Disterbed vision, almost like virtigo, everything seems a million miles away

I'm writing this straight from my journal:

"... sometimes, I dont really know the cause, but after watching TV or reading or something, everything i see seems really far away, it's almost surreal. Like right now, my pen seems like a straightened staple, my notebook seems like a stamp, and my hands look so teeny. I dont get it, it's not uncomfortable, on the contrary it's quite interesting. When I write, I feel like I'm writing in a size 2 font on the computer..."

not to be redundant, but when this happens to me i embrace it, its very relaxing for me. and like i said very interesting. although i am glad i know now that i'm not the only one.

i have been having the same thing happen. anyone know what this is called?

omg, i have been dealing with this problem for years n always wondered if it was just me, thanks you guys

My son has a similar condition usually during or just after a relatively high fever. Everything seems far away and he gets confused at times, he seems to be only partially awake and speaks in confusing sentences. I poked around on the internet and discussed with his pediatrition. Search for "Alice In Wonderland Syndrome". It seems to fit the bill. I didn't find any treatment or explanation but for the most part it seems to happen to kids around 10 yrs old, and gets less severe with age.

good one about close one eye just worked for me have very same experiences

I too had this happen to me often when I was much younger. I was able to control it after awhile and could zoom things in and out on my own, although I remember at the time it would really bother me. I'm not 30, and it just happened to me for the first time in probably over 20 years so I came online to find out what could cause it. So it looks like possibly, not quite there, seizures... ? Anyway, thought i would share, and wish somebody had some concrete idea of what this is.

When you say that ou could zoom things in an out, what do you mean by that? I am a little confused. It seems that you're saying that you can actually hone in on something? Let me know.

I've had this happen for years myself. Every once in a while, I'll feel kind of "spaced out", and things will appear very far away, although visually they remain where they are. It's almost like my perception of depth becomes greater somehow. I never found it disturbing, more like a kind of meditation, one that helps me remember that how things appear isn't necessarily all there is to what exists. Typically I can maintain it for a while, which is something that I've had to practice over time. I can't imagine it means anything "bad", or that there's something wrong with you. Go with the flow...

I looked up Alice In Wonderland Syndrome and you're right this sounds like exactly what happens to me. Thanks alot.

Exactly. All that, exactly. It's happened to me my whole life up until my mid 20s (I'm 29 now). It was kind of like Zoom Vision. Like everything just appeared very far away, yet everything was still in detail. I could even read small words from across the room just by focusing on it. I found it to be less scary and more interesting. I even started dreaming that way sometimes too. I got to the point where I could even concentrate and make it happen. I think I got rid of it the same way; I just stopped thinking about it, started forgetting about it, and years later I hadn't noticed it again. But around the peak of my Tunnel Vertigo Weirdo Vision, I ended up doing something to my heart where it raced out of control, I got dizzy, and have had heart palpitations ever since. But, yeah, it's been impossible to explain, and everyone just "uh huhs" me, like I'm crazy, and they have no idea what I'm talking about, and because of that, because they can't understand, then they just end up not caring. It's nice to see people who know, and describe it exactly. For what it's worth, I believe if you concentrate enough, you can control it, and even eliminate it.

But still, it doesn't sound like the problem, it sounds like a symptom.

This feeling has happened to me a few times in my life(that i remember of).
I am commenting on this now because it happened to me two nights ago, i've had a 'virus' for the past 5-6 days, aching throat, headaches, my body temprature has been changing drastically from hot to cold within the same hour. I do not know if this is relevant but I assume it is.
The time before that I remember having this feeling was about three or four years ago now... The feeling that I got the other night, was the feeling of everything being far from me and me moving away from all things in the room, mostly when I looked at the corner of the room it felt more powerful. When I shut my eyes it happened too, this was individually the scariest part about it as it had kept me up for hours and the thing I wanted to do most was go to sleep. In the past when this occured I always remembered there being a numb sort of feeling aswell but this time it didn't occur, I am 17 and male if the details are necessary. If someone could give me some answers to this sort of "abnormality" that would be much appreciated.
Thanks, Daniel.

Last reply was a few months ago and OP was 3 years ago But since people might be stumbling across this from google I'll go ahead and post.

This "tiny vision" effect is indeed a symptom "Alice in Wonderland" syndrome, but more specifically it is called Micropsia

I too, get it frequently, accompanied with other distortions to reality (simple partial seizure). But I have to admit that I actually enjoy them. I call them "insanity" as in "shh, don't talk to me right now, I'm having insanity"

I have the same problem, I was wondering what is it for many years, im nearly 18 now, and I had nightmares as a kid while "looking through that sight" as I call it. Only I was awake when i had them... Often heard voices coming from simple echoes, and all the little things seemed so big, and all the simple moves were soo fascinating... I decided to google for this. My difference from you guys, is that I can cause that vision by my self, I focus on some thing and I repeat in my head "It's getting smaller, it's getting smaller." and after some time, it looks like it really shrinks. I was just doing it today while I was lying in shower and focusing on some Sega sticker on wall... It was always more fascinating then creepy for me. Im glad that Im not the only one having this so called "disease".

-K

wow i am currently experiencing this symptom and was just wondering if there was anything about it on google and i found this forum. im glad that im not the only one experiencing this, i thought i was going crazy haha. it started happening to me a long time ago and i actually was able to make myself experience this by focusing on a certain object for a long period of time. after a few years i was able to turn it on everytime i was bored in lecture class in college xD but lately it comes and goes by itself. I dont really mind it cause it goes away it i concentrate. really weird stuff haha

Amazing! When I was younger, this terrified me. It would give me a feeling of being lost and not knowing how to get back to where I needed to be. I remember crying over this many times, usually when I was ill or my childhood ear problems were at their peak. That feeling always made me have one surreal dream (nightmare at the time). If the dream came first, I would wake up to the vision issues afterward.

The dream had me running as fast as I could go on a GIANT (mountain size) round object (I remember thinking it was an eyeball). Yet at the same time I was holding that exact same round object in my hand, and it was very VERY tiny. The nightmare of it was that the tiny object felt large, like I couldn't fit my arms around it and the one I was running on felt like I didn't have room to move my own two feet around and was going to fell off. I still have those dreams, but now I've learned to realize it's a dream and I drop the small object to end the bad feelings and wake up to no vision issues.

During my later teen years this had stopped happening completely. About 5 or 6 years ago it started to happen randomly every other week or so. Now it happens very frequently, many times a week and can last from only a few minutes to a few hours. It's different now though. Now I actually kind of enjoy it. 90% of the time it's when I am doing coding on the computer or photo editing. Everything will pull in and fall back like a scene on a movie when they show the killer in a zoom in. I can still see everything perfectly and in fact seemingly in more detail (whether this is just an illusion or not, I'm not too sure). I can look away and around and it will go back to normal until I stop looking around for a few seconds, but then whatever area I stopped to look at will simply fall back again.

Like a few of you mentioned before, if I think about it or try to initiate it myself, it will easily occur. I have never had a change of hearing when this happened (other than my childhood ear infections and hearing issues that have since never occurred). Taste/smells remains the same. Touch is slightly off since things I am holding feel normal but my perception says otherwise. Also never had a migraine during or around it.

Sorry for the long book! It's just that every time I told someone about it they had no clue what I was talking about and the one time I mentioned it to a doctor he referred me to an ophthalmologist who would said I was 20/20 and it was probably just eye strain. I never thought to look it up until this very moment, only to find I am no where near the only one! I just thought I would throw my details out there. Thank you to the people who named "Alice In Wonderland Syndrome", it seems to fit perfectly!