i would classify myself as high functioning. i have DDNOS with parts, not 'technically' DID, but how mine works is that i have experienced long periods of time (including years) where my symptoms have been relatively mild and not interfere with my daily functioning as severe as other times.

i go between being high functioning and sometimes not functioning well at all depending on what symptoms are more prominent for me and what is going on in my life to disrupt things.

for example, i had a lot of high stress and loss/grief between december and january, and i barely remember february and march because of how dissociated i was. but come april, i seemed to have 'come back' again.

on the other hand, i have never experienced periods of blacking out, finding clothes or other items i don't remember buying, etc. the only thing i can say i have experienced was writing things (in a highly dissociated state) and not remembering them (but it was never with different handwriting either).

my memory issues after a dissociated state passes just leaves fuzzy memories. but thankfully, nothing important happens in my life much to have it matter so much (only sometimes)....but there are a lot of things i have no memory of (a lot of trauma, but also i am pretty sure normal stuff too). i can kind of 'feel' that there are chunks of events i have forgotten...but i also get confused what is 'normal' memory and not normal since i also have memory loss not just from my mental health issues but also from having been early and it affecting that more too.

i have found myself at times (i work from home) not knowing what i am doing work wise, forgetting six years worth of information briefly which freaks me out. it does come back to me, but i have a moment of panic because can't figure out how i can just lose all of that like that.

i also am not around people daily, and no one would even pick up on things if i was having more dissociation because i'm generally a quiet person. and i also normally dissociate (and did more severely years ago) when i was alone and not near people because it was never 'safe' to do so (not really sure how that works though).

so just like with anything a person struggles with, there are a lot of degrees and variations.