# I think that maybe my DP/DR comes from a problem with my sleep.



## dope (Aug 31, 2016)

I think that my DP comes from a problem with my sleep. I first felt DP after I pulled out an all nighter randomly one summer night; 
The next day, I started feeling like the world wasn't real, and I had a panic attack - mind you, I'd felt DP before, but it was only when I was sleepy, and it would only happen sometimes. But this time was somehow different...stronger.
After I had the panic attack, I felt extremely dizzy and my parents took me to the hospital - the doctors detected nothing. They tested my blood and all, but it was nothing, so they concluded that it was from the lack of sleep that I had from that all nighter. I got home, and I went to sleep right away...I slept for about 22 hours, no joke.

The other day, after I woke up I felt fine, I felt normal - I brushed out that strong 'the world isn't real feel' that I had as only being from the lack of sleep. About a week after that I started feeling DP/DR and it wouldn't go away with sleep like it used to...fast forward to now. I've had DP/DR for about 3/4 months.
Ever since then, my sleep has been really bad, and I've dreamed dreams that I think were real life. When I'm falling asleep, I think of conversations with people I had during the day, and my brain somehow tricks me into thinking those conversations are happening in the moment. Sometimes, I'll be awake and fall asleep and not notice it, and when I wake up I always wonder if I really did sleep or not. 
I feel exhausted everyday.

Is it possible that I somehow fucked up my sleep? Is it possible, that somehow my mind doesn't get enough rest anymore that it is causing my DP to stay?


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## eddy1886 (Oct 11, 2012)

It has long been suspected that DP and sleep are interlinked.....Hence the dreamlike state we all describe....

I know for a fact that if I dont sleep properly (which happens quite often) I will be severely more DPed the next day...

Decent sleep gives our racing minds a much needed rest and as a result we feel more at ease and relaxed and less anxious the following day...Which in turn helps reduce the DP symptoms and leads to better concentration levels and a feeling of being more in reality...

DP causes insomnia not the other way around...Thats my opinion anyway...I would take a guess and say that before you developed DP you probably slept pretty ok regularly....

What really prolongs DP is our obsessive style thinking patterns....We ruminate continuously about our strange symptoms and weird scarey thoughts...All we want is it to stop immediately... But when it doesnt (no matter how hard we try) it frightens us even more...The result is a merry go round of fear leading to anxiety, anxiety leading to DP and DP leading back to more fear....It just goes round and round...How do we get off the merry go round...Unfortunately nobody really knows...

The positive out of all this is that it can be eased...For some it takes medicine, for others its exercise, for others its diet....We are all different and will get better in different ways.....You just gotta keep searching for the solution...

It is actually a fact that all of our DP minds dont get the rest they need and as a result our recoveries are hindered and often very very slow....


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## dope (Aug 31, 2016)

eddy1886 said:


> It has long been suspected that DP and sleep are interlinked.....Hence the dreamlike state we all describe....
> 
> I know for a fact that if I dont sleep properly (which happens quite often) I will be severely more DPed the next day...
> 
> ...


Honestly I still think I fucked up my sleep, somehow. Thanks for replying though


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## Allez (Apr 10, 2013)

Have you panicked before this summer?


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## dope (Aug 31, 2016)

Carl said:


> Have you panicked before this summer?


Yup. I had a handful of panic attacks before this summer. All of them weren't very alarming, since I could calm myself down in about 10 mins, which is quite fast. 
My panic attacks started in September 2015. (even though I had a couple before that, but they were really rare)


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## Allez (Apr 10, 2013)

Do you remember why they started up again a year ago?


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## dope (Aug 31, 2016)

Allez said:


> Do you remember why they started up again a year ago?


Yes, I do. 
My grandmother had a stroke a couple of weeks before that, and we didn't knew if she was going to actually live or not, so that's why I got a panic attack.


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## Allez (Apr 10, 2013)

Sounds similar to my onset of DP. Grandpa's funeral (one of the first I'd been to), panicked a couple weeks later at work, sudden onset of DP ~6 months after that.


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## dope (Aug 31, 2016)

Allez said:


> Sounds similar to my onset of DP. Grandpa's funeral (one of the first I'd been to), panicked a couple weeks later at work, sudden onset of DP ~6 months after that.


Aw :/ The only difference is that my Grandma isn't dead...kinda. Ever since she got that stroke she isn't herself anymore. She needs special care now...it's really sad. She used to be an energetic and fun person.


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## Mydp (Aug 12, 2016)

I've had conversations with my doctor about how important sleep is for mental health. I take a low dose of seroquel to kill two birds with one stone. It helps regulate my sleep and also seems to act as a booster for my anti-depressant. While I experienced dp/Dr symptoms, I had a horrible time trying to sleep. I've always been able to go long periods without sleep naturally, but I would usually come to a point where I wold have a really hard sleep, and feel rested again. During my dp/dr, when I could sleep, it didn't feel like sleep and my dreams were, for lack of better phrasing, quiet disturbing.


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