before coming inside, freezing and shaking, and decided it was probably tiredness and that I should try and sleep.

The attack continued throughout the night, I couldnt get to sleep, couldnt read a book as it was 'too intense' to focus on the sentences and pages. I kept leaping out of bed, running out the house, I wanted to scream for help but knew nobody would think anything was wrong with me and I didnt want to upset my neighbours.

I finally fell asleep after crying for about 5 minutes, I felt like I was in a detached dream world, like I'd slipped out of reality and died.

*Today*
*I feel like I'm in a dream*, I've had the day off work and very little company, I called my mother and talked about it and it seemed to to calm me a little. The panic has gone, but something's not right. I've had very minor attacks in the past, but they've never affected me the next day. Today I feel detached from reality, like I'm watching a TV show and I am the audience. I'm floating about, I can talk, do normal thing (like type this post) but it's like I'm not here.

So, my questions:

- Do I need to visit the Emergency Room?
- If not, can anybody provide insight as to whether or not I am stuck in this dream mode forever?
- How do I get out of this?

Thanks so much in advance.


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## CharlieFreak (Nov 19, 2012)

You do need to visit the emergency room. Just move on from this, and don't fall into the trap that everybody does on this website. Don't obsess over this. It could either be a week long affair that you can easily move past and not worry about, or you can turn it into months of obsessing over what happened, and convincing yourself that you still feel funny. There are people who train the minds to have DP for years. You get out of this by moving on and not fretting. As for the smoking before bed, it all depends on how well you handle the effects of marijuana. I know that when I'm super stressed, weed gives me anxiety, but I can also have great experiences. I'm really sorry about your life circumstances. These are all things that are so extremely difficult in them midst of them, but from the many situations involving custody of children, and divorces, things usually settle down and compromises are made so people can move on with their lives. My parents divorced a year ago, and it took them a year to figure out how to make everyone happy, but they figure it out. Find somebody you can lean on, a friend or family member who you can talk with to make the situation a little less lonely. Sometimes you need to get real sad to feel real happy again. So this dream mode will go away if you just live with it for now and trust that it will go away in time. If you worry and obsess about it, it will stay with you.


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## TruRook (Dec 19, 2012)

Thanks for the detailed reply, yes, it's like the more I think about it the worse it gets, but the reason I made the post is that it seems a little hard to ignore. I am going to go and surround myself with friends for a while, and try not to think about it.



Luke_Mahoney said:


> You do need to visit the emergency room.


I do? Or did you mean to type *do not*?



> So this dream mode will go away if you just live with it for now and trust that it will go away in time. If you worry and obsess about it, it will stay with you.


That's really interesting, I read elsewhere in the forum that 'depersonalisation is obsession with self wellness' - which seems to tie in nicely ith what you said.


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## CharlieFreak (Nov 19, 2012)

Im sorry you DO NOT!!! haha


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## CharlieFreak (Nov 19, 2012)

Any questions about the condition feel free to private message me. You really want to nip this thing in the bud because it can get quite nasty. Don't worry though if you do fall into it deeply because you can get out of it no matter how far you go


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## TruRook (Dec 19, 2012)

Thanks so much







It's nearly 24 hours now and still feeling odd, but going to spend as little time online because I think the more I read about it the worse it gets!


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## ph10 (Nov 24, 2012)

Hey I'm so sorry this happened to you. If you've had it for just a day now, then by all means try to avoid this site. It's only gonna direct more attention to the DP. Some people can just have it for one day - that's normal. You could wake up tomorrow and have it be gone. So just try to focus on other stuff and let it slip away.


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## Bjorn (Nov 8, 2012)

Hey... i know how your feeling buddy.. iv'e had the problems at home also...smoked puff for 8years without many problems then BAM!

If you got to hospital... sorry to say but they don't take this seriously and they will direct you to a psyc which is what they do to me... and try to give meds

Things will improve.. the only friend we have is time and hope


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