I am Bipolar II, but I've been telling my pdoc for months that one of things I struggle with the most is derealization. I have been suffering with it for about 4 years now. She attributed it to my depressive episodes, which I understand, but it is absolutely unbearablely debilitating and I feel so hopeless. I have days where I feel like I am only about 20% present in my life, like I'm not even really awake. It's like the world around me is all fuzzy, I'm barely in it, and I cannot function in it. Very much like I'm in a dream.

My pdoc put me on Lithium a week ago, and that put me right into a permanent feeling of derealization. I stopped taking it yesterday and I'm trying to just give my body time to get it out of my system, but in the meantime, it is terrifying to feel like you aren't really here. All I can do when I feel this way is exist. I hate it and I get so afraid that I will always feel this way, barely being aware of reality everyday.

Does anyone else suffer with this? Any good coping strategies to make it more tolerable?