Detached/spaced out/floaty feeling for 1 week

[Psm92]

I feel like I'm going a bit mad. For the past week I have had the weirdest feeling - a sensation of being detached from my surroundings and body, everything seems really bright, and I almost feel like I'm kind of observing myself in my body. I'm genuinely not/have not been anxious, and I'm sleeping and eating well, so no idea what this is about! I guess I've been a bit more tired than usual, but this seems like a very odd manifestation of it if it's lasted for a week!

I don't want to assume this is some weird sub-conscious mental health/anxiety thing, so I've had my GP order some bloods (the usual iron, B12, etc etc.), but this sensation is really freaking me out. Google seems to suggest it's something called "depersonalisation" or "derealisation" but I really hope it goes away soon. Has anyone else ever had this and how long did it take to go away?

How are you feeling now OP?

'derealisation' is a thing, but is poorly understood even by psychiatrists. In some people it appears and then disappears in a week or two, in others it stays much longer but people learn to deal with it.

things that may help reduce feelings of derealisation include any physical activity - swimming / running / walk in the park etc. especially if you really get your body moving & tired. Also intense tastes / smells - anything that gives you a connection to the physical world.

things that make make it worse include too many zoom calls / living life online. There is some suggestion that the pandemic made things worse for many people.

The derealisation is a little better, but not totally gone. I feel like I'm gradually coming out of it and it's not as bad as before. I have however been experiencing a lot of light sensitivity and I don't know whether it's linked. Also struggling with some dizziness issues which my GP has said might be something called PPPD which I'm getting checked out for, and which may relate to the light sensitivity! What a minefield!

Hey op I get the same thing sometimes before but usually after an attack of vertigo. I have a vestibular problem

I used to get depersonalisation and other completely bizarre feelings (google Alice in Wonderland Syndrome) which were caused by a type of migraine. Most of the time I didn’t have a headache with them. They didn’t usually last more than a couple of hours, but would often come and go over a period of days and were really quite intense.

I'd suspect some form of migraine with the light sensitivity as well.