please help me - Panic Disorders Message Board

ashdaniels · 07-31-2003, 06:29 PM

Does anyone else feel this way. I used to have the normal panic attack symptoms but its different lately. The whole day now i feel as though im dreaming. I question my saneness all the time. If i speek I question what i say. I look around me and it looks as though i just came in from outside in the sun. Kind of blurry and unfamiliar.Sometimes at night i feel like im hallucinating or on the brink to anyway. My legs are ussually weak and sometimes have headaches. Is this panic or something else? Any thoughts , Please!!!

normorcrazy · 07-31-2003, 09:39 PM

Ashdaniels, that is exactly how I was feeling. It sounds like you are going through what I went through...continuous derealization. It was as if I stayed in a state of derealization and it was scary. I really thought I was crazy, as I didn't understand panic disorder and the things it could actually do to you. The part that really gets me is when you say you question what you say when you speak. I think that had to be the worse part of it. I would repeat it over in my head to figure out if I really said it or just thought it. I know if you are anything like me you are probably scared senseless right now. Try not to be...this is normal with panic disorder. Try doing some searches on derealization and you will understand it a little better. Unfortunately, since I felt like I didn't know what was real and what wasn't I decided to go on meds this time around. I had severe memory loss with the derealization and I was afraid of leaving my son somewhere or in the car. I use to constantly touch him just to make sure he was really there. I wish you the best of luck getting through this in whatever way you do it. Just know that you are not alone and you are not crazy!!! Good luck and please keep us posted.

hry33 · 08-01-2003, 03:50 PM

to ash, look up derealisation and depersonalisation on the net, it effects some anxious people
valium type meds will reduce it

mollyd1234 · 08-01-2003, 09:11 PM

ashdaniels,
I lived with that feeling of unreality for a long time. I would look in the mirror and touch my face and look at my hands because I didn't think I was real. NOTHING seemed real to me, I'd try to explain this to my family and they would look at me strange so I stopped talking about it. I should also tell you this IT DOES GO AWAY WITH TIME. What helped me the most was to keep busy. The worst place for me was in the car because I was alone and had lots of time to think about how unreal I felt. I found that listening to books on tape or talk radio really helped because it forced me to focus my attention on the words they were saying rather than just drowning out to music. Also, the feeling you're having is not at all harmful. I asked my psychiatrist about it a million times and he said it a result of thinking too much. It's a little uncomfortable but won't harm you. Good luck to you, I promise, the feeling goes away.