How Dr. House solved my medical mystery

[mickeyd]

I was viewing an old episode of House last night and solved a medical cureosity that I have had since childhood. When I was a kid and was sick with a feaver I used to "hallusinate" and view things around me as being very small~a chair, my Mom, a door etc. If I held my hand up in front of my eyes it looked normal. Looking away it looked small again. Never any pain, never happened as an adult, I always thought as a kid that it was kinda coool.

According to Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) this is called Alice in Wonderland Syndrome and the hallucinations are called Lillapution.

My search is over.

Alice in Wonderland syndrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[MooreBonds]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mickeyd I was viewing an old episode of House last night and solved a medical cureosity that I have had since childhood. When I was a kid and was sick with a feaver I used to "hallusinate" and view things around me as being very small~a chair, my Mom, a door etc. If I held my hand up in fromt of my eyes it looked normal. Looking away it looked small again. Never any pain, never happened as an adult, I always thought as a kid that it was kinda coool. According to Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) this is called Alice in Wonderland Syndrome and the hallucinations are called Lillapution. My search is over. Alice in Wonderland syndrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wow - thanks for posting this! I had forgotten about it, but I also experienced AIWS as a child, always in the middle of the night, and always after I felt feverish as well. Happened maybe a few times a year.

Things seemed so distant to me, and it was kind of a weird feeling. At least now I know it's somewhat common, and one of those unexplainable conditions that is usually grown out of. Can't imagine having to experience that during the day and living with that as an adult.

[W2R]

I think that would have scared me as a child! Luckily I didn't have it. Glad you finally found out what was going on.

[Amethyst]

I had the exact opposite effect when my temperature soared. Everything got big and I was very small. As Pink Floyd sang in "Comfortably Numb,"

"When I was a child, I had a fever/
My hands felt just like two balloons..."

I also saw weird faces in everything - patterns of the rug, wood grain, etc.

Amethyst

[ERD50]

Interesting. I sort of have a vague memory of this from childhood, when having a fever, or maybe just very, very tired and drifting off to sleep. It just seemed disorienting, not too much different than having the room spin a bit when you are feeling nauseous. I've fainted or nearly fainted twice, and you get a tunnel vision, and the room seems to move away from you. Like that.

-ERD50

[teejayevans]

Or it could have been the medicine back in the good old days had codeine in it and y'all were tripping. I miss those days
TJ

[Khufu]

It's considered among the perception changes called "migraine aura" that frequently precede a migraine episode. As a kid I had both migraines and this Alice effect, but they never occured together. Oliver Sacks's book, "Migraines" discusses it.

When i experienced it, it was frightening and would take me some time before I realized that I was experiencing it again at which point I would calm down. Very disorienting. I think it always went away after only a few minutes.