2year 8 months clean hahaha

Hey man I’m really glad to hear your doing well. Right now I’m at 55 days. Right now my symptoms are as follows

Depression
Anxiety
Insomnia
Nightmares
Weird tingling in my body

And finally dissociation/derealisation/depersonalisation.
DPDR

I HATE THE DPDR. Has that symptom is particular gotten better for you? Like I can handle the other symptoms but this one is just terrible. My concept of time is completely out the window. I feel like I’m in a dream or like reality isn’t real. I’ve kinda lost my sense of self as well and my love for the people in my life. Please please please tell me it gets better.

Sherwood1999 wrote:Hey man I’m really glad to hear your doing well. Right now I’m at 55 days. Right now my symptoms are as follows

Depression
Anxiety
Insomnia
Nightmares
Weird tingling in my body

And finally dissociation/derealisation/depersonalisation.
DPDR

I HATE THE DPDR. Has that symptom is particular gotten better for you? Like I can handle the other symptoms but this one is just terrible. My concept of time is completely out the window. I feel like I’m in a dream or like reality isn’t real. I’ve kinda lost my sense of self as well and my love for the people in my life. Please please please tell me it gets better.

Yup. Been there (actually, Im still there). For me it's the same, I can handle everything, even my panic attacks, provided there's no DP/DR!!! I hate that!! I also feel spaced out, like everything is unreal, like Im not real and everything is a dream. It's just very disturbing. It does get better though. I actually had panic disorder 18 years ago, and lasted for 3 years. Then, I got better and it all disappeared. I had happy life for 18 years until 6 months ago, when an unfortunate incident triggered everything back!! Im back at square one (panic disorder, anxiety, agoraphobia, depression, and the DP/DR feelings).

At the moment, I havent had a panic attack in almost 3 months, The DP/DR is less intenste, and lasts only a couple seconds , sometimes some minutes, but it's fading. What you have to do is whenever you feel it, just ride it out. Don't try to escape it, don't try to stop it or dont distract yourself. I know this sounds counterintuitive but if you stay with it, it will fade away. DP/DR is just a symptom of anxiety. Your mind is EXHAUSTED from all the anxiety and depression, so that is actually nature's way to dissocitate for a while. I recommend you read the book "At last a life" from paul david. It might help you. Stay strong! We're all on the same boat, we have to stay positive and have courage, and face the fears!!

I appreciate the advice but I haven’t had a single panic attack yet. But I still feel the DPDR 24/7 non stop every second of every day man. I barely recognise my family or myself in the mirror! And on top of that everything feels like a dream. It’s horrific. The last time I had a panic attack was years ago. I started feeling dpdr after 1.5 months into quitting weed for no reason.

Sherwood1999 wrote:I appreciate the advice but I haven’t had a single panic attack yet. But I still feel the DPDR 24/7 non stop every second of every day man. I barely recognise my family or myself in the mirror! And on top of that everything feels like a dream. It’s horrific. The last time I had a panic attack was years ago. I started feeling dpdr after 1.5 months into quitting weed for no reason.

Sorry to hear about that. DP/DR is a very common symptom of Marijuana use. That's exactly how I got mine. I wasn't even a pot user, I just tried it once and got DP/DR, panic attacks, and anxiety. About 2-3 months after I tried it, I started having anxiety and panic attacks, etc. At the beginning I thought I was having flashbacks, because it felt as if I was high again. But then I learned that DP/DR is a symptom of anxiety and panic attacks. So, what you need to do is learn how to relax a bit, because DP/DR is anxiety and anxiety is DP/DR. The more relaxed you are and the less anxious you are, the less DP/DR you will get. Learn belly breathing exercices, that will help in relaxing you.

For me, it's fading away. I only get it when I leave my house (because I have agoraphobia too), so for me, panic attacks mean DP/DR. Whenever I feel DP/DR I start to panic and then I get a fulll blown attack. However, I had 2 DP/DR episodes a couple weeks ago without panicking, so I just accepted the feeling, and kept doing what I was doing without entering into panic mode. The more you accept the feeling, the less disturbing it will get. It's not easy, it's not comfortable, and it's not fast. This stuff requires time and patience. That is how I overcame it 18 years ago and that is how I will overcome it this time.
Meditate, do yoga, go for a run, go swimming, read books, eat healthy, socialize, and stay positive. We have no other choice but to do all that. 18 years ago, I overcame panic disorder and agoraphobia in 6-12 months, and I was left with "just panic attacks" that were random, but I wouldn't feel frightened about having another one (and I did have other attacks), and the DP/DR were just during the panic attacks. It took me another 2 years to completely heal of panic attacks and I waved good-bye to panic disorder, agoraphobia, anxiety and DP/DR for good (or so I thought). Unfortunately, 6 months ago I tried a chocolate that had mushrooms in it (I didn't know it hat shrooms in it or else I would have never tried it) and now I got it all back: Anxiety, panic disorder with agoraphobia, depression and episodes of DP/DR... The only different thing Im doing now is trying medication, because I didnt really feel any improvement in 6 months. So perhaps medication will be the "crutch" that will help me "walk well again"...

Thanks for the insight man. Glad to hear you were able to overcome the feeling. You’re right. I need to learn acceptance no matter how uncomfortable the symptoms and weird feelings that accompany dpdr. Acceptance and distraction. Thanks for taking the time to respond I really appreciate it. Hope we both make a full recovery.

Sherwood1999 wrote:Thanks for the insight man. Glad to hear you were able to overcome the feeling. You’re right. I need to learn acceptance no matter how uncomfortable the symptoms and weird feelings that accompany dpdr. Acceptance and distraction. Thanks for taking the time to respond I really appreciate it. Hope we both make a full recovery.

Let's just remember that nothing is forever. Every day has a night, every ying has a yang, and every life has an end. Everything in this life is temporary, and this too shall pass at some point. It greatly depends on us how long it will last. We have to make lot of effort and put a lot of work on our recovery, but it is possible. Have a look at this book: Recovering from Marijuana Induced Depersonalization and Derealization: A Practical Guide

Final word of advice: STOP GOOGLING your symptoms. Stop obsessively reading forum after forum. A little bit of reading forums is OK but give yourself a couple weeks to read enough material and then STOP. Start living your life as normal as possible, and that is how this thing will fade away... Stay strong and good luck!

Glad to hear your doing well!
Keep on track mate and don't be afraid of getting backlashes, that's normal, just have a higher purpose to strive for!

I'm 2.6 years sober and indian too.lol

45 days clean and I feel like I’m going to forget to breathe ..have panic attacks. Went to the ER and they cant find anything wrong with me. I have migraines with aura and dp/dr if I had known cannabis causes this I never would have smoked that crap. This forum helps me know what it is because everyone says weed doesn’t do this. ..even doctors.

I've had DP/DR for years, without any chemicals or drugs. I can't stand it. I feel like I'll wake up at any moment and realize this has all been a dream. I still feel like I'm watching someone live my life, and not living it myself. It's been over 10 years like this.

AnnaK wrote:45 days clean and I feel like I’m going to forget to breathe ..have panic attacks. Went to the ER and they cant find anything wrong with me. I have migraines with aura and dp/dr if I had known cannabis causes this I never would have smoked that crap. This forum helps me know what it is because everyone says weed doesn’t do this. ..even doctors.

Yes, lots of recreational drugs can trigger DP/DR. Doctors who say weed doesn't do this have obviously never smoked pot or even had a panic attack. What you are experiencing is Drug Induced Depersonalisation Syndrome. It could've been the side effect of a medication, or a traumatic incident, an accident, etc. But it will get better. You just need to be strong and very very patient. Im 9 months clean and I recently started venturing into the outside world. I was terrified of leaving my home and when I did, I did it with great distress. Now I am taking the bus on a 30 min. ride and going to my therapies all by myself. I have to say that my medication is also helping to keep me more relaxed and somehow I just feel less insecure. It could be the placebo efffect, but also a combination of my therapy, medication, sport, better nutrition, meditation, and the exposure therapy. Exposure therapy is very important and it can make all the difference little by litle to teach your amygdala that you're safe and that all is good. I recommend you read the following books: DARE by Barry McDonagh, Recovering from Marijuana Induced Depersonalization and Derealization: A Practical Guide (Kindle Edition), and At Last a Life by Paul David. Those books helped me greatly. I wish you the best in your recovery.

admmck81 wrote:I've had DP/DR for years, without any chemicals or drugs. I can't stand it. I feel like I'll wake up at any moment and realize this has all been a dream. I still feel like I'm watching someone live my life, and not living it myself. It's been over 10 years like this.

Have you read "At Last a Life" by Paul David? It might help you. He struggled for years with DP/DR as well and he provides very useful tecniques to cope with this horrible feeling. BUt just remember that it is a side effect of anxiety. The less anxious you are, the less DP/DR you will experience and at some point it will be just a bad memory. Hang in there, it does go away, but you need to accept the feeling, and ride with it, not letting it disturb you. Treat it as something not important and eventually your mind will know that it is indeed not important and will just go away. For me the DP/DR is what trigger my panic attacks, but I am learning to accept the feeling and not flee the situation, and I my DP/DR episodes are getting shorter every time and more spaced. Best of luck.