10 hours ago, Healing_s said:

Hey everyone,

So days have been feeling better, I still vibrate and have this feeling of swollen head, but not as intense as before.

Today I had lunch with friends and stayed at their house all the afternoon, i managed to stay there. But it seems that during morning and some part of the afternoon is like I’m not really present, it’s a weird feeling, like I want to be present and trying to enjoy the most that’s possible, but somehow it’s like I’m not really present at that moment. I try to live my life the best way possible and try to deal with these weird symptoms, but somehow it feels like weird, like if most of the day I have this state where i try to manage symptoms but not able to fully be present and focused at the moment I’m living.

Then at the end of the afternoon, everything feels better. I can be focused, it feels even lighter. is this normal in WD?

Hey @Healing_s

Great news things are better for you. Healing is happening. :)

This all sounds very normal to me. WD can give us all sorts of odd symptoms, feeling not present is very common, its kinda like a DP/DR type symptom by the sounds of it. Often we feel easier later in the day.

51 minutes ago, Chippy said:

Hey @Healing_s

Great news things are better for you. Healing is happening. :)

This all sounds very normal to me. WD can give us all sorts of odd symptoms, feeling not present is very common, its kinda like a DP/DR type symptom by the sounds of it. Often we feel easier later in the day.

Hey @Chippy

I feel like last week there was big improvement, as if I’m not in alert red mode anymore, but that it’s a medium alert mode. I try to do things and live the best way I can and I think most important is try to get out of our hyperfocus mode. It’s kind like if we need to “prove” ourselfs that the things we have been doing all our lives are safe.

Some days are better and feel lighter, some moments I can even forget totally about this and I feel that I’m totally present, some feel like weird, as if my mind if being driven to be aware, or alert, or focused on what I’m feeling on that moment, or that I’ll be doomed to this.

I was having issues with histamine a few weeks ago, and I’m trying to introduce again some of the foods I ate all my life.

I’m in the hope that once things got better I can have my life back… but I do have some questions about it:

People actually go back drinking alcohol?Or eating things with high histamine? Or having coffee?

Because so far I feel WD is taking control of my life… and I don’t like that feeling.

1 minute ago, Healing_s said:

Hey @Chippy

I feel like last week there was big improvement, as if I’m not in alert red mode anymore, but that it’s a medium alert mode. I try to do things and live the best way I can and I think most important is try to get out of our hyperfocus mode. It’s kind like if we need to “prove” ourselfs that the things we have been doing all our lives are safe.

Some days are better and feel lighter, some moments I can even forget totally about this and I feel that I’m totally present, some feel like weird, as if my mind if being driven to be aware, or alert, or focused on what I’m feeling on that moment, or that I’ll be doomed to this.

I was having issues with histamine a few weeks ago, and I’m trying to introduce again some of the foods I ate all my life.

Sounds like things are really settling for you atm!

1 minute ago, Healing_s said:

I’m in the hope that once things got better I can have my life back… but I do have some questions about it:

People actually go back drinking alcohol?Or eating things with high histamine? Or having coffee?

Because so far I feel WD is taking control of my life… and I don’t like that feeling.

Yes many go on to doing all those things once they are healed.

Personally I had already pretty much stopped drinking before WD, and I don't think I will risk it again. I do think it is wise to be careful with your nervous system going forwards. I have heard of some people going back into WD after recovering. Not to scare you, just to say go steady and perhaps use this oppurtunity to work out what is good for your body. Drinking not so much! lol

I do drink a little coffee now in the mornings and it doesn't seem to be an issue. I eat like a saint now though. Plenty of higher histimine foods, I didn't find restricting them helpful.

20 minutes ago, Healing_s said:

I’m in the hope that once things got better I can have my life back… but I do have some questions about it:

People actually go back drinking alcohol?Or eating things with high histamine? Or having coffee?

Because so far I feel WD is taking control of my life… and I don’t like that feeling.

I can tolerate coffee fine, although I limit the amount. I couldn't for the first 6ish months.

I think it's important to keep in mind that you've been off for 4 months. It's absolutely possible to live without any limitations at all, but this will likely come in time.

Personally, when it comes to alcohol, I would give it a significant amount of time after being 100% recovered, just to be on the safe side. I don't really have a set figure in mind, but for myself I'd probably say 6 months at 100% at the very least.

Hopefully histamine intolerance will also improve in time. You're still having symptoms, even though you're improving. The first thing to do is to just keep going, keep taking care of yourself, and keep improving in time.

These things will come, in the end.

4 minutes ago, Chippy said:

coffee?

Because so far I feel WD is taking control of my life… and I don’t like that feeling.

Yes many go on to doing all those things once they are healed.

Personally I had already pretty much stopped drinking before WD, and I don't think I will risk it again. I do think it is wise to be careful with your nervous system going forwards. I have heard of some people going back into WD after recovering. Not to scare you, just to say go steady and perhaps use this oppurtunity to work out what is good for your body. Drinking not so much! lol

I mean It’s not like I’ve been drinking every day of my life, but occasionally when having a dinner or going out before WD, of course. 😂

Coffee was a big part of my day, and i miss coffees!

I think being aware of histamine helped after the hell week i had. At least it eased my stomach. But who knows what the hell happens with us…

2 minutes ago, Healing_s said:

I mean It’s not like I’ve been drinking every day of my life, but occasionally when having a dinner or going out before WD, of course. 😂

🤣 I was not exactly an alcoholic but I did enjoy more than the occasional!

3 minutes ago, Healing_s said:

Coffee was a big part of my day, and i miss coffees!

Me too! I love coffee! I have just increased the strength of mine a little so plan to get back up to a full strength cup in the morning and then see what happens. Is like to at least be able to have one in the afternoon out and about if I wanted to.

4 minutes ago, Healing_s said:

think being aware of histamine helped after the hell week i had. At least it eased my stomach. But who knows what the hell happens with us

That’s good. It does help some people.

2 minutes ago, Luke said:

Hopefully histamine intolerance will also improve in time. You're still having symptoms, even though you're improving. The first thing to do is to just keep going, keep taking care of yourself, and keep improving in time.

Hey @Luke hope you’re ok!!

I actually think I only started to recover more after stopping that tryptophan supplement. Physically I was feeling better with the supplement, but psychologically my DP/DR was horrible. I stopped it 3 weeks ago, and after that insane week of no sleep, nervous system totally in survival mode and terror, once the exhaustion flushed my body and finally began to sleep, things seem to improve very well.

So let’s see about the following days, maybe I’ll try the coffee in the morning 🤞

I would suggest trying to get out of the mindset of "days" and thinking of recovery as more of a process over time.

It's good that in recent weeks you feel you've seen significant improvements. My hope would be that in more weeks, you can say the same.

22 minutes ago, Chippy said:

🤣 I was not exactly an alcoholic but I did enjoy more than the occasional!

I did enjoy in the summer, having a beer at the end of the day on the beach and watch the sunset. That’s a good memory of how smooth life was!

7 minutes ago, Luke said:

I would suggest trying to get out of the mindset of "days" and thinking of recovery as more of a process over time.

It's good that in recent weeks you feel you've seen significant improvements. My hope would be that in more weeks, you can say the same.

Well I think it’s kind of someone who is still looking back to check if things are really feeling better. But also consider that once self esteem is also growing things might be better to handle.

8 hours ago, Healing_s said:

Well I think it’s kind of someone who is still looking back to check if things are really feeling better. But also consider that once self esteem is also growing things might be better to handle.

I'm not really sure what this means, sorry.

I'm just saying that even if you do have some difficult days, this doesn't take away from that fact that over weeks, you've been improving. If it's moving the right way, it's important to try to remember that you're improving on average on bad days.

@Luke I was also confused by analyzing what does she even mean. I think she want to say something like that: she is relatively "new" in this shit and now she is confusingly overanalyzing. But is some time passes, she will know her condition better. That's why her self-esteem could improve overtime and that's why her acceptance will be also improved.

I think she commented your recommendation related to acceptance.

@Luke and @The Dust

I’m saying that all this about WD throw me to the floor, not knowing what the hell was going on with my brain and mind, thinking I was indeed loosing it! My self confidence was also sent to the trash. And I think that as time goes by I’ll also learn how to deal with this symptoms, but my self confidence increase. Everyone’s world is shaken and from my perspective, even when things get better and symptoms manageable, when we can take some part of our lives back, we also need to trust ourselves to deal with symptoms in our daily lives. That’s why I say that as our self confidence grows we can manage things better and acceptance also feels easier.

But well…

10 minutes ago, Healing_s said:

Everyone’s world is shaken and from my perspective, even when things get better and symptoms manageable, when we can take some part of our lives back, we also need to trust ourselves to deal with symptoms in our daily lives. That’s why I say that as our self confidence grows we can manage things better and acceptance also feels easier.

I agree with this, @Healing_s . At a certain point in your recovery, you'll find you are much stronger than you were before, and you'll be able to deal with life's normal ups and downs with very little disruption. You can come out of this stronger, more resilient, and more flexible than you were before WD.

According to @Healing_s ' reply I suppose that I understood (and interpret her previous post) correctly...

But well…

That's the biggest part...

23 minutes ago, mstimc60 said:

I agree with this, @Healing_s . At a certain point in your recovery, you'll find you are much stronger than you were before, and you'll be able to deal with life's normal ups and downs with very little disruption. You can come out of this stronger, more resilient, and more flexible than you were before WD.

It can maybe be somehow true, but what if someone's symthoms had been present for too long, they were/are too painful and person lost his/her social skill because of the whole story and too old to start new life again. Any advice?

Edited August 9Aug 9 by The Dust

11 hours ago, Luke said:

I can tolerate coffee fine, although I limit the amount. I couldn't for the first 6ish months.

I think it's important to keep in mind that you've been off for 4 months. It's absolutely possible to live without any limitations at all, but this will likely come in time.

Personally, when it comes to alcohol, I would give it a significant amount of time after being 100% recovered, just to be on the safe side. I don't really have a set figure in mind, but for myself I'd probably say 6 months at 100% at the very least.

Hopefully histamine intolerance will also improve in time. You're still having symptoms, even though you're improving. The first thing to do is to just keep going, keep taking care of yourself, and keep improving in time.

These things will come, in the end.

Yea I have read that after being symptom free for 6 months to a year before tempting fate is the timeframe for introducing heavy triggers.

1 hour ago, The Dust said:

It can maybe be somehow true, but what if someone's symthoms had been present for too long, they were/are too painful and person lost his/her social skill because of the whole story and too old to start new life again. Any advice?

I have no idea, but you got to start somewhere, if you want of course. So start with things you know you like.

For me, not stoping the things I knew I once enjoyed very much! And some others I had to make myself doing them, even if head was buzzing, all body vibrating or if DR came and giving me the alien panic feeling of not understanding what is the world. When I wasn’t sleeping I was walking dead person, but still I was walking on the beach to get exhausted and maybe would fall asleep at night, but I went anyway.

As everything there is no magic recipe… but I think we cannot give up…and keep believing that healing is just around the corner even if that corner is quite far away.

@Healing_s Hi, I hope you relief is still there!

Can you please help me for a second? I have one question about this DP state.

Edited August 12Aug 12 by The Dust

Hi @The Dust how are you?

15 hours ago, Healing_s said:

Hi @The Dust how are you?

Hi. thanks for asking, I really appreciate it. I can say just everything is similar day after day. However, I know my situation so well that I can predict everything and nothing surprises me anymore actually on a daily basis. Just as you wrote a few days ago, you will reach this phase too.

And you?? Did you experiences an another "smooth" day or evening?

Edited August 13Aug 13 by The Dust

hey @The Dust feeling quite good these past days, symptoms are slowly loosing power. Feeling in an in between state… like crossing to other side.. and trying to figure out things. But overall been feeling quite good, have moments where i even can forget about WD, engaging truly in tasks and daily talk. So I’m quite happy with this state!

You did have a question about DR?

Forgetting about WD sounds catharsis, even though it does not last forever! Crossing to other side is the great metaphor, I hope your will cross is for good soon.

You did have a question about DR?

Yes, thanks.

I'm curious if you feel something similar. You said that you had hard time to just experience the situation as usual without over-thing and so on. have you every feel like you can't make an decision. Are you, Instead of just do the proper step freely and spontaneous, stuck in a position, when your mind-body just freeze and overthink the same already answered questions?

If I name some daily situation, sometimes when I am, for instance, in grocery store, i knew exactly what I should buy and why I need it, but instead of this, when I have to choose one particular item I start overthinking, if I am choosing correctly, or if I have to choose something else. And when I finally do it, I am rethinking if I have to go, of anything else is needing. I can do it, i can't leave. If feels like, I can't really do it. And that's how one banal step makes me to spent more time by doing this way.

How do you see this weird behavior in terms of DP?

49 minutes ago, The Dust said:

Forgetting about WD sounds catharsis, even though it does not last forever! Crossing to other side is the great metaphor, I hope your will cross is for good soon.

I hope this too! It sure feels like things are easier.

50 minutes ago, The Dust said:

I'm curious if you feel something similar. You said that you had hard time to just experience the situation as usual without over-thing and so on. have you every feel like you can't make an decision. Are you, Instead of just do the proper step freely and spontaneous, stuck in a position, when your mind-body just freeze and overthink the same already answered questions?

If I name some daily situation, sometimes when I am, for instance, in grocery store, i knew exactly what I should buy and why I need it, but instead of this, when I have to choose one particular item I start overthinking, if I am choosing correctly, or if I have to choose something else. And when I finally do it, I am rethinking if I have to go, of anything else is needing. I can do it, i can't leave. If feels like, I can't really do it. And that's how one banal step makes me to spent more time by doing this way.

How do you see this weird behavior in terms of DP?

It’s kind of all automatic choices and decisions seems now in manual mode. I do spend more time considering what option to take, and even if that option makes sense at all.

I went to a big supermarket last week and DR happend, like all products felt strange, and even people in their own lives buying stuff felt strange, like if I’m making considerations about things i had previously given as known. But the thing here i guess is keep going, like ok it’s weird, but i know i like this product or that, so just go with it. Instead of let it scare you, keep moving. The more panic or scared you feel the more your CNS Will understand that as real threat.

In the end i think thats all about it. Making your CNS learn that all the environment around you is not a threat.

Yes, I think it is it. Something that shouldn't be doing manual and familiar become like something new and your continuous starts overworking...

But the scariest thing is not the idem by itself, but to make an decision. Making a decision feels like something unsafe...

Maybe you have to predict this kind of behavior and this particular moment is something that makes us easier to do a step forward and make an decision...

Thank you, i relearn a lot about DP by reading your story!!

Edited August 13Aug 13 by The Dust

Hi everyone…a little update.

Last few days were good, very good. Things improved very very much:

• cortisol in the morning was also was slowly going away.

• General vibration/adrenaline running was very smooth, with moments during the day that there was non.

• Head swollen feeling was pretty much gone.

• DR was coming during the day (sometimes, and only in some situations and it was very manageable)

• I felt like i was the observantes of all situations but most of the time I could engage naturally in most of things. Some things and actions were feeling more fluid.

• Sleeping was good (waking one time or not waking and able to sleep 7/8 hours)

• Was feeling more relaxed and I could feel some emotions!

Was feeling like there was really a way out of this. Yesterday, i don’t know if it was the change of context or if maybe i had pushed it with food. I started to feel more anxious, doomed, sleeping was totally dysrupted, was having also this fear of not sleep, and this sense of hypervigilancy was coming with more strengh. Adrenaline is running through my body like crazy. Trying to keep hope this means a big update, but feeling quite low as i was actually starting to see some little moments where I could really enjoy things, and not even remembering about this.