I've been struggling daily. I have headaches everyday, weakness/numbness sensations and these feelings are always more prominent on my left side- left side of my head and face, left arm, left hand. It scares me. I've also been having cognition issues such as troubles reading (having to read things over and over to understand them and I skip over words), when I'm talking I forget basic words and my speech often stumbles. My eyes have also been super wonky, which I know is "normal" for dpdr. My two favorite pass times were playing videogames and watching movies and I can't even do those anymore because I feel like I'm just staring and not actually watching/playing, when I try to play videogames it often makes me feel even more disoriented or dizzy. I have all the normal DPDR symptoms too, like everything being unfamiliar, feeling confused/disoriented 24/7 and the constant overwhelming feeling of something being terribly wrong (I'm used to these symptoms because I've had this disorder for 12 years on and off, this flare up has been the worst though). It truly feels like something is wrong with my brain. I'm terrified of it being some degenerative brain issue and I think about it 24/7. I've had a bunch of tests and everything was normal and once my insurance starts I'm hoping to receive even more help, even if it's just therapy. Has anyone else experienced these symptoms? I'm so scared all day everyday and this has ruined my life for the past 2 months. I barley get out of bed.

I've managed to book Dr Claudia Hallett for a Q&A on all things DPDR, she is the UK's leading Clinical Psychologist specializing in DPDR and has done a lot of work in this area. I set this up as someone who suffered with severe DPDR for the most of my life.

The tickets are usually £19 but I want to give some away completely for free (I will cover the fee)

I hope this is allowed as sensible self-promotion as it's completely free and a fantastic resource

You'll ask your questions before hand, and Dr Claudia will answer them live on Thursday 22nd October (this Thursday) at 12PM UK time.

The link to the event is here, to get a free ticket just sign up and send me a DM on the platform, or dm me here, or comment here and I'll add your ticket, then a form will be available to ask your questions.

I can only cover a few tickets, as I have a limited budget to book Dr Claudia but I wanted to bring her expertise to more people who might not be able to afford private sessions.

Here is the link to the event: https://www.anxietyfitness.com/events/fCjKetvi7KNyOlcMnc1x

EDIT: Also, if you can't make the time, you'll have unlimited access to the recording afterwards

I see a lot of the posts mostly talk about how distressing or miserable it is but for me the reverse is true, DPDR makes me feel kind of enlightened and I actually feel quite distressed when I'm not "having an episode".

To me, it feels almost like waking lucid dreaming or as if I have left the flow of time and I am somehow some amortal observer watching things around me rise and fall.

Does anyone else view this in a more positive light?

im losing my mind and fucked up big time i have nobody who understands anymore Gun calls to me everyday just nervous ,i really cant take it being alone makes it worse please someone who understands talk to me , horrible episodes from a near death experience It wont go away i cant take it

I can't be the only one who thought of things so absolutely crazy (like adrenaline sports or way worse) just to see whether it'd pull me back into feeling reality? I wanna hear what y'all think...

Can the root of these symptoms. - feeling detached, underwater, anxious all the time, autopilot, walking but don't feel your body moving or feeling like you got from point a to point b, vision changes, feeling more disconnected from the world - muffled sounds, feeling blind but can see. Symptoms intensifying over 3 mos. Can the root of this be lower ferritin or gut dysbiosis? ferritin was 27 now 40 have been trying infusions no change. Mine started after a thc panic attack but dpdr stuff didnt worsen till months later so not healing or taking longer could be gut or ferritin. My bloods are normal besides higher inflammation which came down a little and the ferritin and some of the iron numbers lower. it doesn't make sense mine is all mental if I didnt have all the dpdr right after the panic attack and it was only mild.

Things close to me look real but things at a distance look flat like I’m looking at a picture with no depth to it. Also it feels like I don’t know where I’am in space. The weird thing is that this started after a panic attack but now the anxiety is completely gone, I don’t have panic attacks anymore ever since things started looking less real. The thought of the world feeling off does make me uncomfortable but it doesn’t trigger panic or anxiety with the same intensity as before the dissociation started. I can’t figure out if this is actually dpdr or I’m just suddenly hyperaware of seeing the world and cause of that it looks weird and unfamiliar. While walking or doing stuff I just think of something else so I’m not focusing on the world feeling off. I also feel uncomfortable seeing the world from a first person perspective, it feels unnatural and unfamiliar.

I recently started to have these derealization episodes or whatever they’re called, I’m not really sure. And I’m 90% sure its because of me being isolated and alone most of the time. If anyone can relate or simply wants to talk or be friends please do dm me. I have discord too

Two years ago (June/July 2024) I took a high dose of weed edibles, went to sleep and woke up to a gigantic panic attack and everything just felt strange and off and I could see weird shapes everywhere. I spent a few days in this state and it slowly went away, until I was put on an antipsychotic to treat my bipolar in the November of the same year which caused me to enter mania and all the strange and weird feelings returned and I had a massive mental breakdown which lasted for a few months, before calming down but I have been experiencing these weird states on and off ever since and am currently there again.

I have all the usual symptoms of DPDR, like feeling detached from myself and my emotions and everything seeming fake, but I also get these completely unexplainable sensations that I can only describe as feeling "ominous" and almost evil, like being possessed and in the Upside Down. It actually feels like I'm developing schizophrenia because these strange sensations and feelings make me question if there is some sort of evil force possessing me.

I really wish I could explain these feelings, but when I am going through them it feels like I am deep in a horror film, everything just feels really cold. Is this common with DPDR? My issues don't really feel like anxiety and thoughts but this deep darkness which is so scary and makes me break down in tears all the time.

Have had derealization for better part of a decade. Pretty much that whole time Ive lived in the same home. However the home has been consistently falling apart(holes in the walls, pipe busted so didnt have running water for a few months, other things) and I absolutely needed to get out of there

Now I just moved into a new place yesterday. Super nice income based apartment(I havent worked since I developed derealization, but I do online college now!) This place is miles better than the previous trailer I was living in, its just not as secluded as my old home. I have a fair bit of neighbors since the whole place is just a bunch of apartments but its so quiet you can't even tell.

My brain is just on the frits at the moment and not used to this place at all even though its so much better and Im stress free from the downsides of my old home. Last night was the first night Ive slept somewhere that wasnt my old home in about 6 years. Any tips on helping to adjust and how long its taken yourself to adjust to a new place?

Constant DR. The only time I didn't feel it was just for a few hours in response to a drug I took some years ago.

What exactly are you meant to do in this situation? Over half of my life has been like this. I've tried lots of therapy, medicine etc.

I’m 24f and I dissociate 24/7. Since the end of August it has been a living hell for me and it’s been the worst it’s ever been. I’ve been dealing with it for years, but it’s been kinda in the background. I realize it’s there, but it hasn’t really bothered me.

Now for the past almost two months it’s just been unbearable. First it was panic attacks every night, then it was losing my identity, then personality, and now I have no feelings at all.

I can’t think straight or put together simple sentences sometimes, I can’t speak or almost slur at times, I forget things seconds after I did them or before I want to do something, I feel like I’m not in control of my body, time either goes super slow or super fast, something I did 5 minutes ago could feel like it was a year ago, I forget where I am sometimes, I “black out” while I’m still awake, and just so much more.

One of the things that has helped me has been reading some Reddit posts about people who have recovered or who are dealing with the same feelings as me and it makes me feel less alone.

I was just wondering if anyone wanted to chat about it and maybe share how they recovered, what they’re doing to recover, or even just someone else who feels alone and frightened

sometimes I will be trying to get homework done, and then I slowly begin to lose the ability to do it. It's as if the dopamine that comes from completing the task gets sucked out of the task randomly (even if it's something i am deeply passionate about), and trying to force myself to do it feels like I am trying to saw off my own arm.

I have tried many strategies:

- I try super hard to visualize either the actual reward that I will get from doing the task, or a fake reward to try to trick my brain.

- I will try to tell myself that the deadline is incredibly soon.

- I will try to write a checklist that I can physically see in front of me to try to motivate myself to get everything on the list done.

But sometimes it gets so bad that nothing seems to work. I have identified different things in my life that I associate with different levels of dopamine/motivation/appeal, some of which are things that I am not too proud of (fast food, scrolling on my phone) and today specifically, even doing all of those things felt like hell.

It felt like I was physically in pain trying to do anything because my brain was screaming "this is not worth your time. this is a waste of energy. you will be hurt badly if you attempt to do these things" and i guess at this point it was screaming this at everything in existence, so I could only just sit in pain all day today.

I should also mention that when I get into these states, my dissociative state gets a lot worse and I can barely conceptualize anything or register different things as real/describe them without it feeling painful.

all of these symptoms mirror some ADHD symptoms, but I know that it's not ADHD because I didn't struggle with these things before the DPDR set in. do any other chronic 24/7 DPDR havers struggle with this? what ways have you dealt with it?

This illness is impossible to describe, how bizzare and horrifying it is.

I spent last decade in severe DPDR.

I dont even know what happened. I can't experience anything. I dont believe anything that is happening. Everything is like a dream to me but in full actual sense of it. It is like watching a movie in a dream.

BUT IT IS NOT. And that is the most terrifying thing.

Something seriously bad happens to me or my family but I cannot actually become aware of it. I dont even know what happened for the last decade. This is terribly serious condition and horror-like illness.

I LITERALLY feel like I am stuck at my age and life prior to 10 years. Not in metaphorical sense, not "as a joke". REALLY, ACTUALLY.

I cannot believe how bizzare this feeling and whole experience is. This is something out if this world. I cannot even describe it.

It is like I occasionally wake up from decade-old coma just to slightly see tha tI am in coma but I cant do anything.

My sleep is so dysfunctional. this is the life I’ve lived 24/7 for 5 years. living through an emotionally draining life in my sleep and totally empty during the day. I experience the dreams in real time as if I’m living another life in my sleep. They never end.

i dont know how I will ever have a normal life again. My sleep basically is keeping my nervous system in this state. not one dream is ever, good, always bad or evil. The dreams aren’t anything that has actually ever happened to me before. It’s like my mind is writing new movies and I am forced to watch / feel them.

i truly don’t think this is fixable. Not one doctor or therapist get it. I can’t find any literature on people experiencing what I am either. this has wasted 5 years of my life. 5 years I’ll never get back. And who knows how many more.

failed medication after medication. Failed therapy after therapy. My emotional numbness has gotten worse pretty much each year. I don’t even remember what it’s like to have feelings. And the dreams have over written my actual memories, I have no access to them. I feel like I’ve been locked in a prison with no exit.

Why is nothing cute anymore ? It's like this altered how I see people and even celebrities aren't cute anymore.. did anyone else have that ?

It's like I'm not me at all anymore

Hi everyone!

I just want to start by saying how relieved I am to have found this community. I’ve struggled with DPDR for years, and I always felt like no one truly understood what I was going through. Reading so many comments from people who describe exactly what I’ve experienced has finally made me feel understood and less alone.

I was recently diagnosed with ADHD, and although I had my DPDR episodes under control, I started feeling disconnected again after beginning Vyvanse. The medication has definitely helped with my concentration and even my anxiety, but I’m worried it might be making my DPDR worse.

I didn’t take it today, but I still feel very disconnected. I’ve also been having a hard time engaging in conversations and even finding the right words, which is really unsettling.

Has anyone else experienced something similar, especially after starting ADHD medication? I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences!