[silver_queen]

This doesn't really fit under the topic 'Depression' but I thought I would post it anyway, because it doesn't seem to fit under any of the other categories either...

Well first off I will start by saying that I am a little ill at the moment (just a cold) but maybe that influenced what I experienced.

Well on Friday I was alone in the house sitting at my computer like I am now, here in the living room, at the front of the house, and I could hear noises from the kitchen, at the back of the house. The door to the kitchen is about three metres away from where I'm sitting right now and I could hear these noises above the whirring of the computer. It sounded like someone was in there, moving around quietly. For a while I didn't believe it, because the back door to the kitchen was locked, but the door is part of patio doors of glass, and I remembered about thieves who had used glass cutters to get into people's houses. But then I heard a definite noise and I knew I had to do something about it.

So obviously I didn't go into the kitchen because you should never confront anybody who is there, because they might have a gun or something. So I went as quietly as I could out of the front door and walked around to the back of the house, to see if the door was ok and the glass was intact. It was and when I looked through the windows there was nobody there. I just put it down to an overactive imagination, though it had scared me a lot, because from the noises I had been almost certain there was somebody in the other room.

Well this morning, I woke up briefly hearing footsteps, but I convinced myself that it wasn't possible I had heard footsteps because I was alone in the house, and I went back to sleep again. But then I woke up, I was defintely awake, and I could definitely hear footsteps, they woke me up. I was in my bedroom and I could hear footsteps in the hall downstairs, which is tiled and hard. The person was walking up and down. It is quite a long hall. I wondered who it was. Was it my dad coming back early from work? Had my aunt, who lives next-door-but-one and who has a key, let herself in? But I couldn't imagine why they would do that and not call up the stairs to tell me they were there. I couldn't see it being a burglar of any sort, because they don't walk up and down hallways.

But all the same I dressed quietly and didn't put up my blind (which reminds me it is still shut) because of the noise it would make. I didn't hear footsteps when I was getting dressed though, and I wondered why. So I quietly opened my door and went down the stairs, and there was nobody in the house, nobody at all except me.

So was this some kind of auditory hallucination?

BTW for anyone who wants to say 'It could be a ghost,' this house was built in 1998 and I have lived in it since it was new, and before that it was an estate of bungalows mainly for old folk, erected after WW2, and before that it was a marl pit, so as far as I am aware, nobody has died gruesomely, and nobody has a reason for haunting me.

[lenjan]

It's certainly possible, silver_queen. I have auditory hallucinations more than I would like. It's to the point that I am about to mention it to my pdoc (which I probably should have done when they started, yes). Sometimes I hear my cell phone ringing (very distinctive tone) when it's not. Sometimes I hear music that isn't really there. I've never heard voices or anything, just music, mostly. It could be a lot worse!

Your best bet is to mention it to your doc. The only reason I'm afraid to is that he might take me off one of my meds, and I've finally found a combination that works!

Candy

[shakes]

While it could be AH do you think that it could just be the house? You yourself said that it was old. I am sure that a house that old would shift itself naturally and make noise sometimes.
If you are concerned then definately talk to your doctor, but IMHO I believe there is a chance that there is something that you are hearing, whether it be a ghost or the house moving.

Stay strong,
Jessica

[dexter]

There are times in my house when something falls off a shelf in the closet for no reason. I hadn't moved anything in there, just shifts subtly and creates a racket. Doesn't happen often which makes it all the more creepy when it does.

The footsteps are a little harder to explain. It could be hallucinations. It could be a result of prolonged depression or it could be because of your meds... but either way the thing to do, like candybear said, is to be sure to tell your pdoc. It may be nothing, but if it is nothing, let your pdoc tell you that it is nothing.

[silver_queen]

>>You yourself said that it was old.<<
Actually, I didn't. I said it was built in 1998, which makes it 6 years old. That is not old for a house.

And I don't think it was a ghost. The sound was so real. It scared me, because I was wondering who was in the house, and why...

[silver_queen]

>>It could be a result of prolonged depression or it could be because of your meds...<<
I have more or less shaken off my depression now, and I'm not taking meds, or any other drugs or substance.

>>be sure to tell your pdoc.<<
Thanks...but I don't see a pdoc now. I don't see anybody any more, I have got over my depression by myself (I hope) and so I see nobody.

[krzyk101]

Well in my experiences with auditory hallucinations, I have been under the care of a pdoc and or on medications. Since you are not under any type of professional mental health professional who can asess these types of noises and sounds you are hearing as being that of the nature of a hallucination, for now until you make the decison to consult with such, I would just ignroe or try to learn coping mech. for these said unexplainable noises.

If you should though begin hear that of actual "voices" or any unexplainable being telling you to do harm to yourself or others, then I would suggest to contact your nearest Emergency Room or Mental Health Crisis line immediatly.

I do suffer from 'tactile' hallucinations at times ex/ drops of water on my arms that are/is not there and 'bugs' I have simply had to learn to cope with these hallucinations. As they are not extremely bothersome or a direct threat to myself or anyone else.

Good luck in finding an answer to you mystery.

[ktp]

I agree with kris...

Seek help immediately if you start hearing voices that tell you to do things to yourself or others. My brother had the same thing and was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Maybe you should consider seeing a pdoc...

Only a suggestion.
Best of luck to you.

Take Care.

[silver_queen]

Ok, well thanks krazykris, ozzie, and ktp, for your advice, and I will tell a doc if I start hearing voices.

[shakes]

Silver Queen,
Sorry that I miss understood the part about your house being old. Must have miss read the line. I hope that these things stop for you soon.

Jessica

[silver_queen]

It's ok, shakes. I hope these things stop too. I'm getting nervous in my own home...I'm glad I'm moving out soon.

[gardenergirl]

How annoying...are you taking any cold medicine? I wonder if it could be a result of the cold or any additional OTC meds?

gg

[silver_queen]

No, I'm taking nothing.