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 CuriousOne
Roflcopter
Registered: 02/12/10
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 When the world looks like a real-life Wonderland
#12180073 - 03/10/10 07:54 PM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2010/03/09/2222863.aspx?GT1=43001
When the world looks like a real-life Wonderland
Posted on Tuesday, March 09, 2010 5:46 PM PT
By Jasmin Aline Persch, contributing writer
Like Alice down the rabbit hole, 6-year-old Olivia Watts sometimes sees the world through a distorted lens. Real people look as if they have magnified, telescoped heads or bodies. Sometimes it sounds like the TV’s volume was suddenly turned up. When she has these experiences — sometimes even at school — the kindergartener from Pipersville, Pa., looks as if she’s waking from a nightmare, says her mother Danielle Watts.
Diagnosed with a neurological condition known as Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, Olivia usually keeps her dreamlike visions to herself. She first complained of people and objects getting bigger last year. Her symptoms occur in spurts lasting from seconds to 15 minutes and persist for up to two weeks, and then, they can vanish for months just as mysteriously as they occurred. These occurrences are “mini migraines exploding in [her] brain,” a neurologist explained to Olivia’s mother, who suffers from standard migraines herself.
A rare form of migraine, Alice in Wonderland Syndrome causes people to see their own bodies or those of others or everyday objects askew. It typically occurs without a headache, but is usually associated with personal or family history of standard migraines. It can impact vision (size or depth), hearing, touch and sense of time, causing it either to seem accelerated or or slowed down.
“It’s not dangerous,” says headache expert Dr. William Young. “I’ve never met anybody who has so many that it affects their life in a severe way, once they’re reassured that it doesn’t indicate a dangerous or ominous thing.”
Young, a neurologist from the Jefferson Headache Center at the Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, says millions of Americans have typical migraine aura. “We know their brains are normal, superficially.” But, “periodically, they misbehave,” he says.
Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is similar, doctors believe, and may involve the brain's occipital lobe, which controls our vision and where migraine auras originate. Other regions in the brain may also play a part, but the exact entrance to the mind’s rabbit hole remains a mystery.
Auras, visual sensations which precede a migraine, can be triggered by stress, certain foods and wine and typically last from five to 60 minutes. The triggers of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome are lesser understood, but certain prescribed medications including migraine-preventing topiramate or a hard blow to the head can set it off.
English psychiatrist John Todd, who coined the syndrome’s name in Canadian Medical Association Journal in 1955, compared the visions to those in “the parabolic mirrors of a fun-fair.” Patients reported perceiving the body as too big or too little and that the world seemed unreal, Todd wrote.
He and other scholars speculated that Lewis Carroll, the author of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and its sequel “Through the Looking-Glass, and, What Alice Found There,” suffered from AIWS. Carroll’s diary only reveals that he had classic migraines. But that fact “arouses the suspicion that Alice trod the paths and byways of a Wonderland well known to her creator,” Todd wrote.
Sue Miller, 41, has never seen a doctor about her symptoms, but she believes she has suffered from Alice in Wonderland Syndrome since she was a child. She remembers experiencing the “little people thing” as early as age 5, often as she lay in bed at night.
“When I would look at my windows across the room, they would get tiny and look a mile away,” Miller of Wakefield, Ohio, says. “I would get scared.”
Not until she became a concerned parent of a 5-year-old son who had similar symptoms did she understand what was happening. Miller found out about Alice in Wonderland Syndrome and related support groups online.
As an adult, she doesn’t usually talk about the condition because it seems so unbelievable. “It sounds bizarre,” Miller says.
While her altered perceptions have mostly subsided, she sometimes sees patterns pop out at her like they’re in 3-D.
Experts believe Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is probably underreported because patients like Miller are reluctant to talk about their odd experiences. About 300 in the U.S. have the condition, Young estimates. It mostly occurs in children. Among the thousands of headache patients Young has seen, only four have the syndrome.
“My [Alice in Wonderland] patients have the perception of things being wrong,” Young says. “The original descriptions were their own bodies being out of whack.”
Dr. Kathy Lee, a pediatric ophthalmologist from Boise, Idaho, says her young patients with the condition often complain about the chalkboard at school being too far away (teleopsia), which may lead to a wasted trip to the eye doctor.
“It’s not an eye problem, per se. It’s a brain interpretation of vision,” says Lee, who often just assures parents that their kids will be fine. “These (images) are generated by the brain, not the eyes.”
Treating an episode of Alice in Wonderland syndrome may be like trying to catch a harried rabbit. But medications used to prevent migraines may provide help for those with frequent episodes, Young says.
While children with Alice in Wonderland syndrome may grow out of it into regular migraines, Young says symptoms may warrant a check up for less common but more serious conditions, including epilepsy, brain tumors and encephalitis (brain infection).
“Most people should get an MRI of the brain to make sure there are no structural problems, but it’s rather unexpected that there would be,” Young says.
Olivia’s mother is relieved that her daughter’s MRI was normal and that Alice in Wonderland syndrome is non-life threatening.
In fact, the whole family plans to see Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland.” However, Olivia doesn’t particularly care to see Alice grow big or small, says Danielle Watts. She has a different reason for watching the fantasy movie: “Because I want to see the white queen.”
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~Explore the means of your subconscious~
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Nymphaea
Smoker/Tripper/Legalizer
Registered: 04/16/09
Posts: 1,543
Loc: Michigan 
Last seen: 1 day, 2 hours
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 Re: When the world looks like a real-life Wonderland [Re: CuriousOne]
#12180376 - 03/10/10 08:51 PM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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What if Louis Carol had this condition? Or he knew of a little girl who had the condition?
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Sandoz
Ridin that wave
Registered: 08/17/08
Posts: 486
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Re: When the world looks like a real-life Wonderland [Re: Nymphaea]
#12180631 - 03/10/10 09:45 PM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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wonder what it would be like for them to trip???
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CuriousOne
Roflcopter
Registered: 02/12/10
Posts: 53
Loc: Land of Penguins
Last seen: 1 month, 24 days
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Re: When the world looks like a real-life Wonderland [Re: Sandoz]
#12180805 - 03/10/10 10:12 PM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Sandoz said:
wonder what it would be like for them to trip???
Would be funny if they saw normally haha.
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~Explore the means of your subconscious~
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Sandoz
Ridin that wave
Registered: 08/17/08
Posts: 486
Last seen: 10 days, 12 minutes
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Re: When the world looks like a real-life Wonderland [Re: CuriousOne]
#12180838 - 03/10/10 10:19 PM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
CuriousOne said:
Quote:
Sandoz said:
wonder what it would be like for them to trip???
Would be funny if they saw normally haha.
thats what i was thinkin....
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ShroomXolomilco
The Man
Registered: 11/09/09
Posts: 441
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Re: When the world looks like a real-life Wonderland [Re: Sandoz]
#12180979 - 03/10/10 10:56 PM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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Wow... I never knew this problem existed! And it's strange because I just saw the new Alice in Wonderland movie a few days ago haha.
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 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,985
Loc:
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Re: When the world looks like a real-life Wonderland [Re: ShroomXolomilco]
#12181125 - 03/10/10 11:36 PM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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I often thought, along with most people, that Lewis Carrol (Charles Dodgson) had to be tripping on something to come up with Alice in Wonderland.
Of course, LSD wasn't around in the Victorian era, but the hallucinogenic Liberty Cap and Amanita Muscaria mushrooms were and their effects were not unknown. Plus cocaine, opium, and cannabis were commonly used as medicines back then. So, it is very likely that he may have took those for various illnesses.
According to Wikipedia, Dodgson did suffer from migraines and epileptic seizures and would have experienced similar symptoms to Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. These symptoms he experienced may have been the influence for his wonderfully bizarre stories. But, I like to think he was also eating handfuls of the Psilocybe semilanceata. You never know.
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Nymphaea
Smoker/Tripper/Legalizer
Registered: 04/16/09
Posts: 1,543
Loc: Michigan
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Re: When the world looks like a real-life Wonderland [Re: veggie]
#12181344 - 03/11/10 12:37 AM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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I've heard that he did his share of opium.
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BrainChemistry
Captain Obvious
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Re: When the world looks like a real-life Wonderland [Re: Nymphaea]
#12181394 - 03/11/10 12:51 AM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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Wow...that is an amazing story.
Man, when you think about it...isn't it crazy all the different things our genes can do to us? Like...is it evolution, or what? Maybe the Alice in Wonderland sydrome is just another attempt of nature to try to make an evolutionary leap forward. Isn't it ironic that happens mostly in children? I mean...not say the future of man is to see fucked up little people with big heads...but seriously, our perception of reality is only in our heads after all.
Its interesting to think about....
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Word to your mom.
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Nature Boy
Stranger than most
Registered: 07/09/07
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Re: When the world looks like a real-life Wonderland [Re: CuriousOne]
#12181649 - 03/11/10 03:28 AM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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The instant I read this article (independent of this post on the shroomery), I hypothesized that these individuals have a disorder whereby, periodically, some aberrantly manufactured neurotransmitter is spontaneously released, causing the episodes. In the alternative, it is possible the abnormal neurotransmitter is ALWAYS present, but then their diet includes an increased amount of MAOI containing food, and that triggers the experience??
The most obvious candidates include serotonin and other serotonin precursors - producing a DMT-like experience for the patient. The time frames in which the episodes last is quite consistent. How interesting!!!
N.B.
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All submitted posts are by Someone Who Isn't Me (SWIM) - and in any event are works of pure fiction or outright lies. Any information, statement, or assertion contained therein should be considered pure unadulterated bullshit. Note well: Sorry, but I no longer answer PM's unless you are a long-time trusted friend, so don't bother. If you have a question, ask it in the appropriate thread...no exceptions. Anyone with less than 1,000 posts is automatically assumed to be a cop.
 
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akb112211
Stranger
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Posts: 852
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Re: When the world looks like a real-life Wonderland [Re: CuriousOne]
#12181661 - 03/11/10 03:38 AM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
CuriousOne said:
Quote:
Sandoz said:
wonder what it would be like for them to trip???
Would be funny if they saw normally haha.
well, since well known migrane medications are derived from ergot(or perhaps synthetic)...yes, she could possibly be temporarily cured.
migranes and cluster headaches are a fascinating phenomenon. I think that once the puritanical powers that be begin to allow for and fund scientific research dealing with psychedelics, then we will have some more definitive answers...and amazing revelations.
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"There never was and never will be,
Nor is there now,
The wholly criticized
Or the wholly approved"
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Mostly_Harmless
wyrd bið ful aræd
Registered: 05/12/09
Posts: 914
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Re: When the world looks like a real-life Wonderland [Re: CuriousOne]
#12181698 - 03/11/10 03:58 AM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
It typically occurs without a headache, but is usually associated with personal or family history of standard migraines. It can impact vision (size or depth), hearing, touch and sense of time, causing it either to seem accelerated or or slowed down.
Quote:
She remembers experiencing the “little people thing” as early as age 5, often as she lay in bed at night.
“When I would look at my windows across the room, they would get tiny and look a mile away,” Miller of Wakefield, Ohio, says. “I would get scared.”
My mother and I both had this as children. It really was quite terrifying at times. Slowly happened less to me from teens onwards but can still sometimes come back, usually at night. It can be rather unsettling still after all these years in spite of knowing what is going on.
Mine was mostly visual perception being altered, all of a sudden the TV, the whole other side of the room, has shot away 100ft, and anything close to me has a feeling of immense, overwhelming size. And closing my eyes during this would give even weirder sensations...total disconnect from the body. Which led to a fear of going to sleep. The docs back then were no help at all and could only suggest things like watch less TV, avoid video games and so on. I can still remember some episodes really vividly. Only happens a few times a year if that now and with less intensity.
Quote:
The triggers of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome are lesser understood, but certain prescribed medications including migraine-preventing topiramate or a hard blow to the head can set it off.
Hmm, mine started whilst at a house we lived at from '82-'86. Whilst there I was run over, but suffered only a hard blow to the back of my head, where the occipital lobe is...
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Mundus vult decipi
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shroomski
Stranger
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 Re: When the world looks like a real-life Wonderland [Re: Mostly_Harmless]
#12181828 - 03/11/10 05:33 AM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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Where was that article about the researching being done on Psilocybin as a possible medicine? Some guy in Cali- and a guy in NY was partnering with him I believe... (anybody on this?) I think it had to do with helping psychoses and neuroses that have developed in terminally ill patients...
If Psilocybin was also shown to help there, and also to have positive effects in helping AIWS, I would think this would open the floodgates for discussion about legalizing Medicinal Cubies as well as MMJ. There's always hope right?
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Odum
stress of babylon
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Re: When the world looks like a real-life Wonderland [Re: shroomski]
#12182109 - 03/11/10 07:45 AM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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As a child and young adult I would on occasion have an 'episode' while reading/watching tv etc. My inner dialouge would feel like it sped up until all the thoughts in my head were running together. EVERY thing that i watched or read would be going the same frantic speed. It made me feel like i was going crazy. VERY hard to explain. Like reality was 10 mph these episodes were 60 mph. Even my breathing felt ultra-fast. I could have drummed my fingers on a desk and it would have felt like it was in fast forward. I never had visual distortion. Not pleasant at all.
My mother also suffers from terrible migraines so i dunno. I always wondered if i had a brain tumor or something. These experiences did not feel psychedelic in the least. They have slowed to a stop and i cant remember my last one. I also got a concussion from a 10ft fall onto my head in 1st Grade.
I dont know if its the same deal but its sounds very similar. Thank god i dont have them anymore.
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Well as I'm headed to the sky way up above me
I feel my body spinning feeling free and lovely
I am the rumblin sea so come with me
On this midnight vibe
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clorox
Crossing theDoors ofPerception
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Re: When the world looks like a real-life Wonderland [Re: Odum]
#12182288 - 03/11/10 08:40 AM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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i get migraine aura's, no headache, just trip-o-vision for like 5 - 10 minuets, good times
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akb112211
Stranger
Registered: 09/10/07
Posts: 852
Loc: UKUSANetherlands
Last seen: 6 months, 17 days
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Re: When the world looks like a real-life Wonderland [Re: clorox]
#12182843 - 03/11/10 11:07 AM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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very interesting clorox!
i get the usual missing vision. things do really disappear. its been said that this phenomenon is potentially one of the influences of cubism.
Thing is, there is nothing good about a migraine for me...simply because i end up suffering from immense anxiety from knowing there is an impending puke and wretching session. then sleep, then recovery.
Very interesting concept...that purging and re-starting. maybe i can learn to not hate the experience so much.
Its like sleep paralysis...i love it!
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"There never was and never will be,
Nor is there now,
The wholly criticized
Or the wholly approved"
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Sandoz
Ridin that wave
Registered: 08/17/08
Posts: 486
Last seen: 10 days, 12 minutes
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Re: When the world looks like a real-life Wonderland [Re: veggie]
#12191599 - 03/12/10 04:16 PM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
veggie said:
Plus cocaine, opium, and cannabis were commonly used as medicines back then.
ahh the good ole' days.
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