# DPDR for 7 years / many questions



## tM1337 (Mar 16, 2021)

Hello Guys!

I have registered here to search for answers. I would like to share my background here really briefly and hope that some people in the forum can help me. my English is not the best as it is not my mother tongue, please be aware.

*about my background*: I am now 23 years old, my parents divorced when I was 4, I always saw my father on the weekend. i have developed early fears through horror movies and shocker videos on the internet (5-12 years). my father is alcoholic and I have mixed feelings/memories. I didn't really have a real family life.

my mother has always worked full-time I was often at home alone with my brother until early in the evening. I have missed a lot of love and affection from my mother, you can still see that even today she has difficulties to show real love. I never had a deep relationship with my parents.

when I was 11 years old I started playing computer games, watching porn and satisfying myself. i have played in phases often 12 hours a day for several months. watching TV or playing computer for hours was my everyday life many years since I was 11 years old (that was probably a reaction to processing or fleeing in an unreal world)

so far to my background: these are probably already the traumas from my childhood? lack of affection from my parents and an aggressive father who is always drunk, as well as a disturbed family living (always eating alone at lunch, no one at home and often left on my own)

*how I got my dpdr*:

when I was 13 years old I started smoking.

from the age of 15 I started taking extasy and amphetamines, since I was 15 I smoked 4-5 bong heads every day.

I took amphetamine and extasy regularly at the age of 15 and I would say both at least 1 times a week.

every weekend I took extasy with 16 years, then with time also in the week. I was on drugs almost every day at school. in the morning at 6 o'clock before school i smoked a bong head and took extasy after school.

I have often taken 4 extasy tablets at once, after that I have to speed up and get stoned anyway, all at the age of 15-17 years.

for a while every day for 1 month I took at least one extasy tablet, permanently so to speak. smoked, occasionally drank alcohol and the amphetamines. I didn't do it all alone, but I was in a group a crew with 3-4 people. We met every day and hung out together

So I've done a lot of damage to my development: extreme amounts of extasy tablets and amphetamines from 15-17 years.

when I was 17 years old I had a panic attack and experienced a derealisation for the first time. i had a fight with my dad (at that time i lived with my dad) and ran away from home and gave me an extasy tablet.

then I got a panic attack after about 2 hours, but only for about 1 minute and the derealisation disappeared again. I didn't think anything of it (stupid as I was at that young age, completely naive), so I continued to consume as before.

About 3-4 weeks later I was at the club party. I took 2 extasy tablets, and was pretty much on it. when i wanted to follow up (another extasy tablet) the dealer told me he has nothing more. he came back after 15 minutes and said he still has something and gave me a capsule

this was not an extasy as it was also not a tablet but a capsule. i was too much on drugs to notice and took the capsule (huge mistake). as mentioned i had already taken 2 extasy tablet and speed. i do not know until today what was in there but i got the most violent derealisation and a mega panic attack (heart rate 200+?). I ran out of the club to the train station and was scared in front of everyone. everything moved twice as fast as before.

I was scared at every sound or touch. I threw myself on the ground and kept my ears closed because I couldn't stand it anymore. then I'm hooked up to a buddy there and the derealisation disappeared again. but this time it lasted for a few hours (estimated 2-4 hours).

3-4 weeks later I was in the club celebrating and taking an extasy tablet. but I got a flashback from the trip before after only a few minutes at the club and went to a buddy. the derelisation came back in the club for a few minutes. the derealisation only lasted for a few minutes and I smoked grass with my buddy until early in the morning. i think i even took an extasy tablet but i don't know that anymore.

*and then it happened:*
I went home with a buddy and I can only describe it this way: I was pushed out of my body into my head. I really noticed how I was being pushed into my head and stuck in my head. right but in my head I noticed my eyes or my field of vision got bigger, as if I could see more (perceive a size angle). it felt like I was just my eyes I was really caught in my head and then I got an extreme panic attack and thought I was dying now.

very important!: when I had previously 2 times the derealisation for a short time I did not have this feeling. I wasn't pulled into my head, I say. I did have the dp/dr but I didn't have the feeling that I only exist from my eyes. but this time I really noticed that I was stuck or completely detached from my body. this time it was different, the connection between me and my body had completely dissolved. yes before the connection was also disturbed (derealized) but this time it was really different.

*my life since the DP/DR*: I now have the DP/DR for 7 years 24/7. I have exactly the same feeling as back then that I only exist from my eyes. I'm not even really afraid of the DP/DR anymore I'm just used to it, but I can't get out of the DP. I worked for a time (6 months, and 2 times 3 months each), I did a lot of sports and just lived my life. I have only discovered this forum for half a year, I have actually never been on the internet and was searching for symptoms etc.

but the dp/dr just doesn't go away, I've read all kinds of theories or healing processes, but it just doesn't go away with me. Currently I do stretching exercises daily and mindfulness exercises, twice a week I do strength exercises, why doesn't the dp disappear? can it be that I have damaged my brain so much through this extreme drug use that I now have to live with it? that my brain can't recover from it or needs a lot of years?

*question:*
how can it be that I have it 24/7 for 7 years? 
what exactly is the problem? is it due to the dopamine/serotonin balance in the brain which has been extremely unbalanced by the drugs?
can it be that the drugs have destroyed my brain? 
distraction, sports etc has not worked in the long run. of course you feel better but the DP/DR is always there.

I often have a tingling or stinging of the meninges? Feels like that I have only since I got the derealisation. I often feel dizzy and it feels weird on my head (strong pressure). I also sometimes see shadows and when I look closer they disappear (HPPD symptoms).

can someone help me or give me advice? does anyone understand what's going on and why it lasts so long? feel pretty helpless and I feel like I've sucked in too much information about the whole thing and now I'm completely confused.


----------



## Findmywayhome (Oct 11, 2020)

I can relate to a degree.

I experienced a few dozen DPDR episodes throughout my life, and it mainly just felt like things were fake and what not. But now my DPDR is chronic, and it feels like you described; the connection between the self and the body completely dissolved. But thats as far as I can relate.

Im not an expert, so I cant give you any advice, but Id thought id let you know I read quite a lot of posts on here of people who have been completely healed from 24/7 DPDR after years or even decades, so its entirely possible that this could end for you, and you wont be stuck like this the rest of your life. If you keep trying to be as healthy as humanly possible in every sense, then thing might get better for you.

Best of luck


----------



## Bobjenkind (Jan 13, 2020)

I have the same symptoms almost like my dp feet different when I was smoking and then all of a sudden I snapped into a different feeling I have had it for four years.


----------



## tM1337 (Mar 16, 2021)

What i also dont understand is: im not worried about my symptoms. I never google or Search/think about my symptoms or if everything is real or not. I know 100% that everything is real and that my body is 100% me. I dont have any fear or racing thoughts about that and never had after i had the DP for a few days.

But why does it take so long to recover? I cant hold a Job cause i got anxiety but i can drive with my car even 100-200km a day and its no Problem for me. Also meeting my family and Playing some games together all day (10 hours) is no Problem. I mean i got extreme DP/DR but i got used to it.

Can it be that it is only anxiety what stops me from recovery? I dont have any Problems with derealisation tbh im more afraid of the anxiety feeling.. idk its weird just got used to the derealisation but i cant recover since 7 years non stop.

Somebody got an idea whats going on?


----------



## tM1337 (Mar 16, 2021)

Also i didnt find the root cause yet and have no idea how to find it out..


----------



## Bobjenkind (Jan 13, 2020)

Ya same here it’s annoying because some people say that they could be like 80 percent recovered but for me it’s like it’s there or it’s not but it’s always been there I have tried so many medications and all ssri do are help my anxiety and tiredness but that’s about it


----------



## Saschasascha (Dec 17, 2015)

The root cause MIGHT be a mix of: some form of dysfunctional attachment, lack of self love because of your parents didnt show you "real emotions", genetics, an anxious temperament in general. It is often a mix of factors.

But please take my words with a huge grain of salt, Im not an expert at all.


----------



## Num8Freak (Feb 27, 2021)

Hey,

first of all. Actually, everything is fine. You didn't destroy your Brain with the drugs. But after all these panic attacks, and then again panic attacks after the panic attacks, difficult childhood, your brain now always thinks he is in danger. So that's why you constantly in this protect mechanism 24/7, like me. Even when the threat is over. Don't know when our brains finally reset. A lack of serotonin can indeed cause that, but in the end DP/DR has nothing to do with it, neither with Dopamin. Dou you take medications? And if so, which ones?


----------

