icky feelings

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-10-2006
icky feelings
48
Wed, 07-12-2006 - 10:33am
does anyone else experience this? I have feelings of "unreality" where nothing quite feels solid or real.. and then, when looking at people i KNOW AND LOVE... all of a sudden.. its like im looking at a familiar stranger, but i know them! its scaring me. its been happening with my boyfriend, and im trying to tell myself.. this is the man you love. we have been together for two years. you KNOW him . quit being scared. yesterday, the same thing happened with my MOM.. I know who they are, I know who i am, but it feels very insecure. the same thing happened on july 4th with my brother as well. i really was looking at him and was thinking to myself.. man, hes gotten older! he has gray hair! and then that feeling hit me.. am i just losing it? it makes me panic.. feeling like i need to hide away because no one feels close right now.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-02-2004
Thu, 02-08-2007 - 10:02am

You hit the nail on the head when you said "It questions everything you know and trust about EVERYTHING." That is a great way to describe why it scares us so bad. Nothing is more scary than feeling like you do not know your own self. Now that freaks me out. Feeling like those around you are not real is scary too. I have experienced both and would prefer to never experience either one again!

Kim

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-21-2006
Thu, 02-08-2007 - 11:59am
dont worry. everyone goes through different symptoms from anxiety. i think i have experienced probably all of them. it is a horrible thing and it is hard to seperate yourself from reality and the feelings you are having. i too have gone through the same symptom you are having. i would get anxious wondering if my bf was really here with me or if i was delusioning and if it wasnt panic disorder that i have and that i really have some serious illness like schizophrenia. that was my biggest fear i have been on my meds for almost 3 months now though and i can deffinitly see a difference. are you taking anything for your anxiety and OCD?

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-08-2007
Thu, 02-08-2007 - 12:25pm

Wow! What a relief it is to find this thread! I can relate to everyone 100%. I have been suffering from anxiety my whole life and started having panic attacks when I was about 16.
I am now 22.

I am so terrified that I am going to become schizophrenic. It is my biggest fear. I have a hard time not concentrating on these feelings.

It feels good to know I am not alone in this terrible struggle!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2004
Thu, 02-08-2007 - 2:08pm

welcome.gifHi! Nice to see you;) I am glad you found some comfort in this thread. That is what has helped me the most in our community.


FWIW, schizophrenics rarely are with reality. They would not be aware that they were losing it. So, you can rest assured that you are on top of things. Sending you a hug for that very scary thought. Please consider joining us in chat tonight. We care & want to support you in coping with anxiety. GL&GBU! jan

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-02-2004
Thu, 02-08-2007 - 2:13pm

I totally know what you mean. Becoming schizophrenic is a big fear of mine too. I will sometimes analyze myself to death to see if I might be hearing something that is not there or I will try to make myself think that I have more than one personality just because I am logical sometimes but other times my emotional side takes over (anxious part of me). What Jan said and a few others have said really helped - that if we were schizophrenic, we would not be sitting here questioning ourselves and we would not be able to hear that logic side that reminds us that we are ok at times.

Kim

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-02-2004
Thu, 02-08-2007 - 2:30pm
Thanks for writing. Yes, you are right, it is hard to separate ourselves from the feelings and what is real. That is nearly impossible it seems at times. And I fear the same thing you do like being schizophrenic. Jan and a couple others said something that makes a lot of sense - people with schizophrenia would not know something was wrong and the very fact that we know something is off and something feels wrong would show we have our sanity still....although it sure seems to be in question when we are in the moment huh? Sometimes the bad stuff seems so real...I am not on meds right now but was on Zoloft for a year and a half. Stopped in in June last year and was pretty good for a while.
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-21-2006
Thu, 02-08-2007 - 8:46pm
im glad i could be some help to you i too have feared the same things as you but now i have been researching on electric shocking because for the past week i have been shocking myself on everything. i dont know what is wrong and why it is really starting to make me paraniod i think i might go to my dr tomorrow and see what he has to say about it. do you know if it could be from stress?

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-02-2004
Fri, 02-09-2007 - 8:48am

Same here! Getting shocked a lot. Always happens in winter. Not sure if you live somewhere cold but it happens to me every time it gets cold. I am in Ohio and it is COLD. It something to do with the air being dry I once read. Defnitely can tell the cold brings it on.

Kim

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-21-2006
Fri, 02-09-2007 - 9:17am
thanks for telling me that. it all makes sense now. my car always shocks me and sometimes my dog andwhen she rolls around on the carpet you can hear the static on the carpet haha. how are you feeling now. and i live in Virginia Beach so it gets cold but probably not as cold as where you are.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-02-2004
Fri, 02-09-2007 - 12:04pm

Ya, it is in the teens here right now. My company is based out of Vienna VA though so I talk to some co-workers in VA and they say it does get cold there.

Yesterday I did really well. Got past some things that were bugging me. Today I am not quite as good, but have been worse. I visited my cousin last night who told me he just got over stomach flu and then his 2 kids got it and they were pretty much over it too but now I am being paranoid that I am going to get it. I am not afraid of the flu itself, but I have a bad phobia of vomiting so now I am feeling anxious. I am trying to get past it. It is coming and going. When I first got anxiety a couple years ago, I was sick to my stomach every day for 2-3 months. It was awful. Now I think I have made a bad connection between nausea and anxiety.