Zombie-like episodes/Pressure in head/Detached sensation

[viktor7k]

Started in 2010 with a week-long very high fever. After that I would experience 1-2 week episodes where I would enter a zombie-like state. I would “zoom out” from my body, and it would feel like my mind and body were detached in a sense, and made doing ordinary tasks very difficult, although I was physically able, but was very anxiety inducing. I would have a difficult time thinking straight and essentially couldn’t function. Even watching TV or listening to music was too stressful and all I wanted to do was sleep in a dark room with no stimulation and pray for it to end. The symptoms would be better as I woke in the morning and would get worse again within a few minutes. The episodes would usually last 1-2 weeks and would slowly improve in the second week until it was completely gone again. These episodes would come after doing things that would stress my body: staying up too late with no sleep, drinking alcohol, having a cold, having fevers and once even during an intense gym workout. They happened maybe 10 times over the course of 2 years and resulted in me having to retake a year of school and heavily affected my social-life and my mental state of mind. I went to the doctors and got an MRI, EEG, blood tests and a lumbar puncture which showed no abnormal results. 1 doctor thought that I had been infected with a Neurological Lyme Disease using live blood analysis, but no such tests to test for this in Sweden so it has not be proved to be so. Eventually the episodes got less and less intense until they finally stopped happening about 3 years after the initial fever.
For 3 years after the last episode I had almost no symptoms, except that when I would have a cold I would have some symptoms such as the detached feeling which was very uncomfortable. Then I got a very intense cold that only lasted 2 days, and some of the symptoms came back, but didn’t leave after a week or 2 and I still have them to this day. The feeling of detachment is the main one, and really affects my everyday life and I’m constantly anxious and aware of the feeling. Over the course of the next few months new symptoms started appearing. A constant pressure in my head, which is made worse from using a phone or computer for extended periods of time, drinking alcohol, any amounts of caffeine, eating certain foods (sugar is extra bad), and smelling perfumes/colognes (to the point where I can’t use any at all). It doesn’t impair my ability to think (like brain-fog) but instead is a physical sensation that is very uncomfortable and is with me 90% of my day, every day. Some things clear it away, such as immediately post exercise, post shower and when I wake up in the morning. So these 2 main symptoms are with me every single day, the anxious detached feeling and the uncomfortable pressure in my head. It has greatly affecting my life and my social life has suffered greatly because of it, as well as schoolwork and my general quality of life.

[specialmom]

Hi there.  Was wondering how you are doing and if you had a chance to read the post?  Hope to be able to help you along.  

[specialmom]

Believe it or not, I 'think' I know what you are talking about.  This is a phenomenon known as depersonalization and derealization.   Or I should say it could be.  Here is a journal about it:  It's a really good read that you may relate to.  https://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/show/11569/Derealization-and-Depersonalization-VERY-common-anxiety-effectsplease-read  Let me know what you think and if it sounds at all like it could be at play with you.