[Sometimes psychotic]

Can you distinguish them at all in any way from reality? Initially I could tell because they had a distinct quality like coming from the right side of my brain for the internal and sort of a synthesized quality for the externals. These I'm having now are completely indistinguishable from reality at the moment----I can only figure out they aren't real just because they are unlikely. I know some of the medical conditions can be like that but I'm wondering for sz----in the absence of any sort of delusion can you distinguish the sound/smell whatever in some way or is it completely like it actually happened in life?

[kaliope]

it was often difficult for me to distinquish my hallucinations from reality initially. especially if I were smelling things that weren't really there. but things like my nascar explosions when I was driving, I would literally duck out of the way of the firery stuff flying at me or swerve out of the way of trucks that were tipping over on me and it would take me several seconds to realize these things weren't really happening.

[Atypical_Disaster]

The things I heard and saw were impossible for me to distinguish from reality. They were as real as anything else to me.

[insilence]

stopping them requires you to block them using meds, external wall blocks, and using your mind and body to imitate and create vibration and tone polyphonics along with compounds using substances such as
coal tar soap
aloe vera lotion
niacin
tea leaves
charcoal mesh screen
latex paint

i achieve total silence by painting coal tar soap and water on my walls, it doesnt stain if you do it right, along with my meds it works to block over 99% of the sounds, but it also allows me to figure out at what places on my body they use to hear me and energize my nerves with there sound and perception connections.

[Secretum]

Sometimes they are really real, and I can only recognize them as hallucinations because they don't make sense (e.g. a scent that follows me everywhere I go all day, or a voice when I'm alone, or a person who just disappears as I stare at them).

Othertimes, however, I can tell they're not real because they are fainter. I'll hear a voice and it just feels...different than normal auditory perception. Kind of like a memory. Or the visuals I get are like shadows. I'm not sure if these count as full hallucinations.

I've been diagnosed with a seizure disorder, though I was told that as I aged I would outgrow it, so I don't know if I still have it. I was diagnosed with absence seizures when I was 8, however, and I didn't really start having hallucinations until I was 12.

[Shmooey]

Lots of times very real. I swear I saw a white man dressed in a black suit enter my office today but when I stood up, he wasn't there, nor was he anywhere outside. That dude seemed REAL.

The voices I hear pull me into a different reality. I hear them, and then I stop listening to the outside world and get lost inside.

The bugs i hallucinate always seem very real. Someone else usually has to talk me down from those experiences.

The smells are also very real. I smelt an orange today at work but when I went out of my office, no one was eating one and no one had thrown orange peel in the trash. People tease me about my sense of smell, that I "imagine things."

[Patientnmbr000]

It depends. My visual hallucinations are always very "ghost-like" and unreal. But the auditory ones sometimes trick me into believing they're real.

[Secretum]

My visual hallucinations are always very "ghost-like" and unreal

I see "ghosts" from time to time too. They look like people, but I can see through them. They usually disappear pretty fast.

[Crescent Moon]

Originally Posted by Secretum

Sometimes they are really real, and I can only recognize them as hallucinations because they don't make sense (e.g. a scent that follows me everywhere I go all day, or a voice when I'm alone, or a person who just disappears as I stare at them).

Othertimes, however, I can tell they're not real because they are fainter. I'll hear a voice and it just feels...different than normal auditory perception. Kind of like a memory. Or the visuals I get are like shadows. I'm not sure if these count as full hallucinations.

I've been diagnosed with a seizure disorder, though I was told that as I aged I would outgrow it, so I don't know if I still have it. I was diagnosed with absence seizures when I was 8, however, and I didn't really start having hallucinations until I was 12.

I am in the field of neurophysiology, specifically epileptology. I have seen many, many pediatric patients with more than one seizure type. Some of the symptoms you describe could be very consistent with temporal lobe simple partial seizures. It is not uncommon for these 'sensory' seizures to be misdiagnosed as bipolar or schizophrenia. They can be hard to diagnose because they don't always show up on an EEG. And it is certainly possible for someone to have both epilepsy and schizophrenia. Its also not uncommon to outgrow absence seizures but to develop another seizure type later.

I would highly recommend that you schedule an apt with an epileptologist or at least a neurologist that specializes in epilepsy. Your symptoms, in light of your hx of epilepsy, deserves further exploration.

And also... absence seizures are SOMEtimes outgrown. Its unfortunate unfortunatethat so many people are told that absence seizures are outgrown, because they often enough continue into adulthood and can very much interfere with normal functioning.

[Secretum]

Wow, that's scary...I'll definitely make an appointment with a neurologist. Thanks!

[Crescent Moon]

Originally Posted by Secretum

Wow, that's scary...I'll definitely make an appointment with a neurologist. Thanks!

Maybe not scary! Maybe it's good news because if some or all of those symptoms are seizures then if they are properly treated you may get much more relief from them. APs won't treat seizures.. you'd need AEDs, although there is some overlap. If you see a regular neurologist (as opposed to an epileptologist), just make sure they have a lot of experience in epilepsy.

[RRex]

My voices are real. They say stuff in a split second that I haven't had time to consider; too fast for me to have formed the thought.

They constantly shock, often lie, but when they don't they're right on target.

It's frightening.

[medicalfox]

I'm diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy and schizoaffective disorder. I can tell that music and voices aren't real, but when I hear knocking, scratching, and such it scares me since it seems so real. Seeing shadows and other visuals I know aren't real, but they seem real which fuels my delusions of being spied on then spikes my anxiety

[Crescent Moon]

Originally Posted by medicalfox

I'm diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy and schizoaffective disorder. I can tell that music and voices aren't real, but when I hear knocking, scratching, and such it scares me since it seems so real. Seeing shadows and other visuals I know aren't real, but they seem real which fuels my delusions of being spied on then spikes my anxiety

Is the epilepsy being treated?

[Gr3tta]

It depends greatly on the hallucination. If it is things that are, as you put it "unlikiely," such as bone birds, rats, hallucinations I've experienced previously, then it's easy to know it's not real to everyone. But things that appear as regular people and animals, for instance, are EXTREMELY difficult to distinguish from agreed upon reality.

[x123]

I like this forum so far, because these are interesting topics.

Apparently a few of my hallucinations were so real that I didn't know they were hallucinations except that I happened to ask somebody later and that person had no recollection.

Other hallucinations were very real but physically impossible, so I thought it was paranormal at the time.

A few of the hallucinations were like flashes that seemed like religious visions.

[Bells129]

Mine are really real. I see demonic creatures and they look...very, very realistic. It took a while to believe that my mind could create something like that, and I still have my doubts.

[medicalfox]

Originally Posted by Crescent Moon

Is the epilepsy being treated?

Yes, I take lamictal and it's being increased

[newtus]

its extremely hard for me to tell the difference. to the point where i mostly cant. i cant tell the difference between sounds and voices in real life and hallucinations. idk why. maybe because they are so real. but i can t.

[Crescent Moon]

Originally Posted by newtus

its extremely hard for me to tell the difference. to the point where i mostly cant. i cant tell the difference between sounds and voices in real life and hallucinations. idk why. maybe because they are so real. but i can t.

I have no way of knowing if it works like this, but I wonder if it will be easier if you will get on and stay on a therapeutic dose of meds?

[newtus]

Originally Posted by Crescent Moon

I have no way of knowing if it works like this, but I wonder if it will be easier if you will get on and stay on a therapeutic dose of meds?

it depends on what medication. ive been thinking of changing. because i dont think my current AP works as well as it used to.

[Crescent Moon]

Originally Posted by newtus

it depends on what medication. ive been thinking of changing. because i dont think my current AP works as well as it used to.

I think its a good idea for you to research AP's , look at side effects, and if you see something you're interested in, then bring it up with your pdoc

[NanuConfused]

I can usually tell the visual hallucinations apart because they only last for a second or so, and they are usually shadow people, but then I begin to wonder if these shadow people are real, so I'm not really sure. The auditory hallucinations though, I can't usually tell those apart, unless it's the unintelligible whispering that I usually get. And I get these stings in my limbs and at random parts of my body and I'm not sure these are hallucinations or what they are???