To ask about your stress symptoms because I feel like mine are weird...

[DizzyPhillips]

I find during periods of high stress, where I have a lot to think about, I feel very detached. It’s like I’m not really there. It’s a very odd feeling.

Like today I was driving the car into town and I felt like I was watching someone else drive the car. And it didn’t feel safe to be honest I didn’t feel in control. More like autopilot.

It’s hard to explain. I have come home for a rest with a coffee like I don’t have 10,000 things to do.

When I was younger, I has a weight issue and used to have had re-occurring distressing dreams, which the GP said were related to my being underweight somehow.

Sometimes I would be asleep in bed but I'd have like an "out of body" experience where I got out of bed and I was all of a sudden very, very tiny and all the furniture was huge. I'd turn round and look at my bed and I was lay there, life size, asleep.

Very strange. Not happened to me in a while though.

Sounds like depersonalisation. I have anxiety and I get this sometimes. It's like I'm watching myself from outside my body and things don't feel real

Wow. I had never heard of depersonalisation but I’ve looked it up and yeah, that sounds like what it is.

It’s only for a few minutes at a time it happens

yes depersonalisation, I get this too with my anxiety. Hope it passes for you, mine has got a whole lot better than it was and I feel better knowing what it is.

Very scary. I've had it too. Walking around feeling almost ghost-like. Feeling like being in another dimension.
It never happened in a high-stress situation, rather it would occur during prolonged stressful times in my life and come 'out of the blue' and last for a minute up to an hour ( by which time I'd be in full panic mode and it would subsided with my panic attacks).
Reading about it really put my mind at rest and took away the fear.

It happens to me to in certain circumstances; not a nice experience.

This might sound stupid but is it safe to drive etc? Because I genuinely didn’t feel in control. But maybe I actually was?

There are grounding techniques you can use to help but I wouldn't recommend using them whilst driving. I think you should probably find somewhere to pull over until the sensation passes.

YEs i get this as part of my anxiety disorder.

mindfulness is useful, obviously dont do any meditation whilst driving but being mindful might be worth a go. youtube is useful.

I get this sometimes when I have periods of high stress.

I feel like I'm locked in a tiny room inside my head and all my thoughts are whirling round it like a tornado.

Yes I've experienced this when really stressed or anxious. Mindfullness works to stop it and there are lots of useful grounding exercises including breathing techniques which will help

I’ve had this before. The best way I could describe it was it was if I was watching my life as a film or tv show that was filmed in first person perspective!

Yes that’s a really accurate way to describe it confuzzzzzled

I didn’t think I suffered from anxiety. I do get stressed out.

I didn't think I did either OP. Until I did. And then it took me months to accept it I went to GP and had very test under the sun to rule out a physical reason (hormone imbalance, vitamin deficiency etc). The physical symptoms of stress and or anxiety are very real.

Hi. Just wanted to say you mentioned you went home for a coffee and I find that makes that sensation worse for me. Might be worth reducing your caffeine for a while or at least keep an eye on it. Hope you're feeling calmer.

Interesting point about caffeine. I have been overdoing it. Sleep is thin on the ground.

I didnt realise I did either. I thought I was ill with something not anxiety.

I used to get this too. Looking back I think it was my brain's way of stopping becoming completely overwhelmed. I now use meditation instead to reduce stress levels and that works well.

Lack of sleep (usually caused by stress) definitely made it work. I often use the insight timer app and play some guided meditation when I go to bed. Usually fall asleep before it's finished ☺️