I have always believed disassociation has different levels. There is the type that when someone is talking and we cannot take anymore our mind wanders somewhere else all the way to the super heavy disassociation and detachment . I think I have disassociated from physical pain almost as a shock or to protect me from pain. To me it is frustrating but I try to accept it is the brains natural coping mechanism and tell myself to slow down and remove myself from the mental or physical pain if possible.

Hugs Muji, I hope someone may have a better answer.

That makes sense that we can dissociate from physical pain. I haven't experienced this, but it makes sense to me. Maybe your mind is trying to go into survival mode and protect you from the pain. If that makes sense lol.

I do it all the time, dissociate from physical pain. That is why I can't work anymore. I can't focus long enough to finish tasks in a set amount of time. I used to dissociate just from panic, but not it happens more with pain. I have tried three times in the last hour to write down my pain meds taken today, and I have forgotten what I was doing each time before I got it done. I will often not be able to finish a sentence.

The good news is that I have found that getting the pain under control will bring back focus. So when I realize I am dissociated, I have to figure out WHY and reach for the appropriate medication. Like today, I am double triggered from making a phone call (second one in six months) AND because today is a bad pain day.

Hugs
yadlim

Thanks. I'm sorry you all know what I'm talking about from your own experience. It really helps to know I'm not the only one, though.

Oh yes and it's scary if you are far from home with things you have to do before you drive home. I'm sure people wonder if I'm on drugs or drunk sometimes. I have fibro and old injuries as well so it happens quite often.

Two notes.

1. I can dissociate from physical pain alone, and have done so with pretty amazing regularity since 2011. I've even learned to do it on purpose when the pain is so bad I can't otherwise function. Not a good coping mechanism, btw, but I don't get pain meds, so it's what I use.

2. Any pain can trigger my PTSD stuff. I got bitc*-slapped by a branch when walking the other week and that sharp little pain on my arm took me right back to some bad stuff.

It's so irritating on one hand, but on the other---it's survival. We're hard-wired to do it, PTSD or not. My hubby totally dissociated during his appendix pain, for example, so he could function enough to get himself home.... (And then I got him to the ER)....

Gentle purrs.

Yeah, looney, I know what you mean about how people can think you're drunk or something when you've got things to do. For me it's when I'm in the workplace in front of students at my community college. I am pretty good at deflecting it with humor or the old absent minded professor stereotype. But what's really going on is that I'm dissociating and can't help it right then.

Leo, since I can't take pain meds like before I got chronic kidney disease, using dissociating on purpose to get through physical pain is something I do, too. As you say, not a great coping mechanism, but it's all I've got. I wonder about the long term consequences.

My psychiatrist says it' going to make it easier for me to dissociate in general. I'd rather sleep, but they can't give me sleep meds, sooo.... There it is.

yes i do the bag migth still be at store call see if its there but yes to your question hug min

Ruh roh. Looks like I was distracted when I did my final grades. I had 110 students, mind you. So nobody's yelling at me at my community college for this. But I made 2 grade mistakes with 2 students' semester grades. Fortunately, the grades were too low, to I got to change their grade for a higher one in each case. But boy do I feel bad, even though I got 108 of them right.

It scares me a little. In 2011 I missed 6 days of school due to PTSD flare ups, and my boss sent HR to ask if I need to leave my job and go on disability. That's why I made sure not to miss a single day of school all year in 2014 from January to December. But I still made these 2 mistakes. I wonder if my boss thinks that about my job performance again. I'm a pretty good instructor. Oh well. Bummer.

Unpleasant thoughts/feelings trigger my neuropathy so fast, I barely catch the trigger. Then the physical pain triggers conscious ptsd thoughts/feelings.

Breaking the cycle is so difficult. Relaxation and nature help--unless I get hit with a branch...

You did a good job muji. Only two mistakes? Yikes, my professors did worse. When I taught, I would initial my comments with my first initial and a dash, and my first initial happens to be C. This poor girl thought she was getting C- ...