- Date posted
- 3y ago
- Date posted
- 3y ago
Here's how I thought about it (even though very scary)... I would force myself to think "What if I AM living in a dream right now?, what would be so bad about that?" That's where I started to break down those irrational fears & beliefs that come with OCD... For example, derealization & existential OCD scared me so much because I had a fear of loss of connection, a fear or death, a fear of losing touch with the ones I love. I worked on it a ton and just thought about how yeah, living in a dream would be very confusing and scary, but could I live with it? Yes. Would it be ideal? No, but I could handle it and navigate my life whilst knowing that. Think about worst case scenario, and then think about why that would be so scary and bad.
- Date posted
- 3y ago
Hey I used to smoke weed but it made me depressed. It helps some but its not for everyone. It can cause serious paranoia and when you have OCD it's really not helpful. Everyone is different but from my experience it made me depressed. Something that helped was I got a cleanse from the store to rid any weed in my system cause it stores in the fat cells and can still be in your system for months. Perhaps doing that cleanse that rids it quicker could help.
- Date posted
- 3y ago
thank you!
- Date posted
- 3y ago
Do you remember what cleanse you did?
- Date posted
- 3y ago
Keep trying! I like to take things one moment at a time instead of focusing on the future state of feeling better, because that makes me feel like I’ll never reach that and like the road to recovery is so long. You’ll be there before you know it, you’ve got this!
- Date posted
- 3y ago
i just feel like i’m stuck like this forever and it’s very upsetting i don’t understand why it’s lasted this long, isn’t derealization supposed to last for just a few mins or hours?
- Date posted
- 3y ago
@holley I’m sorry I’m not sure :/ Maybe it’s the fear of derealization that’s making you feel this way (that’s the “obsession” part of OCD). Definitely something to talk to your therapist about, but just know that you’re not alone!
- Date posted
- 3y ago
take care 🙏
- Date posted
- 3y ago
My existential OCD latched after a bad panic attack while smoking weed, causing me to experience derealization for the first time ever. I freaked out, thought that I was losing my mind / dying until the high wore off, and then freaked out that the feeling of derealization wouldn't go away. I obsessed over it, with derealization latched on 24/7 for a year and a half. It was scary, uncomfortable, and all I could think about was getting rid of the feeling. My best advice is to allow and accept that the derealization and the fear may stay there for a while. You've been living with it for this long and although extremely scary & uncomfortable, you are surviving. Don't obsess about when it will go away. Focus on living your life and doing everything you would normally do, even with the fear. Push yourself to not let it control you. My derealization and existential obsessions disappeared completely over time once I was able to accept feeling uncomfortable.
- Date posted
- 3y ago
i just can’t imagine mine lasting for a whole year. hocd lasted that long and now i don’t even think about it but it’s just like is it actually dp/dr or just existential ocd yk? like mine happened just like that but i just don’t want it to last even another day it’s so fucking frustrating. how did you accept that uncomfortable feeling? abd do you still experience it at all like did you just wake up one day and it was gone??
- Date posted
- 3y ago
At the time I couldn't imagine it lasting for a whole year either. But we can all handle it! Sure, it's not comfortable and it's the scariest feeling I've ever had, but I worked on accepting that I can still live life and enjoy things, even if I feel like my surroundings aren't real or I'm "in a dream". It's all just fear. It didn't go away all at once, it was a pretty gradual process, but once I accepted that perhaps I'd live the rest of my life like this, that time didn't feel so bad. It doesn't matter if it is dp/dr or if it's existential ocd, those are all just technicalities. You just focus on being comfortable with these sensations, one day at a time. Jordan Hardgrave (anxiety ninja) on youtube / instagram helped me tremendously.
- Date posted
- 3y ago
idk how i could possibly accept that that’s so scary even though we both knew smoking weed once wouldn’t have caused a perceptional change in our surroundings and somehow we’d been living in a dream the whole time. it just feels that way.
- Date posted
- 3y ago
@holley I know it seems unbearable but take it one day at a time. You don't need to figure it all out right now. Everyday you can start to accept the feelings more and more, facing triggers such as the matrix movies, black mirror etc. and soon you will be able to tolerate the sensation of derealization.
- Date posted
- 3y ago
I found that I was experiencing existential OCD, not derealization, when my surroundings felt “off”. I would obsess over the idea that everything around me may not be real, even though I was accurately perceiving what my surroundings looked like, felt like, smelled like, etc. The feeling that comes with dp/dr and existential OCD is SO scary, so hang in there! But, know you are safe no matter what❤️
- Date posted
- 3y ago
Hey Holley, I’m sorry you’ve been feeling bad! I call that the “panic attack hangover” where it can really rattle you for awhile afterwards. What helps me is understanding that my panic attack is my body’s way of trying to protect me from a perceived threat, whether it’s real or imagined. This saying helps me tremendously: “You were made to come back into balance.” This feeling will not last forever and you will get through it.
- Date posted
- 3y ago
i know i just don’t understand why it’s lasted this long :/ i’m trying !
- Date posted
- 3y ago
its happening with me as well when i smoked weed but after 3 months suddenly that scene of communication came in my mind when i was high and started feeling the same again……it is worse i cant differentiate that i am alive or dead it feels like hell it feels like everything is unreal and it is life after death…
- Date posted
- 2y ago
hi! super late to this post but in case you’re still looking for help I wanted to chime in. this exact situation happened to me! it’s what actually triggered my panic attacks and led to me getting diagnosed with OCD. something that really helps me is holding my nose and breathing in. in real life you will not be able to take a breath but in dreams you will be. i find that this really grounds me! hope this helps! ps i’m on fluvoxamine 250 mg which has helped me a bunch but I’ve also found my way back to weed without any problems. :)
Related posts
- Date posted
- 18w ago
hi. so one big factor of my OCD is rumination. i met a guy who i have a crush on the idea of (idea bc there are red flags). my biggest fear is not finding true love, my ex told me no one else would deal with what i have (my ocd, specifically reassurance seeking and getting overstimulated after intimacy). a few weeks ago, my friends and family all gathered and tried to give me advice that sounded like “you’re shy and you’ll never find someone.” after that, i’ve felt off. i’ve been using an unhealthy coping skill, daydreaming, and i’ve just felt unbalanced. my ocd makes everything feel different sometimes, i can’t explain it. life, myself, almost like being in a dissociated state. has anyone else experienced that? i don’t know how to remain balanced during my off times and i know pms exasperates it all. i take ashwaghanda and omega 3s in a multi vitamin daily. i take them all together in the evening but i’ve missed three days recently and also messed with my rocky sleep schedule because of fun times with friends. i hope these supplements work, because i don’t know if i’d be brave enough for medication. i had a bad reaction on prozac and often am forgetful. i just have been battling my OCD consciously for almost ten years now and unconsciously for longer. i am so tired, as my mental health extends beyond my OCD. i’m in talk therapy with some cbt aspects but i only see her twice a month. i’ve broken down so many times and promised myself id get on track or that certain things would work, but it’s like i am stuck in a circle that gets smaller when i’m able to help myself. i just want to be normal. i want to be able to mess up my sleep schedule to enjoy good times and not suffer horrible consequences or fear that i will be entirely thrown off balance. i don’t want to worry or doubt or feel so dissociative that i squint my eyes for a moment and wonder why i feel so unreal. i will never understand why god has allowed me to go through this. i cannot let it be for nothing but i don’t know how much more to bend and contort my body and brain to get somewhere stable but how lovely it would be if i could. i don’t have much of a schedule right now, i get apathetic and give in with things from time to time. one thing can trigger me and i am back to square one wether in a week or month. any advice, any and all is so helpful. your stories, your thoughts. maybe feeling less alone and knowing what has helped you is exactly what i need right now. thank you 💗
- Date posted
- 13w ago
My last and almost life long theme/sub-theme largely subsided recently and my ocd felt like it wasn’t even an issue. Then I went on winter break from uni and being alone made my mind come up with a whole new topic to obsess over. TLDR on my fears, my advisor wouldn’t email me back for a while about signing up for classes so my mind started to worry “what if he doesn’t in time and you can’t enroll this semester and you lose this whole life you just built and all these new friends” So when that issue was resolved my mind found other scarier ways I could be uprooted from my current life and friends that I’ve grown so attached to. Then my mind remembered back when I was struggling with false memories and scrupulosity and I essentially made a post on a forum 2 and a half years ago saying I did something or was convinced I did something that I never actually did. Now I’ve been spiraling about someone finding it reporting me and I either get seen as a horrible person or arrested or something over something I never actually did but “admitted” to out of fear of going to hell. My mind won’t let it go and keeps finding new reasons for it to be “valid” “logical” or even inevitable. I feel like it’s just hanging over my head and I can never rest easy. Especially when I try to focus on my daily tasks or plan for the future I get this horrible flair up of “why plan for the future when this could come back in that future and you get uprooted from all of it” my mind won’t rest without certainty being uprooted won’t happen but certainty doesn’t exist, at least not with ocd. This sucks and I miss being care free.
- Date posted
- 10w ago
Medication for OCD? Hello all, 19 male here, this seems like a cool community that isn’t nearly as triggering as reddit. I have pretty severe bouts of existential thinking or fear of going crazy ( psychosis ) after some pretty heavy mushroom trips a few years ago, I know logically I should be fine but I do know what it’s like to lose it and it’s scary. Currently I deal with relationship focused OCD, it’s all day from before I even open my eyes. I want things to work out with my girlfriend badly. Also I can come close to a panic attack sometimes which perpetuates everything. Anyway, I mention the fear of going crazy because the way my anxiety/derealization makes me feel is that I’m not mentally stable cause I feel out of it or unreal. I saw that a lot of anxiety and depression medication can cause psychosis and I feel like I could use some help in getting ahead of my OCD because the compulsions are had not to give into when I’m in such distress/not knowing. Plus overall I just feel like I have no idea how I feel about close to anything. Anyone relate about that ?
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