This happens to me every day, but it comes and goes. It seems to be triggered by light. When it does happen, it feels like blood is not circulating to my brain.
I wear sunglasses which helps a little. The only thing that really makes it go away is laying down and closing my eyes, or at least putting my head down and closing my eyes.

yes mine is way worse with light as well! I notice it most when im outside during the day...im praying that this symptom goes away...it is a strange feeling

hey guys! I know I'm a little late responding, but I've only just come across your threads. I've suffered from derealization/ depersonalization for just over 3 months now, and thankgoodness the worst of it has passed. It is a terrifying feeling, and it is the cause of anxiety. Most people with DR do not have psychiatric disorders, because they have real cause for panic and alarm that are not imagined, simply due to their state of mind. It is in itself a threatening state, so the brain enters a constant panic, disallowing you to function at your previous levels in terms of all aspects of your life basically. You become this neurotic, and emotionless body, with hardly any real drive or intention. If your life was in danger, or any part of your life for that matter, and being human what we value most is our emotion and our ability to experience, (in DR that is the danger or the loss we fear, along with other things), you simply would not have the capacity to carry out the life you were living before. The constant dread that something is wrong leads to the assumption that something is dreadfully wrong, and with the evidence behind you, of having sustained a concussion, you think you have brain damage. And this realization is in itself harmful as you prepare to rethink your whole life. The feeling that I have come to hate, is walking in a park and simply feeling like part of the scenery, with no real existence or foothold. I found walking and taking really hard steps helped a lot, just to feel the ground beneath me. In my opinion, DR may not be a direct cause of concussion. Concussion does bring on some form of panic within the brain from shock, and many of us might make the mistake of taking medication, drugs, or alcohol after a seemingly mild concussion. Those things alter our states of mind anyway, and DR as stated by Linden is brought on by the smallest possible amount of anxiety/ panic. While concussed, even slightly, and consumming a seemingly harmless pill, or having a drink, we may bring on a panic or anxiety attack which goes unnoticed, until we eventually realise the terrifying state we are actually in. Concussion effects the metabolism of the brain, and things like cortisol and adrenaline are effected, an imbalance of these can induce symptoms of panic in the body; such as a racing heart, and fast breathing, whatever. The effect on the brain ends up being 'there's something wrong here, I'm going put myself into full awareness what is going on in me and not anything else.' Anxiety in itself decreases blood flow to some areas of the brain, without a doubt causing cognitive difficulties mimiccing those of PCS, leading to more 'evidence' for the derealized mind to work with and convince itself it is damaged. Derealization, apart from leaving you as a stark white blank canvas when it passes, is harmless, or so I hope. I myself, did not feel derealized after I hit my head on a steel support beam, until 5 days later when I started taking herbal medicine to treat anxiety; wrong move. I did not have strong symptoms of concussion from my bump, (I was turning and my head met with the beam from 1-2 feet away), other than feeling a bit more emotional, and stunned. Anyway, I hope that I provided some explanation for this. I hope it helps; coming up with this explanation has helped me recover somewhat, as it has brought down the possibility of it having evolved directly as a result of injury.

Ditto! Very glad you posted this. Have tried and tried to explain to people and my explanation just doesn't make sense. I might borrow some of this. I've told them it's like being in a fog-or even intoxicated-yet aware of what is going on around me and not being able to verbalize it...this doesn't even make sense when I read it....good grief.

Here is orfray's post with some spacing so it may be easier to read.

hey guys! I know I'm a little late responding, but I've only just come across your threads. I've suffered from derealization/ depersonalization for just over 3 months now, and thankgoodness the worst of it has passed. It is a terrifying feeling, and it is the cause of anxiety. Most people with DR do not have psychiatric disorders, because they have real cause for panic and alarm that are not imagined, simply due to their state of mind.

It is in itself a threatening state, so the brain enters a constant panic, disallowing you to function at your previous levels in terms of all aspects of your life basically. You become this neurotic, and emotionless body, with hardly any real drive or intention. If your life was in danger, or any part of your life for that matter, and being human what we value most is our emotion and our ability to experience, (in DR that is the danger or the loss we fear, along with other things), you simply would not have the capacity to carry out the life you were living before.

The constant dread that something is wrong leads to the assumption that something is dreadfully wrong, and with the evidence behind you, of having sustained a concussion, you think you have brain damage. And this realization is in itself harmful as you prepare to rethink your whole life. The feeling that I have come to hate, is walking in a park and simply feeling like part of the scenery, with no real existence or foothold. I found walking and taking really hard steps helped a lot, just to feel the ground beneath me. In my opinion, DR may not be a direct cause of concussion.

Concussion does bring on some form of panic within the brain from shock, and many of us might make the mistake of taking medication, drugs, or alcohol after a seemingly mild concussion. Those things alter our states of mind anyway, and DR as stated by Linden is brought on by the smallest possible amount of anxiety/ panic.

While concussed, even slightly, and consumming a seemingly harmless pill, or having a drink, we may bring on a panic or anxiety attack which goes unnoticed, until we eventually realise the terrifying state we are actually in. Concussion effects the metabolism of the brain, and things like cortisol and adrenaline are effected, an imbalance of these can induce symptoms of panic in the body; such as a racing heart, and fast breathing, whatever.

The effect on the brain ends up being 'there's something wrong here, I'm going put myself into full awareness what is going on in me and not anything else.' Anxiety in itself decreases blood flow to some areas of the brain, without a doubt causing cognitive difficulties mimiccing those of PCS, leading to more 'evidence' for the derealized mind to work with and convince itself it is damaged.

Derealization, apart from leaving you as a stark white blank canvas when it passes, is harmless, or so I hope. I myself, did not feel derealized after I hit my head on a steel support beam, until 5 days later when I started taking herbal medicine to treat anxiety; wrong move. I did not have strong symptoms of concussion from my bump, (I was turning and my head met with the beam from 1-2 feet away), other than feeling a bit more emotional, and stunned.

Anyway, I hope that I provided some explanation for this. I hope it helps; coming up with this explanation has helped me recover somewhat, as it has brought down the possibility of it having evolved directly as a result of injury.

Question for orfray,

You have me confused.

What do you mean when you say,

<The constant dread that something is wrong leads to the assumption that something is dreadfully wrong, and with the evidence behind you, of having sustained a concussion, you think you have brain damage. And this realization is in itself harmful as you prepare to rethink your whole life.>

Are you trying to say a concussion is not brain damage?

What realization is harmful?

Why is it harmful?

What is wrong about rethinking your whole life?

Tamisue, I'm glad I helped put it into some words others can relate to, it is really hard to do when you're in the middle of it, as it brings on more anxiety when you simply can't explain yourself. And thanks Mark for spacing my paragraph out, I'm sorry I did not do that myself.

I am not trying to say that concussion is not a brain injury; I know very well that it is, and I respect completely those who have the strength to adapt to their injury; it is a very hard thing to accept.

What I am saying is that it is a vicious cycle, it's the nature of the beast, so to speak, of derealization. If the condition of derealization does not have an organic basis, the belief of having damage to your brain is very harmful. It's a trigger of anxiety, which keeps the condition of derealization alive, and it causes depression.

Clear as mud.

That 3rd paragraph still has me confused.

This used to happen to me alot right after my accident. I was foggy and detached. I couldn't seem to handle any sensory inputs. Lights, sound etc... I would say it lasted for about two months. I only have periodic episodes after that.

My husband took me to the mall and he left me to go into a store. When he came out I was confused and overwhelmed by all the lights and people. I was on the verge of a panic attack. He saw this in my eyes and immediately brought me outside to the car. I was so grateful.

I have more anxiety post accident. Driving can be very stressful. I find myself holding my breath when we are next to a car and I panic that the car is going to move into my lane. If my husband gets to close to a car I take a deep breath and hold onto something like I'm going to crash into them. I dont like crowds and I get panicky when I'm in a room with too many people.

I could go on and on but I think you get the picture. I am not on any anxiety medications. I was referred to the anxiety clinic and I'm waiting to get a call. I dont want to go through life being afraid all the time.

I think as my anxiety spiked the foggyness has taking a back seat. I think it's our bodies way of dealing with the trauma. I'm four months into this.

I hope everyone is doing well. I'm off to take my walk now.

Hi Mark, I'm a literature student, and that mixed with all the troubles I've been going through lately makes for long wonky sentences. I apologise, maybe I can rewrite that paragraph.

What I meant to say is that people suffering from that anxiety disorder often really need to have an explanation for it, and often their concussion is blamed. And I'm proposing that it might not be the case, especially if anxiety is brought it somewhere along the line, either in the lead up to the trauma or after it.

In that case, it's harmful for the sufferer to rethink how they live their life based on their feelings of DR, and the really bad anxiety that comes with it, just like what crystal has described.

And Crystal, thank you for your post, I know now someone else has the same feelings of anxiety, it's not pleasant at all to experience. I had an episode of anxiety in a very noisy and chaotic situation, and I ended up shaking and unable to think clearly when I got home, along with that foggy feeling which grew worse after the night.

The thing is, it can be so closely related to PCS as well as PTSD, and other things like thyroid, and things like that. But I'm sure what it really comes down to is an emotional response when we're simply too worn out to regulate and overcome our emotions properly after trauma, or stress, and mostly the things leading up to it are very complex.