Geez, so this is just freaking weird.

Every so often, I might be doing whatever, and everything starts warping. Everything I see does the "washing-machine" for a few secs (less than 3 usually), it gets hard to keep my eyes completely open, my brain feels squished momentarily, I hear a slight "beep", and everything feels so... Realistic. I don't know what other word to use for it... Like everything is much more intense than it seems, much more 3D, like if the dimension was collapsing or something and you were glimpsing the REAL world, where everything is different-looking, but exactly the same as here...

Just wanted to rant it here. Any idea what this might be? I just had this experience for like the 3rd or 4th time today. It's very interesting and curious... But also distressing on a low level, as I think I might be about to experience a stroke or something.

Can't talk to my therapist about it çause my next session is 3 days from now, and I'll probably forget about it. Ugh at my short-term memory problems...

[Doh2007]

That sounds vaguely familiar. Are you taking meds? That could contribute.

Nope, I'm not taking anything, not even Tylenol or Panadol. The only things I'm taking are megavitamins and fish oil.

EDIT: Forgot to add: I was recommended I take them, cuz with my daily diet as a college student, I'm not getting enough minerals and vitamins... And my Omega 3's and 6's are low.

But if it WAS due to meds, what would it be?

I'm seriously not taking any, not even recreational drugs. Not even alcohol, as I despise the feeling, but I at least want to know more about these things!

Thanks A LOT to whoever can help me out in advance!

[splitimage]

Could be something simple like too much stress or not enough sleep. I know that in either case my brain can do some pretty weird things to my perception of reality. Do you have anything stressful going on in your life right now? Are you taking care of your health?

If you're worried about it and worried about forgetting to talk to your T about it, you could try writing down when in happens. Plus that might help figure out if there are any patterns to it, that could point to triggers.

It would definitely freak me out too though.

--splitimage

Right... Thanks a lot for reminding me... I actually keep a journal about things I feel with me at all times in case something new happens, and it's for these exact moments.

Still, I'd like to read about how the feeling is common to other people and that it's not something horrible that actually points to a stroke. You know, to calm myself down a bit.

[pachyderm]

Is everything rolling around? Vertigo? Check with doctor.

Naw, I don't feel sick, but everything rolls around, hence the "washing machine" effect. During these moments it's like I get a revelation of a sort, and i realize how real the world really is... But not the kind of reality that tells me the world is dangerous, it's like I see everything more 3D than ever before for that brief moment, I feel pressure inside my head,

I don't know how else to describe it. It's not anxiety, sadness, anger, happiness, fear... Not vertigo or nausea, nor headache or migraine. I can't really describe it better than "seeing everything more realistic than before, and pressure in my head at random intervals in a day"... Sort of like I'm about to have an 'out-of-body experience' of a sort, but while fully awake.

It sounds like a type of dissociation to me.

Do you have an idea what that means? If not I can explain.

Originally Posted by Rainbowzz

... dissociation to me. Do you have an idea what that means? If not I can explain.

Nope, no idea what it means. I HAVE read about dissociation, but I fail to understand it fully without other people's experiences as examples.

Same happens with depression and anxiety. I could say I have any of those, but if I read about a real diagnosed sufferer, then I can compare myself and see if I REALLY might be in trouble.

So, uhh... Sure, I'll accept an explanation on 'dissociation'. Thanks for the offer!

EDIT: Uhh... Forgot how many I've had today... Probably 2, but I can only remember the most recent one... I was standing up explaining something to a classmate, and I suddenly felt as if I was going down an elevator pretty fast, and everything twisted around, and I felt my face go like "Whoa", and it just felt really weird... No one saw me do any "dance moves" of a sort, luckily, heh.

I also remember being home and putting something in the microwave to heat up, then all of a sudden, I COMPLETELY blanked out. I didn't have any thoughts whatsoever, and I was there, standing for like what I remember, 10 seconds, just standing there. Then I started to realize what I was doing, and slowly my brain started running again...

I'm DEFINITELY going to ask my therapist about this. I wrote it in my journal, so there's NO WAY that I'll forget about it.

And if it IS dissociation... How long do other people stay "depersonalized" or "derealized"? Cuz I feel weird for a few seconds as far as I can remember, but it happens a number of times each day.

[wickedwings]

That definitely sounds like a seizure to me! I've read about them, even personal experiences. I think a trip to the doc and some tests are in order. But, not to worry, there are treatments that can help with that.

[CedarS]

Originally Posted by Rainbowzz

It sounds like a type of dissociation to me.

Do you have an idea what that means? If not I can explain.

I agree, that is my thought too. I've had experiences like these.

Also some folks have a version of this as part of a migraine, sometimes without any actual head pain.

I don't know that I can adequately describe my own experiences at the moment. But if I had this now I'd tend to wonder if I was extra tired, if I needed to eat, if I was coming down with a cold or other illness, if a migraine was coming on, or if I was extra anxious and stressed. Big changes like moving to a new place can bring on such experiences for me.

Hmm... That migraine thing got me thinking...

Another thing that I used to worry about was that every once in a while, for a duration of like 30 minutes, I saw "blue-green-and-purple colored windmills" that appeared at the bottom of my vision, moved upwards until it covered half of my vision, then disappeared at the top of my eyes. It was pretty annoying, seeing all those spinning things in a whole side of both my eyes (usually the left side of my vision), and I had no idea what it was... It used to happen like once every month, but somewhere between the start of the year and today it stopped happening... Curious.

The example there about the person with the vision problems after exercise really got me thinking... Might my vision problems be considered a "painless migraine aura"? Last time mine happened was when I stood up (I apparently have Postural Orthostatic Tachycardiac Syndrome, so standing up for me usually leads to a drastic change in my heartbeat [tested] and lightheadedness, or a throbbing pain on the right side of my head if I'm sick)... If so, then sweeeet! One less thing to worry about...

So, my moments of "washing machine" and feelings of "everything is too real" might either be a form of migraine, or dissociation of a sort? Me walking down the street and suddenly seeing a tree "bulging out" from everything else around it for a few seconds might be part of a headache disorder or a consciousness problem? (It calms me down knowing they're not horrible things...)

Edit: But, hold on... How long does a normal migraine or "dissociation episode" last for? Because the experiences I have usually last around 3 seconds (and happens a couple of times in a day)... And if an average duration is like an hour, a day, or even a week, it might not be a precise explanation. Mine would be too short to actually be considered one of them...

[pachyderm]

Originally Posted by Kewkky

Hmm... That migraine thing got me thinking...

Another thing that I used to worry about was that every once in a while, for a duration of like 30 minutes, I saw "blue-green-and-purple colored windmills" that appeared at the bottom of my vision, moved upwards until it covered half of my vision, then disappeared at the top of my eyes.

That sound like what is called a migraine aura. I have them but no headache. Mine are C-shaped or backwards-C-shaped; they start out with a blind spot, then grow until they are out of the field of view, at which point you would never know anything had happened. It takes a few minutes for the whole process to complete. Mine seem to be correlated to stress, but it is hard to tell if that is the case or not. I have one every week or two.

[SeptemberMorn]

It could be anxiety, too. When mine was full blown, my greatest fear was that of having a stroke.

Talk to your MD to make sure you are okay.