Karri Allen wrote:
I actually weened myself off of Topamax a month or so ago (with my doctor's ok). I started taking Inderol (with the Topamax) for a few weeks. Then I slowly stepped down my dose of Topamax over several days until I was off it completely (took 1/2 my regular dose every day for 4 days and then 1/2 my regular dose every other day for 4-5 days). I used to take 100mg 2x per day of the Topamax. Now I am taking 80mg 1x per day of the Inderol. I can really sense a betterment of my general mood and I haven't had an "episode" since I've been off. I haven't had a migraine since either (knock on wood). I've had some headaches that start to feel bad and I can control with Excedrin Migraine, but nothing that I've had to take prescriptions to stop. I am so happy for that! I wonder if taking a drug like Topamax might make it easier for some of your "brain glitches" (as I call them) to come out. I personally don't feel like this thing we all experience is going to harm us... I just think it's an annoying misinterpretation of perception in our brains. There are many neurological disorders out there that are much worse (when it comes to perception issues). I actually like the book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales" by Oliver Sacks... very interesting what our brain can make up. Particularly the stories "The Dog Beneath the Skin", "The Disembodied Lady", "The Man Who Fell Out of Bed", "On the Level", "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" and many others deal with perception issues, but they are all interesting reads. ***this post is edited by moderator *** *** web addresses not allowed***
You should definitely talk to your neurologist about your "episodes". Mine just looked at me blankly, but maybe yours will be better :) But it is good to know there are others out there. Know you are not alone and it will pass.
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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.
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.
I actually weened myself off of Topamax a month or so ago (with my doctor's ok). I started taking Inderol (with the Topamax) for a few weeks. Then I slowly stepped down my dose of Topamax over several days until I was off it completely (took 1/2 my regular dose every day for 4 days and then 1/2 my regular dose every other day for 4-5 days). I used to take 100mg 2x per day of the Topamax. Now I am taking 80mg 1x per day of the Inderol. I can really sense a betterment of my general mood and I haven't had an "episode" since I've been off. I haven't had a migraine since either (knock on wood). I've had some headaches that start to feel bad and I can control with Excedrin Migraine, but nothing that I've had to take prescriptions to stop. I am so happy for that! I wonder if taking a drug like Topamax might make it easier for some of your "brain glitches" (as I call them) to come out. I personally don't feel like this thing we all experience is going to harm us... I just think it's an annoying misinterpretation of perception in our brains. There are many neurological disorders out there that are much worse (when it comes to perception issues). I actually like the book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales" by Oliver Sacks... very interesting what our brain can make up. Particularly the stories "The Dog Beneath the Skin", "The Disembodied Lady", "The Man Who Fell Out of Bed", "On the Level", "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" and many others deal with perception issues, but they are all interesting reads. ***this post is edited by moderator *** *** web addresses not allowed***
You should definitely talk to your neurologist about your "episodes". Mine just looked at me blankly, but maybe yours will be better :) But it is good to know there are others out there. Know you are not alone and it will pass.
It's called the Alice-in-wonderland syndrome. I just found this out, crazy to think I wasn't the only one experiencing this!
Wow, I can't believe I have found this forum!
I was at my parents house today with my Husband, Brother and Sister-In-Law and we got talking about nightmares and weird dreams. I started to tell them all about a reoccurring nightmare I used to get when I was very young, but I just couldn't explain it! I was telling them that It wasn't the content of the nightmare, but the feelings and textures in the dream, and I would be terrified and always wake up screaming. I told them that I would get these strange feelings even when I was awake, almost like an out of body feeling, but the definite feeling of my fingers and certain things having a very strange texture. Also, I would look at something which was only about 3 feet away, but it would seem miles away and tiny! Basically my family had no idea what I was talking about, so I decided for the first time to research it. Thats where I found this forum and started reading about AIWS. It is just SPOT ON! I cant believe this whole time there have been other people experiencing the same thing!
I am 25 now, and I still get the feelings occasionally, I can even make myself get the feelings. Some other interesting things are, I have never had a migraine in my life until a couple of months ago, now I get a migraine at least once a week and sometimes vertigo. I have always had low blood sugar and while I have never been diagnosed with epilepsy, If I am near strobe lighting, I freak out, I start to panic, get the AIWS feeling and feel like I am about to pass out. Oh, and my mother used to tell me how she had 'out of body' experiences as a child (not like AIWS), and she started getting migraines when she was about my age.
I'm so glad Im not crazy!
All this stuff has happened to me especially the fast thing . Its hard to explain but everything is in fast mode every little thing you do ex. talking , hearing , moving and even seeing . And the AWIS thing always happend to me when i was younger, im 17 now . It always happend to me when i was sleeping i yous't to think that they were night terrors or something like that . And headaches are a very common thing for me , atleast 1 or 2 a day . But its good to know im not alone on this !
hey i am 23 now. i got that "fast feeling" too. i usually had them when i was kid like 10-16 and mostly happened while playing age of empires 2. i had some episodes when i study and watch tv but never happened in bed. i dont thnk its AIWL because i dont see any thing bigger or smaller just fast feeling.i had migraine when i was 10-16 also but i dont suffer from that right now so they may have connection but i thnink anythng related with brain has a connection with it. none of my parents have this. i would like to know if you are smart or not? do you guys have high iq level or were u good at school when you were young
I believe this ‘quickening’ sensation is heavily linked to thyroid function. There is a history of thyroid problems in my family and I had years of thyroid monitoring with many GPs and other specialists. It wasn’t until I was seeing a top endocrinologist in preparation of surgery that I was ever asked if I had ever experienced “a quickening sensation, where I feel like things are happening faster than they really were”. . . . . I felt so relieved to know it was related to my thyroid function. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Ive been searching about this for ages and couldn't ever find anything, except for Alice in Wonderland syndrome but that Isn't the same sensation. I've had this since I can remember, I am now 16 and only had it a couple of times this year but it used to be frequent when I was little. I hadn't had it for a while until I was playing this game and the music seemed to have triggered it more than once. Every time it's happened during the day there has been music and I've been concentrating on something.
Like many has said, it also occurs when I have been going to bed, and went through a stage of hallucinating as well. It never normally happens around other people and I've never mentioned it to anyone either.
I specifically remember the ringing kind of noise as well associated as it used to make me cry haha, but never really happens anymore, just an episode of everything fast forwarding, looked in the mirror one time and my eyes and body were fine. Still not sure what these episodes are called or what even triggers them, hopefully one of you find out.
Wow! Cannot believe I found this thread by typing the words "fast, loud sensation" into Google! I've been getting the "fast-feeling" since childhood - am 23 now. I haven't gotten an episode for a long while now and they are very infrequent - maybe once a year or less even. They never really scared me, although the posting by somebody that they may be a mini-seizure has caused me some concern..
I did have a head injury when I was younger as was hit by a car but I never had any lasting damage. I guess I'd be pretty intellectual, high IQ. I'd love to know if there are any commonalities between us at all or is it just completely random..
I did have a head injury when I was younger as was hit by a car but I never had any lasting damage. I guess I'd be pretty intellectual, high IQ. I'd love to know if there are any commonalities between us at all or is it just completely random..
ive had this feeling aswell mostly when i was young but it seems to go away for years at a time and then out of nowhere a couple months ago i got another one i would really like to know what this is all i can find on the web is schizophrenia and i know thats not it and im sure everyone else would agree its something different and the my voice is talking so fast in my head i cant really understand it and the brain does seem to slow down while it happens while moving fast at the same time wtf? Its like an intense adrenaline rush in the brain. please can anyone answer this question? i have tried to figure this out for years the only person ive ever told is my girlfriend.
I am 27 years old and I just got an episode today. I can't remember the last time I've gotten this. It has been awhile. I was working on my computer and everything was fairly normal/calm when it triggered.
My mind is racing and is loud
I get acutely aware of everything I hear.
Everything feels like it moving fast when it's really not
Things feel smaller, especially hands
I think the major trend in this thread is the distorted time perception but not so much the distorted visual perception which may lead ppl to believe it's not AIWS but something else. ***this post is edited by moderator *** *** web
addresses not allowed***
I am SOOOOOO happy I found this thread I could cry!!!!!! I thought I was alone! Let me start with my story... I'll try not to leave anything out. I've dealt with this since a child! I remember waking up in the middle of the night... hearing loud noises, almost voices it seemed, everything was extremely fast, even though it wasn't, and I'd start screaming and balling my eyes out. I couldn't take the feeling... the fast feeling. My mom/grandma/grandpa would wake up tell me it was okay that I was dreaming... but it wasn't okay... I wasn't dreaming... it was happening... and I never told them. Till this day I never told anyone. How do you tell someone you feel fast? It sounds kind of goofy doesn't it? Feeling fast doesn't cover the fear, or feeling, you get while having that episode though. It's like there are 15 voices in my head all whispering extremely loud in my head, although I can't make out one word, every breath... movement... heartbeat... feels like it is going 1 BILLION miles a minute... and honestly I feel like I could hurt someone or myself if the feeling doesn't go away soon. I try to calm my breathing, relax, walk, move extremely slow (although it still feels like the world, me, everything, is going 10,000 miles a second) and think of something else.
I did have asthma extremely bad growing up and took an inhaler nightly. I also had a bad double ear infection as a baby, but it was treated. My last episode as a child was when I was 8 at night... I remember because it last for 5 minutes, my grandpa came out and held me, and I was scared to go back to bed. Well now I am 23, on TOPAMAX, and have had my 2nd "fast-feeling" attack" the first one was about 3 weeks ago and was very quick that I thought nothing of it. But I just had one last night that seemed to last forever. I was freaking out, tried calling my boyfriend at work a million times although he didn't answer, thankfully he didn't because what would I tell him?, and eventually it went away. I told him later it was a panic attack. I've seen a few people talk about Topamax and their fast-feeling coming back. I wonder if it brings back these attacks in people who previously had them as children? It scares me that they could be seizures. But how could they be seizures when I'm on an anti-seizure medication? By the way, I take Topamax 50 mg at night time once a day for migraines. I don't for a second believe this is in anyway related to Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, although I love Alice, lol, the symptoms don't fit. I never feel big, or small, or distorted, just fast. Like someone has me on a tv, and pressed fast-forward on my life, body, and brain. It's the worst feeling. For those of you who say "you miss it" BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR. I was balling my eyes out scared to fall asleep.
It makes me mad that no doctor will take any of us seriously. And doing more research, there are more forums, people just like us, talking about the same exact symptoms, all starting in childhood! Something is wrong here!!!!! I have been peeing a lot at night, so I'm interested about it being possibly related to hypoglycemia. Thank goodness it happened at night, alone, while my daughter was asleep, and while my boyfriend was at work, because the noises and voices? were already so loud, and everything around me was so fast and quick if they were up I would of flipped out curled in a ball and cried. He would of thought I was nuts. I wanna tell him, or at least my mom, but I'm always so sick this will just be another thing on the chalkboard for him and he'd probably think I was legit nuts. I'd like to know what we have because what if there were other symptoms, or complications involved? What if its genetic?
Too bad we can't all come together and have some kind of tests run on us. I would do it if it meant answers. We're not alone, they're are lots of us out there, and I wouldn't even of found this group if it didn't come back up again, so imagine the people that had this happen as a child and still have not said anything!
I really hope this thread keeps going. It gave me hope and relief when I was freaking out. Thank you.
I did have asthma extremely bad growing up and took an inhaler nightly. I also had a bad double ear infection as a baby, but it was treated. My last episode as a child was when I was 8 at night... I remember because it last for 5 minutes, my grandpa came out and held me, and I was scared to go back to bed. Well now I am 23, on TOPAMAX, and have had my 2nd "fast-feeling" attack" the first one was about 3 weeks ago and was very quick that I thought nothing of it. But I just had one last night that seemed to last forever. I was freaking out, tried calling my boyfriend at work a million times although he didn't answer, thankfully he didn't because what would I tell him?, and eventually it went away. I told him later it was a panic attack. I've seen a few people talk about Topamax and their fast-feeling coming back. I wonder if it brings back these attacks in people who previously had them as children? It scares me that they could be seizures. But how could they be seizures when I'm on an anti-seizure medication? By the way, I take Topamax 50 mg at night time once a day for migraines. I don't for a second believe this is in anyway related to Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, although I love Alice, lol, the symptoms don't fit. I never feel big, or small, or distorted, just fast. Like someone has me on a tv, and pressed fast-forward on my life, body, and brain. It's the worst feeling. For those of you who say "you miss it" BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR. I was balling my eyes out scared to fall asleep.
It makes me mad that no doctor will take any of us seriously. And doing more research, there are more forums, people just like us, talking about the same exact symptoms, all starting in childhood! Something is wrong here!!!!! I have been peeing a lot at night, so I'm interested about it being possibly related to hypoglycemia. Thank goodness it happened at night, alone, while my daughter was asleep, and while my boyfriend was at work, because the noises and voices? were already so loud, and everything around me was so fast and quick if they were up I would of flipped out curled in a ball and cried. He would of thought I was nuts. I wanna tell him, or at least my mom, but I'm always so sick this will just be another thing on the chalkboard for him and he'd probably think I was legit nuts. I'd like to know what we have because what if there were other symptoms, or complications involved? What if its genetic?
Too bad we can't all come together and have some kind of tests run on us. I would do it if it meant answers. We're not alone, they're are lots of us out there, and I wouldn't even of found this group if it didn't come back up again, so imagine the people that had this happen as a child and still have not said anything!
I really hope this thread keeps going. It gave me hope and relief when I was freaking out. Thank you.
P.S. - Let me just clarify when I say I feel like I could hurt myself or others, although I feel extremely on edge, I never would. I would never hurt myself or anyone else. And I never have. Also I'm a little unsure if the "voices" are voices or if they are a whole bunch of sounds magnified in my head, as I said before I've never actually heard any words or anything.
Also, I found another site where a doctor talks about these "rushes" as he
calls them in his report... he says they are related to severe migraines. Although I have migraines now and am treated for them, I never had them when younger. Just scroll down to "the rushes" http://www.migraine-aura.org/content/e27891/e27265/e26585/e27105/index_en.html
Hi Italove9,
I wrote the original post and am really happy it has given you a bit of comfort - in no way was I expecting this many responses! I`ve mentioned Migraine Auras before on this thread but seems to get lost all the posts! This feels the closest possibility to me. I suffer from fairly minor migraines - but then by the sounds of it my 'attacks' are not very severe either. Like you I didn't suffer migraines when I was younger but I have a history of it in the family. Unfortunately it seems to be an area that has had very little research - I emailed the people you linked to a year ago showing them this thread but had no reply.
Thanks for posting.
Well markbrighton I'm sure you have comforted a lot of people. It just amazes me I'm not alone. I wouldn't even of found this site if the episodes didn't start back up... which leaves me to wonder... how many other people have had this issue as children, but have simply forgot about it, or don't think to investigate it now? That would have been me. It bothers me that something to frightening is happening to children out there, undiagnosed, and I bet a lot of them are either to scared to tell anyone about it, don't know how to describe it, or are ignored when they do! Thanks for the reply :-)