Hallucinatory Help

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

Hallucinations aren't exactly new to me (I've been dealing with them more or less since my bipolar diagnosis at age 21), but they've been coming on with greater strength as of late. The other day when I was taking the GMAT the proctor had me wear headphones to block out noise. They worked great, except after about 30 minutes I began hearing one of two things on-and-off: 1) In my right ear it sounded like a couple of people were having a conversation in hushed tones that I couldn't make out and 2) Birds. Lots of birds. It sounded like a new age relaxation CD playing in my left ear. Needless to say it made it hard for me to concentrate, and I couldn't stop the exam. I'd just piss away $250. Besides, what would I tell my proctor, "Excuse me, but I need to stop. There seems to be a Hitchcock movie playing in my ear"?

Today I had a repeat. While I was proctoring a practice SAT for work I periodically heard conversations again (right ear) and what can best be described someone having a grand mal seizure on a pipe organ in my left ear. And on top of that I've begun having more powerful phantom smells. Right now everything smells like delicious fresh cake.

I told a friend about it, and he thinks I should see a doctor. In principle I agree with him; however I have a crippling fear of commitment. Not the wife-and-kids sort, the hospitalized-and-medicated-against-your-will sort. I'm at a loss about what to do. Anyone here have experience with this sort of thing or know someone who does?

[sakabatou]

1. I had visual hallucinations in my vision

I was on some anti-seizure med. I kept seeing black butterflies. Kinda like this one:

[mopinko]

2. do you have a family member that can advocate for you?

i have to agree that you should see a doc. i understand your fear. but to the best of my knowledge involuntary commitments are pretty hard to come by. if for no other reason than the space and the money involved are hard to come by.
if you are worried about that, if you had a family member come along to vouch for you lack of threats to yourself or others, maybe that would help. help you feel better, at least?
do you have a regular pdoc? can you trust her/him?

:hug: for you troubles. negotiating the maze of neurochemical imbalances is tough. let us know how it goes.


and as i mod i am kinda compelled to tell you that asking for medical advise is against the rules. as a new mod, i am not too sure which side of the line this post is. let's just try to keep it to the person experience thing, and not so much to the medical advise thing.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

3. No, I have to switch doctors because of insurance issues

and I haven't been able to get a new psych yet. My medicine guy is the same, but his answer will be to take another pill or (more likely) to see how it goes.

My post isn't asking for medical advice, though thank you for making me clarify myself. I'm more looking for people's experiences dealing with hallucinations.

[mopinko]

4. call the insurance company?

tell them you need to see a doc and haven't gotten hooked up with a new one? maybe they can pull some strings, and help you get in to see someone. or let you go back to your old one.

good luck, dear. hang in there.

[hedgehog]

5. Unless the voices are telling you to harm yourself or others, I don't

think you need to fear commitment. You may benefit from some chemical tweaking or some other treatment. I have some people in my family who've benefited from a low dose of an antipsychotic for years with no side effects. I also have another family member who suffered from migraine aura for years but never told a doctor because of exactly the fear you voiced. I'd see a doctor to find out what is going on and make a plan from there.

[mdmc]

6. check your diagnosis my friend

ya might need another type of med..
Bi-polars don't usually hallucinate like this, imho..

[mopinko]

8. my daughter did.

maybe that is an adolescent kind of thing. but she used to hear people yelling all the time. she had some visual hallucinations, also.

[EFerrari]

7. Stress.

:shrug:

[sakabatou]

9. I had hallucinations due to either my meds

Or my brain injury. I saw black butterflies. I have never seen them since my new meds, but I do get sweeping shadows in my field of vision.

[Maraya1969]

10. I'll try to not make this a medical advise. When my friend's son

experienced hallucinations, (they were nasty for him) we just telling him to try and not pay attention to them. Kind of like the movie "A beautiful mind" when he realizes that the hallucinations can't be real because the little girl never grew up.

I don't know what it is like to have those kind of auditory hallucinations or how hard it is to not pay attention to them while you are trying to focus on a test.

And by the way I don't think there is a state in this country that can committe you for more than three days. You can check you state and maybe it would make you feel better. Having spent time in psychiatric wards I can tell you that they are not as bad as you think. Most people are there to detox off of alcohol or drugs and believe it or not there are times when you can have fun