The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Dreams Always Start With A Strange Twist Which Is Normally A Pain In The Ass To Recreate In Words, But I’m Ganna Try Anyway So Here I Go...It All Started Off In A Room, The Walls Were A Blinding White The Floor Was Of Sand, Sand You’d Only Find In The Middle Of The Sahara Desert. The Roof Was Missing And Nothing Buts A Black Void Of Swirling Nothingness Replaced It. A Single Chair Of Glass Stood In The Middle Of This Room, Shards Of Pointy Glass Stuck Seductively Out Of Every Inch Of This Glass Throne. Well Anyway I Woke Up (In My Dream) Laced With The Chair, But When I Say Laced I Truely Mean That The Shards Of Glass Were Wedged Soo Deep Into My Flesh That We Basically Looked Connected. My Body Was Numb And Neglected, I Just Lyed There Drained Naked And ALone Till Final I Had Enough Power To Lift Myself Out Of The Chair. I Could Feel The Tugging Of The Shards Of Glass As If My Flesh was Caught... There Was A Slight Ripping Sound And I Could Feel The Blood Dripping Out Of Every Deep Wounds Inflicked Upon The Whole Behind And Sides Of My Body. My Tattered Skin Was A Tint Of Pale Blue From The Draining Of All Life In Me... I Must Have Been Laying There For Years. I Could Hardly Feel My Body, It Was Weak I Could Barely Stand, I Wanted To Raise My Hands Up To The Swirling Void Of Nothingness Which I Guess Was A God Of Destruction Whom Had Placed Me There. I Couldnt Even Move My Hands, I Just Looked Up To The Void And Started Foaming For The Mouth. Rolling My Eyes Back Into My Head I Could Feel My Feet Start To Sink Into Into The Sand As If The World was Consuming Me. Very Soon Afer I Was Hip Deep And Then The Next Thing I Knew I Could Feel The Sand Enter My Lungs And Everything Went Black. I Could Feel The Air Pressure Against My Skin, Slowly Pealing my Eyes Open I realized I Was Falling Nothing Was Around Me But Darkness. I Glaced In The Direction I Was Falling And Coming Up Fast Was A Bed, My Bed But It Seemed Bigger Then Normal. I Fell Into My Black Sheets Face First I Got My Balance And Stood Up, I Had Shrunk... I Was Little,Small... Either That Or My Bed Was Big. It Started To Fall At The Speed I Was Falling Previously, Before I Hit The Bed. After 10 Mins Of Falling The Bed Slammed Down On A Stone Floor, My Body Flew Up Off The Bed And I Came Back Down On It My True/ Original (Meaning I Actually Fit In The Bed It Wasnt Bigger Then Me) Size. Peering Up I Noticed The Walls Were Of Black And Red Checkered Stretching Out Following The Long Widing Stone Road. I Felt Something Land On My Shoulder It Was Raining Cherry Blossoms, The Sky Was Of Pink Swirls And The Texture Looked As Smooth As Silk. They Fell In Slow Motion But When In Contact With Something poped Delicatly like A Bubble. I Stood Softly Upon The Stone Road And Felt A Tingle Through Out My Whole Body As It Morphed , Forming And Creating A New Skin. Glacing Down AT My Body I Noticed My Legs And Fingers Had Become More Lengthy, My Body Was A Scaly Hue Of Red Darkened In Places To SHow My Curves...What WasI? I Cant Even Explain It Now., But What Ever I Was I was Faster And Life Moved Faster. I Walked For Hours Seeing The Same Scences Replay Every Mile, Where Was I? I Came To The End Of The Loong Stoney Road I AFound Myself As A Spring Welll Type Fountain. My Body Started To Itch, Approtching The Spring I Noticed It Glew A Beautiful Neon Blue That Attracted Me In Some Odd Way. I Slowly Walkined Into Underneath The Sparkling Drips Of Water , I Started Rubbing At My Skin. I Was Shedding It, It Just Rubbed Off After This 10 Mintue Process I Was Me Again... My Skin Was Smoother But I Was Still Naked And Not Comfy With Myself. Stepping Out Of The Spring I Instantly Dryed Off, The Next Thing I Knew I Was Dressed A Long (Below The Knee Length) Neon Pink Skirt With The Whole Left Side Of My Left Leg Revealed Two Straps Around My Leg Kept Both Sides Of AThe Skirt Together, My Shirt Was Neon Pink With Fish Net OPver My Clevage And Pink Fabric Coving Over My Nipples Held Up By A Strap That Went Around My Back.



-- To Be Continued Not Even Half Way Done..

 



Taken from: http://rikkus.info/aiws.html

Introduction



 Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS) - is a rare condition which most doctors and psychiatrists haven¡¯t even heard of. It affects many aspects of the sufferer¡¯s life and can cause tremendous mental suffering.

Description



AIWS is a neurological condition which affects perception. The most prominent and disturbing symptom is that of altered body image: the sufferer will find that they are confused as to the size and shape of their body and their surroundings.



This distortion of perception also affects the way the sufferer ¡°sees¡±. I use quotes, because the eyes are not affected in any way, only the interpretation of the information passed to the brain from the eyes. To the sufferer, this distinction is unimportant.



If the sufferer feels that their body is larger than normal, they may ¡°see¡± their surroundings are smaller than normal. This leads to sufferers reporting that cars, people, etc. look like miniature models.



The reverse effect is also common. The world may appear huge, while the sufferer feels that they have shrunk.



With eyes closed, the continues to perceive their surroundings as large and their body as small, or vice versa. Therefore the effect cannot be ¡°shut out¡± in this way.



AIWS is most commonly reported by sufferers of classical migraine and by small children. Children are usually less worried than adults by the condition. To the adult, who is also suffering from the symptoms of classical migraine, AIWS can be extremely frightening.

Symptoms

Distortion of visual perception

The sufferer reports that objects appear to be different sizes (and sometimes shapes) to normal. For example, whilst walking along a street, the sufferer may note that parked cars appear to be the size of toy models. The ground may appear to be closer than expected. The sufferer may feel as if they are not getting anywhere - as if walking on a treadmill.

Distortion of body image

The sufferer reports that their limbs, head, or whole body are larger (or sometimes smaller) than normal. This is directly connected to the distortion of visual perception. It appears that distorted visual perception is not only a direct consequence of distorted body image, so the two symptoms may be counted as distinct, though there is certainly a large overlap.

Distortion of touch sense

The suffer reports that touch sensation is altered. Examples include feeling like they are walking on sponges, ¡°deadening¡± of feeling and lingering sensation. Lingering sensation means that when they sufferer comes into physical contact with an object, a ¡°memory¡± of that contact persists longer than would normally be expected. This can be quite unpleasant after contact with something sharp, rough, etc. Touch-sensation hallucinations sometimes occur, especially while the sufferer is tired and more sensitive.

Distortion of audio perception

As with touch sense, lingering sensation applies to sound. To the sufferer, loud noises, some music, certain day-to-day sounds (fans whirring, people talking, car engine noise) may be extremely unpleasant.

Peripheral symptoms

Anxiety

AIWS can be extremely frightening. If the sufferer has no information about their condition, they may believe that they are insane.

Apraxia

Loss of limb control. This is usually mild and simply makes the sufferer seem clumsy. It can be exacerbated by the current state of mind: if the sufferer is devoting a large amount of mental energy to coping with their distorted perception, they may find it difficult to allocate enough brain power to control their hands, e.g. whilst holding a cup the sufferer may be distracted and involuntarily slacken their grip.

Agnosia

Loss of memory. Again, usually mild and also affected by current distortion of perception. If the sufferer has been going through a ¡°bad spell¡± for a few days, they may have been concentrating hard on keeping themselves ¡°sane¡± and where information should have been committed to memory, it may be lost.

Diagnosis



There is extremely little information about AIWS available and only a tiny minority of medical professionals have heard of the condition. This means that there may be many sufferers undiagnosed at this moment. This also means that many sufferers have been and will be misdiagnosed.



Diagnosis is, in fact, relatively simple. Once a patient has described their symptoms in detail, anyone with basic knowledge of AIWS symptoms will recognise the condition immediately.

Causes



So far, I have heard of several possible underlying conditions, the most common suggestion being classical migraine. Classical migraine symptoms can include flashing lights, jagged streaks across the vision and nausea. Pain isn¡¯t necessarily included.



My AIWS symptoms are strongest whilst I am also experiencing classical migraine symptoms. I¡¯m now taking anti-migraine medication, which saves me from some of the strongest AIWS episodes.

Demonstration



It¡¯s pretty hard to demonstrate the effects of AIWS, but I noticed when playing a game called Quake II that setting the ¡°field of view¡± to a wide angle gives an inaccurate though eerily similar effect to the visual distortion I am used to.



You really need to play the game to get the effect, but here¡¯s a couple of pics to give you some idea.



Here¡¯s ¡°normal¡± mode.







And here¡¯s a wide field of view. Sorry about the corpse, he just got in the way. Note that I didn¡¯t move backwards - those little red things just appear to be a long way away now.





Summary



AIWS is a frightening condition for the sufferer. The symptoms are severe and debilitating. Lack of information means that sufferers are likely to experience severe delays while looking for diagnosis.



If you have more information about this condition, please do not hesitate to contact me. Address at end of page.

Feedback



Since setting up this page, I¡¯ve had quite a few messages from people with symptoms the same or similar to those I have experienced. I have included a selection of quotes here.



... when I¡¯ve been lying in bed, generally when the room is darker but still visible. I feel the distortion of body image (not visula but how my hands & limbs feel), touch, & vision perception.



Rik¡¯s note: Quite often, especially if I have been asleep for a long time (12h+) I wake up feeling paralysed and my hands look and feel very strange, with my fingers appearing very long and skinny.



... in its [Temporal Lobe Epilepsy] milder forms, the seizures are profoundly subjective, profoundly difficult to put into words. Deja vu, that¡¯s easy to communicate, but other TL seizures border on religious experience - or can be as ordinary as a migraine.



Rik¡¯s note: I included the Temporal Lobe Epilepsy link, because it seemed to suggest that AIWS may be related in some way. I was sent a link to an interesting quiz, which refers to a different (?) type of epilepsy. It's interesting to me as I recognise nearly all of the described symptoms. See the 'Subsyndromal Epilepsy' link at the end.



In my case it used to happen in the evenings when I was concentrating on a book or on a monitor.



Rik¡¯s note: Quiet times, especially when I don't have anything to concentrate on, are when symptoms are most intrusive. I try to keep my mind occupied as much as possible.



After trying numerous drugs, enduring several hospitalizations and a number of doctors (one tried to tell me my son must be mentally ill) we finally found a drug that worked. Neurology at the [clinic] suggested Periactin - an old antihistamine. After one pill my son¡¯s vision was normal up to about 7 feet. After two pills he was completely normal. He has been symptom free for several weeks now.



Rik¡¯s note: I hesitate to suggest remedies here, especially drugs, so please, don't take the above quote as advice. I'm not qualified as a medic in any sense, I'm just collecting information here.



When I was young, around 5 to 10 years old, I would have these "episodes" when the world around me would instantly become a mirror image of what I was used to. It happened once when we were returning home and we were riding down the one-way street we lived on. All of a sudden, it felt as if we were now going east instead of west, all of the traffic was going in the wrong direction, and our house was now on the opposite side of the street, and at the other end of the block. Once in the house it was difficult to find my way around. Then all of a sudden things were back to normal.



Rik¡¯s note: these symptoms are different from those I have experienced and previously heard about, yet appear (to me at least) to be a variation on the theme. I included the quote as I found it very interesting.

Other information sources



Please let me know if you find a broken link here. They seem to disappear faster than I put them up.

I deleted the link to stuff about subsyndromal epilepsy as the page has been removed for some reason. I¡¯ve just been to see a psychiatrist who seems to think that AIWS (at least in my case) may be related to Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, so perhaps I¡¯ll have more info to put here soon.

Outbreak - suggestion this may be a virus

Some interesting stuff on visual perception

Feminist... They Say, Am I A Fuckin Feminist For Thinking That Women Should Be Treated Equally To Men ... For Thinking we Can Do Just As Much Shit As Men. I Carry The Title Of A Feminist For Saying One Thing About Men ... Chris I Am Not A Fuckin Feminist... Mew He Thinks I'm Ganna Be The First woman to Do Something... Now every Time They Pass Me They Say "Power To Women" ... Well Ya Know What >..> Plus I Gotta Go Kill Those People Who keeps Callin My A Feminist *Walks Off Holding Up A Sign That Says "I Hate Men, I'm The Power Of A Woman"* Lol Just Kidding ....