two different questions....

Brandonsmum, I only know about losing time when someone fills me in! Eg meeting up with a friend, something happens or is said that panics me even a little and I will go inside, my protector takes over, maybe at some point I come back out. So then I go home and will automatically replay the conversation and events over again in my head, realizing there are gaps in memory. The two of us who had the conversation with the friend will fill each other in on the gaps in our memories, so we both know what happened and what was said. The third of us is less aware in general, and less interested in what happened, since she doesn't speak to outsiders. So she often doesn't recognize people. Eg approaching the mental health building one day she sees our last social worker, who we've had for a year, walking up from the car park. But she doesn't know him, just sees some unknown man approaching her so she freezes. He can see something is up with us so he stops and waits, but she just stares at him blankly waiting to see what he'll do, ready to run away. We tell her who he is, so she waves hello because she doesn't speak. As we go up the steps to the building one of the others takes over, as usual (which is how come she'd never met the social worker before). Until that point, the third one, who knew we had a social worker, wasn't aware she'd never met him. That's when you know you've lost time, when you have to be told something or have to figure something out, which you should already know.
Kerry. X

Or speaking to a friend about being multiple and changing jobs a lot, I explained how I often forgot people I worked with (because it mostly wasn't me who went to work). I explained how I'd be approached by somebody in the street who clearly knew me, but even after they'd said their name and how I knew them and the company we worked for, I still had no idea who they were. (This was in the days before all of me learned to work as a team). My friend looked at me in horror, which I commented on, and she explained that though she might not recognize someone, eg if they'd put on weight changed hairstyle was wearing jeans not a suit, there was no way she'd totally forget who they were.
Chloe. X

Tylas, I have a lot of depersonalization and derealization, so I'll try to explain.

Depersonalization feels like "the lights are on but there's nobody home". It's like, without depersonalization there's one of me on the surface and the other two inside my head. With depersonalization it's like to some degree we're all inside my head, nobody fully present on the surface to interact with the world properly. It's emotional numbness. There feels no emotional attachment to anyone or anything. Eg I know I love my horse (because I can feel it when I'm not depersonalized), but I can't feel that love now. I don't feel connected to my body, I'll look at my hands and be amazed that I can make them move. At it's most severe, depersonalization feels like I'm a pinprick of human essence floating about in a vacuum of empty space inside my head. Like the way a piece of dust, visible in a beam of sunlight, floats in the air. Severe depersonalization will have me staring into space for hours, unaware of the passage of time.

Derealization can be separate to, or alongside, depersonalization. It is a disconnect from the world. With derealization alone, I will still feel a connection to my body and my emotions. Derealization is looking at a wall in my flat, knowing for a fact that the distance between two walls is 3m, but it could easily be 3 million light years away in a parallel universe for all I feel able to walk over and touch it. Of course, walking over to touch the wall proves that it is only 3m away. Derealization is a visual perception distortion. It's wondering whether the tennis ball is coming to my left or my right, which way to move so as to hit it, then it hits me square in the face. Because I also couldn't tell how fast it was moving, couldn't judge speed versus distance. It's being very slim built, so there is no issue of not enough room, yet walking into a door frame because I lack judgement of where I am in relation to the doorway. A lack of spacial awareness. Learning to drive was interesting! But I passed my driving test with derealization, so I figure I'm good to go.

The longer an episode of DP/DR goes on for, the harder it gets to remember what it was like without it. Especially when it's not all or nothing and can fluctuate between more and less severe. Sometimes I'll mistake mild DP/DR for normality. Hope this helps explain it and sorry this post is sooo long! X