You might feel like you are seeing things that don’t exist as hallucinations but this is not real. hallucination is a severe case where you smell, hear or touch things that are not present in real. There are various causes of hallucinations which include mental diseases like schizophrenia, a nervous disorder such as Parkinson’s disease, fits or epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease/ dementia, migraines where you experience visual hallucinations, brain tumors which might affect the vision, Charles Bonnet syndrome and others. The major theory which reveals that hallucinations happen when there is something wrong in the communication between the sensory cortex and frontal lobe of the brain.
There are different types of hallucinations which include the following:
AUDITORY HALLUCINATIONS– in this type of hallucinations, you experience sounds coming from outside or inside of the mind where you hear sounds like communicating with you. It is seen that auditory hallucinations are seen in patients suffering from schizophrenia where the auditory cortex gets overly active and processes sound as hallucinations.
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VISUAL HALLUCINATIONS– in this hallucination, the patient experiences like some insect crawling on the face or hand and objects moving towards you. Sometimes visual hallucinations appear as flashes of light such as experienced in migraines during aura phase. It is seen that patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease have an overactive form of visual cortex where they visualize images that do not exist in reality.
OLFACTORY HALLUCINATIONS– in such hallucinations, you smell things or some odors coming your way or from the body.
GUSTATORY HALLUCINATIONS– in this hallucination, you experience tasting some things like eating or drinking food items.
SOMATIC OR TACTILE HALLUCINATIONS- in this hallucination, the patient feels things around or over him like insects crawling over the skin or someone tickling them.
There are various causes of hallucinations which should be properly diagnosed by the doctor. The doctor first evaluates the medical history, then performs the physical examination and assesses the symptoms linked with the disease to identify the exact cause. Certain medical tests are performed to figure out the exact issue like EEG to check the unusual electrical activity in the brain and identify whether hallucinations are occurring due to seizures or not. MRI might also be advised by the doctor to get the inner images of the brain where it aids in finding out the tumor or some area within the brain. The doctor then makes a treatment plan which helps in relieving the condition including the medications, anti-seizure drugs, treatment options for cataracts, glaucoma or macular degeneration, radiation, surgical procedure, and different drugs for migraine patients. Therapeutic sessions are also advised such as cognitive behavioral therapy where the person focuses on the behavior and thinking process that helps in managing the symptoms.
Hallucinations are not only present in people suffering from severe disorders. It is seen that 70% healthy individuals also suffer from benign hallucinations while they are asleep. Certain factors increase your chance to suffer from hallucinations like lack of sleep, stressful situations, trauma or grief where they can upset the connections between different parts of the brain.so it is advised to follow a healthy lifestyle and live life in a better and healthy way.
Until Next Time,
Team Doctor ASKY!