# Question for the recovered ones.



## Alex222 (Nov 9, 2016)

I just saw someone posted this, but no one answered.
Do you have a normal life, without symptoms, fear of relapse, can you continue with whatever you did before you got this?
I had a lot of ambition, career plans, i am young and a law student. This whole thing came with family tragedy, and panic attack. I do my best every day, i do everything to get better, i just need an answer to this, i just need to know that i can be normal again.
The point question is ONCE YOU OPEN DP AND DR DOOR, IS IT POSSIBLE TO CLOSE THEM AGAIN?

I really hope that someone will replay, and that person is optimistic about this whole thing


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## Henrychinonso (Nov 15, 2016)

That's the same feeling I've been having , I've been abusing a nasal stick, unknowingly it would affect me , I had times of severe panic attacks , moments where I thought I was having a heart attack even moments I gave up and thought I would die , if I stood I felt I would keep my balance , difficult to be alone or move out alone because I was scared I was going to faint or die but nothing happened , I finally moved on and when it hits me I face it head to head and overcome it , stop taking alcohol or sedatives that arouse drowsiness , the best way to fight dp dr is by yourself , never accept it , nothing is wrong with you . Now I'm 90% recovered I'm happy now feeling life back . Hope this helps you .And yes you can recover just be optimistic .


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## Alex222 (Nov 9, 2016)

Thx for answering.
I think that the most important thing for people with dp is to let us know that there is hope. When someone tell us that we can recover nothing is hard. It becomes easy to workout, drink vitamins, meditate, do yoga and all the other stuff. It becomes hard to do all that in some time, but if you know that you can and will be the old self you presist on doing all that stuff.
I realy hope that the others who hawe recovered will reply also, and say to me and all the other peoples who read this post of mine that they do feel normal, and that after this nightmare they feel like normal people, and that it realy is possible to close this whole dp affair. Because the most important thing is that wind ind the wings wich gives to all of us the strenght to fight and win.
I hope i am going go feel life again, and tell my recovery story.


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## Mydp (Aug 12, 2016)

I'm fully recovered. I went the medication route and it worked for me. I don't fear relapse. I enjoy life and I really don't think about DP outside of this forum. I picked up right where I left off once I recovered. I'm back to being an involved mother and wife, where during dp, I was just one big bundle of fear and anxiety.


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## eddy1886 (Oct 11, 2012)

Mydp said:


> I'm fully recovered. I went the medication route and it worked for me. I don't fear relapse. I enjoy life and I really don't think about DP outside of this forum. I picked up right where I left off once I recovered. I'm back to being an involved mother and wife, where during dp, I was just one big bundle of fear and anxiety.


Similar story! Meds while not curing me completely gave me my life back...And I was in hell.................


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## Anna Carly (May 18, 2016)

What meds X


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## eddy1886 (Oct 11, 2012)

Anna Carly said:


> What meds X


Atypical AntiPsychotic along with SSRI (Lowest doses of both)

Seroquel is the anti-psychotic that seems to work best for alot of people...SSRIs on their own dont seem to do much...The anti psychotic does the hard work while the SSRI compliments it...


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## Mydp (Aug 12, 2016)

eddy1886 said:


> Atypical AntiPsychotic along with SSRI (Lowest doses of both)
> 
> Seroquel is the anti-psychotic that seems to work best for alot of people...SSRIs on their own dont seem to do much...The anti psychotic does the hard work while the SSRI compliments it...


Same. I take 50mg of Zoloft and 25mg of seroquel every day.


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## Alex222 (Nov 9, 2016)

And you are going to take this meds for the rest of your lives, or you're having it untill you get completly recovered and then you stop (start with smaler dose untill completly stop)?

This is the case, i think very small amount of people with dp want to take the meds forever... Aspecialy anti-psyhotics, it just sounds so scary because we all know for wath kind of "problems" doctors prescribe them, and that would be like we admit to have psyhotic problem, and we do not.

That is my opininion. But i am very happy for you, and thank you for answering my post. It is very good to know that it is possible to let go this "episode" of life, and live a normal one.
I want to solve this problem without medication, i started taking some herb products, and we will see...
I hope that i will recover also, and that i will be in position to write recovery story...


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## Mydp (Aug 12, 2016)

Alex222 said:


> And you are going to take this meds for the rest of your lives, or you're having it untill you get completly recovered and then you stop (start with smaler dose untill completly stop)?
> 
> This is the case, i think very small amount of people with dp want to take the meds forever... Aspecialy anti-psyhotics, it just sounds so scary because we all know for wath kind of "problems" doctors prescribe them, and that would be like we admit to have psyhotic problem, and we do not.
> 
> ...


THank you. I hope to read your recovery story one day soon.

As far as the medication goes, I'm okay with taking it forever if I need to. I don't have any side effects any longer and I come from a family where mental illness is not stigmatized so any ties the medication has to other disorders doesn't bother me. Antipsychotics are prescribed for a multitude of reasons. I know I was not and am not psychotic, but I do have mental illness (panic and anxiety for me) and the medications help those tremendously in my case.

That said, I definitely know they are not for every one. And they aren't the only option for you to consider. Therapy has been very valuable and productive for many members, along with other options and techniques. It's all about finding what works for you.


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## Rudyrudy (Jun 13, 2016)

I'm not "recovered", but I have a pretty good life. I got dp six years ago and I've come a long long way. I graduated college, travel the world, have close friends, and live my life. I have a job as a case manager where I work with a lot of people who have mental health problems. Last year I worked in an inpatient psych hospital, its funny how life works out. I don't know if I'll ever "recover" completely, whatever that may be. I'm used to living with this feeling and I don't know if it'll ever go away. It's who I am now, It's how my life has played out. It's a blessing and a curse and it makes me, me. I use it to my advantage ; ) there is no one like me. Six years ago I was in a deep dark hole and now I'm living life and doing what I like. Changing my diet to a whole food plant based one helped tremendously. I never took any meds.


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## partiedtoohard (Feb 24, 2016)

Rudyrudy said:


> I'm not "recovered", but I have a pretty good life. I got dp six years ago and I've come a long long way. I graduated college, travel the world, have close friends, and live my life. I have a job as a case manager where I work with a lot of people who have mental health problems. Last year I worked in an inpatient psych hospital, its funny how life works out. I don't know if I'll ever "recover" completely, whatever that may be. I'm used to living with this feeling and I don't know if it'll ever go away. It's who I am now, It's how my life has played out. It's a blessing and a curse and it makes me, me. I use it to my advantage ; ) there is no one like me. Six years ago I was in a deep dark hole and now I'm living life and doing what I like. Changing my diet to a whole food plant based one helped tremendously. I never took any meds.


Rudy would you explain what feelings you still have of DP?

I feel as if i dont have any MAJOR symptoms of DP/DR, but there is a feeling of being "off" or "different" like something is just a tad off and I cant get back to 100%.
Have you been able to go a while without remembering that you have the disorder? I have only been about one hour so far without being able to thing about my feelings being off. It has been almost a year for me. I am still holding onto hope that I will recover 100% and I can go all day without thinking that I feel different or remembering what happened about a year ago.


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## Brady12 (Nov 27, 2016)

Does the combo of SSRI + antipsychotic work best at low doses or does it really not matter?


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## Mydp (Aug 12, 2016)

Brady12 said:


> Does the combo of SSRI + antipsychotic work best at low doses or does it really not matter?


I don't think the low dosage of the SSRI matters, other than it's best to start at the lowest dose necessary, but the low dose of antipsychotic seems to be across the board for most of us who have had success with this combo. Antipsychotics do different things at different doses. Usually lower doses are prescribed for severe anxiety, middle range doses for severe depression, and higher doses for psychosis.


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## ManOnTheSilverMountain (Jun 12, 2014)

Alex222 posted a really interesting question. Once you open the DP/DR door can it be closed again? I have been completely recovered a few years and I did it through the traditional route of diet, exercise, CBT, the occasional Xanax and the passage of time. Basically, I believe that my brain returned back to normal and I no longer have the ability to re-experience the sensations of DP/DR in a visceral way. I remember what it was like intellectually, but I find that I can't re-experience the sensations or the odd, existential thought content regardless of how much I think about it. Essentially, I believe that when my brain healed, that door was closed. I no longer have any generalized anxiety and I've been completely symptom free for almost two years. That said, I'm confident that I could re-open that door and it would probably re-open more easily now that I've been there before. I think I'd need to have another major substance induced panic to get back there again and since I don't use any of the substances known to cause panic, I think I'm pretty safe. To be clear, anxiety and DP/DR were never issues for me prior to my marijuana misadventure. My symptoms were pretty severe for about 3 months and didn't go away entirely for about a year. However, once they went away, they were gone completely. For a long time, I felt 99% recovered, but I found that I had to quit agonizing over that last 1%. After about a year, I decided to declare myself 100% recovered. By doing that, I quit thinking about my DP/DR experience any time I felt a little off kilter. I occasionally don't get enough sleep, get drunk and hung-over, drink too much coffee or just feel out of sorts. Before, I'd always wonder if I was feeling weird due to lingering DP/DR symptoms. I no longer ever worry about such things. In essence, it took a while for my confidence to return even after my symptoms were gone. I'm now confident that I've recovered 100%. I am conscious of the fact that I could relapse and I believe it's a risk for anyone who's recovered from marijuana induced DP/DR. However, I don't worry about it because it's entirely within my control whether I relapse or not.


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## mind.divided (Jul 2, 2015)

ManOnTheSilverMountain said:


> Alex222 posted a really interesting question. Once you open the DP/DR door can it be closed again? I have been completely recovered a few years and I did it through the traditional route of diet, exercise, CBT, the occasional Xanax and the passage of time. Basically, I believe that my brain returned back to normal and I no longer have the ability to re-experience the sensations of DP/DR in a visceral way. I remember what it was like intellectually, but I find that I can't re-experience the sensations or the odd, existential thought content regardless of how much I think about it. Essentially, I believe that when my brain healed, that door was closed. I no longer have any generalized anxiety and I've been completely symptom free for almost two years. That said, I'm confident that I could re-open that door and it would probably re-open more easily now that I've been there before. I think I'd need to have another major substance induced panic to get back there again and since I don't use any of the substances known to cause panic, I think I'm pretty safe. To be clear, anxiety and DP/DR were never issues for me prior to my marijuana misadventure. My symptoms were pretty severe for about 3 months and didn't go away entirely for about a year. However, once they went away, they were gone completely. For a long time, I felt 99% recovered, but I found that I had to quit agonizing over that last 1%. After about a year, I decided to declare myself 100% recovered. By doing that, I quit thinking about my DP/DR experience any time I felt a little off kilter. I occasionally don't get enough sleep, get drunk and hung-over, drink too much coffee or just feel out of sorts. Before, I'd always wonder if I was feeling weird due to lingering DP/DR symptoms. I no longer ever worry about such things. In essence, it took a while for my confidence to return even after my symptoms were gone. I'm now confident that I've recovered 100%. I am conscious of the fact that I could relapse and I believe it's a risk for anyone who's recovered from marijuana induced DP/DR. However, I don't worry about it because it's entirely within my control whether I relapse or not.


I would be very grateful if you could explain what you did to fully recover from this  I'm 80% recovered but all advice is awesome


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## popdeollie (Nov 10, 2013)

Alex222, I suffered severe, panic induced DP/DR for two and a half years and have made a full recovery without meds. You will never forget this experience, but I'm here to tell you that full recovery is possible. I haven't been on this site in some time, so I think I will make my own recovery post to share what I've learned.


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## ManOnTheSilverMountain (Jun 12, 2014)

Hi mind.divided,

I didn't do anything special or have any epiphanies to recover. I did the usual diet/exercise/CBT stuff, made some significant life changes and a lot of time passed. To be clear, I recovered from the acute phase of this within a few months. It's the post acute phase that causes problems for most people. I had anhedonia on and off for almost a year and an odd feeling of being "out of phase" with reality. I also developed DP/DR symptoms periodically during that time. The keys to getting over the acute phase of recovery are fairly straightforward.....learn how to deal with acute anxiety. However, once the anxiety is lessened, it's the loss of a sense of self, the loss of confidence and the need to regain enthusiasm for life that are challenges. I found that I had to deliberately re-engage in life. There's an old adage that we need to act our way into better thinking. Basically, I needed to get out there and do stuff, despite the fact that I didn't feel like it. By taking the right actions, my emotions eventually followed and I now feel my old enthusiasm for life again and I feel connected with this reality. Recovery takes time and nobody's recovery is the same. Some people have difficult life circumstances and pre-existing issues, but most people do recover from this 100%.

Cheers!

MSM


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## Jjj123 (Jan 10, 2017)

Was yours 24/7? Like all day?


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## partiedtoohard (Feb 24, 2016)

ManOnTheSilverMountain said:


> Hi mind.divided,
> 
> I didn't do anything special or have any epiphanies to recover. I did the usual diet/exercise/CBT stuff, made some significant life changes and a lot of time passed. To be clear, I recovered from the acute phase of this within a few months. It's the post acute phase that causes problems for most people. I had anhedonia on and off for almost a year and an odd feeling of being "out of phase" with reality. I also developed DP/DR symptoms periodically during that time. The keys to getting over the acute phase of recovery are fairly straightforward.....learn how to deal with acute anxiety. However, once the anxiety is lessened, it's the loss of a sense of self, the loss of confidence and the need to regain enthusiasm for life that are challenges. I found that I had to deliberately re-engage in life. There's an old adage that we need to act our way into better thinking. Basically, I needed to get out there and do stuff, despite the fact that I didn't feel like it. By taking the right actions, my emotions eventually followed and I now feel my old enthusiasm for life again and I feel connected with this reality. Recovery takes time and nobody's recovery is the same. Some people have difficult life circumstances and pre-existing issues, but most people do recover from this 100%.
> 
> ...


This guy has been so helpful to me over the past year. And MSM seeing your post made me smile, glad to see you are still around and I am happy to see you are still doing well.

I consider my trip down this road to be pretty similar to MSM's, my horrible symptoms were gone for about 3 months, but i still had/have that "off" or "weird" feeling, which I think is what MSM's 99 and not quite 100% feeling. Sometimes I have slipped and started getting into this bad place about never recovering, and some days are not good. But I am 100% determined to get 100%. Maybe my time will be longer since I did not do CBT or Xanax, and I have been pretty slacking on diet and exercise. January 10th marked 1 year since my ordeal, and I had a bad time of accepting I was not better like MSM after his 1 year, but I made a promise to myself for this year to get both physically ,and mentally better.


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## mind.divided (Jul 2, 2015)

ManOnTheSilverMountain said:


> Hi mind.divided,
> 
> I didn't do anything special or have any epiphanies to recover. I did the usual diet/exercise/CBT stuff, made some significant life changes and a lot of time passed. To be clear, I recovered from the acute phase of this within a few months. It's the post acute phase that causes problems for most people. I had anhedonia on and off for almost a year and an odd feeling of being "out of phase" with reality. I also developed DP/DR symptoms periodically during that time. The keys to getting over the acute phase of recovery are fairly straightforward.....learn how to deal with acute anxiety. However, once the anxiety is lessened, it's the loss of a sense of self, the loss of confidence and the need to regain enthusiasm for life that are challenges. I found that I had to deliberately re-engage in life. There's an old adage that we need to act our way into better thinking. Basically, I needed to get out there and do stuff, despite the fact that I didn't feel like it. By taking the right actions, my emotions eventually followed and I now feel my old enthusiasm for life again and I feel connected with this reality. Recovery takes time and nobody's recovery is the same. Some people have difficult life circumstances and pre-existing issues, but most people do recover from this 100%.
> 
> ...


Thank you!


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## dreamedm (Feb 1, 2015)

Just curious, MSM, did you have the blank mind, too? Or was your dp/dr more of a racing thoughts type?


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## Alex222 (Nov 9, 2016)

I want to thank everybody for their replay.
It meens a lot, and it gives hope, and faith in new life and freedom.
I just need to be free so much, now i have hope that i will be.
I am happy that you understood my question, once you open the door can you close them again, can you unsee what you saw and live your life normal again.
By normal life, i understand life in wich you do not question how dp or dr do you feel in every aspect of the day, when you walk, talk, eat, in every moment.
Now i would appreciate some advice on HOW TO LET GO?
On the days i feel happy, i go out, i go have some coffee, but i just can not stop thinking about this even when i feel good, when my vision and my emotions are ok, i can't stop thinking about this.
How am i going to stop this to become a part of my life?
How to forget something i was obsessing for a year and a half now?
I think i have the "pink ellephant in the room" syndrome, as much i want to stop thinking about this i just think about it more.


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## Alex222 (Nov 9, 2016)

ManOnTheSilverMountain 
I also have that same problem with post acute phase, i somethimes do not feel the most symptoms, but i find my self in this place that i do not know what to do, it's like my life stopped, i had dp with nothing else happening, and now i do not know how to continue and forget dp happend in my life.
That patern off thinking drags dp and dr all over again on me.
How do you treat anhedonia? I think that it's normal to have it after the acute phase, but how do we deal with it...


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## cl1max (Apr 15, 2017)

> Partiedtoohard said:
> 
> I consider my trip down this road to be pretty similar to MSM's, my horrible symptoms were gone for about 3 months, but i still had/have that "off" or "weird" feeling, which I think is what MSM's 99 and not quite 100% feeling. Sometimes I have slipped and started getting into this bad place about never recovering, and some days are not good. But I am 100% determined to get 100%. Maybe my time will be longer since I did not do CBT or Xanax, and I have been pretty slacking on diet and exercise. January 10th marked 1 year since my ordeal, and I had a bad time of accepting I was not better like MSM after his 1 year, but I made a promise to myself for this year to get both physically ,and mentally better.


I would really take up exercise over anything bro. It really does help and provides me with clarity of mind for a short while after which is gods gift.

Keep trucking along.

PS sorry to the mods who have to accept all my comments. I kind of want to be an approved member which I think is 20 posts, not 100% sure.


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