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Feeling Like The World Is Unreal
Have you ever gone about your day and suddenly felt like the scene unfolding around you felt more like a movie that you were watching rather than your actual reality? Or maybe it felt like you were in a dream. Things just felt different from the norm and…off.
This may be derealization.
What is Derealization
Derealization is often a symptom of a panic attack or it can be brought on by very high stress. It involves feeling like things around you are not real or are distorted in some way. This can lead to a feeling of detachment from your surroundings - like they are a screen that you’re watching. It can be a really scary experience that leads to feelings of panic and fears that you’re “losing your mind.”
The episode can last a few minutes, half an hour or even weeks.
Derealization can be associated with other medical conditions as well so it’s important to mention this symptom to your doctor to get a full assessment.
Treatment
If derealization is happening during a panic attack or in response to stress and anxiety, then treating the stress and anxiety is key. This can be done with therapy, medication and natural remedies. In the moment, it’s often recommended to connect to the senses to try to ground back into reality. This includes smelling something, touching your own skin or an object or someone you trust, listening to the noises in your surroundings and counting objects that you see. A health care provider can help you come up with techniques that are tailored to your experience of derealization.
If you want to learn more about holistic ways to manage your anxiety, click the button below to learn more about the Anxious to Empowered program.
How to Talk Yourself Through a Panic Attack
A panic attack is one of the strangest sensations out there and it can feel different to different people. Some of the more common symptoms are: a racing and heavy heartbeat, feeling like you’re not getting enough air and feeling like something terrible is happening to your body. Others report sensations like feeling like you’re in a dream, feeling detached from situations around you, feeling physically week and chest pain. It’s important to be assessed by a healthcare provider to rule out other conditions if you experience what feels like panic attacks.
There are a number of techniques that can help calm a panic attack. Talking yourself out of panic is a really valuable one. It’s important to plan what you’re going to say to yourself ahead of time. Write down or memorize your self-talk when you’re not having a panic attack. Also remind yourself of the resources you can always turn to if needed (like a doctor, therapist, crisis number, hospital, trusted loved one etc.).
Write down or memorize simple things you can say to yourself that you actually believe. So, if saying “just stay calm, it’ll be ok” to yourself is unhelpful to you, pick something else. Here are some favourites:
This feels exactly like my other panic attacks. It’s nothing new. I can handle it.
These feelings won’t last forever. They’ll pass like they always do and I will be fine.
Feeling like something bad is going to happen is a common feeling in a panic attack. It doesn’t mean that it’s true.
I don’t need to fight this panic attack. It’ll come and it’ll go. I’ll sit with the feelings knowing they can’t hurt me.
Most panic attacks don’t last long even though they feel like they do in the moment. For more free tips on getting through anxiety and panic click HERE.
How Thyroid Antibodies Affect Your Mood
Figuring out the causes of your anxiety and depression can be frustrating. Anti-anxiety and anti-depressant medications and supplements certainly have an important role to play in relieving mood symptoms. But I’m always disappointment when I see that the treatment plan usually stops there. We should be doing a much better job at uncovering and treating potential contributing factors to anxiety and depression. The health of your thyroid is one such factor.
If your thyroid is overactive or underactive it can contribute to depression and anxiety. Pretty much all health care providers are aware of this so if you complain about your mood or anxiety levels, there’s a good chance your TSH and T4 (maybe T3) will be tested. If these come back normal, your thyroid is crossed off the list as a cause of concern.
But did you know that the health of your thyroid could be affecting your mood even if your thyroid hormone levels are normal? There is growing evidence that elevated thyroid antibodies can play a role in depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and panic attacks even if thyroid hormone levels are normal. I’m starting to see a few more patients coming to me with thyroid antibody test results, but I’m still surprised that antibodies are not tested more often.
What are thyroid antibodies? Your thyroid is a gland in your neck that governs your metabolism and is in charge of a number of different functions. Thyroid antibodies form when your immune system accidentally decides to attack various components of your thyroid. This leads to inflammation and damage in your thyroid. Sure, this damage can cause abnormalities in your actual thyroid hormones - but not always. Just because your thyroid hormones are normal doesn’t mean we can ignore thyroid antibodies.
Testing thyroid antibodies involves a simple blood test and it’s relatively inexpensive. I run antibody tests for my patients all the time and the results help me to decide what treatments are worth while and what aren’t.
Anxiety and depression can have multiple different root causes. Sometimes the causes are obvious and sometimes they’re not. If you really feel ready to do a deep dive into the potential contributing factors to your mood symptoms, reach out to me and we can discuss options. You deserve to have a comprehensive, robust treatment plan for your mood symptoms.