Home› Health & Wellbeing
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Options

I'm not sure what's actually going on..

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in Health & Wellbeing
I do get enough sleep, I do eat as usual and I do drink regularly .
Recently, I'm not sure if my brain is playing tricks on me or not, but I have this purple shirt and I looked out the window and I saw it on the washing line outside, but then when I had gone into my room, I had found it in its usual place. :/
Another incident was when I was walking to the couch, I turned around and I saw the face of my little niece peeking at me from behind the chair.. I freaked out and I distracted myself by watching the TV. I also heard kitten meows around the room, but it was the grown up kind of kitten, it was the cries of newborn ones. :(

I'm not sure if my brain is going crazy or it's just playing tricks on me.. :/ I'm only 16, I don't have a clue!

Comments

  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    One explanation could be that you have misinterpreted the visual and auditory stimuli that you mention. So it could be that you thought you saw your purple shirt on the line, but actually it was just the way the light was reflecting through the window or bouncing off something outside. This kind of error is easily made when the attention given to the stimuli is fleeting and momentary, i.e. the brain just labels the stimuli without really thinking about it too much. The same could apply to the visual image of your niece. There are lots of sounds that could be mistaken for the meow of a kitten, or it may have been outside, and what you heard was the echo effect of a cat, or some kind of similar noise. Being stressed, perhaps by thinking that you are seeing things that are not really there, could fuel the likelihood of misinterpretation.

    High levels of stress can cause the brain to make mistakes when processing visual and auditory information.

    The use of mind-altering substances, such as alcohol or some drugs, can also cause the brain to make mistakes in the way it constructs information it is fed through our senses. Sometimes, the effects of using mind-altering drugs can be delayed, i.e. the error in processing happens after the more obvious effects seem to have worn off. Sniffing certain glues can cause people to see things that are not really there. The continuous abuse of some mind-altering drugs can do permanent damage to the brain.

    Some forms of mental illness can also produce auditory and visual hallucinations, but usually this only happens when people are quite ill and becoming psychotic. If you were so ill that you were going in and out of psychosis, you, or at least the people around you, would have some awareness of things not being right. If you were seriously depressed, then it could be that you were having a psychotic episode. If that might be the case, then you need to speak to your doctor in the near future.

    If you haven’t been feeling unwell, and you haven’t been using mind-altering substances, then the chances are that what you thought you saw was just a misinterpretation of a visual, and an auditory, stimulus.

    High levels of stress could predispose your brain to making such processing errors.

    If you tend to suffer with high levels of stress, I recommend learning to relax your mind and body at a deep level – this book explains how you can learn such skills.

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mindfulness-practical-guide-finding-frantic/dp/074995308X

    Jed
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't use any drugs (but I have inhaled smoke from when a family member as in the house over a month ago), I haven't been ill but I have been getting strong headaches for a while now, they've lasted over a few hours and I do feel faint.

    I don't think I've been under a lot or any stress at all and I have been feeling upset for a good while, but I have been to a doctor in the past and I told them that I think I may have depression so they recommended me to a psychiatrist.

    Recently, I have forgotten a lot of things. I forget what I say in the past few seconds and I have no clue what to do when it comes to doing work or playing games because I had managed to forget it. I'm not sure if I'v just become lazy about stuff or my brain just doesn't store anything.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Stress and depression can be two sides of the same coin.

    Stress can manifests as worry, and then as the feelings of anxiety subside, so the level of mood can drop and bring on feelings of tiredness and exhaustion.

    Depression can creep up on you if the onset is slow – you kind of adjust to it, and come to accept how you are feeling as being: “the norm”, or maybe you pass it off as just feeling a bit run down.

    Residual stress levels (your baseline level) can also ratchet up gradually, and so the increase in tension becomes less obvious – although it may be more obvious to people around you because you become less tolerant, snappy, or grumpy. Stress can cause headaches, as can depression. Although depression often causes a feeling of ‘thickness’, ‘muzziness’, and pressure in the head, and sometimes in the neck.

    High stress levels, and/or depression, will often adversely effect memory.

    I think it would be a good idea for you have another chat with your doctor.

    You might want to ask your doctor to check your blood pressure, and also to do some tests to check out your blood sugar levels – being something else that can affect how well your brain works.

    In the meantime, the book on Mindfulness may well be a help to you, whatever the condition turns out to be. It’s written by one of Britain’s top neural scientists, and is a bit more than just another self-help book.

    Jed
Sign In or Register to comment.