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Wanderlust90
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Default May 23, 2019 at 01:52 AM
  #1
This morning I woke up after sleeping for 12 hours. I didn't notice anything strange immediately but after a while whilst drinking my coffee at the table, I started feeling floaty, sort of lightheaded and weak. I checked my blood pressure and it was normal. I felt like I was in a dream, like I would wake up any minute. I still feel this way hours later, it seems to go away a little and then return. My body feels numb, and I don't feel like I have full control of it. Is this depersonalization?

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Wanderlust90
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Default May 23, 2019 at 01:56 AM
  #2
As a side note I have had partial seizures in the past and it's not dissimilar to an aura, but they usually only last a minute or 2. I also get migraines and had one yesterday, I take maxalt, which is a triptan, to abort the migraine, it acts on serotonin, and I also take Zoloft. So I'm not sure if this is a side effect of taking them together, but I've never had this experience before when combining them.

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Default May 23, 2019 at 11:04 AM
  #3
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wanderlust90 View Post
This morning I woke up after sleeping for 12 hours. I didn't notice anything strange immediately but after a while whilst drinking my coffee at the table, I started feeling floaty, sort of lightheaded and weak. I checked my blood pressure and it was normal. I felt like I was in a dream, like I would wake up any minute. I still feel this way hours later, it seems to go away a little and then return. My body feels numb, and I don't feel like I have full control of it. Is this depersonalization?
Im sorry but we can not tell you what is going on in your body and whether this is a dissociative problem or not (see disclaimer at bottom of every page of these community forums)

my suggestion is contact your treatment providers. they will be able to tell you what this is in you.

what I can tell you is how my treatment providers figure out when something is a dissociation problem vs other problems...

dissociative problems have a trigger,
A trigger is anything positive or negative that is so extreme that the brain goes into its normal flight or fight response....

examples... going through a traumatic event, being so stressed out that you cant handle it. getting so worked up over something that your brain automatically shuts down your emotions and feelings and physical sensations. theres more to dissociating than just sitting down to have coffee and feeling depersonalized...

let me show you what I mean...

I can sit down and have my coffee and have a normal response to things like the caffiene in the coffee, my medication side effects or what I see on tv or listening to my wife and children. I can feel the normal version of being spacy and disconnected doing these things.

on the dissociative side...

sit down have my coffee and on tv a news report of someone going through the same work related traumatic event will cause me to have my dissociative reaction... my heart speeds up heading for a panic attack, my brain takes in that something traumatic is happening, the part of my brain that regulates the flight or fight response does its split second reaction of knowing whether or not I have the skills needed to handle this situation and if not its flight time where all my emotions are shut down (dissociative symptom called numness and detachment and mentally disconnected) if the brain decides to go into fight mode my brain remains active and I think about what I need to do to take care of this situation.

my suggestion is sit down and think about whether or not something traumatic/ triggering was going on for you at that moment that you felt these problems. if so theres a huge chance its a dissociative thing, if not, if there was no trauma or triggering thing happening then theres a huge change that its just your bodys normal reactions to normal every day things like the coffee, your medications, too little or too much sleep, dehydration and other things.

since you have a history of seizures you might also want to check that out with your treatment providers.

in any event this site does not allow us to diagnose what things are inside you, so to find out whats going on and why you felt this way you will need to contact your treatment provider, like the disclaimer at the bottom of the page says.....
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Default May 23, 2019 at 05:40 PM
  #4
I don't know what it is for you but what you described is how I feel if I had between 8-10 hours of sleep,which isn't very often.And it seems to stay that way pretty much all day,it's like I get too much sleep or something and can't wake up.

It might be a good idea for you to call your doctor or pharmacist and ask if combining the meds could have caused that to happen,just to be safe.
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FearLess47
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Default May 23, 2019 at 07:24 PM
  #5
Wanderlust90,
Your description sounded very close to how I would describe depersonalization, though it can be many things. As Betty_B mentioned, it might be a good idea to speak to providers about it, if it is a result of medication reaction. Pay attention to when/if it happens again. And then when it does happen, do your best to remember it will pass. Sometimes if I am experiencing depersonalization and I starting thinking too much about how weird it feels, it is like it amplifies!
Hope it is a temporary and one time thing for you.
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Default Jun 09, 2019 at 09:20 AM
  #6
Thank you all for your replies and words of reassurance.
I understand this forum cannot diagnose based on a single description, I just wanted to know if others have had similar experiences and how the feeling could be relieved.
I couldn't identify any kind of traumatic or stressful event that would have caused the symptoms. Thankfully the feeling began to subside by that night and I woke up feeling normal the next day.
I spoke to my GP and he doesn't believe it was a medication interaction or seizures, but a migraine "postdrome". Excess serotonin due to a medication interaction results in different symptoms to mine. I am to see my neurologist to inform him, just to be safe, in case the experience was a result of seizure activity but it's unlikely.
It felt like I would be like that forever, very unsettling.

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Default Jun 09, 2019 at 11:46 AM
  #7
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Originally Posted by Wanderlust90 View Post
Thank you all for your replies and words of reassurance.
I understand this forum cannot diagnose based on a single description, I just wanted to know if others have had similar experiences and how the feeling could be relieved.
I couldn't identify any kind of traumatic or stressful event that would have caused the symptoms. Thankfully the feeling began to subside by that night and I woke up feeling normal the next day.
I spoke to my GP and he doesn't believe it was a medication interaction or seizures, but a migraine "postdrome". Excess serotonin due to a medication interaction results in different symptoms to mine. I am to see my neurologist to inform him, just to be safe, in case the experience was a result of seizure activity but it's unlikely.
It felt like I would be like that forever, very unsettling.
I'm glad it has passed. For me, there doesn't always have to be a stressful trigger. I got a flu and cold a couple years ago and had one of the worst episodes of depersonalization of my life. It was scary, and as you mentioned, felt like it would last forever. (It lasted about 6 weeks.)

Good that you are following up with your docs just in case. My two biggest tips for what to do in case it happens again is 1) to let yourself know it won't last forever and 2) find facts in your environment and on your body. "I see that crane, I see that tree with the purple flowers, I'm wiggling my left toes, now my right toes. I see both right and left feet on the ground."

Grounding.

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Default Jun 09, 2019 at 04:23 PM
  #8
As if the universe was taunting me...I had/am having a very strong depersonalization episode now. When this happens, I get specific signs. Tinnitus in the left ear. Blurry vision. A definite sense of floating, not recognizing my own limbs as mine, etc. Like a funhouse mirror...only in sensations.

Anyway....I just wanted to tell you that it helped me to have read this post earlier and responded to it. As I am now doing exactly as I need to. Looking around. Stating facts. Remembering it won't last forever. I told my husband. Just so he knew.

Thanks for being here, all of you, I am not posting and reading as much but wanted to let you know it helps to remind yourself of your own useful tools.

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