I feel detached from reality/my environment a lot and have to literally shake myself out of it?

Question

It's been happening for a while now.. often enough to bother me.

Random details: Female, 22. I have a thyroid problem, but according to blood tests it's normal now and I've been off medication for about 3 months.

Frequent headaches for several years now. Over the past month they've become common on the left side of my head at one particular spot, have increased in severity and feel different than my 'normal' headaches.

Used to take meds for depression about 4-5 years ago, but I haven't felt depressed in a long time now.

Feels like my memory has decreased over the years, and I often have a hard time thinking clearly and putting thoughts together. But I attributed this to not stimulating my brain enough. My boyfriend has asked me a few times "seriously, what the h**l is wrong with you?" when it comes to my memory though. lol

Any ideas at all? I don't know if it's mental or physical, or if it warrants a visit to the family doctor. I hate going for silly reasons. I feel silly even asking this :P

Answer 1

I'm a little curious as to why you were told you could stop taking thyroid medications. People with hypothyroid/ hyperthyroid conditions have those for life. The medication you were given balances out your thyroid and if you were taking the right dosage for about a month, your results would come back as normal--but you still need to keep taking the thyroid medication to stay normal.  Unless you had another illness that breifly mimicked thyroid deficiency (I have heard that cancer and HIV can do this), thyroid disease does not go away.  The reason you feel out of sorts, disoriented, loss of memory, probably exhausted, is because you need to get back on your thyroid meds and stay on them.  If your family doctor has told you this isn't necessary I would at least get a second opinion. You definitely need to go to a doctor.

I went through the same exact thing as you for about a year before I found out I was hypothyroid.  I didn't pay much attention until I started gaining weight and panicked. As soon as I started taking the meds I was fine within days.  I ran out of them on a trip once--ended staying longer than I had thought--and within a day or two all my old symptoms had returned.

Please trust me--you need to go to the doctor and have them test your thyroid again and make sure they explain to you exactly what your thyroid disorder is/was. A few other disorders have similar symptoms and could also be serious so start with the thyroid and then your doctor can test for anything else that might be happening.

  

Answer 2

The feeling of detachment is actually quite common it is called depersonalization.  http://www.depersonalization.info/

It is definitely an unsettling feeling.  It wouldn't hurt to talk to your doctor, especially since you have other symptoms too.

Good Luck.