There is hardly a person who has not read the tale of Lewis Carroll "Alice in Wonderland". The tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it. It turns out that the plot is not entirely invented by the author. Doctors are aware of such diseases as micro- or macropsia, which are also called Alice's syndrome in Wonderland. This strange and rare disease is characterized by a violation of human perception of reality.
DO NOT BELIEVE YOUR EYES
People suffering from Alice's syndrome see the surrounding objects and parts of their bodies not at all as they really are, they lose the ability to perceive their true sizes. In addition, a violation of temporal and spatial orientation is possible, manifested in an increase or decrease in visual images. Imagine that right in front of your eyes, some part of the body is suddenly stretched out, changing proportions. And, surprisingly, it happens suddenly.
The same thing happens in the world around us. A huge boulder on the road turns into a small pebble, which seems to be easy to step over. A graceful wrist watch is able to easily crush its owner thanks to the new size. Of course, this mental disorder cannot but affect all the senses of a person, especially vision.
In addition, time for such people can either speed up or slow down. Wasn't Alice in Wonderland the same feeling? That is why the syndrome got its name.
For those suffering from Alice's syndrome, the world around them changes overnight. For example, the floor suddenly takes a vertical position, and the walls of the rooms close together. Chairs, tables, bedside tables and other pieces of furniture miraculously rise into the air and whirl in a strange and frightening dance. The doorknob turns out to be the size of a door …
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However, most often it is not macro, but micropsia, when objects become much smaller in size than they really are. It is not surprising that in such a situation, a person completely loses control over reality.
CRAVE REALITY
In scientific terms, micropsia is a disorienting neurological condition, which manifests itself in a person's visual perception of surrounding objects proportionally reduced. Synonyms for the name of the disease are "dwarf hallucinations", or "Lilliputian vision." However, in fact, there are no problems with the eyes, changes occur only at the level of the psyche, which imposes distorted visual, auditory and even tactile sensations on the patient.
That is, the brain does not correctly perceive the information it receives from the eyes. Now the spoon becomes the size of a shovel, then the sofa turns into a dollhouse, then the pile of rubbish on the floor becomes like a mountain. You can never predict in advance what creepy pictures the next attack will show.
The patients themselves say that during the attacks of the syndrome, the feeling of stability is lost: the floor becomes wavy, but at the same time the legs get stuck in it, like in soft clay. I must say that attacks can last from a few seconds to several weeks. Those who have visited this terrible "fairy tale" several times become alarmed, frightened and constantly in a panic state.
WHY?
The reason forcing the human brain to transfer it to the strange world of distorted reality has not yet been clarified. There are only suggestions that this may be due to a hereditary predisposition to migraines.
Scientists also believe that a complex, poorly understood form of epilepsy, schizophrenia, the Epstein-Barr virus (herpes) and mononucleosis can be the cause of Alice's syndrome. This condition can also be observed with malignant brain tumors or brain damage in the parietal region.
As a rule, micropsia is characteristic of children aged 3 to 13 years. The older the child becomes, the less frequent the attacks, and by the age of 25-30 the symptoms disappear completely.
IN THE EYE OF THE OTHER
One of those who were "lucky" to be in the Looking Glass, Rick Hemsley, talks about his illness:
“When it first happened, I was a 21-year-old student. The day before, I did not sleep for a long time, drank a lot of coffee and wrote a term paper, but I felt fine. And then I got up, bent over the remote control, and my legs seemed to go to the floor. Looking down, I saw that my foot was immersed in the carpet - an unpleasant feeling, but it lasted only a few seconds.
I soon discovered more serious spatial disturbances. The floor beneath me either moved in waves or sagged, and when I tried to walk, it seemed to me that I was hobbling over my lips.
If I, lying on the bed, looked at my hands, then my fingers were stretched out half a mile forward. These strange experiences began to happen more and more often, but I did not pay attention to them, believing that it was due to stress, improper sleep patterns or diet.
I graduated and got a job as a system administrator, but instead of disappearing, my symptoms worsened. Now everything was distorted, and constantly. When I walked along the road, cars standing on the side of the road looked like toys, and I seemed disproportionately tall to myself.
At work, my chair looked huge, and I myself seemed to shrink in it.
Soon, going out into the street began to require more effort: I could hardly understand what surface I was walking on, so walking was difficult. It became dangerous to cross the road: I had no idea how large the approaching car was and how far away it was from me.
Since I was no longer able to work, I moved to my parents. From the TV show I learned about Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. I began to hope for a cure, but neither my therapist nor my neurologist could find a description of this disease. They said that I needed to learn to live with it.
I am 36 now, and luckily I now only experience spatial distortions once a month. I have not figured out the reasons for my condition, but now I can lead a relatively normal life. Undoubtedly, this syndrome is associated with endless difficulties, but I even like something about it: sometimes, especially after I wake up, I have special binocular vision.
Lying on the bed, I look out the window at the crows circling 100 meters from me above the trees, but at the same time I see in detail every bird and every treetop, as if they are at arm's length. It seems that this side effect is gradually disappearing and I almost miss it."
THE STORY OF JOHN D
John D., a 30-year-old American Aircraft Corporation employee, had the "change" on the right side of his head. It seemed to him that she was swollen like a huge growth. Slanting his eyes to the side, he saw her giant hemisphere, towering about a meter up.
“To feel my right ear, I had to stretch with all my strength, and still the arm was barely long enough,” John recalled. Doors became a big problem.
Despite. that John was well aware that, in fact, his head was of normal size, he had to take various precautions, since several times he had already hit his head hard on the jamb - the orientation in space clearly left much to be desired.
The head was not constantly in this state - the right half was either compressed to its usual size, or swollen. It took the doctors several months to find the right combination of medicines, with which John said goodbye to the magic syndrome.
RETURN TO REALITY
The first to recognize the distortion of reality as a disease was Dr. Lippmann. He wrote about this in 1952 in the journal On Mental Illness in his article "Hallucinations inherent in migraines." He was the first to connect the syndrome with Alice's feelings. There is a suspicion that the author of the popular fairy tale Lewis Carroll himself suffered from bouts of micropsia and knew the world in which his heroine wandered very well. However, these are only assumptions. A more accurate description of the symptoms and causes of the syndrome was made in 1955 by the Canadian physician John Todd.
If there is a disease, then there must be ways, if not to cure the patient, then at least to alleviate his suffering. The first thing to do when symptoms occur is to see a doctor who will identify the cause of the condition and, depending on this, prescribe treatment. Most often, the same drugs are prescribed as for migraines.
This is enough for many. For the rest, as with any other diseases, it is recommended to observe the daily regimen, sleep, nutrition and drinking regimen. And of course, loved ones should always be on the lookout and provide help and support to the patient during attacks.
As a rule, children are not too afraid of this condition, they perceive it as a fabulous journey, which cannot be said about adults. It is very important to give up activities such as rock climbing, swimming in the open water, driving a car, as the disease in this case can cost life.
The main thing is to remember that science does not stand still, and to hope that, perhaps, soon the syndrome will learn to treat. The sick will return to the real world, as Carroll's heroine returned.
Alexandra ORLOVA