I survived a TBI in May 2010. Since that time everything feels surreal. It is as if I am 2-3 steps removed from everything that’s happening. Can you explain this?
Following a traumatic brain injury, many people experience both their inner and outer worlds quite differently than they did before. There are a number of reasons for this. First, changes to the brain commonly impact a person’s memory, attention, concentration, problem-solving abilities, and reasoning skills. These changes can alter the way a person makes sense of or interacts with the world around them, resulting in very different thought processes and behaviors than the person may have had before the injury.
Changes to the parts of the brain that control either visual or auditory processing can also result in a person experiencing the world quite differently than they did before. When the brain receives information either by looking at something (visual input) or by listening to sounds (auditory input), the brain must de-code this information and make sense of it. When the parts of the brain that have this job are injured, people can have a difficult time accurately interpreting what they see or hear.
Finally, stress levels are substantially heightened for most people with TBI. Whether stress comes from the difficulty of having had a traumatic experience, from the challenge of living with changes to one’s abilities, from the emotional changes that can accompany brain injury, or from a combination of these factors, stress levels are likely to be high. Prolonged, intense stress "• especially when accompanied by trauma "• can have a significant impact on the way in which the brain functions. Survivors struggling to manage stress levels may notice further difficulty processing information or making meaning of themselves and their world.
Some people with brain injury may also experience what doctors refer to as depersonalization (DP) and/or derealization (DR). Depersonalization describes the experience of feeling like you are removed from yourself or as if you are in a dream. Derealization is the sensation that the world around you is unreal or is profoundly and grotesquely changed. Often, DP and DR occur at the same time. The majority of people who note frequent bouts with DP/DR have experienced some type of significant trauma. DP/DR can also occur as a result of injuries or illnesses which impact neurological functioning. Although there is still much to learn with respect to why some people experience DP/DR following a traumatic brain injury, the experience may be more common than was previously thought. In fact, in one study, as many as half of the patients with TBI reported experiencing at least occasional instances of DP/DR¹,². It appears that people with TBI may be more likely to experience DP/DR when they also meet the criteria for a diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
If you frequently have the sensation that either you or the world around you is unreal and/or dreamlike, speak to your doctor about this. Your physician may be able to prescribe a medication regimen that could help to reduce these symptoms. Additionally, consider seeing a counselor about ways to reduce the significant stressors in your life. The counselor can also help by providing support and encouragement to assist you in coping with times when you experience DP/DR. Combining stress reduction, professional support, and a comprehensive wellness and medication management plan is the most effective approach to regaining a sense of stability and security in yourself and your world.
About the author: Emilie Godwin, PhD
Emilie Godwin, PhD, LPC, MFT is a faculty member and licensed clinician at Virginia Commonwealth University, with a specialty focus on couples and family counseling after brain injury. Currently, she serves as the Family Support Program Coordinator for the VCU TBI Model System projects.
Comments (75)
Please remember, we are not able to give medical or legal advice. If you have medical concerns, please consult your doctor. All posted comments are the views and opinions of the poster only.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
I suppose it is the nature of the beast, but I have always felt like the only person having had this occur, or neurology would not comprehend what they hadn't experienced. But like anything, it can be verbalized and thereby imagined by others. At the age of 11, I was accosted in the schoolyard, and kicked extremely hard in the face. Losing a tooth or consciousness didn't trouble me as much as finding the world was now foreign to me. I knew I should be in it, but now was only observing it as through a window. It was terrifying. I couldn't explain it to anyone. I tried to tell my mother, and saw a GP and psychiatrist, who put me on chlordiazepoxide because all they could see was my anxiety...I have remained anxious since my condition never changed. That was 1975. Since then I have tried to do what other people I observed did, but in spite of graduate school, of my IQ and potential, find myself in my 3rd marriage, unable to hold a job (10-years now), and stressed by every event, noise, or movement I encounter. I fear being alone, but also burdening another with being incapacitated by the 2-dimensional world I see.
I replied on Permalink
Does anyone else feel like they’re different after their concussion? Mine was 7 months ago and I was drunk when I hit my head (I don’t even remember the incident). The next day I thought I was still drunk and thought it was funny and didn’t mind the feeling, but after a few days when it didn’t go away I got really scared bc I started to feel confused and was questioning if anything was real and if I was dead. I was also very lethargic, so I went to the hospital where I got diagnosed with a concussion. I had a lot of insane mood swings in the first couple weeks and would sometimes feel completely numb. I also had a weird thing where I could still taste food, but I got no pleasure out of eating and couldn’t enjoy it, it felt really exhausting like all it was was chewing and swallowing. After I got better though, and those severe symptoms went away, but I feel like I’m different now. I still would question life and wondered what the meaning of anything was bc everything felt pointless and strange. I’ve gotten really bad headaches since my concussion and sometimes feel emotionally numb. I also feel like my head is empty a lot these days, I don’t ever get bored bc I just don’t care about anything and time passing feels the same whether it’s 5 hours or 5 minutes. I can’t tell if I’m actually different though or if I felt this way before my concussion too. I don’t think so, but I feel like I can’t recall how I felt before then. I have suffered with depression in the past but I’m not sure if this is the same because I’m not suicidal.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
I suffered a spinal injury as a kid playing basketball. Knee to my lower back as I was coming down from a rebound and my body went numb and hit the ground. Head too and instantly blacked out. I don’t remember hardly anything about my childhood, possibly related. Not even sure how old I was when this happened. Don’t even remember being in an ambulance and the hospital stay. I do remember always comparing life to a movie or dream and that nothing seemed real.
Only as an adult have I started noticing the complications of this persistent disassociated state. From mood swings, to irrational decisions, to interactions with people being shallow and others not seeming real. Partly because it’s almost like I forget that I’m even looking at another human being.
It’s like my memory is so fragmented. My experiences of life are compartmentalized and only accessible depending on my “state of mind.” Lots of back problems growing up. Lots of behavioral problems. I never considered that the injury could have caused some significant change and it was never discussed with me. I just correlated it all to stress at home.
There’s times when I feel like completely different people because I guess my brain has problems correlating specific experiences in the moment with my entire self as a whole. Past and present.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
OMG yes yes and yes
All of that is what I'm experiencing after 4 yrs
I'm still going thru it
I was healthy didn't smoke was small I did drink but not excessively.
I did work in the
Heat one summer going up and down stairs in the heat lifting extremely heavy boxes and placing them in the attic in a garage outside mid summer .
I live in the deep south in tx
C.C. tx
I did get a pneumonia shot 2 days later and then this happened
I also became unconscious ehen the ambulance arrived
I was taken to a local hospital .
Then was airlifted to Houston for better care.
My only question is will this stop, after being told by a med. Doc .that this is it.
I was also told by neurologists the same thing, but not to loose hope, so here I am, at 69.
Thank you.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
Good write life is a darn move, but it is your life.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
Take courage. I have been 12 years living in the altered state. When it first happened after a final concussion blow, it took me several years to get back to a better state. That better state isn't fully lifted out of the dream, but enough to interact with being in a joyful way. It will get better.do not be afraid, as many people are with you. Thank you everyone for sharing their experience. If you go on Facebook, there is a group for further information. The challenge will be your friends and family will not be able to relate, and of course, relating to one other and sharing life's joys and challenges is important.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
Can you tell me what the Facebook group name is? I've been dealing with this after two craniotomies.
sshadeware replied on Permalink
Traumatic Brain Injury Group | Facebook
Anonymous replied on Permalink
Great article and something I have experienced following a head injury last year with intracranial hypotension and a subdural haematoma. The surreal nature of recovery is quite unusual. As a musician I have used it within the creative process to write songs inspired by my slightly altered reality. I'm lucky.
Helin replied on Permalink
Hello,
My mum recently had a brain bleed and she is currently recovering. It has only been a month since the bleed. Most of the things she is experiencing are things I was expecting (fatigue, headaches and trouble sleeping) however she has mentioned that she feels “weird”.
I’ve asked her to explain and she says its as if she is seeing the world differently. She says places seem different to how they used to feel/look. Almost like she is looking into the world from outside. She said the world feels far away as if shes not actually in it. Anyone else feels like this?
This is all new to me…
I’d appreciate it so much if someone could explain to me how they were feeling and what helped them?
Also any suggestions on what I could do to help?
Thanks!
Anonymous replied on Permalink
I'm 17, I had a brain bleed near the centers of my brain at 16. I know exactly what she's talking about, I don't think it's curable cause I've had it for a year and a half but I think it would help her if she knew she wasn't the only one experiencing it, it's scary and it makes us feel insane but let her know she isn't the only one, and as far as I'm concerned it won't effect her ability to live a normal life and be happy.
montrbr replied on Permalink
Wow. I have been wondering what is wrong with me and I have not been able to put my finger on it for the past couple months. I had multiple brain surgeries and thought maybe I was just depressed because I had lost my job because of the surgeries, but after reading this it all makes a little more sense. I haven’t been depressed, it’s just the lens that I have been seeing life through has been changed. Has anyone else dealt with this after brain surgeries? I also feel like my brain works a bit different as I have become more philosophical, as to before I was very black and white and fact based. Such an odd thing. The thing about it is, it makes it hard not to second guess yourself. For example, I have very bad ringing in my ears now after the surgeries. Before the surgeries I knew I had ringing in my ears but it just seems like it has gotten worse after the surgery. I don’t think that is the case, I now believe that I am just experiencing that sound differently and am more aware of it. Almost like my mind has been opened. Happy to have found this page and happy be at least hopeful that there are other people that have experienced the same thing as I.
Teresa replied on Permalink
It’s been a little 30 years. I’ve never been the same. I had a brain aneurysm under my brain. You know they have to put you in a coma like state to do the surgery. I believe we are still in that coma state. It’s like looking through a window and you know you’re there but it’s like you’re not there. Depression has had me since then even with medication. I have a hard time trusting people . I’ve lost a lot of friends because of it. I’m totally different than what I used to be. I hope this kinda helps anyone going through this.
Annie replied on Permalink
That's cool to me! What I have noticed, almost 4 years since my first TBI, is that I am more "in tuned" with my mind now...like how it FEELS etc....even though I still have issues with feeling a bit overwhelmed and/or a kind of feeling like I'm in a dream-like state while out and about around lots of people.
BuskidNomad replied on Permalink
Well...what I experienced in the few years after my surgery was ambition. I was on fewer seizure meds, so I was able to get my B.A.. It took me a while, as I had other responsibilities, and the seizures returned, but I did it. As I walked across the stage to receive my diploma I had a seizure. I'm just going to stop there, bc things didn't improve.
My family says I'd be dead by now w/o the surgery, but the long term effects it has had on me (anterograde amnesia, depression) make me think life's not so much better. Sorry. Just warning you.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
I had a TBI about 3 weeks ago, ER, CT scan= concussion. I was assaulted and was struck 8 times to the right and left temporal lobes. The strangest thing and I can not find anything on this is I have never felt so Euphoric.. a little like I would be high, and no I don't drink alcohol or take any drugs, no Meds.
This feeling came actually during the assault and continues.
I see a Psychologist next week and can't wait to see what she has to say about it.
Tlynn replied on Permalink
Brain surgery... for 14 years I “felt” like I was watching myself in a movie everyday. No one believed me.. drs thought I was nuts.. ‘Cause their surgery went perfect’ lol It was bizzaro world and very frightening. I eventually lived on anxiety, checked myself into psych hospitals cause I thought I was nuts.
Then one day.. literally walked out of grocery store and it’s like I just stepped back into my body before surgery.
It was strange and wonderful, I cried. I was me, again.
TR replied on Permalink
Do you have any idea why it just snapped back after 14 years? Was it getting better over time? I have been 12 years now in the dream. Thanks!
Anonymous replied on Permalink
Years ago my Doctors didnt believe me when I told them I felt like I was having outer body experiences. Like I was watching myself. When I had flooding before It was called flooding I could hear myself crying, speaking, or yelling but it wasn't me. Like I was watching this person control all my emotions and I had no control. It was scary. I was told a few years ago, I had what they call a "deep" head injury.
I went head 1st through the side door window of a car- opening the window with my head on impact from the other car. She was going estimated 55mph. We were stopped. I was in the back seat, exactly where she hit. My head was split open in the front as my body, in shock landed on the sidewalk with the back of my head banging up against the corner of the side walk.
When I woke in the hospital I knew I had parents but couldn't remember what they looked liked. My sisters and brothers - I felt like I didnt really know who these people were.
My mother and I well it was just awful. I thought she was just mean and she thought I was being a brat.
I was having trouble hearing and everything sounded muffled.
I struggled to understand what people were saying. If I said I didnt hear or understand and asked... I was told I was a liar and got punished. My thoughts all came right out my mouth - I had no control over it. My music was to loud for my mom. She would lower it and I couldn't hear it. She would disagree and become very angry and fustrated with me. This was on going.
Eventually they took me to get my ears checked and sure enough my ear drum was barely reactive. I couldn't understand what the tester was saying because she covered her mouth.
I pushed myself to get better and go back to school. I was lost - very lost. In a chronic state of confusion. I actually couldn't really understand much. I would be in the halls feeling like I was watching myself -watching everyone around me. This happened for several years after my TBI. 1985
Anonymous replied on Permalink
Please share with staff at Bryn Mawr Rehab, esp. their neurologist.
Mandy replied on Permalink
very helpful to read, 20 years in from multiple concussions over a small span of time, I often say to family members I feel like Im outside looking in, viewing a world in technicolour, and as a joke flicking the lightswitch here in my house but turning the light on in the room 3 houses down ..... I kinda am getting better at dealing with it and it comes and goes, but anxiety always seems to lie there just under the surface.... keep up the good fight people, you are not alone ....
Mark replied on Permalink
And let’s not forget that psychiatric drugs are a very well-known cause of the type of brain damage which causes the symptoms this article mentions. Don’t ever forget that. That bit of information may well save your life. And if you started out with PTSD after the drugs do their number on you you will certainly have it much worse than you did originally. Or if you didn’t have it to begin with you will certainly develop it. From the drug damage itself which is an incredibly traumatic experience.
Laura replied on Permalink
Amen, Mark. I just had a fall and suffered my first concussion. About a decade ago I was put on one of these drugs for anxiety/depression. When I was taken off, about a year later after taking as prescribed, I had a horrific time. It was obvious to me those drugs damaged my brain. It took years to get any sort of semblance of normal working brain activity.
The doctor who prescribed them to me then had the nerve to tell me these new symptoms were ‘’just my old mental issues coming back now that there was no medicine”..TOTAL BULLSHIT! First of all, the drugs I took didn’t really do anything for me. I know my own body, and what I went through, now after having a concussion, I can say the withdrawal from those drugs was very very very much like the symptoms I had with the concussion, only 1000 times worse.
These pills are brain damage. And people NEED to heed the warnings coming from us. They won’t though because the lure of a ‘cure’ is too much temptation, and it’s easy for the pharmaceutical companies and doctors to sweep all of what is said by us under the rug of ‘’mental illness’’ to cover it up. It’s heinous and criminal. So many people have taken their own lives because of these pills.
Kat replied on Permalink
Hi, 4 months ago I was in a car accident. I never went to the hospital for a tbi or concussion diagnosis, but I know I have something. After the accident I developed a panic disorder because I didn’t feel like I was me. I felt like a different person in the same body and this feeling gave me daily panic attacks. Also, something really weird happened, my social anxiety I had before the accident disappeared. I used to be able to watch scary movies. Now I get so anxious I feel as if I’m a character in the movie, which also leads to panic attacks. Everytime I try to go to sleep it’s just me and my thoughts, which often gives me panic attacks. Driving, eating spicy foods, learning new information, even hearing a door creak gives me panic attacks. The weirdest most random things give me panic attacks or make me feel anxious. I’m also constantly sleeping which is harder for me to get to work on time. I feel like my mind is blank, like it doesn’t even exist, it’s not in my head, my head is just empty. The only emotion I feel is anxiety and panic.
Tracy replied on Permalink
I suffered concussion after a car crash back in April.
Even though I was suffering with depression at time of crash,your symptoms resonate with me so well.
I feel so different, very emotional, agitated, angry ,I would sleep most of the day ,I didn't know if I was depressed or not as it was different.
I just want to be happy and know that I will be ok.
Annie replied on Permalink
I've had all of those symptoms in varying degrees since my first TBI almost 4 years ago. Most of the anxiety I have felt were in the first 3 years...don't feel much of that now. What I've still been feeling for about a year now is the tiredness/fatigue/lack of motivation and still feel light-headed all day.
Eric Clausen replied on Permalink
Same here
Shawn replied on Permalink
Hi, went through a big tbi 6 months ago snowboarding. Had a terrible break down 2 months after and have been feeling ok until a few days ago. The anxiety and stress of moving I think caused a relapse and it feels worse than ever. The feeling of dreaming and super detached has me feeling like I have brain cancer or something. It’s such a relief hearing others go though this and it’s normal. I’ve had A lot of concussions in my life but this one messed up my vision and reality. So scary trying to provide for a family and be there for them when u can barely get out of bed without being scared. I notice I am always crying now over stupid things. It’s really embarrassing. I feel so bad for my wife and kids having to see me go through this.
Dean Mannion replied on Permalink
Just wanted to say my heart goes out to you!!( I’m in a similar situation) I also suffered TBI about 5 weeks ago, and still don’t feel quite right. I’m hoping the cognitive skills that have slowed will eventually return. Ofcoarse the internet is a double edged sword. Great for information, but so many stories of people never getting back to 100%, makes it hard to stay positive. Has anyone actually had positive improvement after a 5/6 weeks or is that likely to be it ?
Eli replied on Permalink
I hear u. I really do. Something that helped me a lot was neurofeedback. Wanted to share. :). Hoping you feel better soon!
Richmond Native... replied on Permalink
I was in an accident October of 2000. I don’t know what happened. I don’t remember anything at all. My injuries did not match where or what I was doing. I lost all memory of my life and people in it. One and a half years later my memory came back due to a drug I had taken. I had some long term issues due to the accident and some short term ones that are thankfully now gone. However, I don’t feel like I’m from here anymore. I don’t mean this area or my hometown. I mean this planet. This is not my home. This body may have started here but who or what’s inside is different. As if a voyager on a far off mission sent here to do what I’m unsure. I am knowledgeable about things I shouldn’t know anything about. I’m am driven by an unexplainable force I cannot stop and yet still have no clue where it’s taking me. What I have learned about this planet is that it is filled of a world full of learned responses blind to the true realities of life and this world. The primitive nature of our existence is just that, primitive and somewhat disappointing. This planet is a vacation destination for the universe. A melting pot of universal species forced to live on the same rock.
What you don’t understand is that I now see they the filters of society and learned behavior. On this planet anything is possible if you know how to do it. Literally anything. We are only confined by our inabilities to see past our own hinderance of imagination and belief that anything is truly possible. We are given a gift to live on this rock. This planet of possibilities. I am here for reasons I have yet to figure out. I walk among you in the masses and yet do not belong.
Life is daily, never forget. Perspective is everything.
chris replied on Permalink
Hi mate, sorry to hear what happened. Do u know what drug you took? cheers
Susan Barna replied on Permalink
I also feel disconnected or even possessed. Sometimes I feel like myself but most of the time I feel like someone else are you still watch TV all the time well when I got home from work I don't watch TV anymore my house is full of clutter nick-nacks him Little things I used to be a minimum is I am a stranger in my own world I just do things differently or think things differently . A friend of mine was watching Bohemian Rhapsody and I watched it as if a oil painting was moving around I hear cricket score tree frogs when there's nothing there I have problems concentrating controlling my emotions I get really aggravated when I can't do what I used to do decision-making forget it
Aarron Gledhill replied on Permalink
Hi all, I am now 31 but was in a motorbike accident over 10 years ago and was in a coma for a month due to this. My balance is still shocking and I get dizzy everytime I tilt my head back. Over the time I have got more of a understanding about my injury and emotions, however even if I cannot fully recover just talking about it is amazing and been able to read others experiances lets me realise nobody is alone. Accept all the support and rehabilitation whenever you can. I never used medication just self belief and help from the professionals to get where i am today. Time is the biggest healer so use has much theoropy as fast has you can an eventually your brain will subconciously learn to develop again. Every week I attend a T.B.I centre to help others alike so I can try inspire and give them whatever incentive they require. Also I would like to let people without T.B.I understand us too. I am very lucky to be alive and not ashamed to show it anymore but my recovery did'nt just involve luck. Keep motivated and stay healthy because your older body will be the only thing that thanks you for that. Peace love everyone and take care XD
ME hughes replied on Permalink
I had a high grade TBI 6 years ago from a car accident. Saturday 4 days ago I banged my head hard. I feel like I’m dreaming and don’t have emotional feelings inside right now, but other things feel quite amazing. Like my bath water feels like silk but my close feel awful. I just don’t want to be going backward it took 2.5 years in regard and I’ve just regained my word flow. I’m scared.
R ben Gal replied on Permalink
Hello.
On my last snowboarding trip I had hit my head quite hard. as I was making my way down the mountain I started to question if i was dreaming or not, I asked my mother, who is a nurse, about it and she assured me I was not dreaming .
I had to go back up the mountain to get to the car so i took my time and slowly got down to the parking lot. the session was strange, but everything looked quite beautiful, like there was a camra filter and lots of contrast over evrthing.
By dinner i felt pretty much like normal and i haven't had problems since.
I got back on the mountain the next day with no issues.
Is this something I should worry about? If this happens to me or somone I know again is there some actions I could take to reduce risk?
D Dog replied on Permalink
I can't fully answer your question, but if anyone gets concussed, or may be concussed, it is VERY important that they avoid any further possible head injury until the concussion is FULLY better. E.g. stop snowboarding if you have a concussion/possible concussion. This is because a second concussion (before the first one is healed) could lead to "second-impact syndrome", where the second knock on the head (even if not that hard) can lead to severe injury or death.
anybody replied on Permalink
I've received a concussion 5 years ago. Back then everything around me had seemed glamorous and I was the most sociable kid in the class. Everyone around me and everything has had a sense of surrealism. I still feel alienated by the world around me as I feel like I live outside of society and want to return only not to fit in. It honestly has been a roller coaster realizing my work ethic significantly has declined. To me, the concussion faced by many can give them a new life and drive them to question who they are and not mesh well with the society we see today
len replied on Permalink
Since 2006 and a brain injury I have experienced situations similar to the movie the adjustment bureau and star trek next generation parallels season 7 episode 11 almost as if I exist or experience a parallel reality. It now 12 years later and I have come to grips that what we consider life as linear is not what I experience. I would not wish this experience on any one I welcome my return back home one day.
Aaron Funk replied on Permalink
I sustained a traumatic brain injury two years ago now. Woke up from a coma about a week later. Ever since then, I've felt like I woke up in a parallel universe, with people that are the same, but entirely different. I feel as though I'm living in the universe that was created from the smallest slice of a possible outcome; the one where I survived my car crash, and recovered 80% of my processing ability. I feel as though in every other universe, I died. I feel like the parents I remember, exist in a parallel universe where their son died in a car crash, ejected from the windshield. I'm just an anomaly. I don't belong here, and nobody understands.
Joy replied on Permalink
I am saddened to hear your words, yet can accurately say that I understand them well. In 2009 I fractured my L occipital bone and have not been the same, not for a fleeting second, since. I understand. I cannot offer anything that will be able to alter your state of being, only that I know. You are not alone. Sending sincere thoughts for peace.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
I have derealization am I am only 12 years old. I have been having it for about 1.5 months now. It is extremely scary. I am constantly scared. I feel like I am living a dream. It is always the worst once I wake up because I can't prove to myself that I am not in another dream. The thought frightens me. Also I question my existence constantly. I question everything and the thoughts I recieve pannic me. I haven't recieved a concussion that I know of. But I play football and maybe it has something to do with that. Last season I do remember getting hit hard but I haven't got derealization until like a month ago. This season just started and I am playing a little more cautious.
Isaac replied on Permalink
What you should do is reality checks. Count your fingers and if you can’t count your fingers then you’ll know your dreaming, it’s more for comfort.
Lauren replied on Permalink
I know you probably won't see this, but if you do, try to look at yourself in a mirror or read something to prove to yourself that you're awake, neither works in dreams. Sometimes this is the only way I can anchor when it gets intense.
Good luck, I hope it passes!
Adam replied on Permalink
About 3 months ago I suffered a concussion only about a month and a half after having another concussion. I'm 18 years old and have had 6 concussions in my life and 4 of those are in the past year and a half. The symptoms from the 5 previous concussions were all the same with a headache, some nausea, and maybe some dizziness. However, my last concussion was a lot different. As soon as I got hit in the head, I had a lot of ringing in my ears and had confusion and shortly after, the derealization began to start. I had very bad anxiety trying to dealing with this from that day until around 2 months later. I was desperately searching the internet searching for other people who had this feeling and if it would go away when I came upon this thread. Reading these comments made my anxiety so much worse because I was reading these stories about how their derealization hadn't gone away for years and were still dealing with it and I never thought I would return back to normal. I just want anyone that comes upon this thread with a similar story to mine or anyone with derealization to know that IT CAN go away. For me it took around 2 and a half months for it to really go away. The brain is a slow healing organ and it does not go away instantly like I was and I'm sure you are hoping for. It takes time. I know all you want to do is just stay and inside and not move or go anywhere but BELIEVE ME after a certain amount of time resting, go outside and do things. It's very scary I know because everything feels unreal or like a dream, but you have to do your best to try and push through it. The more you do this the better it's gonna help you. You CAN get better and I know it's very hard to believe that you will, but there are plenty or people out there including myself who have gotten better out there and returned to normal. And for the people who have commented on this thread and have had derealization for years, I have the upmost and tremendous respect for you. It feels like a nightmare every second of every single day and the fact that you all go out and live your lives or even if you don't is incredible. This was by far one of the hardest or the hardest thing I have ever gone through in my life both emotionally and physically. I know how difficult it is to really explain to people how it feels and it's impossible for someone to really understand how it feels unless they have gone through it themselves. So again, the fact that you all choose to go out and live your lives with this is ridiculously brave. I just want to help people that come to this thread understand that their lives aren't over and that there is hope. If anyone ever wants someone to talk to about this or how they are feeling feel free to email me at adam9129129@gmail.com. DONT LOSE HOPE.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
Hey there I’m 33 years old and I’m on my 6th week of concussion thers some days were I feel good like I’m recovering and then I’ll get a few days were I feel dizzy again. This is tuff. I feel like I’m never going to get better I don’t feel my self... I Kobe it’s normal to feel like this cause yes this is a concussion. Did you have bad days and good days thank u
Dale replied on Permalink
Thanks Adam. These posts usually just add to the anxiety because the comments are from people who are in the midst of it but they don't post again when they recover. I am grateful for the hope that you have given me by your comments. Sometimes hope is all you need
Dee replied on Permalink
Wow this was such an incredible read and very calming. I just came across this thread because I woke up from a nightmare and I tend to have really vivid negative dreams all the time since my brain surgery 4 months ago. Your words are not only profound for 18 but uplifting and very understanding of the people potentially reading it. I appreciate you going back after coming out of DR and making a post!
Mekko replied on Permalink
Thank you. My daughter (17) just recently had a door hit the back of her head last week. Just the corner caught the back of her head as it swung closed.
A year prior she was thrown ftom a horse and had only pain. No nausea a little dizziness but sge was fine.
After this recent injury she started feeling disconnected and neither of us had any idea this happens. Still worried but more at ease now.
Chris Fletcher replied on Permalink
I have exactly this, depersonalisation and decentralisation.
I must be in a smaller catergory because I simply do not feel stress.
My focal area of my brain took a hit in a car accident and I suffered a Diffuse Axional Injury and maybe a hypoxia injury. Witnesses said they approached the car and they thought I was dead and after sometime let out a gasp and then they heard me breath. I was out for 40minutes.
A guy described this issue like being stuck in a 70s martial arts movie where the video is grainy and the audio is dubbed and not synced.
I thought this was a spot on description. One of my ears has a really high scratching sound and the my vision also got damaged which most likely explains for a lot of the DP and DC.
I'm basically tired all the time.
Regards Chris/ Australia
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