6 Supplements That Helped My Depersonalisation
Depersonalization is a form of anxiety that makes you feel:
- disconnected
- foggy headed
- unclear
- unmindful
- unaware
- like a robot
And I had all of these for around two years. I thought I had a headache. I thought I needed glasses. I thought I was tired. But then I realized that some stress I had gone through had taken my low level social anxiety to sky high levels and I spoke with a therapist and it seemed that it could be depersonalization as I was definitely experiencing many of the classic symptoms.
I felt it could have been like a defense mechanism of my brain. “I’ll protect you from stress! Let me disconnect you. You’re welcome!” Well, for someone who has meditated for years, practiced yoga and actually hug trees in fits of total present awareness, this was H O R R I B L E. I was not myself at all. I decided to try and do some different things to help, and this is a list of the stuff I tried and I felt they supported me in finding balance! So I mean, you can try these if you like, but this isn’t a comprehensive list of things that will definitely work – just a disclaimer. But perhaps you’ll find them worth experimenting with?
I tried to manage my blood sugar – and I sorta followed Keto guidelines for a while!
Let me say – that even with all my skills and tools with the work I do here at Eat Happy, I still found structuring my eating kinda triggering! So let that be a warning to you that even with a totally happy relationship with food, just by being way more careful about some foods can cause that balance to tip. If you haven’t got a great relationship with food, changing your diet like this is really not recommended.
But I went into this with a mindset of doing it like an experiment. “I wonder what would happen if I ate more fat, less carbs and some meat?” knew I needed to balance my blood sugar and that’s why I did it.
I had followed YouTuber’s who had talked about their experience with depersonalization and a big part of keeping it under control is to balance your blood sugar.
I’ve since spoken about my experience with anxiety and depersonalization on the Keto Diet Podcast with Leanne Vogel, which you can listen to here:
I basically ate lots of vegetables, with butter or some other source of fat, with some meat or fish. I also ate berries and cream and dark chocolate. And actually, I really liked it. But I personally didn’t find it sustainable, and like I said I did find it sorta triggering as I got a bit into the numbers – and that can f**k you up. So really, on hindsight I learned a lot from it, but I think I could have just eaten a few less carby meals and not tried to see if I could get into ketosis. I don’t think you need to do that. I did come out of it with an appreciation of good meat and fat though, and how it fills you up – and that helped a lot. Also, I think my German heritage meant my body actually likes meat. And after being a vegetarian for 25 years, I found meat actually helped me in some ways, like better poops and stuff. Sorry. But that’s what I think happened.
To make it clear, I don’t eat low carb anymore – it was a short experiment, but I enjoyed some things and I do think some things helped, such as:
Bone Broth
I found BONE BROTH to be a great healp personally. I tried to make my own as much as possible, but otherwise I went for THIS one because it was organic and grassfed.
I think it just felt so nourishing to me. The fat and the vegetables and the organic meat, it was really wholesome and tasty and it just made me feel good. It was filling, full of minerals and had a taste that I’ve never had before as a vegetarian, and I think it was something my body needed.
I Supported my Gut
Loads of happy brain chemicals are actually produced in the gut. There’s also a ton of significant research out there about the importance of a strong, resilient, diverse colony of healthy gut microbes colonizing our colon. 
I Took Mushrooms!
The mushrooms I am talking about are super duper brain supporting ones. Lion’s mane, chaga and cordyceps are pretty awesome. I listened to The Mushroom Guy – Paul Stamets, talking to Joe Rogan on his podcast and although it is massively in-depth, his experiences of brain cells reconnecting was amazing to me. After feeling so disconnected, anything that could support my brain in reconnecting what felt like broken tendrils floating about in space would be so helpful. I think they helped and I try to take them to this day because I believe them to be superfoods.
Ashwagandha
This is also known as Indian Ginseng and it is supposed to have calming and balancing properties. It was hard to know at this point if it was making a huge difference as I was taking lots of other steps to help myself, like good sleep and not so much phone use! But I did feel better and seeing as this was one of the supplements I took, and I have heard many good reports of it – I am putting it in here as I think it helped in my overall effort!
CBD OIL
There are lots of different types of CBD oil out there, so look around. But the best kind are FULL SPECTRUM. I have learned loads about CBD since looking into it last year. I think CBD is really a super player and no matter what ails you, CBD is upto the job!
So this does NOT get you high! The hemp plant is incredible, and you’ve probably eaten loads of hemp seeds in smoothies or salads without even knowing it. They are different varieties of plant, some have more THC the active compound that can get you high, or it can have more CBD the non psychoactive compounds that can help the brain and the body in many different ways as we have cannabinoid receptors all over our body.
Iron Tablets
As feeling foggy felt totally draining, I made sure I had enough iron in my system. I’ve always gone for Floradix here, but there’s lots of other brand and varieties.
I think it’s really important that us women have plenty of iron!
What I’ve learned from all of this is that health can be radically supported by gut health and brain health, but we also need to look after ourselves outside of the kitchen as well.
Plenty of walks, talks, hugs and sunshine all help too!
Have you experienced depersonalisation?
How do you manage it?
