I have a migraine and daily headache condition and one of the side effects is a changing assortment of hallucinations. It’s nothing to worry about, we keep track of them as part of my treatment and do periodic MRIs just to be sure when the hallucinations change…
But they are pretty damned normal, even outside of having a condition that impacts your brain, and most people don’t really understand that, and keep it to themselves if it happens to them, so I figured it’s worth asking.
Without drugs being involved, have you had hallucinations? Not just sounds or visions, but smells or touch or proprioception (body position) hallucinations? Those are far more common and much less talked about than hearing voices. Do you know what caused them, if you had them, or was it an alarming experience?
My biggest one is that chicken usually smells like peanut butter. I hate peanut, and actively avoid anywhere that uses peanut oil, and yet chicken still smells and tastes like it’s cooked in peanut flavoring. Awful hallucination.
Recently I’ve had some other olfactory (smell) hallucinations, lavender, sage, etc. sometimes a mild burning smell which is alarming because that’s associated with other issues like stroke. Have also had some audio hallucinations, the sort of thing I pause whatever’s playing to see if I’m imagining it. No big deal, because I’m aware of it happening.
I have major depressive psychosis, so I experience hallucinations at varying rates depending on my mood. Sights and sounds are most common.
I’ll see shadows moving in my periphery and they usually register as birds to me. Occasionally I’ll see a silhouette of a person looking at me. Both things disappear when I go to look at them.
Sounds are typically laughter or screaming in the distance, very rarely it’ll be someone calling my name. When I go to bed, I’ll occasionally hear mumbling in my ears.
Touch and smell are extremely rare, but do happen. Smells are usually some random persistent scent that goes away when I look for it. I’m anosmic (no sense of smell) so I know it’s not real every time. Touch is usually in the form of feeling bugs crawling on me or feeling random wetness.
It’s sounds like a lot when it’s written out, but it’s honestly not that bad. I’m so used to it that I don’t really bother with my antipsychotics anymore.