# My recovery story



## Kanu (Jul 22, 2018)

Hi guys,

I hope that everyone is making progress on the path to recovery.

This is my second post here. The first one has the title "Newbie here...Cannabidiol oil induced DP/DR. Please help!" and it was posted on 22/07/2018. I am happy to say that I am, practically, recovered.

First, I would like to thank "Amina_x", "nicewon", "Eddy1886" and "Phantasm" for their kind messages and support.

The goal of this post is to give hope to those who are still suffering, and to explain how I recovered in the hope that some of you will find this helpful.

Here is my recovery story...

During the first few weeks of being in a DP+DR state (almost 24/7), I was very hesitant of trying anything that is not natural in fear of making things worse. So, my strategy was to give my brain an opportunity to recover by itself while helping it with some natural supplements/sleep/working out/good diet. I was living in a constant state of anxiety, hopelessness, and unhedonia, but I tried to keep myself busy to forget what was going on.

Things I tried during this phase:

1- S-adenoyl-l-methionine (SAMe): No effect.

2- Common vitamines/minerals: No effect.

3- Weight lifting: Good effect but not significant.

4-Excellent diet: No direct/apparent effect.

I reached a point where I had to go to the next step. So, I went to a psychiatrist. After about a 30 min consultation, I understood that he is not really familiar with DP/DR but he seemed really knowledgable about how the brain works. He said that I should be fine if I take an SSRI (Escitalopram) and a benzodiazepine.

I decided that I should give Saint Jhons Wort a chance before I go to the pharma route. I bought a couple of bottles of Perika (standardised SJW) and started taking it.

After a couple of days of taking it (one tablet 3 times a day), I saw a HUGE difference...After a couple of weeks, I was around 60-70% normal. Things stalled at this level, for around 3-4 months, but I was happy that I was functional. I added Bacopa Monieri (standardised extract) which I think helped somehow. After a couple of months, I upped the dosage of SJW to 2 pills 3 times a day. I saw extra improvement from this, and I decided to stay on this regimen for a long time before changing anything. It has been more than a year, and the only thing that is left from DP/DR is the bad memories and the occasional (a couple of times a week maybe) 5 seconds flash of DP/DR.

I would like to add that that I have learnt the hard way that stress is my worse enemy, and that the best way to have a healthy mental state is to proactively create this state by engaging in activities that give your brain a break. Giving your brain a break gives it a chance to re-learn that "being safe" is the default mode and forget the trauma that it had been through.

I am trying to put this story behind my back, so visiting this website is not exactly consistent with that. I will do my best to find strength to come back and reply to messages, if any.

I wish you all a speedy recovery. You will definitely recover, so be positive!

Kanu


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## Trith (Dec 31, 2019)

Hello,

This is great! I actually tried an SSRI first (zoloft), and it removed my DPDR, but caused me to have side effects due to some other illness... so I could not keep taking it. So I wanted to try Saint John's Wort, since I understood it also acts like an SSRI. I had some effects that were similar to those of the antidepressant but no effect at all on DPDR, even when I went up to the maximum dose given on the label. I tried to stop but had strong withdrawal symptoms (sensitivity to light and sounds plus a kind of general physical pain and headache), similar to what I had with the SSRI. I did not go through with the withdrawal as I started new meds that "canceled" it. Since then I have tried several antipsychotics and none of them worked for me so far. You have to be careful with Saint John's Wort, i have heard that its toxicity threshold is lower than SSRI's. The fact that it is a "natural" product does not necessarily mean it is harmless. But at least it is cheap and you can get it easily.


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