# Feeling like you got off an elevator



## AHuseman (Jan 29, 2005)

When I'm driving or ridin' in a car for longer than 10 minutes, I feel like I just got off an elevator as soon as I get out, and the feeling lasts for up to 10-15 minutes. And once again I'm new to DP, but do yall know if it's common for people with DP or DR to have these symptoms/sensations at times?


----------



## Guest (Apr 6, 2005)

what do you mean it feels like you got off the elevator ? do you feel dizzy or something?


----------



## AHuseman (Jan 29, 2005)

It's like a dizzy/floating feeling. It also feels like the ground is tilting. Thats what I feel like when I get off an elevator.


----------



## dax (Mar 16, 2005)

I feel like that when I'm inside the elevator, when it first starts to move. Thats a good way to describe one of the symptoms of my DR.


----------



## Guest (Apr 6, 2005)

ohhh i see dont worry it will go away, i used to have that when i walked long distances i would feel dizzy and my vision would shake up and down.


----------



## Guest (Apr 6, 2005)

dude...you are in benzo withdrawal....i promise,..i am almost 10 months off benzos and just now starting to get better with this.....i have been having this symptom for a long time, and i described it just as you did...you will be ok....just dont deny benzo withdrawal...it is horrendous...accept it and get better....God bless


----------



## Scattered (Mar 8, 2005)

I've never been on medication and when my anxiety or DP/DR is bad I can feel very off balance, floaty, like theres a slant, all the things you've described. It tends to dissipate when I calm down.


----------



## AHuseman (Jan 29, 2005)

Alright I give up. I'm in benzo withdrawal. LOL


----------



## Guest (Apr 6, 2005)

lol....man i promise you will get better and that you are not crazy...you did not feel like this prior to benzos, period. add it up....


----------



## Guest (Apr 6, 2005)

These sort of sensations that are associated with motion can be caused by balance or inner ear disturbances,a bit like when you first step off a boat ride.

Have you had a cold or flu lately?ear infection?


----------



## Inflammed (Aug 10, 2004)

I have this feeling very often too, been having this for 10 years, like my DPDR.
It's another perceptual disturbance.


----------



## agentcooper (Mar 10, 2005)

i think that symptom is caused by a hyperawareness to any motion. when most people (meaning people without dp/dr) walk or drive their brains filter out most of the bumping and jolting so it mostly looks like a continuous motion...when some of us walk or drive, we "notice" that we are bobbing up and down and it can become very disorienting. its the same reason sounds are really loud sometimes or things look extremely detailed. just try to think about other things when you are walking or driving. distract yourself...at least that's what i do.


----------



## gem (Aug 10, 2004)

aHuseman, this feeling is common, it can happen with many things. You can have this feeling with depersonalization, migrainne headaches, hyperventilation and fluid in the inner ear. There are many reasons why you could experience this. My suggestion to you would be to be checked out by your physician to rule out a physical problem first. Hope you feel better soon.

gem.


----------



## Guest (Apr 6, 2005)

It's a very common symptom of anxiety patients who are highly self-observing. Remember, part of what makes the dp experience so much WORSE is that we are doing the exact opposite of what we should be doing.

We are trying so desperately to FREEZE ourselves, to avoid the slightest inner or outer shift, (out of fear/anxiety) that we end up exacerbating every single normal motion of experience. If a person isn't thinking about it, the body will sway slightly and move with the give and take of bodily functioning. But as soon as we try to observe and assess every change, we actually make ourselves move MORE - try to hold yourself perfectly still and you'll see how maddening it becomes.

Like your good example of getting off an elevator - a normal mind doens't have that experience, but I sure recognized it myself! We are trying TOO hard to "re-instate non-motion" when we disembark from the elevator and that is what produces the sensation of moving up and down, as a lingering perception.

Self-observation is our WORST enemy in this conditions.


----------



## Dreamer (Aug 9, 2004)

Before my DP/DR hit me full force 24/7 in 8th grade, around age 13... I keep getting grades and ages mixed up, I had about a year of dizzy spells, feeling like the floor was moving up and down, feeling I was "tilted over", couldn't "walk straight", etc.

These feelings passed. Strange, it was as though when the DP/DR "took over" the dizziness went away.

In one of the old DSMs, and it could have been the DSM-III, dizziness like this was mentioned as a symptom or prodromal symptom of DP/DR. Or I swear I read this somewhere.

It doesn't say this in the DSM-IV. My guess is they consider it more related to anxiety.

But I remember my father dragging me around to doctors and finally the eye doctor as I had bad eyes to begin with. I overheard the eye doctor -- Dr. Gomer Evans -- I will never forget that man (knew him since I was 2 and 1/2, LOL) -- he said in a low voice to my father "It's a phase, an hysterical thing."

Even though I was a kid I could have decked him.

The dizziness was the beginning of chronic DP/DR for me. This is *my case only* and it was before I was on any medications, etc. I was 12 years old.

If one believes (as I do) that DP/DR are perceptual distortions that are the result of :?: :?: not going right in some brain pathway, it makes sense that some other pathway isn't working correctly. Nothing in the brain occurs in a vacuum.

I wish I had an old DSM, I'm almost certain that "dizziness" was mentioned as an accompanying symptom to "Depersonalization Disorder." It seems these days that DP DISORDER is rare, and that DP/DR comes WITH other mental illnesses particularly anxiety disorders which are probably the source of the "off balance business" -- man I HATED that.

30 years later I'm still DP/DR, but no dizziness or any of that other stuff.

Best,
D 8)


----------



## Guest (Apr 6, 2005)

> In one of the old DSMs, and it could have been the DSM-III, dizziness like this was mentioned as a symptom or prodromal symptom of DP/DR. Or I swear I read this somewhere.


I remember this, too. I'll see if I can track it down. My memory is that the older descriptions of dp states were not under the "Dissociative" umbrella, and being more connected (as you said) to anxiety states, they included dizzyness or light-headedness in the description. (anxiety states do encompass a bodily component, like with panic, etc. so it "fit" better in those terms).

Once they decided to call dp a dissociative reaction, then the physical sensations did not fit.

I'll post if I can locate this. I know you're right.

p.s. I also had the odd dizzy feelings long before I ever took a med.


----------



## Guest (Apr 6, 2005)

it is from benzos in his case...period,...


----------



## Scattered (Mar 8, 2005)

Well since other people also have this symptom, like me, if we could try to find an answer it would be appreciated. I've never been on any medication.


----------



## AHuseman (Jan 29, 2005)

Yeah. Thanks for the replies. I can understand it happening during a panic attack or when I'm anxious but it happens during the kind of situation I described. I don't self monitor anymore or anything like that 'cause my derealization and anxiety subsided to where they are very mild. I hadn't had any ear infections either. I asked to see if derealization could cause it, which it probably could but from thinking about it all and from what Robbie said, its has to be most likely from benzos.

-Sean


----------



## person3 (Aug 10, 2004)

shit man, if i knew it was a drug that tumbled me into a world of hell and my psychological makeup and personal flaws had NOTHING to do with it...well i guess i'd probably not think too much about being in the state!


----------



## ShyTiger (Apr 1, 2005)

I have had the elevator dizzy's alot. It is one of my most regular visitors. It's like you go through the floor or rise above it or both. I used to get it if i walked anywhere. I stopped walking as much as a could for a while. Now i know it is either my DP/DR, my Panic or my sinuses. I ignor it now. If it's bad i stop, wait for a minute to stabalise myself and continue on my way. i used to panic at it but i now ask myself, whats the worst that can happen? and if that happened, so what?


----------

