# Cannot handle stressful situations now



## Artmuzz (May 8, 2016)

For the past few months I have been feeling better since feeling dizziness, anxiety, detatched and DPDR symptoms constantly since early 2015 but today after getting stressed out over financial matters I felt those symptoms creep back.

I was sitting playing piano and synth but felt tense, slightly dizzy, vibrations in my body and detached and and I felt like I wasn't really there and everything seemed fake and I just couldn't concentrate. I then sat of the sofa and watched some television but I felt myself getting smaller and lighter and a sensation that my body was floating into my head where I would be trapped in a DPDR state. It was very scary.

I used to be able to handle stress but since my panic attacks and DPDR symptoms last year I don't seem to be able to handle stress now because the aftermath always results in DPDR and anxiety symptoms.


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## Mydp (Aug 12, 2016)

It makes sense, though. For the many of us, our sympotoms increase with anxiety (or are caused by anxiety entirely ). So, when you aren't stressed, you are starving the DP, making it too weak to raise its ugly head, but when you feel stressed, you are feeding the DP, and giving it the energy it needs to dominate you.


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## eddy1886 (Oct 11, 2012)

Stress is DPs best friend!


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## Mydp (Aug 12, 2016)

RPJ said:


> How come I'm chronically DP'd even though I don't have much stress?


I can't answer that for you because my interactions with you are through a screen. What I can tell you is how it was for me. When I was at my worst with DP/DR, couldn't think, couldn't talk, couldn't feel, physically or emotionally, couldn't hardly take care of myself, I still argued with my doctor about having stress, anxiety, and depression. I didn't feel anxious or depressed, just completely emotionally blunted. All I knew was something was wrong with me. I was convinced that it was something physical and I wanted people to stop trying to tell me different and stop pretending they knew how I felt . . . Looking back with 20/20 hindsight, that was when my anxiety/depression were at there worst. They were the reasons I was numb. They had reached such a high level that my mind decided to go "offline" because it couldn't deal with that high level of stress. In short, the whole reason I felt nothing was because I had been feeling too much.

And as I said in my originally quoted post, that how it is for many of us, but that doesn't mean that's how it works for everyone, which is why I can't tell you how, why, or even if it applies to you. Just me own experiences and those from others I've spoken with.


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## eddy1886 (Oct 11, 2012)

RPJ said:


> How come I'm chronically DP'd even though I don't have much stress?


Stress can be very subtle, almost transparent but it can have devastating effects on a persons mental health....

Think of it this way...Look at all the people who believed they were healthy as horses and then out of nowhere suddenly have big heart attacks or stokes...Its usually put down to stress because they were physically in decent shape...

What I have realised about anxious DP sufferers over the years is that their brains tend to shut the stress out (We have been doing it unknowingly from a very early age and hence the feeling of being Depersonalized and numb is almost normal to us)

Another thing to be aware of is that sensitive people like us are definitely much much more susceptible to milder levels of stress that everyday people just brush off in a whim....


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## Artmuzz (May 8, 2016)

DPDR is caused by either long term anxiety and stress, alcohol and drugs, certain migraines, gut issues or diet. In my case I think my DPDR is caused by years of anxiety, depression and being stressed as well as grieving over the death of my beloved mother in 2014 and diet, gut issues and migraines. The panic attacks I had last year were the trigger for DPDR. DPDR is the brains way to go into safe mode just like on a computer when the brain is tired with going through too much with stress and anxiety or there is a chemical reaction.


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## tfiio (Nov 10, 2016)

just wanna note in can be caused by things other than those listed above such as something referred to as complex ptsd, which is probably what I've got bouncing around. its not actually the same as general anxiety/stress and treating it as such can make the patient feel like a liar or an idiot, which is super fun lemme tell you. (spoiler alert: it sucks). dp/dr as a symptom can come from many many different sources, although dp/dr as a disorder not due to something else is generally from repeated or extended trauma especially in childhood. it's worth acknowledging that potential cause, which I think I've yet to see mentioned in my time hovering around.

the comparison to a computer in safe mode is an apt one, though.


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## Mydp (Aug 12, 2016)

Artmuzz said:


> DPDR is caused by either long term anxiety and stress, alcohol and drugs, certain migraines, gut issues or diet. In my case I think my DPDR is caused by years of anxiety, depression and being stressed as well as grieving over the death of my beloved mother in 2014 and diet, gut issues and migraines. The panic attacks I had last year were the trigger for DPDR. DPDR is the brains way to go into safe mode just like on a computer when the brain is tired with going through too much with stress and anxiety or there is a chemical reaction.


I too was dealing with long term anxiety and stress, migraines, and the death of my father when I developed DP.


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