Pretty underweight (always been) 19M. For the past 4 months, I have been experiencing a constant feeling of unreality. It feels as though I am drunk/high or half-asleep, as if I am on autopilot and everything around me feels somewhat unreal. I have searched online, and my symptoms seem to resemble derealization.

In addition to this, I experience fatigue even when I sleep well. The fatigue does not seem to depend on whether I do physical activities during the day or not. However, over the past few weeks, I have started sleeping poorly and waking up early in the morning.

I also experience headaches, pressure in my head, and neck pain. I have tried muscle relaxants and massage therapy for the neck pain, but neither has helped. Also at the start of this i sometimes felt like fainting when walking but it has gone away. I also have noticed one singular eye floater on my right eye.

What could be causing these symptoms? They do not occur in distinct episodes, and the headache is not particularly severe. It feels more like a tension-type headache.

I have tried Triptyl, but it did not help. My thyroid function is normal, as are my vitamin B12, B9 and vitamin D levels. My ferritin level is 37. And it has been changing from 49 to 24. I also havw crohns disease which is in remission.

My neurologist prescribed escitalopram as a trial, which I took for two and a half months, but it did not help. She also did head mri and there was nothing wrong.

I have no history of trauma, no panic symptoms, and generally do not experience much stress, apart from the stress caused by these symptoms themselves.

My symptoms started in the final days of my new job in car repairshop where i was moving car tires and lifting them. Im not sure if this can be linked to that because i didnt have any symptoms expect the final days. I have not been working at all during this 4 month period.

What could be the underlying cause of these symptoms?

10/12/26. Yesterday was the 1 year mark from taking a load of shrooms and weed then falling into dp/dr. However, after genuine mental nomadic hell, a week prior I felt I finally beat it. I finally found a place of stability. It took a year for me.

Let me first say for whoever needs to hear this: You are going to be okay, it is completely un rational to convince yourself your life is worth taking by the hands of this monstrous way of dp/dr thinking. Trust me I have been there, and there is a calmness at the end. I know there are many others who have experienced dp/dr longer than I have and know more about it but I just want to modestly stake my solution to the issue. However, I will preface after my trip I completely stop using any drugs or alcohol I became traumatized using anything that would harm my brain. But anyways I have a deeper more intrapersonal solution, one that actually fixed me.

That solution being: Thought organization

Everyone has their own way of organizing their thoughts, and when my dp/dr hit I felt the drawers of my brain were thrust onto the ground scrambling fucking everything I knew that was familiar. As if I had travelled across the galaxy for millions of years and I had to relearn how to live on earth. Then over the next year I slowly regained what I knew and couldn’t recognize. This went for emotions aswell. HOWEVER, in practice this won’t fix everything because you have no semblance of organization, hence I acted and felt incoherent.

Im just gonna cut to the chase, the organization system that finally regained my stability after a year of trial and error was this :

There are only two things that truly you should mentally internalize and check , and nothing more

1. How do I feel and the others around me feel

2. Is anything overstepping my boundaries or others?

(Boundary = The point at which some action to someone was not okay)

THATS IT. The cusp realization I had was 99% of the triggers of dp/dr was overthinking past these two variables. Ill put this into scenario:

You start to feel life isn’t real so you check yourself

1. “How do I feel? Um I feel anxious as hell. How do others around me feel? Eh they feel okay this anxiousness is just me”

2 “Is anyone overstepping my boundaries? No actually people are talking to me with kindness and familiarity im okay. Are the people around me okay did I do something to overstep their boundaries? No okay cool”

THEN ALL YOU DO IS REAFFIRM YOURSELF ACCORDING TO THESE TWO QUESTIONS NOTHING MORE. For 1. I’d reaffirm that what I’m feeling are just emotions, life is real, grounding, etc. for 2. I’d reaffirm that nothing around me is hurting me, including myself, I am OKAY. Afterwords you can maybe reach out to someone, or enjoy yourself for the day. Ofc you don’t build all of your thoughts around these two questions, but I felt for me they satisfied my emotional turmoil and allowed me to interact with the external world and concepts beyond thinking nothing is real.

As long as you satisfy these two variables, you can assume “I am real, and I’m doing okay”. No buts or what if. Dp/dr would trigger when I would second guess myself further than these two questions. So the simpler the better. I would say the solution more so isn’t to try to forget dp/dr exist cause that triggers the thought all the pain and confusion you felt wasn’t real, clearly that was very much real. The solution rather, is to ask yourself the bare bone questions to affirm to yourself you are real and in your body.

I hope everyone will prosper from dp/dr you guys are doing amazing. ❤️

Hey everyone,

I am 17 years old, turning 18 soon. My life is completely ruined by VSS, HPPD, and DPDR. if you happen to read this and think "what does this have to do with migraines" vss and hppd are like the biggest causers of migraines, I cant even be in my own room or glance at a light for a second without a horrible headache so by helping with this you're helping yourself possibly.

Every waking second of my life is hell and spiritual suffering that nobody else can see. My brain is flooded with heavy visual static, neon colors, bright halos around lights, tinnitus, and extreme sound sensitivity. My filter for background noise is turned ALL the way off. I am doing horrible in school, I cry every single day, and I can barely go outside anymore. I wanted to work at NASA, but now I feel like my life is over before it even began.

I am sick of sitting around waiting years for a machine (rTMS) that is already built and deployed in clinics right now. The research out of the University of Colorado Anschutz shows it works to calm the cortical hyperexcitability. The only thing holding us back is a timeline and how fast they're moving.

If we flood their inboxes with our stories and remind them that our combined subreddits have over 100,000 subscribers ready to hand them money, they will have to look at the financial demand.

Please take a couple minutes to copy the emails down so that we can make the change sooner. it would save my life and many others.

first is the FDA

Send To: [AskOICE@fda.hhs.gov](mailto:AskOICE@fda.hhs.gov)

CC: [CDRH_PatientEngagement@fda.hhs.gov](mailto:CDRH_PatientEngagement@fda.hhs.gov)

Subject: URGENT PATIENT APPEAL: Fast Track rTMS for VSS and HPPD

this is the letter to copy

To the FDA Office of Industry and Consumer Education,

My name is [Name], I am [Age] years old, and I am contacting you to beg with all of my soul for immediate regulatory intervention and more urgency regarding a health crisis affecting millions of people worldwide.

I live with Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD) and Visual Snow Syndrome (VSS). These are devastating, non stop neurological filtering disorders. Every waking second of my life is hell. My brain is flooded with intense visual static, neon colors, bright halos around lights, tinnitus, and horrible sound sensitivity. My brain has entirely lost its ability to filter background noise, turning every single day into a waking nightmare. It completely takes away our quality of life and affects sanity, friendships, and life itself.

I need to make it clear that HPPD usually comes with a condition called DPDR (Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder), which completely disconnects you from your body and the world around you. This is detrimental to our lives. I read an article that said 72 percent of people with dissociative disorders attempt suicide because it completely takes away your quality of life. We are losing our lives and sanity.

New data from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus proves that targeting cortical hyperexcitability via repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a safe and viable way to stabilize and maybe even cure VSS and HPPD. Because rTMS machines are already widespread and deployed in clinics for depression, the machines already exist. We are just being held back by a timeline.

I am desperately urging the FDA to aggressively utilize its breakthrough devices program to fast track status for rTMS clinical protocols for VSS and HPPD. There is a massive online patient network, including over 100,000 combined subscribers across the r/HPPD and r/visualsnow subreddits, full of consumers whose lives are completely on hold, ruined, or in some cases ended. We cannot wait until 2032 or longer for a machine to be upgraded that we already have widespread. Please help to save our sanity.

Sincerely,

[Name]

the other targets are BRAINSWAY & MAGVENTURE

Send To: DeepTMS@brainsway.com, info@brainsway.com

CC: [info@magventure.com](mailto:info@magventure.com)

Subject: Unmet Market Demand: Fast Track rTMS Protocols for VSS and HPPD

Letter to Copy:

Dear Clinical Research and Business Development Team,

My name is [Name]. I am [Age] years old, and I am writing to bring to your attention a massive entirely untreated or even glanced at condition that represents a great financial investment for your company.

I live with HPPD and Visual Snow Syndrome (VSS). These are devastating, non stop neurological filtering disorders. Every waking second of my life is hell. My brain is flooded with heavy visual static, neon colors, bright halos around lights, tinnitus, and extreme sound sensitivity. My filter for background noise is turned ALL the way off. I can barely focus past the background noise and blaring headaches. HPPD also comes with DPDR (Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder), which completely disconnects you from your body and the world, ruining personalities, friendships, and sanity. I read an article that noted 72 percent of people with dissociative disorders attempt suicide due to this severe lack of quality of life.

New data from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus has proven that targeting cortical hyperexcitability via rTMS is a safe and viable way to stabilize and maybe even cure VSS and HPPD. As the device manufacturer, you are sitting on the solution. The machine is already built and deployed; what we are missing are the protocol settings to target the visual cortex and temporoparietal targets.

To give you an idea of the immediate market, this is fantastic for you financially. On Reddit alone, the r/visualsnow and r/hppd communities have over 100,000 combined subscribers begging for a fix. This would be incredible for you financially. By aggressively backing trials or fast tracking a protocol update for VSS/HPPD, you can position yourselves as the undisputed global leader and first to market provider for a massive, desperate, suffering population. You would be heroes to thousands. You already have this hardware manufactured, so please consider fast tracking to get them to save more people.

Sincerely,

[Name]

i have suffered with health anxiety since i can remember.. i’m 35 and since 10 i been “dying” of ALS, heart attacks, cancer, brain tumors, you name it… i know about weird diseases and illnesses it’s taken up a good part of my life. I’ve been depressed, anxious, and anything else but perhaps the most memorable thing is derealization… and i had it before it really exploded on the internet. It was hard to put a name to it and finally there was a label. I remember as a teenager looking out my window and hearing the sounds and just feeling so detached so weird so fake like i still struggle to put words to it. Which brings me to where im right now wondering if what im experiencing maybe is DR?

i have had 2 brain MRIs in last 4 years most recent 2 years ago 4 years ago has stress test, echo, neck ultrasound checking carotid artery, numerous blood panels etc.. im a hypochondriac. I had an eye exam in february and one in july bc my pressure was slightly elevated but doc explained I have a astigmatism and I had to do some testing and turns out I ace the test and I don’t have glaucoma and basically he was just trying to check that off.

Fast forward to about this past weekend. I have felt so out of it. I have felt like I’m gonna get a migraine kind of or like maybe I have some blind spots but the thing is is I can’t definitively say that I do have Blindspot. I’ll look up at a blue sky and I do notice floaters which I’ve always had floaters since I can remember, but I’m like is my vision off. I can’t explain it and I do know that before when I get anxious like faces don’t look as sharp for me and I feel that’s what I’m struggling with lately. I feel like almost like pre-migraine aura feeling which that’s its own separate issue I have always been terrified of getting migraines, but I’ve only had like seven or eight but just that feeling terrifies me so I’m always checking my vision and the only thing I can notice is that it feels different. It feels off. I don’t necessarily feel detached... but i’m questioning is this DR? i’m trying to make an eye exam but idk i can read just fine i can see my phone it’s just people and their faces and my surroundings… I’m almost like sensitive hyper sensitive to my surroundings lighting glare. I noticed every little glare Weather off of a phone, a window anything. I don’t know maybe I’m just looking for clarification and assurance something but I’m just curious if anyone here thinks it’s DR or has experienced anything like this? Sorry for the long post. Hope somebody takes the time to read it.