# Recovering from Marijuana Induced DP/DR



## ManOnTheSilverMountain

Hi All,

I've been reading the forum for a few weeks but this is my first post.

I've had DP/DR for the past month and 5 days. It's been the most terrifying and bewildering thing that's ever happened to me and I'm in my mid-40s. I would have never dreamed it was possible to feel so alienated from reality. Fortunately, things seem to be getting better for me. It all started 4 weeks ago when I was at home alone one weekend and BORED. A friend recovering from cancer had left some medical marijuana brownies at our house and I'd been curious about them. I smoked pot periodically when I was a teenager and probably once every few years as an adult....never had any major issues with it....nice short, giddy buzzes. Also, there's been a lot of recent media attention to legalization and edibles so I thought it would be safe. A few things I didn't know.....medical marijuana, and today's marijuana in general, are much stronger than the stuff I smoked as a kid, and eating marijuana is COMPLETELY different than smoking it....last much longer and is much more intense. Also, edible marijuana dosages are pretty small&#8230;usually a small piece of a brownie&#8230;..not a whole one.

In any event, I ate a brownie. Not much happened, so I ate another...and another.....About two hours later it hit and it hit hard. I was tripping harder than I ever had in my life and I started to panic. I won't take you through it blow by blow, but it was hell. Time became distorted and it felt like months passed. I thought about calling 911, but I didn't want to publicize what was happening. I'm a suburban professional with kids who's active in the community. So I slammed a bottle of liquor and passed out. That was probably a good thing, because I don't know if my sanity could have lasted the night. In the morning, I was still high but the panic had given way to anxiety and pretty severe DP/DR.

I waited for it to pass, figuring it was a side effect of the marijuana OD, but it stayed and the anxiety got worse and worse. As it turns out, I had a pretty significant THC overdose. I was supposed to eat only a small piece of a brownie. By eating as many as I did, I had the equivalent of about 20 joints and ALL of it got metabolized. Also, I've never been a regular drug user or had any psych issues or anxiety. I never knew what generalized anxiety was until this happened. Before this, I was a pretty high functioning, normal suburban family guy with an active social life, lots of hobbies and good relationships. This experience reduced me to an emotional wreck for a few weeks, but I've been fighting my way out of it.

I have a behavioural health background and I had heard of DP/DR before, but I didn't immediately connect it to what I was going through. In a few minutes online, I figured out exactly what I had and how I got it....this forum was particularly helpful.

Here are a few things I've noticed and a few things that have helped me so far:

First, the DP/DR has gotten better each week. I only lapse into it now if I let my anxiety get out of hand. I've been really following the advice from this group and using cognitive behavioural techniques to distract myself and refocus my attention. It works some of the time, but not all of the time. I've been making sure to get enough sleep, eating really healthy, exercising and getting out, despite my feelings.

After a week, I finally went to my Dr. and told him what happened. He gave me a script for Xanax (I've since learned Klonipin is probably better for this), but Xanax works pretty well for me for now. I take one .25mg tab if I think the anxiety is starting to spiral. During the second week after the OD, I was taking several each day. I'm now down to one every other day. I know Xanax is pretty addictive stuff so I'm trying to be conservative. However, I think this has been really important to my recovery. Once I realised that the anxiety CAUSES the DP/DR and that Xanax makes my anxiety go away, I was able to get some relief from the DP/DR feelings and the constant feeling of adrenaline surging through my body, if only temporarily. However, these breaks from DP/DR were just what I needed to kickstart my recovery and to give my brain some time to heal.

Mr Dr. suggested I see a therapist, which I reluctantly agreed to do. I feel like my reaction was due mostly to the amount of THC I consumed and my relative inexperience/lack of tolerance to it. I know some people think you need to have "underlying issues" for pot to give you DP/DR, but I'm not sure that's true. I think DP/DR is a fairly common reaction to any intense, psychogenic panic, whether it's caused by marijuana, a medication or some other substance. I realise people also have DP/DR from life trauma and anxiety disorders, but I've never had feelings like this before in my life. In any event, I'll be glad to talk this through with someone and get some perspective. I have also told my family and they've been very supportive.

As a result of the anxiety, I've lost a lot of weight....due to loss of appetite. I'm down about 20 lbs over the past month, but I do feel physically better. I've started to exercise quite a bit and to play some team sports, which has helped a lot. It gets me out of the house, gets my heart-rate and blood-flow up, and helps me burn off some of the anxiety. It generally helps me feel a lot better. This has been difficult sometimes, because I often don't feel like going out, but I generally feel better afterward.

I've been talking this over quite a bit with some of my close friends and they've been pretty supportive as well. However, I find that if I focus on it too much, it doesn't help. I kind of gauge my recovery by how much time passes between instances of me thinking about my DP/DR/Anxiety.

Here's an unpleasant thing I found.....I can't drink caffeine or alcohol. I always drank coffee before. Now 1/2 cup makes me get big anxiety along with DP/DR. Alcohol also does when it wears off. I'm not sure why this is because the Xanax has no similar after-effect, but alcohol has given me some of my worst DP/DR after it wears off. Even two light beers did it to me.

I'm fairly confident that I will recover completely from this because it's been getting better each week, but not in a linear way. I've had some really bad days and some really good days. My mood is up and down. When the anxiety comes, it is accompanied by feelings of depression and anhedonia as well as some odd existential thoughts and panic feelings. I still feel a little "out of phase" even when I'm at my best, but this is getting less and less noticeable. At first, I thought I'd be over this in a month, but now I think it will be closer to two months. I'm already feeling "back to normal" most of the time, but evenings can still be tough.

This experience is not without a few positives. Going through such an intense emotional trauma has made me a lot more appreciative of my life and a lot more invested in it. I've also become more mindful of my feelings and appreciative of people in my life. I've had to start doing much better physical and emotional self-care to recover and I'll probably continue these practices.


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## RLS

You are one of the lucky ones.


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## ManOnTheSilverMountain

Hi All,

I went and saw a therapist and got some additional CBT techniques as well as some perspective on what happened to me. I do feel very fortunate that my symptoms are starting to subside. This weekend, I tried a cup of coffee again and for the first time in over a month I didn't have a panic attack or any DP/DR. Flush with confidence from that small victory, I had a few beers with some friends and this DID produce significant anxiety once they wore off. I'm not out of the woods yet. I also still get some anxiety in the evenings and some odd existential thinking. My therapist indicated that there has been a recent spike in cannabis induced anxiety disorder, demonstrably due to new users experimenting with edibles. Apparently, MANY people who overdose on THC have protracted generalized anxiety and DP/DR, but the usual pattern is that it resolves by itself in 1-2 months if there are no other complicating factors. My therapist also didn't think that you necessarily need to have underlying anxiety issues to get cannabis induced anxiety disorder (although it certainly helps). In any event, I'm really grateful that this resource is available because I would have never guessed DP/DR was so common or so treatable (at least in my case). Apparently, the prognosis for substance induced anxiety disorders is pretty good....most people completely recover, although it can take longer than a few months in some cases. One other insight I got from my therapist is that diet and exercise play a really big role in recovery and healing from substance induced anxiety. I've been extremely proactive about that since my OD and I believe it's one of the major things that's helped my recovery. I've become at least 3 times more physically active than I was previously, I've cut my calorie intake and started eating much more healthfully. I've also gone almost a week without an Xanax.


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## ManOnTheSilverMountain

Bit of a setback yesterday and today....I had some really unpleasant panic feelings that seemed to come out of nowhere and were not related to anything real. It felt just like I was high again and in the midst of panic.....almost like a flashback. I tried pretty hard, but I wasn't able to distract or relax myself. I ended up taking a Xanax, which stopped the panic episodes. This is a bit disconcerting because I felt like I was mostly over this. Seems like it happens when I think about my DP/DR/Anxiety experience of the last month. I need to stay focused on living my life and not thinking about the DP/DR. It's like the dread of it triggers the anxiety and then the panic feelings escalate. Also, when I get anxious, I start "reality checking".....looking at things to see if they look real. Once I start this, I'm usually already in an anxiety spiral and of course, things don't look "real enough" so I get even more anxious and the panic escalates along with the DP/DR. This sucks and the Xanax makes me tired and unmotivated.


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## apoplexy

Tell your kids to tell their grandkids to never smoke weed ever. I swear to god, after what happened to me and reading stories like yours I just want to go around and slap every motherfucker who I see doing weed or any other stupid fucking drug. Our culture is so fucked up it is unbelievable.

Anyways, keep fighting brother, that's all you can do. I was hoping for 2-3months but unfortunately for me it was a pipedream. You did the right things already though, keep it up. I'd say focus less on how long it has been and just work to be 100% again. One day I imagine you'll be like "oh shit, remember that DPDR thing? wow i guess its gone" or at least, I hope you get that type of thing, I hope I get it as well.

Keep working brother, that is all we can do. We're going to get there one day, I don't care when, we'll get there.


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## ManOnTheSilverMountain

Thanks apoplexy.....I'm still kicking myself over that day with the brownies. I still can't believe I did something so stupid and out of character for me. I've paid a massive price for it. Thankfully, I'm feeling much better today...near 100%. I feel pretty much normal now 2/3 of the time, but in the early evening, I start to get mild to moderate anxiety that sometimes has a ruminatory or obsessive/compulsive quality to the thoughts, which are often existential in nature. About half the time I can intervene myself or it passes by itself, but the other half of the time, I take a pill. I also do a lot of evening cardio exercise in the form of a team sport. This really helps. When I'm playing, it gets rid of the anxiety almost completely and I feel good by bed-time. I'm seeing my psychologist again next week....great guy with lots of insight into this condition. I do think that this thing probably has a half-life sort of decay rate....meaning I suspect I'll still have symptoms for quite some time....particularly if I look for them and focus on them. One thing I know for sure....the worst of it is behind me.


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## popdeollie

Thanks for sharing man. You'll recover 100%, just like I will and just like apoplexy will. Your story mirrors mine pretty well. Had a panic attack while high, developed EXTREME panic disorder and DP/DR... yeah, you know how it goes. I had no clue what anxiety truly meant. I read somewhere that recovering is like solving a Rubik's cube. As you put together one side of a Rubik's cube, the other sides seem to get worse. When that side is complete, you have to focus on other sides, but that means temporarily taking apart the one side you spent so long putting together. In my experience, anxiety works the same way. I'll struggle really hard with a particular symptom, and just as I get over it, another symptom will resurface. It's not a linear process at all, but I can feel the severity of each symptom lessen whenever I have to deal with it. All the symptoms take turns coming and going, but they are all getting progressively better, just as the sides of a Rubik's cube are all constantly rebuilt until finally the cube is complete.

My biggest problem as of late is existential thoughts. It's funny, because I have a Bachelor's in Philosophy and used to LOVE thinking and talking about existentialism. I believe the only reason existential thoughts scare me so much now and never used to is because of how detached or unreal DP makes me feel. It makes me feel like certain scary thoughts are true and/or threatening, but I know they aren't. If they are I would've experienced existential anxiety a long time ago. Regardless, I'm still struggling with them, so if you learn anything that helps you deal with them I would love to hear about it.

Another tip, don't ever put a time limit on your recovery process. You will recover when you recover. Focus on the now - it is all that exists.

Best of luck man. You got this!


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## Noooooope

Thank you so much for posting this as this is exactly how I am feeling too!

I mean, I feel I am getting better but sometimes I have really bad days and then bad days. I still don't know if what I am experiencing is really derealization but by the sounds of it, I'm sure that's all it is. Giving it a name let's me grasp an idea of what is going on and that I am not going insane!

I had constant rumination about losing my mind and ending up in a mental health ward... eehk but those fears are starting to go away. In terms of anxiety, I actually don't feel very anxious anymore.. except when I think about it..lots..

I even get suicidal thoughts- but which I would never act upon.

It gets hard as the weeks go by as I feel like I can't enjoy things as I used to...I am going to a party tomorrow but I don't feel that excitement I used to feel prior to developing this after smoking weed for the first time 4 weeks ago.

I'm scared but also feel like I am not alone. Thank you again for posting this

And all of you

<3- Lina


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## moonpie

Thank you for sharing your story, ManOnTheSilverMountain. It's great to know that you're getting better and improving.  Just try not to beat yourself up about the day you ate those brownies. You didn't know.

I hope everything gets better, and best wishes to you!


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## ManOnTheSilverMountain

Thanks for the thoughtful posts. I've been completely DP/DR free for over a week now and I had one brief anxiety episode last night, but otherwise none for the last five days. I'm almost completely back to normal and feeling really good about 9/10ths of the time. I'm going the better part of a day without even remembering that I had this issue. It's been a general uphill trend, but I'm a little tired today (thunderstorms kept me up last night) and I wouldn't doubt that I'll have some anxiety today caused by the fatigue. I've noticed that it helps to take naps. Seems like sleeping a bit re-grounds me and hits my neuro-chemical reset button, at least for a while. I've been trying herbal remedies instead of Xanax. So far, Valerian Root and Passion Flower Extract have been pretty helpful. I like them in tea form, but I also have them in capsule form. They seem to be about 1/3 as effective as a .25 mg Xanax. I also started taking a B complex vitamin and a B12 supplement at my psychologist's suggestion. They seem to really help as well, although it could just be time and other self care (eating better, exercise) that's having the biggest positive effect. One interesting effect from the past two months is that I've decided to make some major changes in my life. I don't know if it was the effect of the trauma of the initial drug overdose or the trauma of the DP/DR/anxiety, but I've definitely developed a firm resolve to make the best of the rest of my life. I've already eliminated a lot of unhelpful behaviours and habits and I've started to appreciate the people in my life a lot more. It's also prompted a change in my personality that people have noticed. I'm generally more friendly and more relaxed than previous. I hope these changes remain with me over the long run.


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## ManOnTheSilverMountain

Hi All....things are continuing to improve for me. It's been a week since I took a Xanax for anxiety and I've been DP/DR free for about 2 weeks with a general trend that each week is better than the last. I feel pretty confident that I'm out of the woods. I go days now without even thinking about my overdose on pot or the subsequent effects. I still get fairly mild, fleeting anxiety and anhedonia sometimes, particularly after I drink a beer, but it passes quickly. It's been almost 2 months since my overdose. I still feel much more motivated to enjoy and improve my life than I did before the OD and I've continued most of the lifestyle changes that I had to make to recover. The emotional and cognitive texture of my world has slowly returned to what it was before the OD. In essense, I'm back to my old self, but I think I can see things more clearly now and I'm much more mindful of my decisions and behaviour. I hope my experience helps anyone else with a similar path through substance induced DP/DR.


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## ManOnTheSilverMountain

Just thought I'd check back in.....maybe my last post. It's coming up on 3 months since my OD and I'm just about back to normal. I still get pretty wound up from drinking coffee, but I have very little anxiety and no DP/DR anymore. I did have a minor relapse recently that I caused myself. I was on vacation and stopped exercising. At the same time, I cheated myself on sleep for a few nights and drank a fair amount of alcohol and used a fair amount of caffeine. It was easy to do this because I had been feeling completely back to normal for about two weeks and I forgot all about my anxiety DP/DR problem. In any event, I had a few days of increased anxiety with mild DR sensations and anhedonia with fleeting existential thoughts. As soon as I resumed exercise and a healthy diet, this passed and I'm now back to where I was. My psychologist thinks that I'll need to be conscious of my decreased anxiety threshold/tolerance for a while, but he's pretty sure that this will also go away in the next few months. I have only had two Xanax in the last two weeks. It's been a very slow recovery, but I can say with confidence that each week has been better than the one previous. However, because it's been such a slow and gradual recovery, there hasn't been any sudden epiphany or awareness that I'm "back to normal," even though I pretty much am. I'll always carry the memories and emotional/psychological scars of this experience and it's definitely changed me....mostly for the better. However, I do feel like I'm now pretty much over it and I'm ready to move on. I'm extremely grateful that this issue seems to have resolved for me in only a few months, as it seems like it can take longer in some cases. I was never a regular user of marijuana and hallucinogenics, but I now know that I'll need to stay away from them (no major loss).


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## cheessebread

Hey the same thing happened to me but I was 16 at the time it has been a 1 year and 5 months and I have only improved a little bit, I got it from eating a marijuana edible, do you think I could have permenatly damaged my brain?


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## ManOnTheSilverMountain

cheessebread said:


> Hey the same thing happened to me but I was 16 at the time it has been a 1 year and 5 months and I have only improved a little bit, I got it from eating a marijuana edible, do you think I could have permenatly damaged my brain?


I don't think you can permanently damage your brain from an oral marijuana OD, but you can give yourself one heck of a neuro-chemical jolt. I think part of the reason I recovered fairly fast is that I'm in my mid-40s and my brain/personality is essentially done developing. I also have a background in mental health and I had an idea of what was wrong with me pretty quickly. I was on this site, seeing a psychologist and treating my anxiety within a week of my OD. I also had no previous history anxiety problems.

That said, I do think my brain had some neuro-chemical changes as a result of the OD and it's taken quite a while to reverse them. I definitely have a much lower anxiety threshold than I used to and I need to be much more careful about caffeine, alcohol, getting enough sleep and getting enough exercise. It took months for the odd, existential thoughts to go away and a bit longer for the feelings of apathy and anhedonia to lift. Those were all symptoms of my brain being neuro-chemically out of whack.

As a young person, it will probably take longer for your brain to get back in balance, but it will do so. The body and brain know how to heal themselves. Almost everyone recovers completely from substance induced DP/DR, but everyone recovers at their own pace based on their circumstances.

I've been very disciplined about following the recommendations from the moderators of this forum, from my psychologist and from my medical doctor and I think it's made all the difference. Here are the main things that helped me:

1. Professional help from a psychologist that knows about drug induced DP/DR

2. A presecription for a benzodiazapine to take when symptoms get bad

3. Staying away from caffeine, alcohol and especially hallucinogens such as marijuana

4. Regular cardiovascular exercise - get the blood moving through your brain

5. Eating really healthy - More veggies, fruits, nuts...less processed food

6. Vitamins...especially B family, magnesium taurate, high potency fish oil and other "brain vitamins"

7. Audio books - keeps your mind from wandering during unstructured time

8. Family/Friend support - I told my family and close friends all about what happened and how to be supportive

9. External focus - I setup regular events outside the house that I attended a few times a week - in my case an adult sport league - I stayed engaged in life, even when it wasn't much fun...I acted my way into better thinking.

10. Sleep - I made sure to sleep 8 hours a night and to go to bed and get up at fairly consistent times


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## ManOnTheSilverMountain

It's now almost six months since my OD and the DP/DR that followed. I've now completely recovered. I can drink coffee again and I can drink alcohol without any unusual thoughts/feelings. I have not had any real DP/DR sensations for about a month. I lost 30 lbs during the course of this experience, but it dramatically improved my health. I no longer have any generalized anxiety either. I can't really say I'm "back to my old self" because I'm much better in many ways than I used to be. I'm much more physically and emotionally healthy and I am much more aware of my feelings and of the present. The OD and its DP/DR aftermath were the most terrifying, bewildering and depressing thing that's ever happened to me, but having come out the other side, I'd say it's improved the quality of my life and made me a better person. Still, I wouldn't wish the experience on anyone. I still see a psychologist, although I think I'll stop the sessions. I also no longer take an Xanax. However, I still maintain all the things that I needed to do to recover. I exercise daily, I cut my calorie intake almost in half, I switched to mostly whole foods. If I don't know what it was when it was alive, I don't eat it. I also take a number of supplements and I am much more social that I used to be. All this has kept me moving in a positive direction and healed the neuro-chemical damage caused by the OD and the intense and prolonged panic attack. I no longer really remember what DP/DR felt like.....at least on a visceral level. I rarely ever think about the experience and I've completely stopped reality checking (looking to see if things look "real enough"). I'm really grateful that this is over and that this resource existed, as most of what I did to recover, I got from this site.


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## ManOnTheSilverMountain

For anyone interested in the long-term effects of a marijuana overdose induced DP/DR syndrome, I thought I'd check in at 1.5 years post OD. I'm doing very well and am back to normal. Once my anxiety completely subsided, which happened fully in the first year, I started to revert back to a lot of my old ways. I gained weight back to my original weight and I slowly slipped into a slightly less healthy lifestyle, very similar to how I was living before the OD. That's not necessarily a great thing, but it's not been particularly harmful, since I wasn't in that bad of shape before the OD.

A few interesting things...my mood is a bit more fragile than it used to be. I find that if I have more than 2 drinks on a regular basis, it starts to depress my mood and I begin to have a bit of anhedonia. That is definitely leftover from the OD, as I never had it before the OD. I have not used marijuana at all since the OD and I do not intend to do so because I've read too many stories of people relapsing into DP/DR symptoms from it. I also find that I cannot drink more than a few cups of coffee without it making me psychologically uncomfortable. That's definitely new since the OD. Otherwise, I feel completely back to normal. In retrospect, it's pretty clear that the OD did dramatic things to my neurochemistry that effected my sense of self, my mood and my grasp on reality. I was surprised how long it took my brain to get back to normal from this. In many ways, it was a life-changing experience, simply because the experience of DP/DR was so intense, unexpected and uncomfortable. Nothing in my life had prepared me for it and I had to really battle to cope with it and overcome it for the first 6 months. The experience has now mostly receded into the past and I no longer have the visceral memory of what DP/DR feels like. I haven't had any DP or DR sensations in over 6 months, despite a lot of life changes and stresses.


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## hopefuluk2

RLS said:


> You are one of the lucky ones.


Are you unlucky? How long have you had it?


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## Surfer Rosa

Alcohol and more than one cup of coffee does it for me too. I had that moment of calling 9-1-1, and several moments of "going insane", but each week does seem to be getting better than the last.

Thanks for the perspective, friend. Sorry about the herbal devil disguising itself once again.


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## Surfer Rosa

cheessebread said:


> Hey the same thing happened to me but I was 16 at the time it has been a 1 year and 5 months and I have only improved a little bit, I got it from eating a marijuana edible, do you think I could have permenatly damaged my brain?


No physical damage, but perhaps some level of disregulation.


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## mitchellottawa

Hi all, im 22 and have been a regular marijuana user for about 8 years (daily). I had recently got into using cookies, and had become quite comfortable with taking higher doses. On sunday night, (2 nights ago), I had a cookie from my batch, then had a cookie from a friend's batch. My partner and I both had a horrible experience, and had to force ourselves to sleep to get through the night.

THe following morning, I was no longer high but was experiencing all of the symptoms discussed in this thread, the worst of which being a lack of connectivity when I touch my face. Today, the feelings seem to have gotten worse and I am worried that I am starting on a path of DP like all of you.

2 questions:

1. Had any of you been using marijuana regularly when you experienced your OD?

2. I am a young professional starting my career, and am wondering whether this will affect y performance at work.

Any info you can provide is so greatly appreciated.


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## mitchellottawa

I am the person who just posted the past post with 2 questions. Its been just over a week and although this thread seems pretty inactive, I want to reassure anyone who is searching this topic and reading this thread.

STOP READING THESE FORUMS. Honestly, after I read this particular page, I was sent into a whirlwind of panic and fear, knowing that this had to be what I was going through. On the contrary, my own anxiety was simply revving itself up by hearing stories of long-term DP as a result of a bad cookie trip. I will admit, the 6 days following my trip were the worst days of my life, but I am almost completely back to normal just a few days after the worst part ended.

After reading these posts, I began to research and found that the vast majority of people who experience a form of lasting anxiety from a bad high recover in around a week. My best guess is that those that don't recover quickly have read way too many of these forums, allowing themselves to believe that DP was their new life. IT WILL END. The more you tell yourself that, the more you will feel better and more like your old self.

In no way do I intend to belittle any of the accounts on this thread, I simply want to say that reading these accounts in order to self-diagnose is only going to let your anxiety win. Hang in there, keep yourself busy, and you'll feel better before you know it.


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## Surfer Rosa

We aren't preaching that it doesn't end. It goes on for many frequent thread makers and repliers. There is a very active "Recovery Story" subforum, where users post a thread once they feel they've overcome the condition. Would you also advise against that?


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## ManOnTheSilverMountain

I'm really glad to hear that mitchellottawa completely recovered after a week. I'm sure some people do recover that quickly. However, I'm also pretty sure the average time to complete recovery is closer to 3 months for most people who really work at it....longer if you already had anxiety issues. That's not to say that I was in complete hellish DP/DR for three months. What I mean is that I thought about it daily and had fairly regular symptoms during that period. By six months, my symptoms completely disappeared and I no longer thought about my OD or my experience with DP/DR on any kind of regular basis. Once I recovered, I did post my recovery story in the Recovery Story forum.

My intent wasn't to frighten people into thinking that they'll spend months freaking out. I certainly didn't. However, I did really struggle for the first few months, although I also still went to work at a demanding professional job and was able to function more than adequately.

I can also sympathize with mitchellottawa's feelings about reading too many DP/DR war stories. It was NOT helpful for me to read war stories during my recovery and it produced much the same effect for me, in that it made me more anxious. I must confess that I read this forum selectively at first, but every so often, I'd indulge in reading the posts of "chronic" DP/DR sufferers who claimed that they'd been having intense symptoms for years. There is definitely a small group of malingerers out there who like to tell horror stories about spending years in DP/DR without recovering. They are a distinct minority and I suspect they embellish more than a bit. Unfortunately, they also spend a LOT of time online and I believe they are over-represented in the DP/DR recovery community. I personally visit this forum every few months, to answer any new questions regarding my posts, but I am no longer a "regular."

I come back occasionally because I am grateful for the help that was provided to me by people in this forum and to bear witness to the fact that almost all people recover 100% and that recovery can happen fairly quickly if you work at it.


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## partiedtoohard

ManOnTheSilverMountain said:


> I'm really glad to hear that mitchellottawa completely recovered after a week. I'm sure some people do recover that quickly. However, I'm also pretty sure the average time to complete recovery is closer to 3 months for most people who really work at it....longer if you already had anxiety issues. That's not to say that I was in complete hellish DP/DR for three months. What I mean is that I thought about it daily and had fairly regular symptoms during that period. By six months, my symptoms completely disappeared and I no longer thought about my OD or my experience with DP/DR on any kind of regular basis. Once I recovered, I did post my recovery story in the Recovery Story forum.
> 
> My intent wasn't to frighten people into thinking that they'll spend months freaking out. I certainly didn't. However, I did really struggle for the first few months, although I also still went to work at a demanding professional job and was able to function more than adequately.
> 
> I can also sympathize with mitchellottawa's feelings about reading too many DP/DR war stories. It was NOT helpful for me to read war stories during my recovery and it produced much the same effect for me, in that it made me more anxious. I must confess that I read this forum selectively at first, but every so often, I'd indulge in reading the posts of "chronic" DP/DR sufferers who claimed that they'd been having intense symptoms for years. There is definitely a small group of malingerers out there who like to tell horror stories about spending years in DP/DR without recovering. They are a distinct minority and I suspect they embellish more than a bit. Unfortunately, they also spend a LOT of time online and I believe they are over-represented in the DP/DR recovery community. I personally visit this forum every few months, to answer any new questions regarding my posts, but I am no longer a "regular."
> 
> I come back occasionally because I am grateful for the help that was provided to me by people in this forum and to bear witness to the fact that almost all people recover 100% and that recovery can happen fairly quickly if you work at it.


Silver, would you mind if we talked personally when you get some extra time? I have a few questions I would like to ask you. I have skype or can use something else if you prefer. Thanks man .


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## ManOnTheSilverMountain

Partiedtoohard, go ahead and send me a private message using this forum's Messenger functionality. I'll respond to it.


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## stryjak11

Sent OP a message


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