Feeling spaced out, detached, fuzzy, dreamy, ‘drunk’, brain fogged constantly?

Hi all,

I’m a 27 years old, healthy male with no history of medical issues nor have I ever taken any medication in my life.

Beginning of November 2017 I had the flu jab and coincidentally my issues started two days after that.

I felt spaced out and detached which really frightened me and caused me to have a ‘mini’ anxiety attack which last around a minute. A week later I had another similar episode which was more intense and scary as I thought ‘oh no it’s happened again!?’

Anyway, the following week I had extreme anxiety. I couldn’t keep still, pacing around, extremely thirst, shakey, and extreme nervous butterflies that almost hurt they were that intense. I had one night where I didn’t sleep at all followed by six nights of 3 - 5 hours broken sleep. Awful.

After a week the stress/nervous feelings subsided dramatically which I was happy about. However I was left with strange sleeping patterns beyond my control where I’d wake up at 1AM every night and not get back to sleep for at least 2 hours. This happened for a month and a half so I was feeling very tired all the time.

I’ve had every blood test under the sun, ENT, MRI and all are fine apart from my Vit D was 53nmol when the board line limit is 50 so I’ve been taking 2500IU of Vit D (as the DR recommended) a day since 30th Jan.

Since mid Jan I’ve been sleeping perfectly and actually enjoy my sleep. My diet since Decemeber is second to none, no gluten, limited diary, priobotics, all the right minerals/vits, lots of filtered clean water, clean meats, no alochol/caffiene, no fizzy, sugar, regular moderate exercise, changes to work schedule, Epsom salt baths, CBT - you name it. Every positive approach to living I’m trying it!

However - I can’t shake this spacey, dreamlike ‘I’m not really here’ feeling!! I feel floaty, a bit detached, I can hear people when they talk to me but struggle to take on board what their saying. I feel as though I’ve got cotton wool between the ears as they say, or another way of putting it, like I’ve downed a pint of beer on an empty stomach - that kinda spacey, fuzzed feeling. I had a vast array of muscles twitches a couple months ago but that’s all gone now mostly. It’s the spaciness - that’s how I feel all the time.

Is it the actually what’s in the Flu jab that’s caused this? Maybe. Is it the aftermath of stress worrying about the possibility of it being the vaccine? Maybe.

I carry on as normal but when is it going to subside really?!

If anyone could shed a light on this it would be greatly appreciated!

[Jeff1943]

Gstar1, I avoided the flu jab for many years because several older people I knew got flu after having the jab. But a couple of years ago I started having it and havn't had flu or any other side effects.

The fact that your problems started after the jab is probably connected. You're the one person in half a million that reacts to it this way. Maybe. But from what you say your body has recovered from whatever it was. However, maybe you were so worried and anxious when you had the bad reaction that your nerves became stressed. Or to put it another way they became over-sensitised and you now experience anxiety disorder. You do say that you reacted to the spaced out feeling with an anxiety attack.

The dreamlike detached feeling you describe is a well known symptom of anxiety, many people have posted here who experience it. It is called depersonalisation or derealisation. I had it 40 years ago before it had a name. And I used to describe it in exactly the same words that you have: a feeling of I'm not really here.

The reason for it is that your mind knows that you're anxious and fearful about something and is trying to detach you from the reality of it. Not very helpful.

So how do you handle this symptom and all the others you describe: the classic symptoms of anxiety disorder?

You recover by stop feeding your nervous system with fear all the time as nervous sensitisation is maintained by fear. Fear and the fear of fear.

What you have to do is accept for the time being all the symptoms that you experience. Accept them calmly and without fear. Stop fighting them because fighting only causes more tension and stress. Accept them utterly and agree to co-exist with them for the moment.

If you can accept all the symptoms of anxiety calmly and without fear your sensitised nerves have a chance to recover. Not straight away but eventually. And when your nerves recover from anxiety all these uncomfortable feelings will fade away

So that's it in a single word - acceptance. That's what I did and the derealisation went. I sometimes get a hint of it under strong fluorescent lights like in supermarkets. Don't understand why that is but it's not a problem.

You recover from anxiety when you stop fighting it and agree to co-exist with it. For a while. The most powerful weapon you have is to do nothing, just go along with it. For now.

This is the way to repair your frazzled nerves, free yourself from the tricks your sensitised nerves are playing on you - and to recover.

[Hidden in reply to Jeff1943]

Your right. I know lots of people who’ve had the flu vaccine and apart from feeling a bit tired and a sore arm, I haven’t heard of any extreme side effects. I even rang up the pharmacist that gave me the jab and he was very suprised. He invited me back and printed and explained each ingredient so he was very transparent and honest about the whole thing which reassured me a bit.

I suppose it was worth mentioning that since I was a child I’ve had mild to moderate health anxiety and I think I just don’t handle ‘feeling woozy’ very well as I think it’s something serious and get all worked up about it.

I’m on the road to recovery now, just finished a 30minute jog, went out for a meal last night. I sleep well, get up at the crack of dawn for work and on weekends, I socialise and I can relax so I can’t be that bad. I think it just shook me up a bit and the ‘shockwave/aftermath’ of stress is still taking its toll a bit! If I feel abit spacey I just ignore and guess what - nothing bad ever happens! So that’s good to know.

Thank you for your input and advice!

[easy-co]

Hi Gstar,

My anxiety all began in a similar way after getting a virus. I never felt so strange and also it was like the floodgates had opened that engulfed me with severe anxiety symptoms. I too had extensive tests that were all normal. This went on for about for months then subsided but I was never fully recovered and after some personal grief I relapsed a year later.

Better days now but still have to manage my anxiety which to be honest isn’t really a big problem anymore. I just wanted answers to why it all started and concluded that an unlucky few can have bad reactions to viruses and in your case an inoculation. After all the knowledge we have on our bodies there are still things that remain not fully understood.

Through exercise, meditation, reading about mental health and low dose medication I have desensitised my nerves enough to live normally. I hope you make a good recovery.

[Hidden in reply to easy-co]

I agree, I think my health anxiety can spring up now and again and what wouldn’t bother most people gets me all worked up and stressed!

I’m definetly feeling a lot better - no anxiety now just the aftermath of feeling spacey which I hope to shake off eventually. I’m proud that I refused medication and came out the other side of the anxiety naturally.

The Brain is a very complicated organ and anxiety is a very vicious cycle depending on the person! Try magnesium oil, powdered Vit C, NAC (amino acid) powder, omega 3 and a 2000IU Vit D supplement, believe me, they help detox and replenish oxidative stress in your nerve cells.

Hope you keep improving by the day!

[Carl87]

Hi Gstar,

Welcome to Anxiety! Sounds to me after the flu jab , you experienced the temporary dizziness feeling as a side effect... then you worried it had done something awful to you, which is natural in the circumstances... I’d probably do the same as I’m health conscious. So then as a result you worked yourself up with worry , then worried about the panic attack, then the fear of it returning , equals more anxiety. And then the lack of sleep , equals more worry and anxiety and it just goes on and on and on until your mind has enough and protects you.

This drunk, spaced out, horrible feeling your experiencing is simply a protection measure. Or better known as Depersonalisation/Derealization. It’s a temporary measure to protect you from anymore stress and worry. It’s completely harmless and not a sign of anything more sinister. Take it from personal experience . It will come and go .. often for no reason at all. It’s the stress chemical imbalance (which is again, temporary) that is causing you to feel woozy. Accept it, let it be there and the sooner you stop worrying about it, the sooner it goes. Turn your attention to other things and just live your life normally. Don’t be too disheartened if after a few weeks of feeling great that it returns again, cause it most likely will. But again, it will pass and always pass.

[Hidden in reply to Carl87]

Cheers Carl! You’ve explained that really well, I’m getting there!

Thanks for your input mate, take care

[Johnnie1234]

I been having the unreal dream like feeling aswell to a feeling like im not here is crazy sometimes i want to talk about but i might think that people are going to think im crazy lateky i been have these same dreamlike feeling or lets say feeling like im not everday ugh its crazy but i try to just go through the day.

[Bluecup]

I have had this too. Jeff1943 has done a wonderful job of explaining it. It WILL pass. Work to accept it and it will pass. I know it’s so upsetting. T may take months but it will go away when you stop feeding it. Highly recommend the chapter of depersonalization in DARE by Barry McDonaugh. Spelling? It’s scary but it can’t hurt you and it will pass. Stop reacting to it and it will stop happening. With empathy!

[Hidden in reply to Bluecup]

Yeah I find mine DR/DP hard to explain because everyone is different and has extremes of it. I know my first and second experience of it was severe and intense like I had no idea who or where I was.

Some people claim to be walking around like that 24/7 for ‘30 years’ etc which is terrifying!

Mines probably not that exteme, just a little detached and fuzzy. I can hear a pin drop but if someone talks to me directly I struggle to take on board what their saying at first which is tiring sometimes.

I’ve also got a slight pressure in the front of my head and slight muffled sensation as well.

Basically, in layman’s terms ‘I feel tired’ but it’s just that little bit more than tired. I’ve been sleeping well now the past month and half by the way!

Interestingly though, I had a call back from the doctors beginning of the week with regards to a hormones blood test I had a couple of weeks prior.

He said ‘my Prolactin levels are slightly high’ and that ‘ I need to do a retest’. So I’ve had another blood sample taken and just waiting to hear back.

Of course I googled haha. If Prolactin is high then your Dopamine is low, fact. It can also cause low Testosterone which can also cause a whole host of symptoms. It can be caused by a tumor on the Pituitary gland, Thyroid problems, Liber/Kidney issues and stress has been known to elevate it. I’ve had my Thyroid tested which seems to be fine, no ones mentioned anything obscure about my organs and my MRI came back clear, so I’m putting it down to stress or genetics - if it is the cause of course!

[Carl87]

Here’s a great link about DP/DR guys. Makes total sense.

calmandcourageous.com/anxie...