My Son Had Alice in Wonderland Syndrome

One evening, I tucked my very sick son into mattress, and he seemed up at me with a confused expression. “You look teeny tiny, mother—such as you shrunk,” he advised me. Since he had a fever, I chalked it as much as that, and guaranteed him he’d really feel higher within the morning. However the subsequent day, it occurred once more—this time with a a lot decrease fever. 

I took him to the pediatrician, the place he examined constructive for the flu. I puzzled if the virus could be affecting his mind. As soon as we acquired dwelling, I did some analysis and I realized what Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS) is.

What Is Alice in Wonderland Syndrome?

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is a neurological situation wherein the mind’s means to course of sensory enter is disrupted. It alters an individual’s visible notion and may even distort their sense of actuality. Typically, it is short-term. The excellent news is, it is not one thing dangerous by itself. 

The syndrome, aptly named after Lewis Carroll’s well-known kids’s story, is taken into account uncommon. Nevertheless, this could possibly be as a result of analysis is proscribed, and lots of circumstances possible go unreported or are misunderstood. Specialists say it’s generally written off as being a imaginative and prescient drawback or perhaps a hallucination—however it’s neither.

As a substitute, Anjan Chatterjee, MD, a cognitive neurologist and founding director of the Penn Middle for Neuroaesthetics, describes AIWS as a “sensory distortion.” He explains that it usually presents as both micropsia, the place objects seem smaller than they’re, or macropsia, the place objects appear bigger than they’re.

MaryAnn Mays, MD, a neurologist specializing in headache drugs on the Cleveland Clinic, says some experiences point out AIWS may trigger different distortions, resembling objects in a room showing flat (two-dimensional) or the room seeming tilted. Some folks even report a way of time distortion, with time both dashing up or slowing down.

“There may also be a way of depersonalization throughout an episode, the place an individual would possibly really feel like they’re trying down at themselves as if they’re indifferent from their physique,” Dr. Mays continues. 

My Household’s Expertise With AIWS

When my 9-year-old son started experiencing AIWS, he defined that, out of nowhere, the room round him would appear to shrink. After he examined constructive for the flu, these visible distortions grew to become extra frequent.

Just a few days later, I used to be speaking to my pal Jaime, whose son—additionally 9 and simply recovering from the flu—had skilled some unusual visible distortions whereas he was sick. He had advised his mother the bed room door seemed miles away regardless that it was proper in entrance of him. I used to be intrigued that our seemingly distinctive expertise had additionally occurred in a unique family simply down the street. After all, I used to be additionally involved, till I realized it was possible AIWS.

Whereas it was alarming to witness my son expertise episodes of AIWS, he was by no means overly scared himself. These episodes lasted for a number of minutes at a time, which Dr. Chatterjee says is fairly typical. In addition they continued all through the period of his restoration, even lingering as different signs, like his fever, subsided.

At his sickest, he skilled episodes a number of occasions a day. Ultimately, they began to taper off slowly, till they had been gone solely.

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome Causes

Specialists do not know precisely what triggers AIWS, however some doable causes embrace:

• Migraines
• Epilepsy
• Viral infections just like the flu or Epstein-Barr, which might result in encephalitis
• Drugs, which AIWS as a doable facet impact

In uncommon circumstances, AIWS may additionally be the results of one thing extra critical, like a mind tumor—although that may sometimes be accompanied by different tumor-related signs, resembling issue strolling or talking.

Dr. Mays advises households to seek the advice of a well being care supplier anytime you observe your little one experiencing an onset of bizarre signs to find out the trigger. Moreover, she cautions mother and father to not mistake the psychological modifications that accompany a really excessive fever for AIWS, as the previous would possibly require hospitalization. But when a fever is well-controlled and there are not any emergency signs, AIWS itself doesn’t require rapid consideration.

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome Remedy

“Mother and father ought to know there isn’t a remedy for AIWS apart from to deal with what’s inflicting it within the first place,” says Dr. Chatterjee. For example, this might imply treating a seizure, a migraine, or in my son’s case, letting the flu run its course. I stored up with ache remedy, helped preserve him hydrated, and inspired him to relaxation.

“If AIWS is being attributable to a migraine, mother and father ought to know that many migraine medicines now we have out there do seem like useful in stopping these visible processing disturbances,” provides Dr. Mays.

Moreover, individuals who expertise AIWS could be prompted to make a journey to the attention physician, however Dr. Chatterjee says the syndrome shouldn’t be really imaginative and prescient associated.

“When AIWS happens, an ophthalmologist would see nothing mistaken with the affected person’s retina as a result of this isn’t associated to imaginative and prescient, however as an alternative to the upper order areas of the mind that truly assist us put collectively the objects that we see in entrance of us,” explains Dr. Chatterjee. “That is why we assume it has one thing to do with the mind’s processing of visible enter that’s being interrupted.”

Why We Want Extra Consciousness For AIWS

There must be extra consciousness of this situation as it could assist forestall a misdiagnosis. “It is essential to tell apart episodes of AIWS from hallucinations, which produce other associations, like schizophrenia,” says Dr. Chatterjee. “This isn’t a situation within the class of psychological sickness.”

Anecdotally talking, fears over an improper analysis of hallucinations or a psychological well being situation would possibly even forestall some sufferers (or their mother and father) from reporting episodes of AIWS. Which is probably going a cause it stays under-discussed, even within the medical group.

“It is tough to say whether or not it is really uncommon or if it is simply not being reported as usually because it happens,” Dr. Chatterjee says. “It is fairly doable children or their mother and father simply do not carry it up.”

What To Do if Your Child Has AIWS

Dr. Chatterjee advises mother and father to stay calm and supply their little one with reassurance as these episodes should not dangerous regardless that they are often unnerving. Nevertheless, mother and father ought to make some extent to doc what’s going on.

“Take heed to as a lot of an outline as your little one can share with you in an effort to relay that data to their supplier,” says Dr. Mays. “Ask them to explain what they’re experiencing and make word of the time and some other signs they may have.” 

It’s additionally vital to not dismiss any signs that could possibly be an indication of one thing extra critical. When my son spoke to me of his AIWS signs, I took steps to search out out what was mistaken—regardless that the whole lot about my son’s expertise pointed towards it being as a result of flu. In any case, he had by no means had these episodes earlier than and he did take a look at constructive for the virus proper when the signs started.

Nevertheless, Dr. Chatterjee says that, in some circumstances, additional testing could possibly be warranted if these episodes stick with no rationalization—or if they’re accompanied by different signs. It is all the time price checking with a health care provider and discovering out whether or not additional testing, together with an electroencephalogram (EEG) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), could be warranted.