Why is it that exactly one week after I am recovered from a virus, I mentally crash? You probably can’t answer this because it seems to be a specific to me thing. Feeling sad while sick or immediately afterwards is normal, but a week’s grace and then bam! is odd. Anyway I have a niece who started nursery last term and has embraced her chosen role as Typhoid Mary with a gusto I am forced to admire. This kid has given me a cold, norovirus AND another hideous stomach bug in the last three months. We tried to take her to a plague island and isolate her from the general public but nothing will dent her passion for cooking spreading disease to me specifically. And really, I cannot quash her dreams, she’s a very cute potato.
Anyway I crashed exactly one week after the stomach bug and now I feel sad and anxious. Along with these old friends has come another - derealisation. I wrote about derealisation in my book Jog On (a semi memoir about mental health available from all good bookshops and some bad ones) and really struggled to describe what this feels like because a) it’s unique to every person and b) it’s really weird. Roughly, it’s the feeling that you’re in a dream, that things aren’t quite real and it’s often prompted by stress or depression. Most experts seem to think it’s a protective tactic employed by the brain when you’re overwhelmed. Unfortunately, it’s very unpleasant and often only makes things worse! Here’s a handy guide to some of the symptoms courtesy of simplypsychology.org (that link has some more information about derealisation you might find useful):
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