Surroundings becoming weird and fast/intense/loud

I first experienced this weird sensation when i was a child and had a bad fever/illness in bed. Suddenly my entire surroundings in my bedroom became very intense and everything around me became fast and almost louder in my mind, although they weren't in reality.

Ever since then i sometimes (about once every few months) experience this odd sensation and it can become a bit worrying and strange.

The whole room seems to have a new feeling to it- everything im doing whether it be walking or typing seems to intensify and become louder yet the actions are very exaggerated and almost speed up (only perceived this way). I find it very difficult to explain fully but i'm worried it's some early signs of a neurological condition or something?

It usually only onsets when i'm alone and have a lot of silence for a while...?

Does you know what this could be, please?

[Kamikuso]

OH MY GOD!! I though it was only me. I know EXACTLY what your talking about!!!! It hasn't happened to me in years, but all of a sudden at this very moment its back. So I couldn't help but search it online once again and behold. I find you! MAN my typing sounds obnoxious right about now! This has definitely never been documented. It's soo trippy. I really hope we find more people like us!

[arehk]

I have also experienced this. As with you, the first time I encountered it was when I was a child with a fever. Lately I've been having it more frequently, and I'm eager to find out what it is.

[Kamikuso]

123que double posted this thread and on the twin thread someone comments on it claiming it to be a "simple partial seizure". I've since read up on SPS's and the symptoms are only vaguely similar and seeing as all three of us have the exact same symptoms I doubt it is a simple partial seizure. The symptoms are much to specific to simply be pushed into some vaguely similar preexisting disorder.

[reodango]

wow.... i just experienced the same thing seconds ago and out of desperete need of an explanation i googled this..
im actually doing my project for school right now that is due tommorow and ive been sitting in front of my computer for several hours of silence.
out of no where, my mind kind of wandered and my ears focused on the smallest noises. typing keys are like banging, and the sound coming from my computer booms. everything is magnifyed in perspective, and ringing within my head.
It hurts my ears, and basically the slightest things creep me out..
I dont understand it but ive had these moments about once each year. I think ur right about the silent part. it usually happens when i am stressed out? i think and have not slept for a long time.

i remember my first time was when i was little, and I visited the doctor and got ct scans or whatevver they are called but never quite got any specifics.
they thought it was something to do with anxiety? i dont really remember but il ask my mom tommorow... seeing its 3 oclock now.. haha back to hw.

[fatpaat]

This happenned fairly often when I was a child. Now in my 20's, it happens only sometimes. I had not thought about it much, until the other day when it happened fairly intensely. I kind of just sat in silence and absorbed all the very fast, exaggerated sounds around me (and loud, rapid thoughts in my head), until it all became too much, and I forced myself to get up and go for a walk. Just getting up to leave the house was intense - walking gently to the door seemed like I was stomping, and moving at the speed of light, but I knew I wasn't. I could hear my thoughts yelling "I'M WALKING TO THE DOOR I SHOULD GO FOR A WALK I'M TURNING THE DOOR HANDLE" etc. After a couple of minutes of walking, and listening to my iPod, it subsided.

It's a hard thing to describe, so when I actually found people online describing EXACTLY what happens I was pretty amazed. I can be sitting in a quiet room, maybe with some people in another room talking, but then it all seems so loud, fast and intense. The people talking in the other room seem like they're yelling, my own thoughts are loud, and my slights movement seems exaggerated and agressive. It's not painful, and usually not concerning - actually quite fascinating, like for that period of time it is happening I am connected to my surroudings and myself in a different way.

Usually happens during illness/fever/stress/tiredness. Usually happens when I've been quiet for a while.

[kerrtelli]

Same thing with me guys.  When I saw the post I said, no way!
I am usually on the ms forum, no diagnosed yet but seeing this is indeed trippy!

[WildFan16]

Wow! There are others out there with this! As soon as I read the description, I was like “That’s exactly it!” I knew there had to be, but I’ve never been able to find anything on it before and my husband has no idea what I’m talking about even when I try to explain it to him. When I was younger (middle school and even into my teens) I would get short bursts of this. Mostly when I was concentrating on something like writing. It would almost be like I was sucked into a “super concentration” mode, but it would disappear almost as fast as it would appear. I would never get it for more than a minute. As soon as I would acknowledge it was there almost, it would be gone. I couldn’t keep it if I tried. Now snap forward a few years. I am now 25. I had sudden onset chronic, debilitating migraines when I was 21 (which I think is a result of taking Accutane since I’d never had one before taking the drug and all of a sudden I was getting them every time I took it towards the end of my treatment… but that’s another story). So, my neurologist put me on Topamax. Ever since I’ve been on the Topamax I’ve experienced these “episodes” in more frequent spells and in longer duration. When I first started getting them and realizing that simply not concentrating on them would not make them go away, I found out that talking out loud to myself  would sometimes snap me out of it. Now that won’t even do it. The only way to get out of this weird crazy world it puts me in now is to go somewhere completely quiet and void of any external stimulation (I will sometimes even put in earplugs) and just focus on being calm and still. I find this sort of “resets” the cycle and the world feels “normal” again instead of all loud and fast and weird. I probably get them once every month or two and it usually happens at night right before I’m trying to go to sleep while lying in bed. I’m trying to switch over from Topamax to Inderal because I think the Topamax has definitely increased these and I don’t like them. The last one I had made me sort of paranoid… and I am NOT a paranoid type of person at all. Of course I told myself I was being stupid and just calm down and go relax and I was fine, but they seem to be getting worse.

However, in response to it possibly being “simple partial seizures”: They could be (description sounds plausible in some cases), but since mine actually INCREASED while taking Topamax (a seizure medication that just happens to work on migraine patients too) I thinking that would not be the case. If they were seizures, they should have decreased or at least not gotten worse while taking the Topamax.

[amarbach09]

I've had this problem since I was a toddler and it always happened during fevers. im 20 now and it doesn't happen as often but when it does it's when I can't sleep, sick, or have been staring at a tv or computer screen too long. it feels like I'm hyper sensitive with sight sound and touch. everything is intensified and almost faster and harsher and is perceived as scary in my mind. it's not a pleasant experience and I want to know what it is

[Anoushlowton]

I have exactly the same thing, quite rare but when it happens once it tends to happen a few times in that week untill iv forgotten about it..
Its like everything is exaggerated in my head and my thoughts are shouting.
Would LOVE to know what this actually is

[mommawege]

I've had these episodes for over 50 years and never found a doctor who would listen....well, not quite true.  I did find one who said that there are a group of people out there who have these regularly and treat them as spiritual awareness sessions....but I didn't quite go for that.  Glad to know I'm not alone.  Mine also include increased textural awareness, like being acutely aware of the tastebuds on my tongue and how they feel in my mouth or how my fingerprints feel when I rub my thumb and finger together.  The episodes most frequently occur when I'm either in bed or driving on long trips.  Wish SOMEONE had an answer.  Meanwhile, I just try to change whatever it is I'm doing - take a drink of water, chew gum, anything to change my focus.

[mommawege]

I've had these episodes for over 50 years and never found a doctor who would listen....well, not quite true.  I did find one who said that there are a group of people out there who have these regularly and treat them as spiritual awareness sessions....but I didn't quite go for that.  Glad to know I'm not alone.  Mine also include increased textural awareness, like being acutely aware of the tastebuds on my tongue and how they feel in my mouth or how my fingerprints feel when I rub my thumb and finger together.  The episodes most frequently occur when I'm either in bed or driving on long trips.  Wish SOMEONE had an answer.  Meanwhile, I just try to change whatever it is I'm doing - take a drink of water, chew gum, anything to change my focus.

[spencermax]

I was having a cigarette at the window and staring across at my old Junior school in the far distance. I could here the children at play and remembered my time there about 40 years ago. I remembered symptoms that I had that where exactly the same as yours: My surroundings becoming intense, noises louder, speeding up. All quite disturbing.

My experience these days is similar but more like a deja vu, which when happens I can't quite pinpoint. It's a feeling that's just out of the reach of understanding, something I can't grasp. I don't know how to explain it because  of it's elusive nature. It's like a familiar thought that just falls short of formulation, a memory that fails to fully manifest. Just a strange state of mind. It usually disappears in minutes followed by a mild headache and perspiration.

[blakey0]

its hilarious, that there's so many people who have this same thing, i just had my most intense episode about 10 minutes ago when i was shaving, shaving is usually relaxing for me, but rather than just a light shave it was more like an intense, angry rain forest massacre with metal music and the crazy screaming of mundane things in my head like..."HMMM BETTER TAKE A BIT OFF THE MOUSTACHE.......I"LL DO MY SIDEBURNS TOMORROWW!!!...."  lol. i saw a doctor once but i found it impossible to explain and was recieved with a blank stare, just as i had been by friends and family over the years trying to explain as best i could my 'episodes' to absolutely no avail. Once i was gardening and the feeling came and lasted for over 10 minutes, i found that although everyone came at me at a million miles and hour and all my thoughts were screaming throughout my head, i could go about my gardening with a speed and precision that i hadnt experienced before which led me to think that this sensation may be, not a problem, but i good thing! i feel that the anger and intensity is a result of recieving, or percieving information around us, not at a normal rate, which is about 1-2 microseconds after it actually occurs, but actually AS is happens!! therfore this state of mind is not stress, seizure, or epilepsy, but a reversion or even perhaps a 'de-evolutionary' leap in perception. it seems scary sometimes but its never done me harm and its happened as far as i can remember, it could be advantageous! so i say embrace and cultivate it, i am! peace.

[spencermax]

You absolutely nailed it. The "HMMM BETTER TAKE A BIT OFF THE MOUSTACHE.......I"LL DO MY SIDEBURNS TOMORROWW!!!...." bit is exactly how I remember it. A leap in perception's an interesting observation. thanks for sharing :)

[Ummnoor]

I am glad some other people experience the same thing that my son has sometimes. I wish I could help him more. He sometimes gets this feeling of intensified noises, and he said 'chaos' in his head, when he is tired, wants to sleep, and on this occasion yesterday, he also had a headache. I think it may have something to do with screens as he spent too long in front of computers yesterday, even though I try to give him alternative things to do as much as possible. I am hoping that there is s non drug solution. I will check my herbal books as there are various things that can help with relaxing the body and mind gently yo make sleep possible, but these noises in his head stop him sleeping. Last night he just moved bedroom and it stopped the chaotic feeling/ noises. He seems to think it always happens in his bed in this house, no where else! Very strange. I expect it could happen elsewhere but never has. Anyway- any more solutions or explanations would be welcome!

[adamtheadam]

I just had a fairly intense episode of this a moment ago (hasn't happened for many years) and decided to google it. Its very strange that so many seem to identify with it yet it has no name or definite reasons for occurring etc.

It used to happen a lot to me when I was a child, coupled with waking up from very intense, abstract dreams, the closest thing I can think of to compare them to are the trippy space-gateway scenes from 2001: A space odyssey - colours rushing towards me very intensely from some far away horizon, but in monochrome.

I had been up all night writing an essay for uni, staring at a screen for a significant length of time in silence which seems to be a similar environment to what has triggered everyone else's experience.

I tried to put on some fairly ambient electronic music to calm myself down but it sounded so intense in my head, the tempo seemed much faster and what should have been relaxing sounds were screaming, almost cacophonous to me.

I started watching some TV which seemed to work in calming myself down, watching people talk seemed to bring everything back to its natural tempo and volume. Although it may have just coincidentally come to an end at the same time.

Very, very strange, but at least its good to know you're not alone in your experience.

[adamtheadam]

There's a thread here: http://www.****.com/archive/index.php/t-159608.html that describes something fairly similar that also used to happen to me a lot during childhood, and still occasionally does.

It's a long discussion but apparently it is called 'macrosomatognosia' or 'Alice in Wonderland syndrome': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_syndrome

Although not exactly the same as what everyone has described, it seemed relevant.

[stillsearching1121]

Unbelievable!  I was just trying to explain this feeling to my husband the other day.  I had this quite often as a child...maybe several times a year.  Sometimes it would happen frequently and then I would go months without experiencing it.  I have never told anyone about it prior to telling my husband the other day.  I have had it as an adult but very infrequently.  I had convinced myself it was some sort of panic attack although I have never had any anxiety issues otherwise.  I have had a slew of odd neuro sx on and off for almost 6 years and I'm on the Limboland rollercoaster currently.  Don't know if this experience/sx has any significance but maybe I will mention it to my doc.  Good to hear there are others out there that experienced this.  Now I have to go back and read all of the comments...I was just so thrilled to hear someone else had experienced this I jumped straight to commenting. Ha!

[Jonki27]

hmm interesting i also have this only reason i looked up the Symptoms course this came to me last night get this many time and this all started when i was a child and had a fever been to many doctors and no one could at lest tell me the cause of this symptoms are everything sounds real loud i feel as if everything even my own moments are moving faster then normal and when i have been in this moment for some while my ear starts ringing loud and this normal happens to me when there is lot of silence and i maybe readying and before i know it i get this weird feeling that i cant focus on the word just the whole page and then this trance starts happening and it fears me to have this and not know what is it or what it could do to me

[Jess123454321]

YES! This happened to me when I was a child. I would all of a sudden hear everything in my world go loud & everything felt like it went a million miles an hour! I used to cry & be really afraid of it. When I tried to explain to my parents what happened they couldn't understand & I couldn't explain  it.
I'm now 21 & it happens every few years. It happened last night, but I was already feeling dizzy & nauseated due to my period.
I agree it never lasts longer than a minute, and but what is it caused by?!!!