Does Dissociation Sometimes Feel Like This?

[daniel]

Hello everybody,

I'm sorry for my stupid questions that I asked as of late. Anyway, I just wanted to know if dissociation sometimes feels like you are slipping or like you are losing the ground beneath your feet and are about to float into space. It's a terrible feeling, very scary. I often have this and I always wondered if this was dissociation I mostly have it before an anxiety attack. Thank you all :)

 

[DontGiveUpOnMe]

You described it almost.....well pretty much exactly how I experience dissociation. EXACTLY. The first time I really dissociated, the FIRST thing I felt was the ground just...rippling ilke water underneath me...and I felt like there was just nothingness and numbness....like I was trapped in a pressured air bubble floating to nowhere. I told my T what happened, she didnt say dissociation....she called it "Depersonalization" I dont know if its the same thing? maybe....

I hope this reply helped you feel less alone.

 

[daniel]

Thank you DontGiveUpOnMe, I'm sorry you have to deal with this as well, but it's soothing I'm not alone with it :( xo

 

[Helliepig]

Yep, that sounds like a dissociative thing and it is scary.

For me it can coexist with depersonalisation where you feel you're not really there or disappearing somehow or the world looks distant. I also sometimes feel like I "come to" suddenly, sometimes with a small sense of shock- even though I wasn't aware I'd been away, - My T says that's a sort of momentary flashback.

Personally I find there's a whole array of weird feelings and experiences - a sort of dizziness, a fuzzy white out like a badly tuned radio, or a ground swell, as if everything has suddenly has turned weird in a way you just can't put into words. Or as if you feel smaller or compressed somehow.

The feelings you describe I think are pretty common.

 

[DontGiveUpOnMe]

Thank you DontGiveUpOnMe, I'm sorry you have to deal with this as well, but it's soothing I'm not alone with it :( xo

Your very welcome. Its hard to deal with this. Im wondering, If I may ask...do u ever find this happens at times when your not really that triggered? ..Well actually it usually happens ..when im getting stressed out ...Im a college student, and while I was in class today, I raised my hand to talk and when I started talking...suddenly it felt lik I was going away, I got what feels like "mind numbness"..and suddenly ti would feel like I was floatin away for 2 seconds...

Do u ever get similar experiences?

 

[daniel]

omg, I am a student as well and I get this too when I'm stressed no particular triggers, I know it sounds weird but when I get this I usually have to swallow and I don't know why but then I'm scared I'm gonna choke on my own swallowing, I feel spaced out like I can't control my own body anymore, maybe these are anxiety symptoms but I also feel there's something wrong with my perception of external objects, it's quite complicated really :lol:

 

[DontGiveUpOnMe]

haha omg. Sometimes I get that swallowing thing, I don't get anxiety with it much until I realize something stuck in my throat.. (happens a lot actually.) I've choked somewhat several times, its scary.

I kinda get what you're saying..I often feel detached though, like I'm walking and my eyes are just detached camera lens 0.o (that probably makes NO sense) but I hope...uh from one student to another. You know you're not alone.

 

[Steelsoul]

Your symptoms are very close to mine as well. I find myself losing a grip on reality and people around me, especially in social situations or while trying to shop for groceries. For me it can range from extreme nausea to my vision being not blurry, but actually fuzzy as if I was watching a channel on television that is out of signal range. All these things are almost always associated with a few moments (10-15 seconds) of me completly losing motor function and freezing in place, or having extreme trouble moving, and "coming back to reality" with my jaw clentched and sore.

I don't know if I made any sense, but I am new here (first post) and I suppose I just wanted to let you know I too, understand the symptoms you are speaking about.

<edited to insert line break between paragraphs>

 

[daniel]

thanks Steelsoul and welcome :).

Today I went shopping as well and I usually get panic attacks in huge wide areas. Before the panic I dissociated, it felt like 'my soul' was floating away, it's such a scary feeling, I get nausea too, I can't explain it properly (sorry for my English), it felt like my spirit was floating towards space, like my mind detached from my body, then I usally have to ground myself, it doesn't always work, oh well :(

 

[Chrisk89]

I have recently found this forum online, that depersonalization feeling consumes me. I have recently been having anxiety, not just slight but chronic. I get it chronically because I'm constantly thinking about everything. It kills me to see a psychologist but I have. He notices that I'm very self centered, meaning I'm very focused on myself and how I feel. Which is odd because I feel like I'm not in my body and I'm observing my surroundings. I would compare it to being a character in the Sims video game. I do what I think I should do. If someone asks me how I feel, I never know but I can never say I'm good. I grew up in my teens fast because I had a horribly, self abusive, alcoholic father. He literally couldnt function. Thats all I can remember from my childhood. When I went to college, I did find peace or a distraction. After graduating, ive felt like this. It pains me more because I have a girlfriend and I cant show her the love she shows me because I don't know who I am, so I worry, get anxious, and worry some more. Its like I'm punishing myself.

 

[Girl3]

I have DID - but I also get those wierd sensations like the ground is moving under me. If I lived in San Diego I would just write it off as aftershocks of an earthquake. But I can be standing talking or brushing my teeth and feel exactly as if the ground is giving way. No one else feels them, so I know it's just me.

I also get the swallowing thing - usually when i am having flashbacks. I cannot swallow - not spit, not water. I can't even make the swallowing motion. My psychiatrist thinks it is due to being orally sodomized when I was little. Some foods will also trigger it - like mashed potato.

Dissociation, at least as I experience it, is being an entirely different person. Derealization or depersonalization are symptoms associated with a number of disorders, including dissociative identity disorder.

 

[Srain]

For me it can range from extreme nausea to my vision being not blurry, but actually fuzzy as if I was watching a channel on television that is out of signal range.

This is a fairly good description of what mine are like for me. I usually term them "veils" ..almost like being on an acid trip (for those that have experienced this). Everything tends to begin to look surreal and my the sounds, smells, my feelings - if I have any at the time- become exaggerated or rather caught in time.

Now that I am aware of what they are, what can trigger them, I am less likely to be fearful or loose control. It helps understanding what is happening, information is key. Sometimes letting them go to see what where they take me is vital and at other times grounding myself out of them is important to be safe.

Great thread!!