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CFS and dettachment?

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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
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Posted 2/23/2015 7:24 PM (GMT -5)
I have chronic fatigue, as well as fibro, and I was wondering if its common to experience emotional dettachment or depersonalization simply due to fatigue? to not having the emotional energy to feel emotions? I am also PTSD< not sure if what i am experiencing is due to an avoidant type of PTSD, simple exhaustion, or something else entirely. I feel bad things, I cary, get angry, etc, but I have a hard time feeling positive things like love-based emotions. Any thoughts? Anyone else feel phased out in this area?
Posted 2/23/2015 8:17 PM (GMT -5)
Ptl4, I have been so exhausted where everything and everyone got on my nerves. I just felt like everyone was stupid and needed to do what they needed to do and leave me alone. I can also say I had feelings of hate towards people I shouldn't have. I'm so sorry you're going through this. Mine stopped when I got on Cymbalta. Are you on an antidepressant? I hope this helps and keep us posted on how you're doing.
Posted 2/24/2015 12:42 AM (GMT -5)
ptl4, welcome & I hope you are having a good day.

I know what you are talking about & I have been sitting here trying to decide if my emotional detachment was due to my depression or my CFS. I have had depression most of my life but didn't have the problem until after I got CFS & then my husband died unexpectedly in Nov of 2009. As I have come out of the mourning process I realized that I was emotionally numb & I just couldn't feel anything. I have been on an anti depressant, Citalapram, for years & after my husband died it was upped to 40mg. about 2 years ago I noticed the numbness & started to try to live in the moment, to try to see what my feelings were at any given time. When I would see something sad or happy or loving, I had to stop & really think about it, about how did I feel, what did I think about it, etc. I have slowly come out of the emotional detachment & have found I have many feelings on many different things. Sometimes I am so tired and am crashing from the CFS that I just don't feel anything, I have no strength to feel with, I am just exhausted. I know when I feel better & come out of the crash I will be back to normal. I hope you can figure this out. It certainly could be due to the PTSD because when we shut down memories sometimes we can wall off some emotions with it. Do you take anything for the PTSD? Are you in counseling? Talking to someone can really help a lot but it will take some time so hang in there. There is a depression forum here on Healing Well that you might check out too.

Let us know how you are doing & keep us posted, gentle hugs, Denise
Posted 2/24/2015 3:56 AM (GMT -5)
Thank you for the nice posts. I am, indeed on a mental health drug. Abilify is not typically used for depression, ro cyclothymia in my case, but everything I have tried, and there have been trials!, has been able to help at all. I am not on meds for PTSD. I never really believed I had it, as i don't freak out at sudden noises, or have day time flashback, and I dont really remember any specific incident or starting point (though I have been through plenty of unpleasant experiences) However, I just in the last couple days checked out Avoidant PTSD, and that sounds like me to a T!!! So I guess whoever diagnosed me may have been right!
I am not in counseling. I have tried several times, but I just don't have the energy to keep up with appointments. I end up crashing when I have regular appointments. I am currently trying to find an agency that does in-home counseling, but it's hard to find. I know it exists, but the one agency here who did it has stopped, due to low demand. I am hoping another agency picked up where they left off.

So Denise, when you are out of a crash, you feel more in touch with your emotions? Do you feel more when you are having good days?
Posted 4/8/2015 2:44 AM (GMT -5)
I have found that a lot of my anger towards most people was either due to resentment of their good health and abilities or peoples lack of empathy. I find it hard to relate to my friends because their problems just felt so trivial to me and I just resent the fact that their biggest issues are things that I deal with on top of my CFS. I have become very distrusting of close friends because none of them try to understand what I go through and act like it is a burden for them so I have to act perfectly healthy in front of them. Which creates more resentment on my end. I also found myself scared to get into a relationship due to my fear of them deciding my illness is to much to handle. I am only 21 years old and was diagnosed at 16, so a lot of people my age aren't mature enough to understand what my life is like so it may be different things that trigger my anger and lack of love towards people.
Posted 4/11/2015 3:46 PM (GMT -5)
Have you considered one of the ADHD medications on the market for some mental stimulation? I know that when I don't take it (I have tried Adderall and vyvanse) I tend to be more detached and numb to the world to some degree. Pregnenolone is one that a contact I made in a support has tried to alleviate brain fog to some success. It is a hormone supplement. Speaking of that, have you had your hormones tested? Testosterone? Those can factor into brain functioning as well. As someone here said earlier, it is very easy to harbor resentment towards those who can just breeze through their days without the challenges we face. Most of us can probably remember the pre-CFS days when we could do the same. Little did I know how lucky I was at that time. took it for granted even. To have those days back........
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