This is very hard to explain but I will give it a shot. Just after waking or sometimes I wake to a strange feeling/sensation. My mind feels like it is going 1000 mph. Its a very strange sensation. Its almost a feeling like being on Nitrous Oxide. I don't even think that does it justice. Everything is going really fast. Hope someone know what this is. Thanks Jon

I have these symptoms too.
It sometimes happens when I wake up or just during the day when I'm awake.
I have had these weird feelings like everything speeds up and is going way to fast.
It usually lasts about 5 to 10 minutes. I have been symptom free for over 5 years and it just started reoccuring last winter. It hasn't happened in about a month now but I never know when it will happen again.
I have only met a few people who have ever experienced this so its a relief to know that I'm not the only one.
My family doc once told me it sounded like I may have a pinched nerve deep in my inner ear causing this but I have been to ear specialists and they haven't found anything yet.
I'm not giving up until I find out what this is thought.
Please if you go to your doc and find out what it is or have any new info please post.
God Bless

This has to be a very rare disease or something because I haven't found anything even remotely close to the symptoms.
I go to talk to doctors and they look at me like I am crazy.
I have even went to the ER and they told me they can't help me unless it was occuring right that second.
Thats impossible. I don't know when it will happen again and even if it did happen again by the time I was able to get to a doctor it would be over.
Any ideas on what this could be please post.

I can relate but on the opposite side of speed...At different moments in time things feel extremely slow...as if you put a movie on slow speed. It's really weird and it makes me feel as though I'm not me like life isn't real.

Hey if the originator of this posting reads this, please if you are checking back on your posting here on the message boards and you have any new information on your symptoms or hopefully a diagnosis please please post!!!
Likewise I will do the same.
I am scheduled to go back in to see my family doc again next week. I want answers and I won't stop until I get a diagnosis.

Just wondering, those of you who've had these symptoms... have any of your doctors ever suggested undergoing a sleep study, holter monitor, or some other sort of monitoring during sleep and waking up, in hopes of recording any possible changes in vitals, etc. while the episode is in progress? Just a thought.

Hi!
I have something very similar to the symptoms described. I get it anytime during the day though. Everything seems like it's going at super-speed. But I also get super-sensitivity hearing, like even the ticking of the clock sounds really loud.
I hope someoen can find out what it is

My episodes or whatever you want to call these can happen at any time day or night.
Last time I had one has been a couple of months now but I never know when I'm going to have another one of these happen.
It is very scary and I just want to cry when it starts because I've tried to explain to my husband and he just doesn't seem to understand.
I asked my family doctor a few years ago and he said it kind of sounds like a pinched nerve in my inner ear but when he sent me to and ear specialist he couldn't find anything.
I don't know if its related to this but I have constant ringing in my ears. Its worse in my right ear.

I have found searching on the web a form of seizure called SPS. I've forgotten what that stands for but it is a form of an epileptic seizure.
Maybe that is what this weird speeing up sensation is.
It says that the person having the seizure never loses consciousness and is completely aware of what is happening around them during and after the seizure and that it can effect different people different ways.
Just thought I'd post what I have found.
please if anyone else has any information please post.
Thanks

i have had ringing/tinnitis, ear ache since august, 05. i've been on 4 antiobiotics and recently had mri of inner ears. showed nothing. my ent told me an impinged nerve also and i went to my neuro and he said no way. my ultrasound of thyroid showed swollen cervical lymph nodes in jugulodigastric region, 1 cm or less. my u of chgo endo told me that autoimmune thyroiditis can cause swelling of these lymph nodes, which are deep lymph nodes at jawline,under ear, but deep inside. this can cause ear problems if they are swollen or enlarged. but, not always. have an mri of inner ears to rule out autoimmune disease of ear. i have found many dr's. unfortunately just dont have an answer and will pass you to dr. after dr... go to another ear, nose and throat dr. and request mri of inner ears and ct of neck, or if you havent had one, a thyroid ultrasound. if you are unhappy with your dr. move on...you are the captain of your ship. lmhope

I find I get something at totally random times that feels not like my mind is going too fast or slow, but that everything is really purposeful and loud and forceful, almost angry. Like, my thoughts that previously and normally were just there in my head as usual become really loud, like they're yelling at me in my own head. And noises like the sound of typing on the keyboard seems very loud and violent, even though I know it's not.

ya know some medications can make weird things happen. what are you taking and what is your diagnosis? lmhope

I dont currently take any medications. I haven't in years.

I find I get something at totally random times that feels not like my mind is going too fast or slow, but that everything is really purposeful and loud and forceful, almost angry. Like, my thoughts that previously and normally were just there in my head as usual become really loud, like they're yelling at me in my own head. And noises like the sound of typing on the keyboard seems very loud and violent, even though I know it's not.

that is probably a more accurate description of what I get. Except it's just fast, never slow.

I am very worried about these feelings of everything going way to fast. Like everything just speeds up to hyperspeed and I can't control when or where its going to happen it just does.
I sometimes get this pressure feeling at the back of my skull on the right side of my head. I can't tell if its my skull or inside my brain.
My ears always always ring they never stop.
I am worried because I had another attack after many many years, about 5 years of being symptom free right after I went in to my gastroenterologist for a endoscopy/colonoscopy and he gave me a versed conscious sedation. He said its like a hypnotic drug where I'm awake but I don't remember what went on.
Its like the medicine triggered these symptoms or attacks to start all over again.
I am 32 now, I've been living with these feelings for about 15 years now. I figured it its going to kill me it would have happened by now so this can't be a life threatening condition. I hope.
What worries me is that I am probably going to have to have my gallbladder removed soon and if the medicines I was given for sedation for my endoscopy and colonoscopy how am I going to react to general anesthesia?
How can I explain my fears to my doctor when I don't even have a diagnosis of what this is?
I just want these feelings to stop. I get soooo scared and no one understands me. I try to explain my symptoms to my husband but he doesn't have any idea how I feel it is so scary. Especially when you go to the doctor hoping for a diagnosis and they don't have the slightest clue whats wrong either.

I had these same feelings when I was in the second grade. I complained without an end to my mother who took my claims seriously and took me to a doctor. What I had to do was stay up for a few days and then fall asleep in a doctor's office. During the period of time when I was asleep the doctor placed neurological sensors on my head and did brain scans. I also went through a MRI. The doctor said that nothing was wrong with me, and sure enough the problem went away and hasn't recurred in months.

Please anyone who has posted to this posting please keep me updated.
This is the only place I have ever found that has these same symptoms.
I thought for many many years that I was the only person in the world that had these feelings and it scares me so badly because I never know when it will happen again.
I really need support from others who know what I'm going through.
If you've been diagnosed, if you have one of these episodes, attacks, I don't even know what to call them, please post
Thanks

Please is there anyone out there that has this same undiagnosed disease that we are experiencing.
Every night when I go to sleep I am terrified when this is going to happen again.
The last one of these "episodes" I call them that I had was in January of this year before that I had 3 or 4 in the previous months then it just stopped again as of January 2006.
When it happens is just like everything speeds up, everything around me feels like its going way too fast, my movements of my hands if I lift up my hands or walk or whatever it is that I'm doing, in my perspective is going too fast.
No one around me knows that this is happening to me unless I tell them when its occuring.
They usually last only a few minutes, anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes and they disappear as quickly as it started.

I have done sooo many internet searches trying to find some sort of clue what is going on and I can't find anything.
This website was a God send for me because I am finally finding other people like me who actually have the same symptoms.
Mine started when I was about 14 years old or so and I am 32 now.
Before that it had been several years of being episode free. That is probably what scares me most is I don't know if next time they will be worse when they reoccur or when its going to happen again.
I have been to several ear nose and throat specialists and my family doctor. My family doctor thinks it was possibly a pinched nerve deep in my inner ear.
The bone at the base of the right side of my skull, I always seem to be aware of it there, like that side of my skull or head is bigger and that bothers me.
My ears constantly ring, nonstop, lying in bed at night in a totally silent house drives me nuts because the ringing in my ears is that much more intense so I usually turn on the tv low to muffle out the sound and fall asleep that way.
If this was a fatal disease would I still be here today this going on all these years or is my next attack going to be my last.
Please help. If you have these same symptoms or know of someone who does please post and let me know.
This has to be a very rare disorder of some type because I have never met anyone who even has a clue or has ever had anything even remotely similar to these symptoms.
I really really need your support so please post soon.
Thank you all very very much!

Just a question: Everyone that has had these symptoms. Did you have febrile convulsions [removed] when you were young? Might be related.

Just a question: Everyone that has had these symptoms. Did you have febrile convulsions [removed] when you were young? Might be related.
this sounds like it could possibly be a type of seizure or an aura type seizure...I have had this type of thing happen to me...along with muscles that feel like they ripple or wave very fast and repeatedly...I have several Neurological disorders epilepsy being one, however this sensation is unlike my full out seizures, and different from any aura I have ever had....but it definitely feels like every thing is moving ultra speed, I feel a little nervous and unsure...but totally conscious and aware...its just plain old weird and I see My neuro in a few weeks for follow up test in SMS diagnosis. Ill see what he thinks ....I hope you stay posted.

Stiff Person!
Please post if you find anything out from your neurologist please!
I am so scared and would love to hear from you.
I feel like I'm all alone with this!

Hello

I had confirmation of my SMS diagnosis...the doctor showed no real concern about the rippling muscle sensation, he acted as though its a normal thing with CNS (central Nervous system) Disorders.

I will be seeing another Neuro Tomorrow so I will see what he thinks as well. Let me know if you find anything out....Do you have any confirmed CNS or Neurological disorders?

Are you seeing a doctor now?

No I have never been diagnosed with any neurological disorders at all.
My regular family doctor told me that I could possibly have a pinched nerve deep in my inner ear when I described my sensations that I have.
My ears constantly ring. I think it is worse in my right ear just a bit.
Do you have the weird feelings of everything speeding up?
I can be walking for example at a normal pace and to me it feels like I am speed walking and everything around me is in super speed.
It is very very very scary and I don't know when or why it happens.
I notice too that it usually happens when it is quiet or when I am lying down trying to go to sleep at night often times but not always.
I can be going about daily activities and I can have one of these attacks or episodes. I'm really not even sure what to call them.
Please keep posted on how you are and let me know if you find out anything new.
Thank you again for posting. Bless you, take care.

Hey Stiff Person (username).
Please if you have any new info please post.
Did you ask your doctor on your last visit about your similar symptoms?
If so what did he/she say?
I've been checking several times a day to hear from you and hopefully someone is getting closer to a diagnosis for people like us with these and similar symptoms.
Please anyone feel free to share your medical stories. I feel like I am so alone.

This is really starting to scare me. Several people have posted having these symptoms of everything speeding up and feeling like everything around them is moving way too fast.
Well they post one maybe two times and then "POOF" they're gone.
That is scaring me that something bad is happening or maybe they felt so alone toot that they'll never find anyone in the world that feels this way too.
I have felt this way for about 15 years now. No diagnosis, doctors have looked at me like I was crazy when I tried to explain.
Please is there anyone out there that can relate?

Please is there anyone else out there that feels this way?
I've read a few posts from the few people that have posted on here that have these same symptoms but you that do only post once or twice then I never hear from you again.
If anyone has a suggestion or idea on what this might be please post.
What kind of doctor would I need to see? A neurologist or an otologist?
Please help.

Please, anyone out there? Is this life threatening? Am I going to die eventually from this?

Has anyone ever heard of a simple partial seizure. SPS seizures?
I was looking the symptoms up on the internet that maybe this sensation of everything moving fast when its not is a seizure?

Hello Hamilton

Sorry I havent posted in so long...But my Neuro seems to believe that this is a seizure related activity,(for me) and yes it does sound like you are having some sort of siezure. Are you seeing a Neurologist? You should, your general family doctor may not be aware of what your symptoms really mean.

Thank you so much for replying stiff person.
I haven't seen a neurologist yet but I will. I don't have insurance right now but hopefully soon. As soon as I do I'm making an appointment for a neurologist.
Did your doctor prescribe anti seizure meds or any test to confirm?

Hey! Has anyone had any of these weird episodes lately.
I live in fear everyday of my next one.
Please post any new info anyone might have on what this is.

I had another one of these attacks this morning. Its been almost a year since I had one last. I am so scared! I just want to find out what they are.
Are they some sort of seizure? I asked my primary doctor about it a while back when I was having them all the time and he said he severely doubted it is a seizure. If not then what?
They have died down over the years, I used to have them like I said all the time starting when I was about 15 I think.
I used to ask my mom when I started having these "Does it sound like I'm talking too fast?" And of course she would always say no. To anyone around me they can't tell anything is wrong with me. I don't outwarding show any signs that I'm having one of these.
They are much less frequent but like I said its been a year since I had one last but now when I do get them they are much more intenese.
Am I going to die from this? Is it eventually going to kill me?
I don't have insurance, I can't go any further with this right now until I get insurance and be able to see a doctor.
Anyone please?!?!?

I think at this point you just need to see a neuro doc, maybe even see a couple to make sure that nothing is being missed. It could be a lot of things. The important thing for you right now is to proceed in investigating what it could be but to also stop worrying about it and go with the flow. It could be something minor and easily corrected with medication and you may be stressing yourself out needlessly. Are you having anxiety attacks? Anxiety can seem to manifest in many ways and can happen for no apparent reason to a person, its a very real and sometimes very scarry thing, but it can be controled with medication as well.

But once you see your neuro, he may have some labs drawn and have your head scanned with an MRI to make sure nothing is going on. If he doesn't do it, you may want to request that it be done anyhow just so you don't have to worry about it anymore. An EEG can look at your brainwaves and help determine if you have some kind of seizure activity going on. Good luck to you and God Bless, I hope you get a diagnosis soon. :angel:

Hamilton,
I so agree with Peal Doves, I have seen Neuro's since forever..so there is really no question about my diagnosis being neurological. You will have some peace after you find out...I dont think these episodes will kill you.

go see a Neuro and have them bill you, pay off a lil bit at a time

i could have written your post. i have experienced the same thing for most of my life,a dn I am 31. i had never connected the ringing ears to it, but my ears ring always. i have the weird sensation of things speeding up you are talking about. it almost always happens when i am alone and doing something quiet...like just a bit ago while i was doing the dishes. and you're right, it sooo hard to put in words. i was sitting here googling all sorts of things trying to come up with some match.
do you ever feel like part of your body it giant, heavy, and almost inflated...like an arm?
we should get in touch with each other about it. i havent died yet! ha! i dont feel threatened by these episodes, but I would like them explained.

Wow, this is really amazing. I am 28 years old, and I've had these exact symptoms for as long as I can remember. Lying in bed at night feeling as though my body occupies the entire room; feeling as though my thoughts are traveling at MACH 5; feeling as though all sounds are actually emanating from my head (at quite the volume). Fortunately, I haven't gotten a full blown "attack" in years - however, I got one this morning (which caused me to Google the issue). To my knowledge, I do not suffer from any neurological disease. I am however a hypochondriac - I was wondering if there was possibly a link between hypochondria and these symptoms (either as a cause or an effect). Clearly, we all are somewhat concerned about our health as we are chatting on a health board. Do any of you consider yourselves a hypochondriac?

Another possible cause which I have pondered is the removal of one's tonsils. I had mine removed when I was 5.

still have my tonsils, and not a hypochondriac (sp?)
everything i've seen points to Simple Partial Seizures, obviously a very mild kind. I actually ran across someone last night that had these also triggered by the quiet, like me. And who also experiences the ear ringing. They arent life altering for me, and since i recognize the trigger, I can avoid them by having music on or something like that. They arent causing me any problems, just curious and sometimes alittle freaky when they happen, so having them explained would be nice. I doubt they can ever be offically diagonsed because of the infrequency at which they occur. and because they dont really cause problems and havent gotten worse, its likely just a strange little thing i'll continue to deal with.

Hello - I googled this sensation which I have periodically experienced since I was a young child and I found this ****. Im 32 and recently had a episode of this phenomenon which no one has ever taken seriously when I tried to explain. For me, sounds seem to speed up and the cadence of my voice and the speed of my walking and hand movements seems as if they are all going at about 150% of normal speed. It has been with me most of my life on and off and I don't know what it is but I can clearly remember watching my little hand writing the alphabet in second grade or something and being aware that my hand appeared to be speeding up and the noise in the classroom was racing faster and faster. Now 25 years later I was typing this morning on my laptop and the click of the keys started to sound incredibly fast and I thought, its happening again, interesting, let me poke around the internet. By the way I currently have an ear infection if there is any possible link i dont know. However, when it occurs, I can get myself out of this fast forward time warp by doing meditation style relaxation breathing and (silly as it sounds) moving in slow motion. This seems to trick my brain back into normal time. The brain is an amazing thing - any MDs out there can tell you there is alot they don/t understand.

Hi there,

I'm 36 years old and I've had what I call "speeding up" episodes as long as I can remember. I had one last year, and that was one of the first times since my 20s. My most vivid recollection happened during junior high school during study hall. It was held in the lunchroom, and I heard what sounded like someone running across the room. I looked up to figure out why they were running through the lunchroom, and they were walking -- but walking really fast. My arm and hand motions become really fast. The clock ticks faster. And my internal dialogue takes a different, almost dark tone. That's probably the hardest part to explain about "speeding up".

Just thought I'd add my two cents.

dj

OMG! I thought I was so alone! Thank goodness for this healthboard or I swear I would have thought I was the only person on earth that felt this way.
I've tried to explain this to numerous doctors and they all look at me like I am crazy. The only person that sort of understands me is my primary care doctor, he told me once that it could be a pinched nerve in my inner ear but then I went to an ear nose and throat specialist and he couldn't find anything.
I had almost given up and figured either one day this will go away on its own or I am just crazy. Now I know I'm not crazy lol.
Thank God for all of you! You don't know how much I appreciate hearing your posts.
I hate the feelng of everything as one of your posts put it, going into Mach 5 or hyperspeed, it comes on without warning. Its been a while since my last fullblown attack too but I know there will be more, my ears constantly ring so I have a hard time hearing, I am 32 years old and I feel like I'm twice as old hearing wise because of the severe ringing in my ears I always have to ask people to repeat things, the tv is up a little louder than normal etc..

Hello there. I think this may be the day you have been waiting for. I know what you have, i think. The reason that i say i think, is because i am not a doctor nor do i want to take responsibility for diagnosing anyone.

Beleive it or not, it is called ALICE IN WONDERLAND syndrome, and it IS documented on med sites and not too much is said about it and there is no known cure. It seems to happen mostly to children and it has a large association with migraines or children of migraine sufferers. It seems that when the migraine patterns of "after puberty life" take over, these wierd things stop happening. Some people do report of having these "episodes" into adulthood, but most report of their memory of them, My daughter has what you report. The hearing thing, where everything is speeded up and louder. She started having them after a pretty bad fever and illness where she hallucinated. She also had her first "sweet air" at the dentist. On the site i mentioned above, there are lots of accounts of people and kids whos episodes started with one or both of those things occuring and many many posts are about the relation to migraines. A lot of people have what a previous poster said about visual disturbances. Things appear smaller or larger, someone said they felt like their body took up their whole bed...(alice in wonderland) ....get it? Supposedly Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland" was a migraine sufferer and had these experiences in childhood and that is why he used them as images in his writings. I am a migraine suffferer and i had these things in childhood. gratefully they left me in my teens. I had the visual and sensory- touch- not the aural. I saw my mom get bigger and smaller at the end of my bed. I stared at the ceiling at night and saw all these patterns of lines, it's when i knew i was getting a bad headache. it is the pre-cursor to the migraine aura for some people. Please read the site, because you will not believe all the people who have this, so many thought they were crazy...so many were misdiagnosed with depression, psychiatric disorderrs, etc... because not a lot is known about it and also there is no cure, so no doctor or drug company will profit by the sale of the cure or surgery, hate to say it...but they give it little weight. Some doctors do though aknowledge it and you will find it as AIWS. I hope I have helped you. I hope you stop having these things, they certainly are wacky. But no, you are not going to die and you are not crazy and lots of people have this.

I wish you much peace and comfort.

i just replied to the last post on this thread. read it. it may help explain why you have this after an ear infection.

There is a syndrome called syndrome ALICE IN WONDERLAND. YES, IT'S TRUE.
it's called that because Lewis Carroll had migraines and had this sybdrome and that is what inspired the stories in the book. growing and shrinking and time speeding up... I hope you find relief. At least in knowing that many many other people have experienced this.

you know, i remember having headaches often as a child, but would not call them migraines. I had much worse headaches in my late teens, early twenties, but always referred to them as terrible sinus headaches. They were enough to lay me down in bed though. I havent had one of those headaches since having my first child , so more than 7 years ago. I still get this sensation triggered my doing monotonous tasks in relative silence.

Your link got removed. I guess thats against the rules. But thanks for the name of the syndrome. I'm off to google it.

I did have a question. Just randomly wondering how many of you are mouth breathers?

Hi...when reading the description of your event and some of the comments that follow from other members, I can relate. I've also had tests done for epilepsy that were inconclusive, however...if you read about Alice in Wonderland Syndrome also known as Micropsia...you will see a similarity in symptoms that may be worth discussing with a medical professional. Hope this helps.

I've had this hallucination in the past, but not in over six years since. Like you all said, everything sped up, but the sounds were also intensified - it's not that they were louder so much, but like they were more concentrated, like the sound of my arm moving over sheets was so strong that it was too much for me and I had to stop. It' s hard to explain.

I have tinnitus and I'm convinced the two are related. If I listen to the ringing in my ears, it gets louder. The ringing I've found is actually two notes and sometimes on will fade out and the other get stronger, or they both will be, but the weird thing is that the "pulse", I guess, of the tinnitus is the same as that of my hallucinations.

I would get the "fast thing" as I called it for lack of a better term, when I was asleep sometimes, and it would translate into the most terrifying nightmares I've ever had. They are extremely difficult to describe, but it was like there was this rhythm surging under everything, making a beat to the dream, and everything moved faster or slower and grew or shrunk in size to the beat. There would be "interludes" where the beat went from this monstrous roar to a very quiet, measured pulse, but in the dream I'd realize somehow this pulse was larger, louder, and stronger than anything else, and it would grow and grow again. I barely understand it, so it's hard to describe.

To this day, though, when I listen to songs or certain this, the rhythms of them trigger very strong memories of it. I've never had a full-blown attack in several years, but the rhythms that trigger the memories are ones that are any strong repeating note that doesn't vary much. If you want to hear it, play the song "Harmageddon" by Apocalyptica. I listened to it and for a while couldn't play the whole thing because it very strongly reminds me of the hallucinations. Not the notes or the melody so much, but the way the song varies in intensity and rhythm. Does it sound familiar to anyone else? Maybe it's just me.

For help, I went to a naturepath, since normal doctors couldn't help me. He took me off of sugar and milk and the hallucinations went away. Not sure if it was really the cause or just the placebo effect, but I stayed off sugar for maybe six months, and milk for several years, but I drink it now, and nothing happens. You might try it and see if that helps. I don't really know.

I also had migraines as a kid.

Hope this helps! For those of you who have it still, know you're not alone at all, and I'll be praying for you!