extreme case of losing time, what is going on with me?

[hope4us]

i had an episode of extreme time loss today, it was so bad that it literally freaked me out. i looked at the clock around 5:00 pm. than i texted some friends, took a shower, and went outside to smoke a ciggarrate. when i got back inside it seemed like about 20 minutes had passed since i checked the time at 5 pm, but when i looked at the clock i saw that it was already 10:00 pm. it seemed LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE. i thought there was something wrong with the clock, but there wasn't. ive never lost time this bad before. i could have sworn on my life that i was not in the shower for more than 10 minutes, and was not texting or sitting outside for more than 10 minutes. but i had to have been spending hours doing both. im not sure if this is some type of dissociative experience or not, because there has been times in the past when i dissociated but it was completely different. this time i dont recall feeling like i was in a dream, and i dont recall feeling like i was a robot or losing my hearing and vision. the only symptoms i had this time were the loss of time, and i know when i was in the shower i kept thinking "the water is burning hot but its not bothering me" so i didnt turn it down. when i got out of the shower my feet were bright red and tingling and kinda numb because the water had burnt my skin. and i remember right before i got in the shower i was pretty angry and stressed. can anyone relate? what is this? help?

 

[bellbird]

it seemed LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE

Well, not literally ;)
Amnesia of certain time periods is a pretty common feature of dissociative disorders.

I've had a period of dissociation where a car totalled itself into my front fence, 15 metres from where I was, and I have no recollection of it.

It is distressing to have such gaps in our memory, yes. But the important take home is determining what triggered the dissociative period, in order to mitigate further prolonged occurrences.

Speaking to my dissociation through the nearby car accident; my treatment team and I have since identified what triggered that episode, and have plans in place to avoid one of such intensity happening again.

Perhaps it may be more beneficial for you to focus on elucidating the cause of your dissociative episode, than to head down another path of convincing yourself and others of the supposed extremity of your symptoms :)

 

[Sideways]

Title says "extreme case of losing time" and I'm expecting to open up the thread to read that you've lost several years.

And you lost...5 hours...(scratches head)...

Time to refocus on resolving causes of distress in your life. One instance of losing 5 hours isn't abnormal. Even for a person without mental health issues going on.

 

[joeylittle]

Hey there, @hope4us. I'm going to repeat myself, because I'd very much like to know:

Are you in any kind of therapy?

And if you aren't: why not?

Do you want to get better?

You consistently hint at self-harm, or at your symptoms putting you at risk for physical harm. You label your symptoms as extreme, unique, severe...and for awhile, that was plausible - lots of people with PTSD start out not understanding what is happening to them. But if you're reading any of the responses you're getting, you'd be figuring out that your symptoms are fairly typical, and addressable.

So what's up?

 

[pamcoco]

I understand time loss too well and while the chunks lost are way shorter than the many years when I first realized it, I still find it frightening.

Having an episode now that comes and goes, and during therapy last night I didn’t feel my TX got me. But then again would I be present enough to know if he did?