# DP/DR - gone!



## mimomo (Apr 19, 2012)

Well, none of you know me (I've posted on here once before, basically introducing myself and telling a bit of my story). It really saddens me to see so many of you dealing with this everyday, struggling to get a grasp on reality just as I once did, and so I'd just like to share my story and what helped me in hopes that it may help you.








As I said in my introductory post, I just woke up feeling extremely anxious, scared, depressed, etc. I thought that, like so many of you, it came from nowhere and that it would always be that way. I kept myself in a negative state of mind because of this, refusing to go out except to go to work and such. I lost about 20 pounds without even realizing it. My short term memory was so bad, I would be in the middle of doing something and have a strange sense of deja vu and think, 'Am I real? Is this real?' My chest was constantly sore and some nights, I would wake up in a cold sweat with my heart pounding so hard. I didn't smile anymore. I didn't listen to music. It was terrible. I was so anxious that I lost all motivation of...well, everything. 
I also became a huge hypochondriac. I remember thinking that if I continued with my feelings of dissociation, that I would develop psychosis or dissociative identity disorder. Logically speaking, I knew this was impossible, but if you've ever had an anxiety or panic attack (as I'm sure many of you have), all facts seem to go out the window - you're suddenly the exception. If you currently have a fear like that or similar to that, let me just say this now: it's okay to let go of that fear. I thought about it nonstop, cried about it, made my body weak because of it, and guess what? It never happened! I'm perfectly healthy!
One morning, I woke up and remembered something my mom used to tell me, which was that _reality is perception._ I laid in bed for a good half hour just thinking the same thing over and over again until that was the only thing running through my mind, which was the following: _I'm ready to let go of the negative and find the positive. _ I just kept thinking this over and over, ignoring the thoughts that told me it wouldn't work, that told me my reality wasn't real, and pretty soon, all feelings of anxiety were gone. I felt so refreshed, it was almost unbelievable! After a few minutes, the thoughts kept returning, and that's when I returned to my positive thinking. It was very difficult leaving, and I only felt just a bit different, but I held onto that and continued with the positivity throughout the day. I kept myself distracted so that I could forget about my problems. As the days went on, I decided to start taking vitamins (Omega-3 and Magnesium I found to be very helpful), and decided to cut sugar completely out of my life. I haven't had anything to drink except for water and tea (not joking!), and now, I feel much more motivated than I ever have in my entire life. I'm completely and totally back in touch with reality, and moving on with my life. 
For those of you who feel like this is how you'll be for the rest of your life, I just want to tell you to stop with the negative thoughts. It can be very difficult to get a grasp on your thoughts, trust me, I know. I used to suffer with incessant thoughts about everything bizarre, scary, and downright embarrassing. Instead of focusing and targeting these thoughts, I learned to let them go. It took a long time, but I managed to do it. Every now and then, I'll have the same thoughts come up, but instead of picking them apart, I'll just examine it and move along. That's the most important thing - moving along. If you have to distract yourself somehow, then do it. Go outside, run around, do an extremely hard math problem, clean your entire house, countdown from 100 to 0 and then from 0 to 100 - anything!
I wish I had more time to post more, but I'll check back to see if anyone has replied. I hope you all have a wonderful day!


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## DP boy (Mar 20, 2012)

mimomo said:


> Well, none of you know me (I've posted on here once before, basically introducing myself and telling a bit of my story). It really saddens me to see so many of you dealing with this everyday, struggling to get a grasp on reality just as I once did, and so I'd just like to share my story and what helped me in hopes that it may help you.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## DP boy (Mar 20, 2012)

great to hear man mhow long did it take u beacuse i have been stuck in constnt dp for quite a few months now


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## Samaral (Mar 26, 2012)

Wonderful to read, inspirational!!! Thank you and congratulations!!!!


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## Viral20 (Apr 30, 2012)

I am very happy for you and you are completly right I admire people like you
Thank you


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## mimomo (Apr 19, 2012)

DP boy said:


> great to hear man mhow long did it take u beacuse i have been stuck in constnt dp for quite a few months now


Well, I started to feel it off and on around February - this was when me and my now ex-boyfriend really started having problems. I didn't really have any friends to talk to about it, so I held it all inside. Then, one morning after we had broken up, I felt completely different. Like everything was weird. It was the strangest feeling and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. All in all, about 4 months. 
DP boy, I wish you the best in your recovery!


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## mimomo (Apr 19, 2012)

Thank you all for the replies!
If I could also suggest a few things...
One thing a lot of people tend to forget is that DP/DR is considered a 'minor' symptom of anxiety. So if you're going through DP/DR right now, chances are there's something deeper to it. For me, it wasn't just my boyfriend breaking up with me or me being so far away from my family - it was loneliness I had been feeling for many years. I think the boyfriend thing really triggered it, though. 
The best thing I found to work was distraction, and I mean REALLY distracting yourself, almost to the point where it seems crazy. When I would clean, I would clean as aggressively as I could (sometimes for hours) until all I was focused on was scrubbing away all the dirt. Another thing that helped was video games, specifically anything involving lots of concentration and thinking (Mario, Tetris, Centipede, Pokemon [I could play that for hours!]). 
Most importantly, in my opinion, is positive thinking. Not many of us realize just how much willpower we have - I certainly never realized how much I had until I went through this. I believe that everything happens for a reason, and that once we get over this, we will become much stronger people.


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