# Is this DP? Please help



## Guest (Mar 14, 2006)

Hey there, my name is Matt..

About three weeks ago I developed a set of symptoms that have been very hard to deal with and get treatment for, I was wondering if anyone has been through this and does it sound like DP/DR?

I have suffered with mostly dormant OCD and Anxiety for about 10 years now, but I have never experienced anything like this;

It all started with lightheadedness and a seizure like feeling, and ever since then I have woken up with a headache, feeling really anxious and spaced out for no particular reason with feelings of extreme un-reality, I have these obsessive uncontrollable racing thoughts in the background of my mind that seem to focus on the nature of my own mind and mortality, they cause great anxiety and some are slightly irrational, they seem to change my perception on how I view the world each day... for example I was ruminating today that free will is an illusion because the mind is contitioned by genetics and past experience and this caused great anxiety. I had ruminations about the nature of time and how the human brain functions within it, and I constantly analyse everything in my own mind and worry that certain thoughts mean that I am dementing or going psychotic. I can't seem to stop the thoughts and they even occur when I am going about my daily buisness. The unreality changes and certain things in my enviroment seem to spin me out depending on what my mind is ruminating about. btw I have had a clear CAT scan with contrast and blood tests done.

Could anyone shed any light on this? It is the scariest time of my life, I don't feel like myself anymore and I can't find any medical help..

Matt


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## LOSTONE (Jul 9, 2005)

Matt I don't think that you need to worry about going insane because you sound pretty sane to me. I think that you probably do have DP/DR. Many of the thoughts that you say you are haveing, I have also had. The feelings of DP/DR can make you start asking yourself all kinds of crazy questions but I think that is just because of the intensity of the DP/DR.



> I constantly analyse everything in my own mind and worry that certain thoughts mean that I am dementing or going psychotic. I can't seem to stop the thoughts and they even occur when I am going about my daily buisness.


I think that many of us on dpselfhelp have these kinds of thoughts. I came up with some very crazy ideas because of this kind of thought process that I will not even mention because they were so crazy. The fact that you realize that these thoughts are strange and not normal is how I know that you are not truely insane because if you were insane then you would think that these kinds of thoughts were totally normal. I bet that you have a lot of paranoia and I think that you need to try and keep calm about these thoughts because stressing youself out about this will only make you feel much worse. Matt if there is anything that you learn from dpselfhelp it will be that you are not alone and that we are all going through this and many of us are able to live pretty normal lives. I hope that you stick around dpselfhelp because you will learn alot about DP/DR just by reading the peoples posts around here.


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## Guest (Mar 14, 2006)

Lostone,

Thankyou for the reassurance, it really does help to know that others experience this. In my studies at my local library a few days ago I couldn't find any literature on a mental illness that even is close (apart from anxiety I guess) to what I have gone through, and it is hard to get treatment when most of the mental health professionals here where I live don't even know that dp disorder exists. Once again thankyou, it is good to know that I am not alone in this.

On another note yesterday I read on the forum that Dr Claire Weekes book 'help and hope for your nerves' is really helpful to DP sufferers. I happen to have a copy at home that I haven't read yet that I have had for 5 years, the irony! I actually bought some of her audio cassettes as well a while ago from a direct relative of Dr Weekes, a lady who was selling Claires work from her home. I live in Canberra Australia, and I believe it was Canberra or Sydney that Claire worked out of. It is great that this extraordanary lady is so popular all over the world! A true saint in my eyes for the anxiety community.

Anyway, thanks again Mate.

Matt


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## Guest (Mar 27, 2006)

Wow this is exactly how I feel! I'm so relieved to know it's just dp/dr, because I had the same feelings of anxiety because of the thoughts I get. I also ruminate often about everything, the nature of existance, that sort of thing. What helps me also is to think this: if you worry you're going crazy then you aren't crazy. Because, like the person said, if you just accepted the thoughts as real then you could be crazy but since you can distinguish then you're not. I hope you get the help you need.


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## LOSTONE (Jul 9, 2005)

Lateralus it is actually very commen for people around here to think that they are going crazy or something. It is due mostly to the anxiety but also because the side effects of DP/DR are so strange.


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