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tape7
01-09-2005, 03:29 AM
Okay, I have never discussed this with anyone but my husband. It's a mind problem that's aggravating but I always thought it was normal until he told me it's not. Let me see if I can explain it, because it's really kind of complicated to understand unless you have the same problem. I can be somewhere, anywhere, and all of a sudden, my position changes. In another words, the whole room changes position in my mind. It causes me problems with waiting tables at work because I can take an order, go to the kitchen area to ring in the order, and when I come back into the resteraunt area where my table is that I just took the order from, the whole room itself has changed it's position in space is the only way I know how to put it. Anyway, then I can't remember where my table was. Sometimes I can wait a minute and it will change back to the position it was in when I took the order, and then I'll remember. It happens when I'm driving. I'll know what direction to go to get somewhere, but then the surroundings will "rotate" you might say, and until it comes back to the way it was in the first place, I'll be lost. I think I have done this for years, but like I said, I didn't really think it was that abnormal, just really aggravating. The only way you might be able to picture what I'm talking about is to think of the little boxes you can draw where you draw a square and then draw another square kind of inside that one and then connect the corners, you know to draw a dimensional box. Anyway if you watch the box for a second it will change positions. It's kind of like that, only think of the box as a room you're in. This happens to me many, many times a day, but I don't think that much about it usless it causes me to "lose my way" if you will. Please write back if you have ever experienced this. I did mention it to my doctor and he just said the mind can play tricks on us.

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jules1
01-09-2005, 08:30 PM
I don't want to worry you, but it sounds like you might have some sort of perceptual problem. Not with your vision per se, but with how your mind processes information.

I would go talk to a Dr., probably a psychiatrist. How long has this been going on? Does it interfere to the point where it is a hindrance?

The only thing that I have heard of being similar is a case written about by Dr. Oliver Sacks in his book "The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat".

Take care :)

tape7
01-10-2005, 12:52 AM
I've been trying to figure out how long it's been going on, and to be truthful, I'm not sure. I may have always done this, but like I said, I thought it was something everybody did. I know it has been hindering me at my waitress job for several years, and when I'm driving somewhere new. My husband says it sounds like some sort of short term memory loss. I just know that it causes me to be disoriented when I'm trying to get back to someplace I've just been the same way I came. I figured out another way to try to explain what it's like. If you're sitting in a room and that room is say facing east, all of a sudden things will change and the room in my mind will be facing to the south, just as an example. I'm going to look that book up and see what it's about. Thank you for info.

*music23*
01-10-2005, 12:13 PM
The only thing that I have heard of being similar is a case written about by Dr. Oliver Sacks in his book "The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat".
The book you are talking about refers to a spatial disorder called prosopagnosia, in which someone can't recognize faces. The ways they figure out who they're talking to include recognizing their voice, their clothes, even the way they walk. In severe cases, the person can't even recognize objects. I haven't read that book, but I've heard about it and I was told that in it, the man with prosopagnosia was in a therapy session with his wife and he put his hat down on the couch. The wife moved the hat and sat down in its place to make room. After the session, the man tried to pick up his wife and put her on his head!
I'm not sure it's related that much because people with prosopagnosia don't go back to recognizing a face; they ALWAYS can't recognize it. However, it does sound like your problem is spatial-related. I must say I've never heard of that, but it has me interested now. Maybe you should do some research on spatial areas of the brain and related disorders.
Good luck,
Kristina :wave:

*music23*
01-10-2005, 12:21 PM
OK I just did some really quick research because you got me interested now! What your are describing seems to match the description of a disorder called topographical disorientation, a spatial disorder. There are a bunch of sub-types of this and then sub types of the subtypes... I found a paper that had some good information, take a look: http://jnnp.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/74/1/61 .
Some other websites suggest getting spatial abilities tested by a neuropsychologist. Good luck!
Kristina :wave:

tape7
01-10-2005, 04:56 PM
Thank you so much for the info. I just got home from the store and logged on and saw your message. I have to go to work now, but am going to look up that disorder when I get home. Thank you again.

jules1
01-10-2005, 05:20 PM
The story of the man and his wife/hat is just one of the stories in the book. Its the only book I've seen with unusual case studies, and even if it turns out not to be pertinent, it is still a GREAT book!

hummingbirdkiss
01-10-2005, 09:56 PM
message deleted

tape7
01-11-2005, 12:17 PM
The topographical disorientation sounds a whole lot like what I have, but I'm still researching it to find out if anyone with this describes the feeling of the room they are are in at any given time seeming like it changes positions. Picture it like this if you can. Say you're sitting in your favorite chair watching TV in a particular room, probably the living room or bedroom. You know which direction, compass wise, that you are facing. Let's say you're facing to the south. Now, in this "disorder" I'm talking about, you and the room and everything in that room suddenly all seem to turn to one of the other directions, let's say to the east. But the outside doesn't change with you. Only you and the room you are in are facing east. The outside stays the same. This all happens in a split second, and it can change back as quickly as it happened. In the topographical disorientation some people described having to have specific directions even to get back from somewhere they just came from, like turn right on this street, left at this store, and that is exactly what I have to do, because I can't get back to a place I just came from just by using my mind to retrace my steps. I have to have specific directions to get back, because everything changes positions in my mind so often. The only places I would be able to find my way back from would be very familiar, often traveled places, like when I go to and from work. If I have to take a detour and get off of my specific path, I get lost every time, and I've lived in this town for 14 years. I'm still looking at different links on the TD.





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