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Lately I've been feeling very "spaced out", I guess you can say. I'm aware of my surroundings and can function okay, but I don't feel like I'm really there.
I've been doing some research and stumbled on derealization and depersonalization, and it seems to describe me. Well, more so derealization. I don't have symptoms like watching myself as if in a dream or floating, but just more so the spaced out "am I really here?" type feeling.
I saw that sleep deprivation, anxiety, depression can all cause this, which I know I suffer from depression and sleep deprivation. Anxiety never occured to me, but I have been feeling more anxious and panicky lately.
I have a normal checkup appointment in 2 weeks and plan to talk to my doctor, but wondered if anyone else experienced this also.
I've only felt this way when I've lost a lot of sleep. I'm not a very good sleeper anyway but can get this way when my insomnia worsens.
Maybe you and your doctor can discuss ways you could help yourself to sleep better. I would think that being prescribed some sleeping pills, at least temporarily, would be good. That way you'd know if the feelings you are experiencing are from the sleep deprivation and not something else. Are you being treated for your depression? Could even be side effects of depression medication.
Hopefully you have the kind of doctor that won't brush this off as not something to investigate. I Hope you can get some answers and start feeling better.
I WAS diagnosed with sleep apnea last year and given a CPAP machine, but I actually stopped using it. I was losing more sleep and having really bad panic attacks because of the mask on my face.
I do suffer from depression also, but am not on any medication for it. I do have higher sugar and have to watch it, but my sugar has been normal so I don't think it's due to too high/too low sugar.
Sleep issues and depression and 2 big issues in my life and I think that could be it. I never had these issues until the last month or so. And it's gotten really bad.
That derealization, the mild dissociated feeling, is a pretty common symptom of lots of things, most not psychiatric in nature.
I get the same feeling when I have low blood sugar (like I haven't eaten all day) and when I'm dehydrated (I get dehydrated easily). It can also happen with anxiety or shock. I definitely had it all day on 9/11/01, and at times when I got really shocking news. When I was a kid, before I'd ever heard of derealization, I used to call it "feeling like I'm in a dream."
When you have it, just remind yourself not to panic, and that's it's just a signal telling you something. Simple "grounding" techniques can help it to pass. One technique is to inventory your five senses: what do you see, hear, feel, etc. You probably aren't tasting or smelling more than one thing, but the other 3 take more concentration. By the time you get through several things you feel for example (the chair under my butt, the warm temperature of the room, the air from the vent blowing, my stomach growling, the keyboard unde rmy fingers...) the derealization would have usually passed.
There are other grounding techniques out there that you can look up. They're invented to help more severe dissociation, but work really well for this milder form of it.
I tend to just ask myself, "what is this a signal of?" and decide if I need to eat, drink water, get more caffeine, take a rest, etc.
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