[volatile]

Does anyone just 'come to' and have no memory of how they got there? is that common? what about being re-traumatized by the realization you don't know how you got there so you dissociate again? is that a thing?

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by volatile

Does anyone just 'come to' and have no memory of how they got there? is that common? what about being re-traumatized by the realization you don't know how you got there so you dissociate again? is that a thing?

Is it common? yes its very common and many people have experienced dissociative type memory problems for many reasons...depression stress, bipolar, grief,.....

for example

sometimes it happens due to my dissociative issues, sometimes it happens due to my bipolar disorder, sometimes this happens to me because I havent gotten enough sleep, sometimes it happens to me because I didnt eat correctly or at all, sometimes it happens to me due to my work stress, sometimes my medications make it happen.

what helps me is doing my breathing exercises/grounding exercises that my treatment providers have taught me. I do yoga/mindfulness activities also take breaks when dealing with stressful things and I make an even stronger effort to self care issues, and I contact my treatment providers so that they know whats happening and can help me get back on the right track again.

my suggestion...contact your treatment providers. they can help narrow down why you are having this type of memory problem and help you devise a way in which will help you to remain more focused/aware/mindful of your surroundings and make it so that it doesnt happen at all or so often.

[volatile]

Well i can't say it actually happens to me anymore. I was just curious. I do remember it happening a lot when I was a kid and I would be literally in the middle of doing something and I couldn't remember what I was doing or why i was there or even how I got there.

I'm just wondering if this might still be happening but I'm blocking out the memories of it or something. They were very disturbing as a child.. I still have a lot of experiences that I seriously can't tell if they are dreams or reality but I come to in the middle of something somewhere and I freak out. Some of them I know are dreams but others I really can't tell if they actually happened or not. Dissociation is just very strange and it's confusing. I don't really understand it but I will talk to a professional about this when I can.

Yep, thats happened to me on numerous occassions.

[Luce]

Yes, this used to happen to me often.

[volatile]

Originally Posted by Starry_Night

Yep, thats happened to me on numerous occassions.

what is it like? is it just like forgetting or do you know something happened? like do you still feel dissociated when you realize you don't know what just happened? i'm just curious.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by volatile

what is it like? is it just like forgetting or do you know something happened? like do you still feel dissociated when you realize you don't know what just happened? i'm just curious.

Im not starry night but thought I would answer.... it feels differently for everyone and it feels differently depending upon what the trigger was, what a persons own way of dissociating is, depending upon a persons own medications, and other issues...

example sometimes with me it felt sort of fuzzy. sometimes I would feel sort of sleepy, sometimes I would feel sort of hung over, sometimes I would feel none of the above and no other feelings, just there kind of thing...

to find out how dissociation feels to you, pay attention to your body/mindfulness when you have dissociation problems. you can also talk with your treatment providers, they would probably have documented things like how you felt about problems like were you feeling numb, tired, anxious, foggy, what ever...so they can also tell you what dissociation feels like for you.

It kinda feels like when you first wake up after sleeping heavily all night-- its like, am i dreaming or awake...oh...wait a sec... How did i...hey, oh my gosh, where AM i ....what in the world.... What time is it? What was the last thing i was doing? I thought i just went into the kitchen for a glass of water, and then it hits us, we have spaced out again. And still feeling spacey, but i know i better get grounded quickly and figure out what to do.

One time i woke up on the other side of the country. In an airport. That was odd. But most of the time its just stuff like not knowing why i just appeared in the grocery store, or how i got to the living room, or it being the morning after therapy when i was just a second ago talking to my t, or it being friday at work and i dont remember yesterday at all. Things like that.
Hope that helped.

[volatile]

Is it difficult sometimes to tell if it really happened? like you said "is this a dream or am I awake" but have you ever believed it was just a dream and kept that sense of unreality with you?? i mean that could be outside of simply realizing you don't know what was going on, just the whole dissociation thing in general.