Ms. Lopez,

Your question on the Alzheimer's page does indicate that you have concerns that you are having an organic (physical) change that is causing you the symptoms  of not being able to feel fully present in certain situations.  Once you get checked out by a physician or nurse practitioner or physician's assistant, if they feel nothing is medically wrong, it might be helpful for you to consult with a psychotherapist.  I suggest this because you describe the feelings of separateness as occurring during times when you are feeling strong, less than positive feelings.  This is called "dissociation" and can happen when an individual needs to put distance between themselves and their feelings, because they might otherwise feel extremely overwhelmed and unable to cope.  It may be a response you taught yourself at an earlier time in your life if you were in traumatic situations.  It also sounds as if you "lose time" in bits and pieces, which is sometimes called a "fugue".  It will be helpful to know your age, how long your symptoms have been occurring, whether there has been a history of trauma, whether the symptoms come and go or are about at the same frequency.  Also, your history of drug (prescription, recreational, herbal and over-the counter) and alcohol and marijuana use is important to know, as well as whether you have a history of a seizure disorder, head injury, or family history of any of the above or dementia, alzheimers.  Also keep track of caffeine intake and sleep patterns.  But definitely check with your health care provider as a first step to make sure they rule-out an organic process.  They may need to do an MRI or CT scan of your brain.  If they do not suggest it, ask them whether that would be something that could aid them in giving you a correct diagnosis.  Just understand that depending upon the insurance you have, there may be limitations to the types of tests that will be covered, and you may be required to pay up front.  If that happens, ask to have a social worker help you complete paperwork for financial assistance with medical bills.

Hope you feel you have a direction to go in with your concerns.  If you do not have insurance, go to google on your computer, put in your zip code, and then type in "federally qualified health centers" .  That should produce a list of places in your state that are subsidized by federal funds to serve the uninsured and underinsured individuals of the United States.  Also, you DO NOT have to be a legal citizen of the USA to receive services from these centers, and they are not required to report illegal immigrants.  Good luck.

Rorynewton