Hallucinations

[It'sJaz]

I experience hallucinations quite often. They are usually visual but sometimes audible, and most of the time I can't tell they're not real until I mention it and no one sees what I'm seeing. I've always had them as far as I can remember.


Does anyone else experience them? How often/how bad are they?

 

[John Snort]

I had auditory hallucinations a few years back. I'd hear people talking or some other sounds which other people didn't hear but the problem went away on its own. For other hallucinations, visual hallucinations, to be specific, one needs to see their doctor because these hallucinations could actually have a negative impact on your day-to-day life. Your friends could believe you are going crazy . . .

 

[SouthernMom]

I sometimes have audible hallucinations but never visual ones. I have had audible ones since I was a child. I think that if you are experiencing visual hallucinations, you should talk to a doctor about it.


I agree with John, this can really have a negative impact on your day-to-day life.

 

[kgord]

Well experiencing hallucinations is beyond anxiety. I think it is important to consult a mental health professional. It is just one of the things that you may really need to be on medication for. There is no need to suffer alone. It is just one of the things that you can get.asisstance for. Consulting with a mental health pro is just one of the ways that you can make sure that you get the right treatment regimen. It is nothing to play around with.

 

[It'sJaz]

Yes, I know it's not anxiety as I have other mental issues as well. I have already talked to a doctor about it along with my other problems, but they didn't say much about it. It's fine though, I don't have any friends to think I'm crazy, and I've learned to cope with it over time. I have been having them for quite some time now.

 

[kelden]

I had hallucinations when I was a teenager, both auditory and visible ones. But only when I abruptly wake up or drowsy, but also suffered Night terrors. My guess is that it only manifests after getting pretty anxious. Now that I'm an adult, I don't have these kinds of hallucinations anymore, but strangely, my dreams became more intense and occurs more often than ever before.

 

[Alex]

Is this a side effect of a medication or something you are taking? I know that some medications can create hallucinations, or if you mix it with something say a herbal remedy, weed, alcohol or another stimulant. I would check with a doctor or health professional if that's the case and if you aren't taking anything as well.


Medication can make your mind fuzzy and you see and hear things in a different way, if that's the case they should change your medication.

 

[It'sJaz]

kelden Usually I get them more often when I'm anxious too. I don't have very vivid dreams though, at least I can't remember them.


Alex No, I have never taken any medication, or drugs or alcohol for that matter. I'm not sure what is causing them but it looks like the only likely explanation is a symptom of something else.

 

[woodpeck]

I get really wild visual snow and bubbling and rippling of the world around me, especially on flat patterned surfaces. I spoke to my partner about it and he said he gets it too, but only since he overdosed on an experimental hallucinogenic..... I've had it all my life and never touched drugs. I might mention it to my counsellor? But I really don't want to be put on any type of drugs - I have a severe medical phobia.

 

[It'sJaz]

woodpeck That description sounds familiar but I can't remember where I've come across it before. Same here, I try to avoid taking medication whenever possible. If it's not interfering with your daily life, maybe you don't have to get help for it.

 

[sidney]

That is odd though if you don't take drugs or meds and yet you still have hallucinations. I read that it can be a symptom of dementia, Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease or Schizophrenia, but since your doctor seems to not have detected that then I assume they think that it's nothing serious.

 

[It'sJaz]

I didn't really talk about it with a doctor, or rather they didn't talk much about it. I'm guessing it's something undiagnosed, but since I'm not seeing a doctor regularly anymore, I'll leave it be as it's manageable enough.

 

[Jasmin Cottontail]

I remember the time when I experience hallucinations and that was just when I had an operation with my appendix. As far as I can remember, the nurses gave me Valium because of the pain that I'm feeling so I can calm down and fell into deep sleep. I've been seeing things for days then and only figuring out that they don't exist after a few hours. Now I'm having difficulties distinguishing dreams into reality, and I don't know if I'm also hallucinating or it's just the side effect of the drug. Well that was a long time ago and not sure if it still has effects on me.

 

[Sweed1]

I was told that sometimes hallucinations can be our inner selves trying to show us something that happened before kind of like an inner flashback. The hallucinations I see are quite interesting and play like a movie on my inner eye lids with my eyes shut. I have had in the past weird painted canvases glowing green with paint thrown on to create paintings or roadways, or other times large letters or numbers thrown into the air to land on the ground in odd patterns. No drugs and no reason for these pictures in my head. Maybe there is another name for it and I wish I knew the meaning of them all.

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this??

 

[AngelaMc]

I have never experienced this issue but I took care of an elderly lady before that had vivid hallucinations. She would see a head with no body jumping up and down on her bed. She was diagnosed with Schizophrenia, her melds seem to help a little but she still experienced the hallucinations quite often.

 

[Snapdragon]

Hallucinations can be caused by a lot of things, from mental illness to simple dehydration, so it's best to talk to your doctor about it.

I personally have Dissociation Disorder, so I have internal voices at times. Sometimes I can converse with them, other times they're like background static.

@Sweed1: That sounds a bit like Maladaptive Daydreaming, though best to ask a psychiatrist as I'm no expert.

 

[janemariesayed]

A few years ago I was having audible hallucinations but thankfully they didn't last. I would hear a voice mostly when I laid down for an afternoon nap when I lived in Egypt. It got really quite scary. It was a man's voice telling me to end my life. It got to the stage where I was afraid to have that afternoon nap. As soon as I stopped having that afternoon nap, the voice went away and I didn't hear it again.

 

[Sweed1]

I had never heard about Maladaptive Daydreaming, thus searched for a interesting study about it and found this article about this topic at the altantic website. Here is the link to it. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/04/when-daydreaming-replaces-real-life/391319/

However, what I experienced was random and total unexpected with my eyes closed. However one day years ago I was busy working cleaning a lady's house one day and happened to glance down at the carpet and to my amazement I saw big big bright blue bird foot tracks going across the carpet and up a wall to the ceiling. I was not even thinking about birds. lol

The article mentioned something called vivid memory imagery, which is explained here as in how we remember things we have done and seen, and can call them into focus should the need arise.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_memory

But the experience I have had only on occasion is out of the blue and most times I was not thinking of anything or just waking up from sleeping. I did ask my counselor but she did not have a clue as to the cause or even a name for it. Any other ideas on this would help me know what direction to research it.

 

[Sweed1]

This is more closely what I have experienced and is I guess a hallucination with my eyes closed. Called closed-eye hallucination. I am quoting from a website which I will give link below.
The most basic form of CEV perception that can be immediately experienced in normal waking consciousness involves a seemingly random noise of pointillistic light/dark regions with no apparent shape or order.

This can be seen when the eyes are closed and looking at the back of the eyelids. In a bright room, a dark red can be seen, owing to a small amount of light penetrating the eyelids and taking on the color of the blood it has passed through. In a dark room, blackness can be seen or the object can be more colourful. But in either case it is not a flat unchanging redness/blackness. Instead, if actively observed for a few minutes, one becomes aware of an apparent disorganized motion, a random field of lightness/darkness that overlays the redness/blackness of closed eyelids.

For a person who tries to actively observe this closed-eye perception on a regular basis, there comes a point where if he or she looks at a flat-shaded object with his or her eyes wide open, and tries to actively look for this visual noise, he or she will become aware of it and see the random pointillistic disorganized motion as if it were a translucent overlay on top of what is actually being seen by his or her open eyes.

When seen overlaid onto the physical world, this CEV noise does not obscure physical vision at all, and in fact is hard to notice if the visual field is highly patterned, complex, or in motion. When active observation is stopped, it is not obvious or noticeable, and seemingly disappears from normal physical perception. Individuals suffering from visual snow see similar noise but experience difficulty blocking it from conscious perception.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-eye_hallucination

However, mine plays out like a on-going movie. I will keep looking for answers.

 

[Sweed1]

Just a thought, try sitting in your most comfortable chair and closing your eyes and see if any images pop into your head. Do not think of anything just sit quietly and look into the darkness and see if any type of picture plays in your mind. I recently saw a stairway with black curly handrails that were quite decorative and interesting. It was just a glimpse that lasted a few seconds but made me wonder if it was a flashback of something I had seen or a place I had been or a daydream unprovoked. Wondering if this is normal or not??