tactile hallucinations?

[SnowWhite88]

I have never really had an official diagnosis before other than my old cpn said that I seemed to waver between mild and moderate depression when I was younger that slipped into severe depression when I was at my worst and constantly slip back into. I had hallucinations when I was bad before but I don't know whether it was due to the amount of overdoses I had taken or due to me not taking to the medication well ( I was tried on citalopram and fluoxetine later on, with the citalopram they put me on amitriptyline to to try and help with sleep) I started having hallucinations (that the carpet was moving, that a chair leg was bending in the middle of the room and that someone was leaning over me in my sleep, like a ghost or something breathing on the left side of my neck and if I was sleeping on my right side, touching my left side) I never told anyone about these hallucinations, not anyone professional anyway. I had also met my mom at the door once in tears convinced that was going to be the day that I was going to die and that I was going to throw myself off a building.

But anyway, that was in the past, today I've had another hallucination/paranoia - I thought somebody was looking at me through the air vent when I was in the shower and I was trying to look through there whilst I was washing my hair. All of a sudden I felt that a huge spider had dropped onto my head and panic set in immeadiately, I could get out of the shower because I needed to wash it out and get the conditioner out to because I couldnt turn up to work with greasy hair. It made me feel sick I felt like I was washing the spider into my hair. I dried it and everything but still felt that the spider was in my hair and had to keep checking today that there weren't any spiders legs sticking out of my hair and I still felt like I could feel spiders in my hair and over my body. I can't think what it could be. I KNOW it's not really and Ive checked and checked my hair but there is nothing there and I know it's not feasible for a spider the size I thought had dropped into my hair because they don't have spiders that size in this country. I still feel dirty and want to get back in the shower but Im scared of it happening again. Could this be depression or stress be causing this?  I am sleeping fine.

[tootles258]

     I was told that mine were part of bipolar disorder.  I never thought that it caused hallucinations.But apparently it can.Who knew.If it hadn't been for that I probably wouldn't have finally asked for help.There extremely mild now that I'm on haldol.Don't do what I did.I put it off so long that the lack of sleep contributed to my job  loss.This is the scariest thing I ever done,but it's worth it.If you are spiritual it helps with the stress of the hallucinations too.It won't stop without meds though.I wouldn't wish these things on anyone else that's for sure.Get help before it gets worse.My mom never got help and she still has them,has for 15+years had them .and they just get worse.See a doctor who specializes in this cause that was the key for me.

[SnowWhite88]

Thankyou for your reply :) Unfortunately I don't see any specialist for my problems only my gp who have not prescribed me anything as they think it is a long-standing problem with me and I will have to find ways of coping with it so I have been off meds for over 18 months now. Thankyou for your advice x

[ILADVOCATE]

Well when you said you didn't speak to a professional about it that would be the first step. Tactile hallucinations can occur from medication overdoses or interactions. But they can also be a sign of psychosis as in any other form of hallucations. Before recovery from schizoaffective disorder I had auditory hallucinations ("hearing voices"), visual hallucinations and tactile hallucinations. But there were other symptoms as well. Many. So it depends what else is going on. And yes there a few medications I had bad reactions to or that interacted with each other that caused some hallucinations like you describe. Speak to your psychiatrist as to when they first started, when they occur and if they ever stop and what they are like. And ask if its a medication interaction issue as well. For more information on medications google "Depression Central" which has full information on not just medications and side effects but all mood disorders in general.