[onlymedid]

Twice now I have wandered away from home with no recollection of it. My husband has all the texts between him and who he calls "the little one" because he/she has no name.
The first time (last Thursday) he said I was looking for my mom (she died from cancer in 2008) and I ended up pretty close to where she used to live. It was 4 miles from home. He talked to the little one via text and convinced her (after about 4 hours) to give her location and he came and got me. The minute I saw him the fugue was over and I recognized him instantly.
The second time was just 2 days ago. He said that the little one was talking about a shadow man that was with me and telling me what to say and do. The text doesn't say what the shadow man wanted her to do, but he was taunting my husband. My husband called the cops and after 3 or 4 hours they still hadn't found "me". Apparently, the shadow man said through the little one "ha ha the police keep driving by. I told you they wouldn't find me.". eventually, after 8 hours, the little one was able to give out the location to find her, but she was terrified that she was in "so so so much trouble". I still didn't recognize my husband in the car on the way home. he said we got home and when I smelled him while hugging him I finally came to and was myself again. I was sobbing and sooooo scared because I was gone for so long and ended up with blisters on my feet. He said that when we were in the car going home the little one told him where she walked....it was about 10 miles of wandering!!!
he called the police to let them know that he found me and I was home. The police had to come by to make sure I was home. I am terrified of the police so this was very anxiety provoking, but all I had to do was tell him my name and he left.
I am so scared that this might happen again. We think it was triggered by some flashbacks and something that happened when I was a kid.
Has anyone ever had this happen? Do you have any suggestions on what I might do to prevent this in the future? We are going to put bells on the front door so that if anyone hears it, they will know I am trying to leave. Problem is that my husband and son sleep soooooo deeply.
Anyway, I think this is long enough and gives you an idea of how I could use your help! Thanks!

[healinghearts]

Yup. .. It happens. H uses find my phone app to locate me via my phone when parts won't or can't tell.

[Claritytoo]

I am sorry to hear that you are going through so much. Have you talked to your therapist.

[onlymedid]

Originally Posted by healinghearts

Yup. .. It happens. H uses find my phone app to locate me via my phone when parts won't or can't tell.

That is a GREAT idea!! Thanks!!

[onlymedid]

Originally Posted by Claritytoo

I am sorry to hear that you are going through so much. Have you talked to your therapist.

Thanks. Yeah I talked to my T about it, but she doesn't have much experience with it.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by onlymedid

Twice now I have wandered away from home with no recollection of it. My husband has all the texts between him and who he calls "the little one" because he/she has no name.
The first time (last Thursday) he said I was looking for my mom (she died from cancer in 2008) and I ended up pretty close to where she used to live. It was 4 miles from home. He talked to the little one via text and convinced her (after about 4 hours) to give her location and he came and got me. The minute I saw him the fugue was over and I recognized him instantly.
The second time was just 2 days ago. He said that the little one was talking about a shadow man that was with me and telling me what to say and do. The text doesn't say what the shadow man wanted her to do, but he was taunting my husband. My husband called the cops and after 3 or 4 hours they still hadn't found "me". Apparently, the shadow man said through the little one "ha ha the police keep driving by. I told you they wouldn't find me.". eventually, after 8 hours, the little one was able to give out the location to find her, but she was terrified that she was in "so so so much trouble". I still didn't recognize my husband in the car on the way home. he said we got home and when I smelled him while hugging him I finally came to and was myself again. I was sobbing and sooooo scared because I was gone for so long and ended up with blisters on my feet. He said that when we were in the car going home the little one told him where she walked....it was about 10 miles of wandering!!!
he called the police to let them know that he found me and I was home. The police had to come by to make sure I was home. I am terrified of the police so this was very anxiety provoking, but all I had to do was tell him my name and he left.
I am so scared that this might happen again. We think it was triggered by some flashbacks and something that happened when I was a kid.
Has anyone ever had this happen? Do you have any suggestions on what I might do to prevent this in the future? We are going to put bells on the front door so that if anyone hears it, they will know I am trying to leave. Problem is that my husband and son sleep soooooo deeply.
Anyway, I think this is long enough and gives you an idea of how I could use your help! Thanks!

has this happened to anyone...yes... I had DID so it was pretty much my whole life from early childhood up until a few yrs ago that alternate personalities would take control and I would end up in locations other than my home town. some as far away as hawaii, europe and gosh knows where. before I was diagnosed with DID this was chalked up to things like anxiety, sleep walking, getting lost (young children normally do walk away from their parents and home at times anyway, theres always news reports on the radio or tv about search parties looking for a child that wandered away from their camp site, home, what have you, so my parents did not see this as abnormal when they could not find me, only to later find me sitting along the road or lost in the woods, or mines.)

what did we do about it...well my parents made sure that at least one adult knew where I was when, unfortunately they did not realize some of those I was left in care of were abusers that intentionally got me lost in the mine shafts, until too late but anyway..

as an adult my wife and I informed the police of my mental disorder and that I may need help and how to help me. I carried a card with me with my name address and phone contacts so that if I could not give that information myself the card could (it came in handy many times) we also kept an emergency savings account that only my wife had access to, so that no matter where I ended up my wife could buy me a ticket home. I also trained myself to look for the nearest police station or phone booth to cal 911 if I found myself wandering in unknown territory.

other than that we just went on the premise that DID wasnt something that just happened to me one day. I had it from early childhood. nothing was going to happen after diagnosis that hadnt already been happening since before I was 5 yrs old. the alters took care of me then they would take care of me as an adult too. if they could find their way home during those times when I did not know I had DID they would do so after I knew I had DID. example we knew the alter that took me to hawaii would get me home eventually because that was not the only time I ended up in hawaii without realizing it. we just preferred not waiting for the alters to bring me home so those other plans were put in place on the chance that I became aware and able to take those steps.

[sabby]

(((((((( onlymedid ))))))))))

I'm sorry you are struggling with this right now. I can't begin to imagine how scary it must be for you, your little one and your husband.

You mention that your hubby and child sleep really deeply and may not hear you if you leave. There is a very inexpensive magnetic door alarm that you can install that may help in a couple of ways.

First, the alarm should waken your hubby and anyone else sleeping and secondly, it may just be enough to bring you back to being the one forward and could stop yourself from leaving.

Here is a link to the kind of alarm I'm talking about and as you can see it's very inexpensive and easy to install. I've used them before for an individual I had living in my home who wandered and it worked great!

940 | Ademco Surface Mount Contacts (White) | Home Security Store

[onlymedid]

Originally Posted by sabby

(((((((( onlymedid ))))))))))

I'm sorry you are struggling with this right now. I can't begin to imagine how scary it must be for you, your little one and your husband.

You mention that your hubby and child sleep really deeply and may not hear you if you leave. There is a very inexpensive magnetic door alarm that you can install that may help in a couple of ways.

First, the alarm should waken your hubby and anyone else sleeping and secondly, it may just be enough to bring you back to being the one forward and could stop yourself from leaving.

Here is a link to the kind of alarm I'm talking about and as you can see it's very inexpensive and easy to install. I've used them before for an individual I had living in my home who wandered and it worked great!

940 | Ademco Surface Mount Contacts (White) | Home Security Store

Wow! I didnt know there were such things as door alarms!i am going to look into them for sure!!

[sabby]

That's great! I hope you find something that will be effective for you.

[lifelies]

We've had some dissociative fugues as well, but instead of leaving home we left school. No one knows about our condition and the alter who left (Christine) always took care to not be noticed when leaving.
Is there any way to prevent this in the future? We don't have a T at the moment because of full unawareness of DID in our actual country.
Cheers,
Lana

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by lifelies

We've had some dissociative fugues as well, but instead of leaving home we left school. No one knows about our condition and the alter who left (Christine) always took care to not be noticed when leaving.
Is there any way to prevent this in the future? We don't have a T at the moment because of full unawareness of DID in our actual country.
Cheers,
Lana

a bit of information....you dont necessarily need to have treatment providers knowledgeable on DID.....many of the symptoms of DID (dissociation, dissociative fugue, depersonalization, memory problems, anxiety, depression, ...and much more) are included in other mental disorders. example PTSD now includes having dissociative symptoms. from your past posts your country does recognize Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I know someone here in NY that was seeing someone who did not work with Dissociative disorders but did work with PTSD. through working on his "PTSD" he was able to address many of his dissociative problems too. maybe you can find a treatment provider that works on PTSD issues. even if it doesnt totally integrate you like it did this person here in NY you can still address your problems and gain more stability and peaces of mind.

[Susiequeii]

Dear only, I feel so sorry you are going thru this. I am only learning about this disorder. I think the members above have given you excellent advice incase this happens again. Its an amazing story, and so is the one about the person ending up in Hawaii. You didn't mention if you had seen a Dr about this.... you certainly have a very interesting story and I do believe a good Dr can help you.... I wish I knew more. Good luck though and please don't be afraid, at least you are understanding what is happening... that is the first start.