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Dissociation and Depression?

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whiteraven

MyPTSD Pro
I'm not sure if this is dissociation or a product of the depression (which has been pretty bad of late). I have been having these episodes where I feel frozen in one spot, unable to look anywhere but forward. And my vision isn't focused and I really can't think...everything is hazy. It feels like a combination of the depression - that heavy, can't-move feeling - and dissociation. When it happens in the car, I sometimes have to pull over and sit for awhile.

I've considered the possibility that it's seizures - I have epilepsy - but it happens in a gradual kind of way and I mostly feel the heaviness all the time.

I'm so tired of not being able to get a handle on the depression.
 
It sounds seizure related. I've heard of people doing something similar that are epileptic. Those types of seizures can strongly resemble somebody daydreaming.

Yeah, except these are completely different from seizures I have and they can last a few hours at varying degrees. Seems to only be an issue when I am severely depressed. *shrug* I don't know.
 
And my vision isn't focused and I really can't think...everything is hazy. It feels like a combination of the depression - that heavy, can't-move feeling - and dissociation. When it happens in the car, I sometimes have to pull over and sit for awhile.
This happens to me. I just "go away" for awhile. Since you do have epilepsy, it'd be good to report it to your doctor - but, it could be explained just as you have - depression fog, which I often consider to be a form of dissociation.
 
I'm not a medical doctor, but the episodes you're describing seem to last too long to be an absence seizure. I would recommend checking this with your doctor, just to be on the safe side. I know that emotional stress can induce seizures, in some of the children I've worked with over the years. So, I'd say rule this out first. Better to be safe than sorry.

Sometimes I find myself staring and pulling out of a dissociative state, completely unaware of time and space. I have no idea where I was, or how long I was there. It's quite unsettling.

You mention feeling the heaviness of depression when these events occur. Perhaps, what your experiencing is simply an episode of mild dissociation combined with your underlying depression.
 
I'm not a medical doctor, but the episodes you're describing seem to last too long to be an absence seizure. I would recommend checking this with your doctor, just to be on the safe side. I know that emotional stress can induce seizures, in some of the children I've worked with over the years. So, I'd say rule this out first. Better to be safe than sorry.

Definitely not absence. But I'm thinking complex partial. I've had those all my life. Or focal I think is the correct term nowadays. Focal unaware and focal aware.

You mention feeling the heaviness of depression when these events occur. Perhaps, what your experiencing is simply an episode of mild dissociation combined with your underlying depression.

Yeah, this is what I'm thinking. Interestingly, I haven't had any for over a week. I do feel better, generally, so...who knows?
 
Partial seizures. Drs can prescribe lamictal. I finally got off of it and I am glad. It wasn’t really helping after time and who knows the side effects.
I eat plant based diet gave up processed foods no additives, gluten, my cholesterol dropped to normal also. My mood is good and my energy is good. Best in my life. I look great too. That helps. I’m journaling my feelings , breathe, instead of escaping and I’m getting through them. Accepting the facts and finding peace and compassion for the past. I have gratitude for what I have and can do I see I will be okay and yes, maybe even thrive. Truly believe it’s the crap we eat that causes a lot of our problems. Physically and emotionally.
so nice to have a forum to share Very grateful.
 
Maybe ask your neurologist for an ambulatory EEG to rule out the seizure angle? I don't know what meds you are on for depression but some can lower the seizure threshold.
 
Partial seizures. Drs can prescribe lamictal.
I was on Lamictal. Stopped taking it because my neuro told another doctor (not one of mine) that he was only prescribing it because I wanted him to. That was BS - I've been on something for epilepsy for the last almost 40 years. Several neuros have witnessed seizures (although some were still not willing to commit on paper to epilepsy). But this one was so dismissive, and I just decided that if he didn't think I needed to be on it, there was no point in taking it. It's been almost a year since I wrote this; I've been having episodes of jamais vu and some like I described above, but I'm just dealing with it...
Maybe ask your neurologist for an ambulatory EEG to rule out the seizure angle? I don't know what meds you are on for depression but some can lower the seizure threshold.
Not on any meds. And the thing is, a normal EEG will not rule out seizures. In fact, the seizures I was having when I was first diagnosed were coming from deep within the brain; only a special electrode could pick them up. And now I'm told they don't use them anymore.
 
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