# One year after getting DP - How I've dealt with it



## melbdp (Jul 20, 2016)

Hey guys,

So I realised the other week that it's been officially a year since the onset of my DP/DR. I haven't recovered, but I thought I might come back to this page after months of not thinking about it and make a post about my progress - to try and help some of you try and manage this condition better.

Just like most of you mine started after a severe panic attack after drug use. The next few weeks were the same old story - wake up, feel like im in a dream, scan myself for new or different symptoms, read posts on this website - repeat. I spent everyday feeling so anxious and depressed over this condition... the irony is that being anxious and depressed led to this condition.

Anyway, I've come a very long way since then which I don't think I would've done without this condition, and I'm kind of glad i've got it in a weird way.

Things that have helped me deal with it:

- Exercise, this was crucial for me. It allowed me to reconnect with my body and begin to feel again - basically killing DP for me and leaving me with just DR

- Music, find music you love and enjoy, music you can relate to, and music that makes you want to dance

- TV and video, seriously such a good distraction and gives you something to focus on

- Study, find something you're interested in, anything! get passionate about something and learn everything about it. For me this was cars, before DP/DR I knew nothing about cars - now I have a car in my driveway that I love, and everytime I get to drive it I completely forget about this condition

- Get a job, Working was so important for me. It gave me a sense of purpose, something to distract me, and a reason to get out of the house and a tool to achieve goals that require money (such as travel, or nights out, or material things that I want to buy)

- A change of mindset. Before DP I was so negative about everything, smoking weed to try and mask bad thoughts etc etc. fast forward a year and I'm the happiest I've ever been. Not really sure when this happened, but I just stopped paying attention to the bad things, and absorbing the beauty in the world. Now, 90% of the time my heads full of positive thoughts

- Smoking, Drinking, and drugs. You're probably thinking wtf. And I by no means advocate this, but these 3 things have helped me fight my DP/DR. Since I've had it, I've put myself in lots of situations where my DP has become very intense because of drug experiences, and then I've ridden them out and kept myself calm throughout them only to realise a week later that a bit more of the fog has lifted. My theory is that while on some drugs the DP/DR feeling skyrockets, but then comes back down afterwards. It helps your brain realise it's not something to fear as it's malleable and forever changing along a spectrum of intensity. So your levels of anxiety towards it diminish, and since - for the most part- DP/DR is anxiety based, it's levels diminish

HOWEVER use drugs at your own risk, there's no guarantee as to how you'll react - so if you do decide to try this, have small doses at first and only do it if your gut tells you (please no hate for saying this, I'm simply stating how this helped me reduce my anxiety)

- Do things that make you feel anxious! similar to my last point, but if you face a fear and come out alive, then you'll probably fear it less. If you conquer everything that you feel anxious towards, then you may find you no longer feel anxious (meaning less DP/DR). When this started I could barely leave my house. Now I spend barely any of my time at home, I'm too busy living my life regardless of what DP/DR tells me.

Sorry for the ramble, but just thought I'd share my experience and hopefully I can help at least one person going through a dark time with this see that it can get better!

Feel free to hit me up with any questions


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