Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with hallucination

too bad it isn't just a babelfish

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:27:16 -0800

Physical problem or mental problem? I have a friend (I know you're not her doctor) who has a history of of mental illness. Paranoia, delusion, etc. She has been in a mental health facility twice in the past. Once, we visited where she had her breakdown and just being there, I saw this unreasonable paranoia coming out. Today she came by and said that she had a hole in her eye and that yesterday she saw something fly out of her nose. Also that she hocked a lougie and three little orange things came out.

There are two options. One, that there really is a parasite (or something) and she needs to get it checked out (uninsured, but she's working on figuring out how to get to a doctor), and the other option I can see is that she's having some sort of relapse.

I'm worried about her. I've been busy lately and haven't seen her for the past few weeks, but she has other friends who she does spend time with, and they've got her back (and are keeping an eye on this).

My question is twofold.

1) Do you know of any parasite that does this 'burrow into the eye and fly out the nose' thing, and if so, what would her symptoms be? She looked ok to me, but I know I have felt pretty sick before and looked fine.

2) I'm distrustful of the California mental health care system. Although I have no experience with the mental health care system at all, I worry that it can often be as much of a problem as a solution. I have this image of it as under-funded and that over-prescribing, and my desire to protect a smart and vibrant friend from something that wouldn't necessarily make her better comes into play.

It's late at night. I hope this was coherent and that I didn't leave anything important out. Thank you in advance for your advice and experiences.

I see live people

Anonymous — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:33:21 -0800

Was this a hallucination? I have had a rather distressing week, and on Wednesday and Thursday I had strange experiences that make me wonder if they were hallucinations.

a) Wednesday afternoon, while sitting with my coworkers and drinking coffee, I clearly saw a woman reflected in a framed poster on the wall. I got up to check the entire area behind me but there was noone there, and noone in the office who resembled this person (white shirt, dark hair pinned up).

b) On Thursday afternoon I was surprised to see somone who looked very like a client of mine outside a shop I was about to enter. The city center is far from wherethe person lives and from my workplace. I wasn't sure enough to say hello though. I pass her and enter the shop. About 3 meters into the shop I run into... the woman in question, with a friend and stroller. We greeted eachother, I asked if she had been outside a minute ago, or just gone into the shop, or if she had a sister or something waiting for her outside. She didn't, we laughed it off, and went on our way.
Before you ask, when I met her the next day, she confirmed that we had indeed met the day before.

Were these hallucinations?

FTR: I am female in my early 30's. I semi-regularly have smell and taste "hallucinations" that I have always attributed to being "hormonal". I am under treatment for depression and will be bringing this up with my drs next week. Throwaway = madornot@gmail.com

Hallucinations ain't all bad?

cmoj — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:30:54 -0800

Does anyone know anything about benevolent/useful hallucinations? Years ago I was hooked on over the counter sleeping pills. I know it's a strange addiction, but it got so bad that I was extremely paranoid and depressed and experienced mild visual and sometimes auditory hallucinations. I was eating a lot of blue pills. The weird thing is that the auditory hallucinations were supportive and sometimes informative. One of them helped me make my decision to change majors, which was a very good decision. On another occasion, it told me someone's name when I couldn't remember it.

I never see any reference to this kind of thing, though. Does anyone have any information, or just anecdotes? I'm really just curious about this.

Incidentally, I kicked the habit years ago and don't even like how benadryl (diphenhydramine, same stuff as sleeping pills) makes me feel now. Any hallucinations I experience nowadays are pre-planned and consensual.

Dad's going crazy on Christmas Day.

susiepie — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 10:03:03 -0800

My dad let his prescription for Ativan run out, and now he's out of his mind and beginning to hallucinate. It's obviously Christmas Day and everything is closed; his doctors are not reachable so far. What should we do? My mom and grandmother are worried to death, and so am I. We're about 20 minutes away, so we're getting ready to go see if there's anything we can do, but I don't know what to do. My grandmother has a Xanax, but Dad refuses to take it or eat or drink anything because it's not his Ativan.

Anyone ever experienced this type of issue before? If so, please help. Thank you.

How can I forget an extremely disturbing and nightmarish hallucination/dream that I had, or at least stop being afraid of it?

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 09:53:38 -0800

How can I forget an extremely disturbing and nightmarish hallucination/dream that I had, or at least stop being afraid of it? I was recently at home seeing my parents. My mother was taking a nap on the living room floor, snoring loudly, and I was reading in a chair nearby. That night, I had a dream that was exactly like this and I had no idea that I was asleep. In the dream, I looked up from my book and saw that my mother's face/head was an eyeless blob covered with noses and weird ridges. She was still snoring and it was like all the nostrils covering her head were inhaling. I woke up in a panic and it took me a while to realize that it had been a dream. It scared me more than anything else I have ever seen, but I'm not sure why except that the idea is pretty psychotic.

It sounds silly, but I still feel really disturbed about it days later and it's bothering me. I wonder if anyone else has tried to get a disturbing but fantastical image out of their head, or how I could do it.

Crazy visual anomaly

phrontist — Thu, 31 May 2007 22:45:24 -0800

WTF-Filter: The left side of my visual field is being overtaken by what can only be described as... a crawling anomaly. If you imagine the sorts of random colors and shapes you see under certain circumstances with your eyes closed, or in the dark, it's like that... except there is also a feeling of movement... as though everything is sort of undulating kaliedscopically. The anomaly tracks along with my eye movement... so I can't look at it... it's always in my periphery. What would cause this, and how can I make it stop? It was making it someone difficult to read a moment ago, though it seems to have drifted a bit from the center of my visual field.

I've never done any psychotropics, haven't stared at any bright lights except my computer monitor, and haven't suffered any head injuries.

Seeing is believing?

Anonymous — Sat, 19 May 2007 20:45:14 -0800

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?

Do people with delusions ever/often recognize that?

Bugbread — Tue, 15 May 2007 06:37:05 -0800

Do people suffering from delusions ever/sometimes/frequently recognize this without it being pointed out to them? This question was prompted by this thread, but isn't only about Capgras syndrome.

You often hear about people who suffer some sort of delusion: in Capgras, that people they know have been replaced by dopplegangers. In others, that there are shadow beings, or aliens, or the like. It seems like, whenever you hear about this, it's a given that the person with those delusions believes that they are real.

Is it that there is some sort of adjunct which turns off the "this doesn't make sense; perhaps I'm having delusions" thought process? Is it just that the self-recognized cases don't get much press?

Note: I'm not talking about paranoid folks who believe they're being watched/wiretapped/bugged/etc., because that is technically physically possible, so it's far easier to believe. I'm talking about situations where, normally, a person would possibly think "that isn't physically possible. Therefore, it must be a delusion. I must be seeing things which aren't really there."

Who hears voices in their heads? Why?

cortex — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 07:08:18 -0800

Voices in your head. What mental disorders are associated with this? What other phenomena? Which historical and mythical figures? I'm working on a novel, and one of my central characters is just coming to terms with the abnormality of a voice in her head. I'm looking for angles and ideas. She's going to talk to a shrink, probably have a sit down with a priest (family is Catholic), and I'm looking for other folks she might talk to and some of the things they might throw at her, along with the sorts of things she might trip across in her own research.

I want to cover everything. Psychiatry, religion, and every other phenomenology y'all can muster. Details are awesome, but jumping-off points and references are welcome and probably more than a panicked writer deserves.