This year, I’ve gone through a lot of changes. My grandmother passed, my dog (who was my best friend since I was 7) passed. My family moved houses after 15 years. Covid hit. And I went to college that was 4 hours away from home. While at college, I started experiencing derealization and depersonalization. It felt like nothing around me was real, and these episodes would be very frequent, multiple times daily. I didn’t think much of it, until I talked to my Grandmother who had a brain tumor in the 90s. She said she would have moments of weird sensations in her head. This set me off, because I assumed that was what I was experiencing. I began to have bad panic attacks, I even called 911 and went to the hospital from my dorm room once because I thought I was having a heart attack.
Anyways, I had to eventually move back home because the panic attacks got so bad. I also started experiencing constant muscle twitching all over my body that started about 3 months ago and are still persistent to this day. I’ve been to two doctors, since these symptoms (DP, DR, muscle twitching, anxiety) would not go away. Both doctors automatically dismissed my concerns as anxiety, and refused to do any tests on me. I started going to a counselor and seemed to get a lot of my panic in control, but recently I feel like I’m in a constant state of depersonalization. I also have been having a constant twitch under my eye, and at times I feel like I have bugs crawling on my face. There’s times when one side of my face feels more heavy or droopy than the other, but when I look in the mirror, both sides are even. I want to believe that these are all just symptoms of an anxiety disorder, but the thought of a brain tumor still lingers because they persist even when I’m not anxious.
I also experience a feeling like I’m about to lose complete control, like I can’t control my movements. This also scared me, because my grandmother had a seizure with her brain tumor.
If it’s not a tumor, I’m not sure how to move past this. Anti-depressants don’t work well with me, and I don’t want to have to rely on benzos to calm me down. I take .5 mg of clonazepam when I get really anxious, and it helps temporarily, but the depersonalization state stays with me. I don’t know what to do. Please help.
sorry you are going through this. It really does not sound like brain tumor because you would have different symptoms by now. To me it sounds exactly like what I went through in my 20s which is severe anxiety and stress. You have been through a lot and it’s no wonder that your body is reacting this way. . people experience hundreds of different sensations in the head for different reasons. if you read enough on this site you will find out just how many people experience weird sensations in the head, depersonalization, head pressure, and many other symptoms and end up being caused by anxiety and stress
all the different sensations that you mentioned point directly to stress and anxiety. The depersonalization, crawling sensation on your skin, panic attacks, muscle twitching, are very common with anxiety. And remember you’ve been through many changes.
I have had all of your symptoms for a long time and I am perfectly healthy. I do think that you would benefit from long-term counseling for this. It’s very difficult to overcome on your own. That’s because when we have this, we tend to overthink and then not think rational and then scare ourselves and we stay in that vicious circle and can’t get out! A professional counselor can help you manage this.
you are so stressed out over this that you’re actually creating symptoms like thinking your face is drooping and body movements! That is how strong the mind is! take time out each day to completely relax your mind! Turn on a meditation on YouTube for anxiety. And totally turn the dial down on your mind and your thinking. Also do other things that relax you. There are no issues that you cannot overcome with some support. but you definitely need support right now.
You’re going to be OK. 
Thank you so much! That makes me feel a lot better. Bless you
I meant to include this… natural supplements don’t seem to be working all that well. Does anyone have suggestions?
ehhhh i never had any luck with natural supplements either, kinda a waste of money lol. are you on any meds?
Sorry I’m just now replying. I’ve tried several SSRI’s but none help and only make the DP worse. I do take Clonazepam as needed and it seems to help for a short time.