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Can Depersonalization-derealization be a Dysautonomia symptom?


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One of my symptoms is a brain fog that not only makes me feel a little dizzy and off-balance, but also makes me feel as if I am in a trance or a dream, I find myself feeling as if I died and am just floating around the world not feeling like I am really there, but observing the wold with a new found childlike wonder. Its quite mice in a strange, nothing really matters kind of way.

Somebody on another forum brought my attention to Depersonalization-derealization and that condition is somewhat how I feel.

Would anybody else describe themselves feeling this way or has my nervous system simply collapsed and sent me on my merry way?

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I often feel not quite awake, or like things aren't quite real. I usually say I feel out of body. It used to freak me out and now I know it's a symptom and go about my day. It's usually worse when I first wake up, am very tired, or sick. 

Sometimes I use a panic attack calming technique to try to feel like I'm back in my body. There's a couple different variations but I think of two things I can see, two things I can smell, taste, hear, and feel. It helps a little bit sometimes. 

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21 hours ago, MomtoGiuliana said:

Yes this can be a symptom.  Feeling detached from surroundings is listed as a potential symptom here:

https://www.dinet.org/content/information-resources/pots/pots-symptoms-r96/

 

Thank you, I will add that to my rather long list. This seems to be the symptom that is getting progressively worst whereas the rest seem stable.

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Hi Halffull, certainly relate to this. Occasionally in more extreme times, I have that depersonalisation where I feel like I'm surveying the world from afar, floating above reality. On a more day-to-day level, I get what I call "Michellin Man" or sometimes more like "Casper the Ghost". The 'edges 'of my body are really diffuse and floaty. 

I've discovered that if I have weights -- lift them, or put a weighted blanket on me -- then this helps me reintegrate into my body. Grounds me. I also find chewing helps me too. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey Peter I have depersonalization disorder as well as POTS. For me the DPD was the beginning of my problems and the POTS didn't seem related to it at all. However now that my POTS symptoms have been worse over the last few years I do have 'depersonalization'-like symptoms if I start walking too far; I'll feel my vision getting hazy, brainfogged, and feel really disconnected from everything. My depersonalization episodes from DPD can happen anytime and typically last a lot longer (like all day) and since the first few months of the DPD starting I've basically just been in it all the time rather than it being episodic, so for me if its specifically related to what I'm doing physically I know its because of something with my POTS.

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I’ve had derealization a couple weeks now. It affects my vision, when I’m in a car it feels like I’m on a circus ride. Things don’t look totally normal or real around me. It happened after a head cold and water settled in behind my ears so vertigo. But then the pots got so so much worse. I don’t have an ear infection but inflammation in the ear labrynth can cause it too but with the pots being so bad I’ve been struggling to get a handle on the dizziness takes hours everyday to get enough salt and midodrine in me. Plus Benadryl and sudafed for my ears added valium and meclzine and I take choline. Couldn’t get it under control today and the derealizatiom continued. Good gto try again tomorow with morning salt load.

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  • 2 years later...

Do y'all still have this terrible symptom? I have depersonalization and derealization almost everyday and it is awful. How did y'all get it to go away if you did? I was thinking maybe it was related to my pots medicine or the pots itself. I'm trying to get rid of this feeling as much as I can but can't seem the shed it. I take midodrine here and there. Also I take florinef one tab a day.

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Hi @SGar just seeing your post. Yes I still have depersonalization/ derealization, for me it's mostly the derealization symptom though. I also have Depersonalization Disorder so I've noticed the DP/DR from that as well as a strong derealization which seems to be when my brain clearly doesn't have enough blood flow going to it -- but in those cases it is an acute symptom, rather than my Depersonalization Disorder which is just all the time. 

For me I found that amitriptyline was the only thing that helped both my brainfog and my derealization, its still there but just way turned down where before the brain fog was really bad and I would feel disconnected from myself as well as places would always look like the dimensions were a bit off, and just kind of fake and daydream/ picture like. Those three symptoms together are absolutely terrible to have to live life with an I would say they were 9/10 bad for me (along with a bunch of other light processing based visual symptoms). Now I'd say its closer to 2 to 3/10 and much more livable.

Also in the beginnig for me the derealization was there and then over a course of three months it went from coming in waves to being constant, and then there was like a snowballing affect and the depersonalization and brainfog got really bad and I just had a laundry list of symptoms at that point, that was all at the very beginning of my neurological/ autonomic issues.

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  • 3 years later...

Hello, I have been struggling with lots of symptoms for a couple years now and I'm just getting started on getting a diagnosis. All of my symptoms match up with dysautonomia though and one of the most constant ones has been this depersonalization/derealization. I always thought I was just weird and my imagination is overactive! I am so happy to find out about this and know that it is a symptom of dysautonomia! Reading your stories have been so helpful in learning about myself and how to deal with it. Thank you!

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