Anyone have alteration of senses?

First, I can't filter. Everything seems more vivid and more alive.

Aside from the filtering problem, my sense of smell is heightened. I normally can't smell things very well. I damaged my sense of smell in college by getting too close to a formaldehyde-preserved cat.

If I grocery shop while manic, I am surrounded by an aromatic symphony. I smell things I've not smelled before -- to the point where the smell makes me feel sick to my stomach. I get nauseated in the detergent aisle when manic. And when the mania subsides, my sense of smell all but disappears once again.

Colors also seem more vivid and my eyesight seems more acute. Sounds seem louder. These perceptions of increased sight and sound could be could be filtering issues and not true alterations of sense.

If I experience a full-blown mania, I also hallucinate, seeing things that are not of this world. I sometimes hear voices during manias. One time, while doing taxes at the last minute, I heard my TV set play a commercial when I didn't have TV cable hooked up. At other times, I heard it playing a baseball game, when it wasn't hooked up to cable. In fact, there wasn't even a cable connection in the room! One thing about hallucinations ... the human brain is AMAZING at making them seem so real that you can't tell the difference between reality and memorex.

Has anyone else had an experience of altered sense with Bipolar Disorder?

For me, this has been a big hurdle. I can't even trust my own senses!

Normals just don't understand. I get a little irritated at people's responses when I tell them the story about my having seen demons in the grocery store during a full-blown mixed episode. You know the most commonly asked question? "What did they look like?"

I them say, "You don't EVER want to know."

Then they always say, "Come on, I'm curious. Tell me what the demons looked like."

I always give in and tell them. They usually frown and say, "Oh." And nothing more.

Is it a sideshow to them? Why don't they say, "I'm so sorry you went through that," or "Gosh, that sounds scary. That must've been awful for you." I mean ... they could hug me for goodness sake! At the time, I thought all Hell had been released to attack me!

I wonder why they just say, "Oh." It makes me mad. Mental illness is a physical condition. People console people with cancer or diabetes or a broken bone, but if you're "mental" they just say, "Oh."

Sorry for my little rant.

Aside from my Dad, the other members of my family were not supportive in the slightest during my darkest hour.

Well, anyway, thoughts on this subject are appreciated.

God bless!

Mary Ann

Post edited by: MaryAnn36, at: 11/03/2007 01:54

Post edited by: damselndistress, at: 11/03/2007 12:07

My senses can be very much heightened especially when I feel anxious or threatened.

My counselor, when I told her about it, told me it is a form of hyper-awareness. It is often associated with bp people, abused, and PTSD.

The sounds, smells and so on are so strong and vivid that I have to get out of the place and find someplace not so strong.

The distraction of the bp in me is heightened at this time, too. Listening and participating in a conversation with a busy and chattering background is almost impossible. I hear everything at the same level. If I need to hear the conversation, I must expend a great effort to block the rest and focus on what is important.

It is very, very frustrating. Sometimes I just have to leave and pick up on the information at a later time during a quiet conversation.

Oh, here I go again! Chattering and chattering!

Thanks for reading/listening!

It is very, very frustrating. Sometimes I just have to leave and pick up on the information at a later time during a quiet conversation."

Ahh. Yes. I've experienced this, too.

I first noticed this in grad school. On the weekends, we'd travel into the city to have dinner and drinks. We'd travel in a group. I remember not being able to hear anyone because I heard everyone in the restaurant and bar talking all at once. My roommate even noticed I didn't join in conversations when we went out. I told her I couldn't hear anyone at our table because of background noise.

I started putting peroxide in my ears to clean out wax, but it didn't help. I got my hearing tested and it was normal.

So it was the Bipolar disorder doing that? I never realized that until now. The more I learn about BP, the more I realize that I have had signs of this disease much earlier than originally thought.

I thought I was in total remission during my college years. I didn't have any mood episodes or anxiety attacks, but I did experience perceptual changes (like the hearing thing) without the manias or depressions.

Well, I'll be dipped.

Thank you so much MsBimbo. It's good to talk to other BP people because the more we understand this disease, the more able we are to recognize and control it.

My pdoc and I increased my anti-anxiety dose at night another 50 mg and the grinding (TMJ) is not with me any more. I don't use a handful of q-tips to try and clean out wax that isn't there!

I've my hearing back and I have few if any sinus infections anymore. I know my allergies and care for myself by limiting or avoiding the problem causing factors in my diet and environment.

Thanks for letting me chatter away.

You are right! It is WONDERFUL to hear what others say. I find out once again I am not alone and my experiences are valid and can be helpful to someone else.

Hug!

MsBimbo

MaryAnn, my hallucinations have never been quite as pronounced as yours, but in my most recent breakdown (after which I received the diagnosis), were definitely like yours. The only real difference is that I have had them both on the more depressed and more manic sides of the spectrum.

I tend to get a sort of fecal and mucous-y smell stuck in my nostrils, though I have no infection. The last (and only) time I forgot my Risperdal, I constantly saw scrawny, Greek dogs crossing the street in front of me, and constantly felt there was someone nearby watching me. During the breakdown, my brain translated wind rustling through the trees as someone calling my name. It's been a hell of a trip this past year!

As far as my hearing problem ... I noticed it again at Church a few weeks ago, during a Bible Study.

The leader of the study was reading a quote from one of the Church Fathers called "Definition of a Christian." There were a few late people. A couple were quite old and hearing impaired themselves.

The leader's husband was showing them in and catching them up on where we were in the study, while his wife continued to read "Definition of a Christian." The husband started whispering to these old people in increasingly louder tones.

I leaned in, focusing on the group leader, watching her lips. But at one point ... it was totally weird ... when the husband spoke up to accommodate one of the old people, all I heard was "blblbleisghleheld." I almost laughed. I'd lost an entire sentence.

No one else in the room asked the leader to repeat what she'd read, so I figured everyone else heard it.

I just can't multi-task.

This "hearing problem" disappears at other times. I can be walking in the woods and hear things very distinctly ... stuff that others can't hear. But if I'm presented with two competing stimuli, I can't focus on one and filter the other out. My brain filters BOTH out and it sounds like "blblbleielblerle"

That's just part of the illness that I have to work around.

Thanks guys!

Post edited by: MaryAnn36, at: 11/17/2007 16:00