Bipolar Disorder and Hallucinations

hhmmm...MY son used to have hallucinations, before he was stable, but they always preceeded a manic episode...

I think the worst one he had was when he went to the basement and the big black blob kept him from going further, stood right in front of him at the bottom of the basement stairs...scared him to death, but then he came back upstairs, got the cats and let them go down first, because he figured if they went down, then nothing was really there and it was safe...I thought that was a pretty smart move to outsmart his hallucination...however, at the time, though, he did think it was real...and some sort of evil shadow...

However, since he has been stabalized and on 200mg Lamictal in the evening, he has not had any (thatI know of)...

Thank God I am not alone. I know exactly what you are talking about. I have been experiencing this for about a year (diagnosed in '94) and my meds haven't changed significantly. Sometimes these visions catch me4 off-guard, and they about scare me to death.

I think some of the things I have been seeing are referred to as "peripheral spirits", or spirits that appear out of the side of your field of vision . You sense they are there, you turn and, voila, nothing.

I am the pastor of a church built in the 1860's, and I guess these things I see don't bother me. It has happened so often that I rather expect it from time to time. (If you are interested, I'll let you know about the footsteps, door opening and closing and the floors creaking. Maybe it's the meds or the MI, but whatever it is, I like it. So I say enjoy! Enjoy your glimpse into the "other side". 

During my most recent mental health hospitalization (November) I told the intake nurse that I kept seeing someone or something moving in my peripheral vision on my right side.  I've also (in the past) thought I saw something moving across or on the side of the road while I was driving.  Even more interesting is in mid November (after I was home from the hospital but still pretty shaky) I called my regular md and told him I had black areas across my vision in my right eye.  It started during a very severe headache and progressively got worse over three days.  After a few too many visits to opthomologists in different speacialties they all agree there are two spots of mylenated optical nerves that are obstructing my vision and I have two small blind spots in my right eye peripheial vision but not one knew why.  I go see an opthoneurologist in two weeks to see if he has any say on it.

What I'm getting at during this ramble is the peripherial vision extra movement started within days of cycling into a severe mixed state that required hospitalization but then within weeks I had permenent (semi-perment maybe since no one knows) vision loss in the same eye. 

I would image the two are unrelated but your essay certainly raised some questions for me.  I will bring them up with my RN mental health counselor but he usually doesn't have much to say about anything.

i experience them as part of my mania and depression, not as a precursor to change of moods.  I hear things, mainly voices and see things sometimes, and sometimes this makes me paranoid. i wounder what people think when i know it is not negative.  i don't know why i worry but i do.  so this anxiety leads to more hallucinations and delusions--delusions of believing people don't like me.--so with me it is mainly voices all the time and they get bad at night--my therapist says my emotions cause the flair up and when i regulate my emotions, they get better. so there's some peice of info.

thanks for listening

sherri bercier

For the life of me, when I was asked about what I was talking about when I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye, I could not put a name with it. I am convinced that I see things that no one else does but "us" obviously.  When I was a little girl I saw a creature being of some sort push my mother out of the window.  I was not dreaming.  She is o.k. but I know what I saw.  She said that she slipped from trying to put curtain rods up...whatever.  I do think that us "mentally illed folk" are more sensitive to spirits, which unfortunately, seems more evil or demonic than anything. Our mind's eye is totally different than others'.  If that makes any sense. We are just subceptible to spirits or something like them.  It is totally crazy...I know...but it cannot just be due to the meds...it can't be.  When I have these sensations...I already know that I need to pay close attention to my behavior or at least try to pay attention...easier said than done.  When you think that you can recognize when you are about to go manic or do something bad, it always changes...at least for me anyway.  So, sometimes I'm caught off-guard.  Anyway, I'm glad to know that what I do see is not me going into psychosis per se but just possibly hallucinating and/or actually having an experience from time-to-time.

see lots esp at moment. cut my hair to get rid of things at corners of my eyes.see shadowy figures too, they make me jump.way too hi at pres. but unusually self aware.  have handed over car keys, avoiding public places should hand over wallet....... bad, evil, extremley agressive thoughts for some weeks, spilling to mouth, worried what comes next. have taken on strangers in public in past. emergancy home treat is to add short term use of zyprexa to lithium. after 3 daysof zyprexa, not working. will contact pdoc on tues. public hol in australia. give me up give me down but no "normal" thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!

Greetings G.J.,

My first and only question is do these "hallucinations" either scare you or tell you aka speak to you about harm of some sort? If not, are they in truth hallucinations?

I have all these lovely little letters that preceed and end at my full given name thanks to Higher Education; and for throughout my entire life I have seen, spoken (held indepth conversations) with what my psychiatrist so off-handedly calls hallucinations.

I take no meds. that would cause this to occur, have never been disgnosed with sychiozophrenia; I am BiPolar I & II, DID, PTSD, D.D., etc... I know names of several who never leave me (I believe them to be Angels). I have never had 1 tell me to harm myself or others, in point of fact they've intervened at times. I see them periphelly, straight forward, feel them, and I'm not ever in a constant state of mania.

I am also always aware of spirits that should not be earth-bound, those I allow only if they come to me to ask for help, I do have power over them.

Now my "shrink" used to humor me on this subject, until he asked specific questions I'd have no way of knowing...and he was answered by me from their answers. Funny he still refers to them as hallucinations but there's always a quick look around the room. :)

We suffer so much, why wouldn't a Higher Power whatever you name God give us gifts to offset the pain?

Blessings Be with you!

Until reading your post I had assumed that hallucinations were extreme in nature and simply disregarded them from my experience with the illness. I had assumed seeing things would translate into seeing full out images, almost like dreaming while awake. The fact that many individuals here report seeing peripheral movement as a hallucination is interesting and is something that I can relate to with my mild manic symptoms.

The more I read about other's personal accounts with the illness, the more I realize that I'm undereducated about the first-hand experience of bipolar symptoms. I've read the DSM diagnostic criteria and have created my own preconceived notions about what each symptom would look like - I need to seriously revisit them.

Thank you for the post!

I am not bipolar - I don't think, but my father and son are.  My father has never been diagnosed, but it is clear to me now that he is.  My son is 17, diagnosis bipolar NOS, and he is not ready or willing to educate himself in depth about his illness yet.  So... I am trying to wrap my mind around what is happening now.

My child (young adult) sees creatures - think the nasty creatures from the 1981 movie The Thing.  He sees them 24/7, and has drawn some, so they are not in his peripheral field.  He sees them, hears them (noises), and feels them.  One bit him today, and his leg hurt though there were no marks.  He knows these things are not real, and he talks openly about them and has tried a variety of ways to get rid of them without adding new meds yet.  We'll discuss that tomorrow with pdoc.

So, he's been fairly functional after a brief hospitalization, but he is afraid to go out after dark.  He sleeps a lot more than ususal.  His social life is nearly non-existent, and he is exhausted from daily dealing with and trying to ignore these hallucinations while at school - and everywhere else.  Any suggestions for coping?  for getting rid of them?  for learning how to deal with the dark?  Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks.

sadscaredMom

I read your article, and I thought I'd share my experiences with you.  My hallucinations started about five years ago when I was in an extreme manic state.  The medications for psychosis, like Geodon, Abilify, Lamictal, got rid of the hallucinations by simply making me unable to function or think.  Since that time, I have begun having hallucinatory experiences while in-between depression and mania, though not as frequent or defined.  The research I have done on the subject has leaned more toward finding an answer regarding the link between Bipolar disorder and Schitzophrenia.  There seems to be some evidence that the two diseases are closely related, so I believe those of us who have Bipolar disorder and who also experience hallucinations as the disorder progresses may have a different type of Bipolar disorder which has not been defined or noted due to the linear thinking of psychiatrists.

i have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and disassociative identity disorder. i have been getting these "hallucinations for a year now. firstly, they started when i was first but on an antidepressent , for what my doctor thought was depression. it turned me manic, so he realized i was bipolar and switched me to lamictal 100mg. i now take lamictal 100mg daily, invega( like seroquel) and klonopin. i get these hallucinations after i became manic for the first time. usually at night ill feel "funny", like im drugged or something ,,,and ill sleep, it comes before a manic phase i believe. i will wake up seeing swirling movement when i close my eyes or a bright light that pulses in my head only with eyes closed though . it makes me panic and i cant sleep . im terrified of these i mentioned them to my dr he just says its from the bipolar. i have no clue what causes this. sometimes ill see two spirals of movement when i close my eyes with a bright light in the middle. it very odd but after i am
"awake" for a while it seems to go away and when i close my eyes all i see is blackness. other times i get these racing images in my mind when i close my eyes at any time of tthe day my mind is filled with visuals of people, places, just a lot of weird things , like flash cards being shown to me , they gave me anti schizophrenia meds for this but still say its from the bipolar , i have no idea what it is but wish someone could tell me .

I was diagnosed with Bipolar II disorder when I was 21  years of age, I am now 25 and see shadows.  It freaks me out and the fact that I might be schizo freaks me out.  I am soothed to know that I am not alone. 

I have been searching the net for answers, sadly this didn't give me any either. I'm going crazy! I can't sit alone anymore. I am so restless because I try to stop myself from looking through my peripheral vision. I'm scared that I am psychotic because I don't want to go on anti-psychotics again. I am on Lithium and ah! what the hell. I am really freaking out.

i have been on lamictal off and on (my choice) . but before lamictal i had extremely vivid hullucinations- and even experienced times in which i could shake hands with people and see things about them. One time i met a boy and girl. With the boy i saw a hot air balloon, and with the girl i saw her standing covered in paint, holding a paint brush. I asked the boy if he had ever been in a hot air balloon and he replied it was number one on his list to do before he died. i asked the girl if she was a painter and she said it was her passion but had to give it up because her family felt it wasn't a respectable career choice. it was incredible.

                Another time a woman was standing next to me on a bus. I looked at her purse and sort of went through it. as if i had x-ray vision. her i.d said her name was Maria. when her and her friend left the bus her friend turned to her and said come on Maria.

           i also had terrible visions. that made me scared. one was of creatures trying to steal people's thoughts but in all honesty i miss the visions... i miss seeing and truly feeling life.

I recently had hallucinations for the first time, and I have BPD.  It lasted for about 2 or 3 days.  I'm not really sure because I was so out there that it was like I was on another planet.  It scared me to death, and even though I know it wasn't actually real... I do know that it was a very real problem.  I was seeing people and hearing noises everywhere.  Like foot-steps, voices on 2 occations, the door knob shaking, the toilet flushing...etc.  The list goes on and on.  I am taking Lamictal now, but I'm not sure if that was the reason for this episode.  This might have happened anyways. 

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