Seeing is believing?

May 19, 2007 8:45 PM

Is it normal to see things that aren't really there?

Ever since I stopped wearing contacts about three months ago, or about that time, I've been experiencing frequent visual hallucinations. These include the hair of a woman sitting on the beach continuing to blow after I paused the movie, the sun in my computer wallpaper noticeably seeming to rise, clouds in a framed picture moving about quite violently, a statue of a dog seeming to breathe, and, most disturbingly, light from various light sources seeming to shrink into the light source darkening the area around it.

Is there any reasonable expectation for this behavior? That doesn't have to do with various psychoses or the devil? How do I make it stop?

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (24 answers total)

Is it normal to see things that aren't really there?

No.

Is there any reasonable expectation for this behavior? That doesn't have to do with various psychoses or the devil?

No.

Have you ingested any hallucinogens such as LSD? in rare cases it has been reported that lingering or even permanent symptoms persist.

Please seek medical help.
posted by longsleeves at 8:56 PM on May 19, 2007

I am with longsleeve, kind of. These sound like classic flashback incidents, in which case they will likely fade away over the next few years. However, I would not seek medical help for them as they will just label you crazy.
posted by caddis at 8:59 PM on May 19, 2007

The last time I saw anything like you describe, it was because I was getting about 2 hours sleep a night over the course of 4 - 6 weeks. It's not normal.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 9:05 PM on May 19, 2007

IANAD, but there have been news reports recently (which of course I can't find at the moment) suggesting that this is not terribly uncommon and that it's not psychological. Apparently most people are too embarrassed to tell anyone and just live with it, but in rare cases it can be a sign of a vision problem that can be treated.

I'll do some more searching and post again if I find something.
posted by watsondog at 9:09 PM on May 19, 2007

And already here's one article.
posted by watsondog at 9:11 PM on May 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

If you have ever been in a car and stared straight ahead for hours, then stopped the car and got out, you'll notice the sky seems to be moving away from you. Sometimes our brain tries to fill in gaps (eg the hair blowing in the wind) and you see thing that aren't really there.

However, some of the things you've described are pretty serious, it would be best to get it checked out by a doctor, or maybe even an optometrist?
posted by jord at 9:14 PM on May 19, 2007

This is definitely something that you should bring up with your doctor. My grandfather started having issues with visual and audible hallucinations shortly before he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease.

If you check out "visual hallucinations" on Google, you will see that there is a big relationship between hallucinations and diseases like Alzheimer's, Charles Bonnet Syndrome, and dementia.

In the case of my grandfather, he first started having problems with his hearing and would start asking "what?" when there was absolutely no voice or sound in the room. From there, his eyesight started getting worse and he started complaining about visual hallucinations. The doctor's were able to help in both situations with the aide of glasses and hearing aides.

Fortunately enough, the hallucinations were key in an early diagnoses of the Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease. It got pretty bad for a while, but with the help of medicine and physical treatment, he has made a complete turn around and is able to lead a normal life.

His hearing and eyesight did not improve, but he does not have the problems with hallucinations any longer. If this information is related to what you are experiencing, I hope it is helpful, but honestly, I hope that this information has nothing to do with what you are experiencing.
posted by dnthomps at 9:21 PM on May 19, 2007

For how long does this illusion last? If it is just for a few seconds, it's not a big deal. If her hair is blowing around for a minute, there's a problem.

These appear to be all simple optical illusions. If I stare at carpet long enough, I can get it to "move." It doesn't mean much.
posted by adipocere at 9:29 PM on May 19, 2007

I am not a doc, but what you describe doesn't sound like hallucinations in the usual sense of the word where you are generating entire scenes or "visions" that are not real. More like an anomoly in visual processing, whatever that means.

But something is not right. Definitely worth a trip to a good eye doc or neurologist.

Good luck
posted by Kevin S at 9:44 PM on May 19, 2007

These appear to be all simple optical illusions. If I stare at carpet long enough, I can get it to "move." It doesn't mean much.

I am a student of visual neuroscience, and this is not correct. Yes, you can get after effects (like the sky effect above. or your carpet effect). But what the poster is talking about goes beyond that.

Dear poster: It does not have to do with the devil, though it may reflect some neurological disorder. Please discuss this with your doctor and get checked out.
posted by fake at 9:49 PM on May 19, 2007

How blurry is your vision without the contacts? Because if it's really blurry, and you're not accustomed to blurry-vision, your brain will attempt to fill in the details, and will often get things wrong.

If it bothers you, or if it's getting more intense over time, see a doctor.
posted by flabdablet at 10:20 PM on May 19, 2007

INAD so can only speak of what I know. I'll put my email in my profile in case this is of interest to you but basically my whole life I've experienced similar things and possibly irrelevant but also have crap eyesight.


To look at a blank page and have shapes appear and begin to dance and writhe and soar across the page; to grow and develop, take shape and make decisions; alter how they have paused in order for me to make their washed out shadowy appearance full and bright and real (regardless of whether I just started with ink or not). To look at anything and know something is missing or not quite right and then it appears, I can actually see it and all that is left is to bring it to life. If we are similar embracing such a gift takes you places you will begin to dream of...
posted by mu~ha~ha~ha~har at 10:37 PM on May 19, 2007

I am wondering if your gaze is abnormally fixed for some reason-- in other words, I think your symptoms could be explained if your eyes are not shifting around as much as they should when you look at things.

If you stare at an object for a long time as hard as you can without moving your eyes, it will often disappear because the cells of the retina are fatigued. This does not happen ordinarily, because we unconsciously move our eyes enough to shift the image on our retinas to unfatigued cells. We do not perceive this motion because compensating signals are sent to a region of the brain at the same time the signals are sent to the muscles which move the eyes.

If the eye muscles are paralyzed by drugs so that they can't move, this system will make things seem to move wildly when they are in fact stationary, because the eyes are not moving the way the compensating signals make the brain anticipate, and it will make things seem to move if the muscles are merely getting tired and do not move as much as they would or should in response to signals to the muscles. This is how I would explain the clouds moving violently in the picture (keep in mind that the motion detecting system is mainly in your peripheral vision), the breathing dog and the rising sun, as well as the movement of the rug adipocere describes.

The shrinking of the light into the light source sounds like direct visual fatigue. You continue to perceive the bright central source, but the less bright areas around it go black.

The blowing hair is more complicated, but I think it could be a fatigue-affected version of the snowfall (or waterfall) effect, where if you stare out the window at falling snowflakes for several minutes, and then turn and look at a blank wall, you will continue to see a motion very like falling snow.

So what could have happened a month ago? Did you by any chance have a dilated eye exam where drops were used to make your pupils dilate? I read of a case year or so ago where a woman went to the opthalmologist, had a dilated exam and was still dilated more than a week later because drops with a stronger anti-cholinergic effect were accidentally substituted for the usual ones. If something like that happened to you, or you had some kind of exaggerated response to the usual drops, the muscles which move your eyes might not be back to normal, and that could possibly be causing these strange symptoms.

I think you should go to a qualified opthalmologist as soon as you can.
posted by jamjam at 10:58 PM on May 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

By the way, IANAD, but there are lots of conditions that can lead to such hallucinations, and not all of them are of the "insane-craziness" variety. You shouldn't be afraid to talk to a doctor or a psychiatrist about this; the cause probably isn't psychosis. It's probably something a bit more mundane. Just talk to a doctor or psychiatrist is all.
posted by koeselitz at 10:59 PM on May 19, 2007

Oops, 'a month ago' should read 'three months ago'.
posted by jamjam at 11:00 PM on May 19, 2007

Vision is a complex sensory system and what happens optically inside the eye is only the tip of the iceberg. Your brain assembles raw visual data like shape, contrast, size, color, reflectivity, etc. with the help of some very complex and sophisticated software. It sounds like whatever's going on with you is not an optical issue in your eye, but a matter of how you're interpreting what you see.

We've ALL had our brains misfire in this regard. Thought you saw someone out of the corner of your eye, but when you turned and looked at it head-on it turned out to be something else?

What you're going through could be anything from the equivalent of a "dizzy spell" to the after effects of a minor stroke. Hard to say without more testing. So, longsleeve's dismissive tone aside, I do agree that only a doctor can give you more information. And you should probably see one soon. Next time it might not be a woman's hair on TV. It might be a child walking in a crosswalk during your drive to work.
posted by scarabic at 11:04 PM on May 19, 2007

If you have imperfect vision, your description would fit the characteristics of Charles Bonnet syndrome [faq bmj article] - where the mind fills in the blanks when presented with incomplete visual information.

However, all I know is what I've read on the net, you should probably speak to someone who knows about these things.
posted by MetaMonkey at 11:23 PM on May 19, 2007

Also, you neglect to mention if you replaced the contact lenses with corrective glasses of a current prescription. I would do that before worrying about going crazy and so forth.
posted by MetaMonkey at 11:28 PM on May 19, 2007

Um...we really need more information here. Are you currently wearing glasses? Of a new prescription? Did you have lasik?

I have a pretty wikked astigmatism, and I see crazy things if my vision is not corrected. And I do mean along the lines of what you are explaining.

More info would really help...

Go see you eye doc, asap. And relax until then.
posted by metasav at 12:08 AM on May 20, 2007

It's a little bit odd that this is all I ever post about (especially since I don't know that much about it), but you could see my one previous post. The thread is on a somewhat different topic but I believe my comment is relevant.
posted by holympus at 12:08 AM on May 20, 2007

two words: macular pucker
posted by matteo at 3:22 AM on May 20, 2007

See an eye doc.

Having said that, depending on how poetic your descriptions are, they may be common. When I am fatigues, I "see" things more often. Floaters can be interpreted as something else. An involuntary rapid eye movement can make things seem to move. Inability to focus can make things seem to "breath." Sometimes, I can SWEAR a mouse or a bug is skittering across my floor, but when I look directly at it, it's gone. When I am not fatigued, I don't have such things.

If it's happening all the time, rested or tired, day or night, drunk or sober... see an eye doc.
posted by The Deej at 8:18 AM on May 20, 2007

C. G. Jung wrote that when he was a child he would look at a painting and "wait for it to move." Then he could see the scene in the painting develop--like watching a movie. He called it Active Imagination and used it as a technique for psychotherapy.
posted by RussHy at 10:13 AM on May 20, 2007

Have you changed to glasses? Your eyes work together differently with contacts than with glasses, so 3D vision can change. When I go straight from contacts to glasses the walls move around and it takes a good ten minutes before I can walk anywhere. I even get seasick sometimes. My optometrist said this is normal, and for some reason I don't get it going the other way. I have astigmatism, which apparently makes it worse. I don't know the details of how your eyes change, something about muscles and your brain and blah, I can't remember.

You may be having some kind of lingering version of this, particularly if you've worn contacts for a long time. Of course, you may also have any number of other things (including nothing) so you really get it check out. Personally I'd go back to my optometrist first as they can give a referral if necessary, but even seeing a GP would be OK.
posted by shelleycat at 3:24 PM on May 20, 2007