Explaining Temporary Visual Disturbances?

[mama_danielle]

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Hi. I hope somone may be able to help me explain something. I am not a trainee optometrist, just a member of the public. I have experienced this phenomenon from being a very young child and while I believe it to be harmless, as I have good general vision, I would quite like to have an explanation for what I experience.

Whenever I have a conversation with a single individual for more than 20 minutes, their face and all the objects around them appear to magnify to a very exaggerated size. This gets more intense the longer the conversation lasts. If I hold my hands in front of my face during an episode they look enormous. I am used to it now and expect it, but sometimes it can be very disconserting. When I stop concentrating on the person I am talking to and perhaps get up to make a coffee, my perception slowly returns to normal.

I have a slightly different experience if I lay in bed and can't get to sleep. The room is dark, my eyes are closed but my body is not switching off. After about 20 minutes I begin to visualise what appears to be an enormous grey doughnut, or jet engine (if you know what I mean). It completely fills my field of vision. If it were a real object it would be 50 feet tall. It's not a hallucination or a dream. It is almost as if it is a projection on to my eyelids. If I open my eyes when this happens the doughnut disappears but everything in the room will be magnified. If this goes on for any length of time I also get a weird physical sensation in my fingers. As if, at the same time, they are enormous but also as thin as tiny fragile wires (bear with me I know this sounds insane) and everything I touch feels like giant cotton wool balls. "After typing this out I realise it sounds mad".

Now, I know this is nothing to do with any kind of drug or alcohol consumption because I have experienced it from being a small child. It doesn't happen as often as it used to, perhaps because I know how to avoid an onset now.

Does this ring any bells with anyone? Has anyone else had a similar experience? Does it have a scientific explanation? Your comments would be appreciated.

 

[JennyW]

Hi. I hope somone may be able to help me explain something. I am not a trainee optometrist, just a member of the public. I have experienced this phenomenon from being a very young child and while I believe it to be harmless, as I have good general vision, I would quite like to have an explanation for what I experience.

Whenever I have a conversation with a single individual for more than 20 minutes, their face and all the objects around them appear to magnify to a very exaggerated size. This gets more intense the longer the conversation lasts. If I hold my hands in front of my face during an episode they look enormous. I am used to it now and expect it, but sometimes it can be very disconserting. When I stop concentrating on the person I am talking to and perhaps get up to make a coffee, my perception slowly returns to normal.

I have a slightly different experience if I lay in bed and can't get to sleep. The room is dark, my eyes are closed but my body is not switching off. After about 20 minutes I begin to visualise what appears to be an enormous grey doughnut, or jet engine (if you know what I mean). It completely fills my field of vision. If it were a real object it would be 50 feet tall. It's not a hallucination or a dream. It is almost as if it is a projection on to my eyelids. If I open my eyes when this happens the doughnut disappears but everything in the room will be magnified. If this goes on for any length of time I also get a weird physical sensation in my fingers. As if, at the same time, they are enormous but also as thin as tiny fragile wires (bear with me I know this sounds insane) and everything I touch feels like giant cotton wool balls. "After typing this out I realise it sounds mad".

Now, I know this is nothing to do with any kind of drug or alcohol consumption because I have experienced it from being a small child. It doesn't happen as often as it used to, perhaps because I know how to avoid an onset now.

Does this ring any bells with anyone? Has anyone else had a similar experience? Does it have a scientific explanation? Your comments would be appreciated.

I have never heard a story like that.

I haven't the slightest clue what that could be. The best guess sounds like it is some variation of an ophthalmic migraine or migraine variant but those usually come on at any time and not just under the specific circumstances that you described.

I would like to hear other peoples opinion on this. Very interesting.

Jenny

 

[MRFREEZE]

I have never heard a story like that.

I haven't the slightest clue what that could be. The best guess sounds like it is some variation of an ophthalmic migraine or migraine variant but those usually come on at any time and not just under the specific circumstances that you described.

I would like to hear other peoples opinion on this. Very interesting.

Jenny

I was diagnosed as having ocular migraines when I was very young. My experiences have been somewhat different than those described in the first post. I have about one or two a year. Usually, images I focus on are cut in half, distorted, and/or I see multiple images of an object. These episodes last for a few hrs. (two to four) and are followed by a fierce headache during which I cannot tolerate sound. I'm unsure if the symptoms I noted are typical or if everyone's migraine experience is unique. -Just putting in my two cents.

 

[J.opt]

Hi. I hope somone may be able to help me explain something. I am not a trainee optometrist, just a member of the public. I have experienced this phenomenon from being a very young child and while I believe it to be harmless, as I have good general vision, I would quite like to have an explanation for what I experience.

Whenever I have a conversation with a single individual for more than 20 minutes, their face and all the objects around them appear to magnify to a very exaggerated size. This gets more intense the longer the conversation lasts. If I hold my hands in front of my face during an episode they look enormous. I am used to it now and expect it, but sometimes it can be very disconserting. When I stop concentrating on the person I am talking to and perhaps get up to make a coffee, my perception slowly returns to normal.

I have a slightly different experience if I lay in bed and can't get to sleep. The room is dark, my eyes are closed but my body is not switching off. After about 20 minutes I begin to visualise what appears to be an enormous grey doughnut, or jet engine (if you know what I mean). It completely fills my field of vision. If it were a real object it would be 50 feet tall. It's not a hallucination or a dream. It is almost as if it is a projection on to my eyelids. If I open my eyes when this happens the doughnut disappears but everything in the room will be magnified. If this goes on for any length of time I also get a weird physical sensation in my fingers. As if, at the same time, they are enormous but also as thin as tiny fragile wires (bear with me I know this sounds insane) and everything I touch feels like giant cotton wool balls. "After typing this out I realise it sounds mad".

Now, I know this is nothing to do with any kind of drug or alcohol consumption because I have experienced it from being a small child. It doesn't happen as often as it used to, perhaps because I know how to avoid an onset now.

Does this ring any bells with anyone? Has anyone else had a similar experience? Does it have a scientific explanation? Your comments would be appreciated.

It sounds pretty wild. Have you ever seen a doctor about this?