Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: Tanith on 29/05/2008 13:36:48
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I asked this very same thing on a Medical forum thinking my condition was medical related and I was told that I was suffering from psychiatric symptoms
My symptoms are weird and difficult to put into words but I'll try the best I can:
It started when one day I fainted. I was taking to see a doctor and took some blood tests which at first showed I was low on a vitamin called B12 but further tests showed that I was not enemic.
I feel like I'm not fully alive, I have a strange feeling around my eyes which feels like tiredness but I have it constantly. I can concentrate on things and go about my daily basis like I always have, but I can lose concentration easily If I stare at something and could stare at a wall for hours on end. I can bring myself out of it but does just not feel right. I used to be able to recall memories with ease to and think about things that happened in my past but now it takes a little more effort.
I know everything around me is real, I trust my eyes but it simply does not feel real. This must sound really strange but I have been this way for around 2 years now, It has not gotten any worse but sadly it has not went away like I hoped.
When I fainted I was out for like 20 seconds tops and when I woke up I was fine just felt really weak. Did not start to notice these symptoms until they started to gradually get worse over time. Eventually I got used to them and was able to go about my usual day like I always had its just that strange feeling of knowing whats going on around you but not feeling like your actually there.
I always assumed that it was due to something that happened when I fainted, but if it was medical I take it the doctor would of found something when he did a check up and got me to get a blood test.
Does anyone know whats possibly wrong with me and any possible treatments?
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Welcome Tanith and Giles had posted a similar thread recently so
it might be of use to you.
How often do you eat and if so what kind of food? Fruit, veg fish or junk food??
What did your doctor say about the reasons for you fainting?/
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=13772.0
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I feel like I'm not fully alive, I have a strange feeling around my eyes which feels like tiredness but I have it constantly. I can concentrate on things and go about my daily basis like I always have, but I can lose concentration easily If I stare at something and could stare at a wall for hours on end. I can bring myself out of it but does just not feel right. I used to be able to recall memories with ease to and think about things that happened in my past but now it takes a little more effort.
I know everything around me is real, I trust my eyes but it simply does not feel real. This must sound really strange but I have been this way for around 2 years now, It has not gotten any worse but sadly it has not went away like I hoped….
Eventually I got used to them and was able to go about my usual day like I always had its just that strange feeling of knowing whats going on around you but not feeling like your actually there.
Your description seems consistent with a depersonalisation disorder...
Self-reports emphasise the strange and disturbing quality of the depersonalisation experience: some patients report feeling ‘like a robot’, ‘different from everyone else’ and ‘separate from myself’ (this last should be understood metaphorically rather than taken to imply autoscopic experience). Others describe feeling ‘half-asleep’ or ‘as if my head is full of cotton wool’, with associated difficulties in concentration. External reality may also be strangely altered: it may appear somehow artificial – as if ‘painted, not natural’, or ‘two-dimensional’ or ‘as if everyone is acting out a role on a stage, and I’m just a spectator’. Even though the world does not necessarily look unreal, it is nevertheless experienced as ‘less interesting and less alive than formerly’
http://apt.rcpsych.org/cgi/reprint/11/2/92.pdf
Because of your initial "faint" Tanith,
I suggest an EEG to explore the possibility that your depersonalisation symptoms are a consequence of epilepsy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroencephalography
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Welcome Tanith and Giles had posted a similar thread recently so
it might be of use to you.
How often do you eat and if so what kind of food? Fruit, veg fish or junk food??
What did your doctor say about the reasons for you fainting?/
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=13772.0
I rarely eat veg and fruit I eat junk food quite often. I have 3 meals a day and some snacks and bits of toast etc at different intervals in the day I also eat fish on a weekly basis to. I eat quite a lot but I am really thin to.
I never really got a reason as to why I fainted my first blood test showed that I was low on the vitamin b12 but tests taken at a later date showed that my vitamin b12 count was back to normal.
btw RD if it is depersonalisation disorder what would be the best treatments to help me. I haven't told a doctor or any professionals about this yet as I would sound like a crazy person saying I don't feel alive.
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I never really got a reason as to why I fainted my first blood test showed that I was low on the vitamin b12 but tests taken at a later date showed that my vitamin b12 count was back to normal.
btw RD if it is depersonalisation disorder what would be the best treatments to help me. I haven't told a doctor or any professionals about this yet as I would sound like a crazy person saying I don't feel alive.
Your fainting could have been a seizure due to epilepsy, (epilepsy can also cause depersonalisation symptoms).
Your "stare at the wall" symptom could be absence seizures...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absence_seizure
If you do have epilepsy it can be treated with anti-convulsant drugs.
Treatments for depersonalisation disorders, whatever their cause, are described at the end of this article (p96-98)...
http://apt.rcpsych.org/cgi/reprint/11/2/92.pdf
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Hi Tanith
When people talk about mental conditions, too often doctors and people tend to view them as a thought disorder only. This occurs because of ignorance on behalf of people but whats disturbing is that this attitude also comes from doctors.
Almost all mental illness occurs because of an underlying organic pathology. For example when you see a schizophrenic man, he didnt make himself that way. He has abnormailties in the way his brain cells work that make him that way. When you see a severely depressed woman, she didnt make herself that way. She has organic and chemical alterations within her brain that make her that way.
I recommend working with your doctor you first have a brain-scan done in order to make sure that there isnt something overtly organic that is causing your sypmtoms. Secondly, the doctor should be able to help with a diagnosis and some treatments you can try. Tell the doctor about the way you loose track of your surroundings and the way you feel.
Please keep us posted here on this thread of your progress.