unusual 'fast feeling' in my head

omg! exactly! lately ive noticed that i get different kinds of the feels, like the same feeling but different emotions. you know?? please reply if you know what i mean

I get a very similar sensation. When it happens, I perceive everything around me as being faster, louder and more intense. I even perceive myself as moving faster, breathing faster/louder and etc, but I know I’m not. It’s just in my brain.  My husband has no idea what I’m talking about even when I try to explain it to him. When I was younger (middle school and even into my teens) I would get short bursts of this. Mostly when I was concentrating on something like writing. It would almost be like I was sucked into a “super concentration” mode, but it would disappear almost as fast as it would appear. I would never get it for more than a minute. As soon as I would acknowledge it was there almost, it would be gone. I couldn’t keep it if I tried. Now snap forward a few years. I am now 25. I developed sudden onset chronic, debilitating migraines when I was 21 (which I think is a result of taking Accutane since I’d never had one before taking the drug and all of a sudden I was getting them every time I took it towards the end of my treatment… but that’s another story). So, my neurologist put me on Topamax. Ever since I’ve been on the Topamax I’ve experienced these “episodes” in more frequent spells and in longer duration. When I first started getting them and realizing that simply not concentrating on them would not make them go away, I found out that talking out loud to myself would sometimes snap me out of it. Now that won’t even do it. The only way to get out of this weird crazy world it puts me in now is to go somewhere completely quiet and void of any external stimulation (I will sometimes even put in earplugs) and just focus on being calm and still (sometimes I will try not to even breath for as long as possible to get the area as quite as I can). I find this sort of “resets” the cycle and the world feels “normal” again instead of all loud and fast and weird. I probably get them once every month or two and it usually happens at night right before I’m trying to go to sleep while lying in bed. I’m trying to switch over from Topamax to Enderol because I think the Topamax has definitely increased these and I don’t like them. The last one I had made me sort of paranoid… and I am NOT a paranoid type of person at all. Of course I told myself I was being stupid and just calm down and go relax and I was fine, but they seem to be getting worse.

 

However, in response it being “simple partial seizures”: They could be (description sounds plausible), but since mine actually INCREASED while taking Topamax (a seizure medication that just happens to work on migraine patients too) I thinking that would not be the case. If they were seizures, they should have decreased or at least not gotten worse while taking the Topamax.

I am so happy I found this. I am 24 and have had a similar sensation from a very young age. I have never found that anyone else knows what I am talking about. I call it "Fast Slow". Everything is going fast and slow at the same time. Sound and movements. I have found it happens mostly if I am feeling unwell or anxious. And alot of the time when I am trying to go to sleep. A similar sensation I get is that my tongue is really big in my mouth and my vision goes strange.
I have had scans done on my brain, EEG and MRI. I wasnt overly worried but when I asked my doctor if he had heard of it, he sent me off for scans. He believed it to be related to seizures. The scans came back normal. But I still get it every now and again. I have noticed recently that it happens when my brain is over active, not really stressed but thinking alot. Relaxation or distraction helps it go away.

Yeah, I just got the feeling, googled it, and found this thread. I'd describe it in a word as vertigo. Here's how it happened for me. I was sitting quietly in a room studying, and I gradually began to notice it. The air conditioner, the sound of my pencil scratching on the book, and my breathing began to sound amplified and echo-ey. My thoughts began to race a little bit, and I lost my ability to concentrate on my studying because the feeling itself is so unusual that it actually distracts you. I would definitely describe it as a disorienting sensation. Sounds tend to clatter. Also, I get a sort of glitch in my vision, barely noticeable, but it's like my distance perception is slightly off. It doesn't cause me to panic, though I could see some people feeling panicky from it. I wouldn't say that it comes from anxiety,  because I often get it while in calm settings. The frequency with which I get it is typical to what everyone is saying here--maybe once a year or so--and I'd say it's completely random. It usually lasts for about 10 minutes or so. Someone mentioned Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, and the more I think about it, the more it seems that it is a phenomenon related to AIWS. AIWS, according to Wikipedia, is associated with brain tumors, migraines, and the use of psychoactive drugs. I'm not a candidate for any these. Okay, I just found something...Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. Google that and you'll get the info. It has something to do with your inner ear (vestibular system) and balance. Basically, something goes awry in your vestibular system and your body just takes a few minutes to restore balance.

I get this also but I haven't been able to pinpoint what actions make it happen I'm 18 now but when I was younger I use to dream and it be just like this rush happening and I felt small and urgent almost but now it happens everyone in awhile so far the only thing that seems to trigger it is when I play a game for awhile but it doesn't happen everytime I play a game. It makes me feel like I'm moving faster everything suddleny becomes monotone almost and felt like something's would be bigger or I would be smaller. It's good to know Its more normal than I thought it was makes me feel better. I acually just got over on of this like 5 mins ago it's annoying but in a way it's a little fun I guess

I get a sense of everything being Fast, my body is dense and heavy but not. sound is alot louder and clearer to sometimes i need to turn down the tv. I get the fealing at anytime of the day no matter what im doing. Ive had it twice while driving and have needed to pull over and wait for it to stop, that was scary.
im glad theres others out there with it, when ever i tried to tell anyone they looked at me like i was crazy. im 24 now and been having them longer then i can remember, when i was younger i felt it helped to stop it if i pictured people walking in slow-mo. now i just deal with it, wait it out and see how bad it gets.

It is AIWS or Alice In Wonderland Syndrome also known as Todds Syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_syndrome. I think maybe a few people have already said this. I used to get it a lot but now I only get it once in a while like I did tonight. Maybe when it happens instead of me trying to get it to go away I should harness my super speed and read a book in 10 mins??

I am having a hard time taking all of this in... This has been happening to me since I was a little kid too. I am 18 now and it has been happening a lot more frequently lately. I never told anyone because I thought I was crazy. I just want some answers. It scares me... Things in my mind just get faster, like sound; they get faster and louder. Sometimes when I Am going to bed, objects begin to appear larger and keep me awake like they are over powering me. I don't know how to explain any of this, but a lot of people on this site have explained it just as I would and I am in shock right now. I've always thought that I was alone... Used to, when I was younger and it would happen, my mom or someone could come and talk to me and it would stop all together, but now nothing can stop it except for time and patience. If any of you have found a reason for these occurrences I would love to know. I want a cure... I just can't take it anymore...

Hi,

I would say that you most likely have Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS) - also known as Todd's Syndrome. http://www.aiws.info/ Do you experience migraines or have a family history of epilepsy? I would tell your neurologist about your symptoms and mention the possibility of AIWS.

I have a lot of the "faster/louder" symptoms, but I've never felt like objects changed their size or I changed my size. It's probably another version of the same thing though. I personally believe that taking Topamax (for migraine treatment) made mine worse. The only way I can now get an episode to stop is to go into a completely quite room (using earplugs if necessary & dark if possible) and close my eyes, focus on the silence (sometimes even holding my breath for periods just so it is as quiet as possible), try and relax. It's like I have to re-set my brain.... sort of sensory deprivation like.

Know that you are not the only one out there who experiences these things. But I would definitely find a neurologist to discuss your symptoms. Maybe they can help or at least monitor your situation.

Good Luck!

Wow. I cant believe it took me this long to realize other people suffered from the same thing as me.  I literally just got over an attack and decided to see if I could find anything about it.  Im 22 now and I've been having this as long as I can remember still to this day I get it once or twice a week.  Ive noticed though when i'm over tired or just generally more unhealthy than usual it happens more.  It feels like everything is moving faster and my hands and fingers and tongue feel like they gained 10 pounds.  I cant decide if I enjoy it or not yet.  It used to scare me as a kid but not so much anymore.  It feels alot better knowing other people have the same condition.  Ive never really talked to anyone about it before.  I tried explaining it to my doctor once but she had no idea I felt pretty lost.  I dont think I even told my parents or girlfriend because I felt to embarrassed or weird.  I find that if I put on the tv it helps my brain realize that everything is not going double time.  I mostly get this during the day and when im relaxing reading, or playing video games before bed.  I do get some of the feelings described in the alice in wonderland thing, but so much more as well.  Which makes me think that its not the same thing or maybe im just rolling with both.  Anyways its aswome to finally learn something about this, it makes me feel tons better.  I hope that we can find a legitimate diagnosis though.  Thanks everyody.

I am a 27 yr old female and this too has happened to me since I was about 6 or 7 .years old. It used to happen quite often, maybe once a month until I was in my early 20's. I believe the episodes lightened when I was put on Topamax for my chronic migraine condition. I take 100 mg a day. From everything I have read about these types of episodes and the people that suffer from them, they all either seem to have migraine or seizure issues. That must be the common factor, but why??? Has anyone actually had a doctor find out? When I have an episode the world speeds up around me, my brain feels like it is on hyper-speed, and sound is amplified 10-fold.  Tonight was the first time I have had an episode in over a year and it was by far one of the scariest ever. Enough to make me look it up for the 1st time ever I thought my heart was exploding out of my chest and I felt like I needed to go run and it is well past midnight. I felt like someone had slipped me something and that scares me... Someone out there has to have an answer to what causes this in all of us.

My husband has vertigo... not even close to the same thing. Dizzy and : amplified sound, speed up thoughts, paranoia, etc are two totally different sets of symptoms. And many of these episodes last 15 minutes to an hour... not 5-10 like vertigo and also have nothing to do with changing the position of the body and head.

If you look at my post, my story is pretty similar to yours... and I believe mine have gotten more intense since Topamax as well (started taking it at 20, am now 27). This last episode had me so paranoid I cried.

so i used to hav this feeling when i was a kid and i alawys thought of it as a bad lucid dream and i hadnt had it happen for years now all the sudden its happend five times in the last month and after reading the other post it seams were all the same age if anyone knows what this is pleas let me know im 21 and its a supper vummwhen it happens it feels like im going crazy

Hey I am 18 right now. I just looked up the symptoms I was having just at this moment it stopped.  I don't get it.. I usually just keep it to myself, until I decided to tell my mom.. and she just says "I don't know Alyssa"... its weird that there are more people... But not many answers to the problem