# Do I have DP or DE?



## Sanctum1972 (Nov 30, 2007)

Hello,

I'm 35 years of age, deaf from congenital damage at birth and a creative professional living in Vermont for 2 years now from the midwest originally and would like to ask if any of you think that 'daydreaming' is the same or related to depersonalization or derealization?

I sometimes daydream a lot or 'zone out' and then back to reality and sometimes do forget little details until they come back. It's usually harder for me to remember when I get hyper-focused or not focused.

Even if I'm deaf, I don't use sign language and speak orally because of my audist background and can hear partially and use the iPod to listen to music to kind of create a noise filter and prevent the mind from wandering around but that's not always a successful case and could put me into a trance.

I don't use medication and am just trying to do a little research about it because I zone out at times. I also wonder if depersonalization or derealization affects the social life or scene? Can it make it more difficult to relate to the opposite sex? I'm just wondering because I'm not married and unattached.

EDIT: By the way, I do drink coffee..used to consume tons of it back then when I used to work for Starbucks Coffee and now use tea to complement it. And I do drink wine and beer socially once or twice a week when I drive up north 30 miles to bigger city area where I used to live at for creative stimulation. The place I'm at is a small college town and does get too quiet after 6pm, somewhat boring me a bit.
Smoking cigars do have a calming effect on me despite the fact I do NOT smoke cigarettes. I smoke cigars rarely and they help me think in clear fashion.

In regards to my social life, I do live a pretty isolating lifestyle but do tend to bump into people I know and that I work mostly from my home studio for clientele. Considering this is Vermont, people I know live spread apart sporadically. It's hard for me to explain and a bit complicated since I live between two words..the deaf and hearing...almost like Neo from the Matrix.

Thanks,

Adam


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## Sanctum1972 (Nov 30, 2007)

No one? Is it me or are people that discriminating on this board? Or do they NOT know what they have to say???

I need to know about my situation. Will somebody just give me some idea or direction?


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## Pollyanna 3098 (Dec 12, 2006)

Welcome Adam,

I would suggest reading some the posts in the Depersonalization & Derealization section of the site, you will find a lot more information there.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to either post a new topic or just ask :wink:

Pollyanna.


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## Corduroy28 (Jun 21, 2007)

The way you described your symptoms isn't very specific to the types of dp/dr discussed on this board, so I think that many people who read your post don't exactly know what kind of information to give you.

many of the sufferer's on here are self diagnosed, and usually when there's a post by someone asking "do i have dp?", they don't want to respond because its not their responsibility. They don't do this out of spite, but the people here are avidly devoted to finding out whats wrong with themselves rather than what might be wrong with someone else. DP/DR is mentally torturous and for someone who is experiencing it 100% 24/7, there isn't much room to think about anything else. If you are genuinely disturbed by your state then you'll do the research necessary figure out what is wrong, not depend on other people to give you yes or no answers. And since your symptoms don't greatly compare to the other topics on this forum, the people here don't have much of a reason to respond.

That isn't to say that there aren't people on here who are helpful and insightful, but they're usually the ones who've learned to cope with and have possibly recovered from dp.

Its difficult to say if you definately HAVE this or HAVE that, but from what you said it doesn't sound incredibly similar to the other things discussed here. But maybe thats just the way you are experiencing your dp/dr. I'm just saying that, to me, it doesn't sound like dp/dr.

For now, feel good that a chronic dp sufferer is telling you that what you have doesn't sound like dp, because this is something you definately dont want to have.


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## Emile (Oct 16, 2007)

I can agree with Corduroy28 that people will not easily "diagnose" you with having DP/DR. Even specialists normally will not do that easily. Like in my case I was never officially diagnosed as having DP/DR, only my GP recognised it as such. But besides that, I do have the problem of zone-ing out a lot, dream a lot or get lost into something, probably because of intense concentration. The daydreaming can be a problem, although I can manage to snap out of it if needed. I am also not sure if this is indeed DP/DR, but I also show other symptoms that more closely match DP/DR.

It is difficult to say if something is DP/DR, and the lines between various disorders are blured...


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## Sanctum1972 (Nov 30, 2007)

Corduroy,

Thanks. I'll see what I can do.

To Emile,

Zoning out is my most common problem especially at nights when I read books and then lose my train of thought as the mind runs off into something else. Or when I browse online and something stirs my mind into thinking deeply.

It's been like this for years almost all my life. Sometimes it's hard to pay attention. Kind of hard to explain.

-A


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## Emile (Oct 16, 2007)

No, I get what you mean. I do that a lot, as far as I can remember since I was about 12 years old, probably also before. This is not to bad, except for the occasional angry teacher :lol: 
The last 5-6 years I suffer from brain fog, and that is much worse when it comes to losing your concentration. Being zoned out is much better compared to that 

Take care, hope you can find what you need here!!


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