h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As a kid I used to suffer from the occasional ophtalmic migraine. And I remember very clearly a sensation I had sometimes just before falling asleep (but seemingly independant from the migraines) when I would feel the lightest pressure on any part of my body as if it were extremely heavy (e.g. the weight of the bed sheet seemed to be like tons, squeezing two fingers very lightly together seemed to be extremely powerful, etc.).
Do I qualify as an "Alice"?

C.L.

Reading the article, I wonder about myself now too.

I sometimes get really irritating migrates that come with visual distortions and pins and needles and numb sensations in my face, hands and feet. It's really weird and not a pleasant sensation.

I sometimes get a weird feeling that the world around me is a bit surreal. Only way I can describe it. Like I'm looking at ordinary daily events through soemone else's eyes. Something like that.

Maybe we're all Alices!?

i believe that everyone has their alice moments.
i think it's just what we do and nothing is wrong with it...Everyone has a certain amount of chemicals in their mind, we are all energy. And possibly the world counters the chemicals into spinning and etc. When things get larger, you may just be focusing on it more...i know this sounds like an oxymoron, it may just be in your head.

I suppose we do have to remember how fragile our minds are really. So many of us will have a period some sort of mental ill health in our lives, so it goes to show how easy it must be for things to end up out of balance. Think some bouts of mental ill-health are caused by a chemical imbalance in our brains or some sort.

its kind of scarey...to think about it, we're all just engergy.
my mother has MPD (multi personality dissorder) it scares the crap out of me.

That does sound scary. But I hope your mum is being well looked after by doctors etc to allow her to live a full and enjoyable life.

She is under care. She's on medication.She believes that i have it as well...that it just hasnt matured yet. oh boy. i believe that im pretty put together. You cant really judge anything during adolesence.

Well hopefully you won't develop it. From what I understand, a lot of mental health problems start in the teens, but then again, not all do.

Glad to hear your mum does have support and meds. Support in particular can make such a huge difference, though of course meds are important. Sorry, I work in mental health, so can get a bit carried away at times.

hm...Its okay, She's had it for a long time apparentally and i have somewhat signs of it, but it's really rare, and isn't hereditary as far as i know. Im probably just paranoid

From what I gather, there are so many of us that show some symtpoms of different mental illnesses, even if we don't actually have a condition.

i don't spend too much time worring about it...even if i did have it, i wouldn't want to know. i don't want to be controled by medication

Yeah some medication can really knock you. Know some have real sedative effects and other yucky side effects.

I know some people can be on medication for a psychiatric condition, other meds for side effects caused byt the first lot of tablets, and then other stuff for epilepsy or a heart condition or diabetes or whatever. Then you get other people who are maybe only on one tablet a day and that controls their psychiatric condition so that they can have a totally "normal" life.

Don't fear it, especially if it may never happen for you. Even if it does happen, you might not need too many tablets, and if you work on getting the right dose and combination you'll be in control.

my mother takes a lot of medication. she sleeps forever afterwards too. i don't fully understand the different personalities,...its just a state of mind. it's also hard to seperate what's a disorder and what's a trait.

thanks

I'm sure it can be tough. But I commend you for being there for your mum.

Bet the medication can knock her out. So long as her consultant and team keep it under observation and maybe try new things to see if that'll help with herv tiredness.

shes okay, its not like everytime i see her i think about it. it doesn't come up any unless she doesn't take care of herself.

So you said you work with this kind of stuff??

Yeah, I work in a supported housing place where 15 people with different mental health problems live. Aim of the place is to allow people to live independantly while receiving any support they might need so they can stay out of hospital and live full and healthy lives. Can be quite rewarding.

I'm glad to her your mum has good health generally. Can be so sad to see someone become even a little unwell.

aw, that's amazing. What kind of health problems do they have?
That's a really nice idea. The situation kind of reminds me of the movie "Mozart and the Whale" You should see it, its a dorky, cute little flick.

Haven't seen that film. It's good then?

The people I work with have things like schizophrenia, deperssion, OCD, and things like that.

Maybe your mum could benefit support from an organisation like the one I work for? Here's their website: www.praxiscare.org.uk

If we're not near you, maybe there's someone else?

haha, different country. that's such a drive

mozart and the Whale is really good...Everyone has their OCD moments. haha...

Doesn't working there depress you?
If i was stuck in a room with someone who thinks differently, i would try my hardest to absorb EVERYTHING. Especially if it was a pilosopher. as a friend once quoted to me, "stick a hundred cooks in a room and youll end up with a great cake; stick a hundred architects together and youll end up with a decent building; stick a hundred philosophers together youll end up with a hundred confused men." HA. love that quote.