# Almost completely DP free, some thoughts



## ChrisPA (Dec 22, 2009)

I developed "DP/DR" about a year ago and have been dealing with it for the greater part of the past year. Like many of you that come to this forum, I have had my ups and downs with this condition. The downs are certainly dreadful, but they have been happening less and less for me by the day. I am not sure exactly what the "magic" cure is, and quite frankly I can't even say that I'm completely over it, because that would be a lie, but I am approaching it completely different now. I am by no means an expert on this subject, and am still reading and learning things about it each day, but for me these things have led me almost completely out of DP/DR

1. Get a good night's rest. When DP first came into my life I was so frightened and confused by the feelings that sleep was almost impossible. So, if you need to take a sedative for a little while, do it! I started taking 30mg of Temazepam (Restoril) for a time, and cut down to 15mg within a few weeks. It did wonders for me for when I had bad anxiety due to DP/DR. I was able to get a successful not interrupted sleep each night. Don't fear addiction, I sleep like a baby now and no longer take the sedative. Getting yourself back into a healthy cycle of sleep is SO important.

2. Maintain a healthy diet. This is one I am still struggling with, but the healthier I eat the better I feel. Take a multi-vitamin or a steady vitamin in take everyday, get rid of CAFFEINE COMPLETELY it only fuels anxiety and DP/DR, and just eat things that are good for you.

3. Keep your mind occupied and busy with constructive things. By constructive I mean anything that does not produce anxiety, or allow you to think about DP/DR as much. This one is the most *important* things to getting out of this condition I believe. I'll be at work for a regular 9-5 day and not have a single introspective thought or feeling of DP/DR, but the minute I am out of work and driving home I instantly think about it and sometimes cause the fear and the thoughts to come back briefly. This proves 100% that the feelings are caused completely by your own thoughts and the attention you pay to them. For instance, last night I began to have an overwhelming feeling of doom and fear due to introspective thoughts for maybe 30 minutes. Instead of dwelling on it, I went and played Super Mario Bros Wii with my roommate. Two hours later, I completely forgot about the feelings I had been so bothered by earlier. The more you immerse yourself in positive activity the better and easier the condition is to deal with.

4. Spend time with others even if you don't feel like it. Being around your friends, engaging yourself with conscious things will allow you to forget about yourself and the way you are feeling much more easily.

5. Realize that all of the fears and weird feelings you have are just a product of feelings and thoughts. Nothing more. No matter what you think is going to happen... it's not. You aren't going crazy, you aren't schitzophrenic, and you are you! This is tough, but when you train yourself to think that it's thoughts and feelings causing this and not something huge or unknown it becomes much easier to deal with.

Hope these 5 things help. I have thought countless times that I was going to feel the way I do when I had intense DP/DR forever, and it has never once happened. You will come out of it, just try to be patient. I will be posting some more thoughts on this soon.

Chris


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## jay2008 (Nov 6, 2007)

Chris,

These are the kind of stories that give me tons of hope. I thought I was beating my DP a few months ago but it's back full-force with a vengeance.

The items regarding diet and caffeine are two aspects that I badly need to tackle. I'm bad with coffee and just need to totally stop. I know I should replace it with tea or something not as stimulating. I'm trying so hard to get my emotions back and to do with my visual disturbances that it's hard to be positive.

Please keep us updated on what works for you!


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## ChrisPA (Dec 22, 2009)

I switched to tea as well , and now I still drink tea, but decaffeinated tea. I use to drink at least a cup of coffee a day so I know how challenging it is Jamie. Fortunately for me, I wasn't addicted to caffeine and had no common problems that eliminating caffeine tends to cause such as irritability and headaches. Soda was another thing I had way too much of. I would just switch to decaf coffee if you can.

Similarly to you Jamie I basically beat DP/DR or at least almost completely eliminated my fear of the thoughts accompanied with it from May-July and... it came back really hard in August and I had intense periods of it on and off after that. Does this mean that I stayed this way? Absolutely not. The fact that you were beating it for a time just proves that you have the ability within yourself to do it. Trust me it's possible for all of us. I have just been figuring more and more out about the condition each day. Distraction and occupation for me are the absolute key. The more time you spend sitting around doing nothing, guess what's going to happen? You are going to think introspectively about yourself and feel the DP/DR. If you start to think this way, play a video game, exercise, watch a comedy, browse the internet. Just do anything that you like to do that will allow you to not think about yourself, even if that's for 5 minutes. It HELPS!! It's just kind of funny because this light bulb will go off and you'll just be like "I completely forgot about this for a little bit" and that in itself proves it's not a serious mental condition. If it were, you wouldn't be able to do these types of things, and you wouldn't be on this forum talking about it because you wouldn't know there was anything wrong. The fact that you know don't feel "right" means it's nothing serious.

Thoughts can't harm you. They can make you feel like shit, they can drain your emotions, make you feel very strange sometimes but at the end of the day a thought can't actually harm you. Think back to when you didn't have DP/DR and a thought bothered you. For the sake of my point let's say someone in your family has a stomach virus and you are worried that you're going to get it. You start to think about how much you don't want to puke non-stop, and ultimately you give yourself a stomach ache because of the thought. You worry more and more, but you don't have the virus and you never end up getting it. Your family member gets over it, and two days later after the fear that you might get it too passes you never again think about this stomach virus you spent days worrying about non-stop. DP/DR is a result of this same self-induced cycle. DP/DR becomes a problem because we label it in our mind as some "huge scary end of the world thing," and in turn we constantly think about it and it produces all the effects that DP/DR bring. The key is to just let the weight of the thought go like you did with the thought of getting a stomach virus. Some of you might say "well I can't let it go, and I'm not even worrying about it anymore or thinking about it." Chances are you are thinking about it or you wouldn't be on this forum talking about it. I do all of these things too and this is why I am here. I am trying to learn to catch myself when I start to drift into unwanted self-introspective thoughts not by trying not to think about the thoughts, because that's the classic 'pink elephant' scenario it won't work. The way to do it is through engaging in something such as the things I listed above. Wow, I really didn't plan on ranting for this long. Hope some of this helps Jamie and others.


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## sir_robo (Jan 15, 2010)

Chris hi ... im from croatia 
I am happy that your situation improved.
i have DP & DR for 2 months with fear and nervousness attacks and i think maybe with depression...im not shure about this last one.
I totaly feel fear thoughts about this what you mentioned - 
((( Realize that all of the fears and weird feelings you have are just a product of feelings and thoughts. Nothing more. No matter what you think is going to happen... it's not. You aren't going crazy, you aren't schitzophrenic, and you are you! This is tough, but when you train yourself to think that it's thoughts and feelings causing this and not something huge or unknown it becomes much easier to deal with. )))
i don't drink nothing only tea from Chamomile in large doses...because it calms me down.
Im hoping i will be better like you one day ...people who pass through this state deserve a medal of honor or somthing like that


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## pancake (Nov 26, 2009)

> 3. Keep your mind occupied and busy with constructive things.


All your points are spot on in my experience as well.

Keeping your mind from circular, repetetive thinking is definitely the key for me. I can be fine for ages but if I allow myself to worry the sore spot in my mind I inevitably find myself with mild symptoms for a little while and it's time to put my energy into something productive.

Good to hear you're on the mend


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