Hallucinations

[Lilfae]

I know visual and auditory halluconations are not a symptom on PTSD, but I was wondering if there are anyone else out there experiencing this?

I have had visuals, but they are very rare now. I mostly have audiotory halluconations. I know its a byproduct of my own mind, but its not something you can turn on and off.  I was wondering how other people are dealing with it?

[Three Roses]

I have had visual hallucinations, they are typically just a flash where I can easily distinguish it's not reality. Some combat vets have been known to be transported via flashbacks back to the original trauma. It's not unheard of, you're not alone. Hopefully someone else will give you more feedback on this.

[AphoticAtramentous]

I've had my share of hallucinations before. Mainly visual. I've never taken any hallucinatory substances, and I've never stayed up for so long that it might have been a cause for the hallucinations. So I am willing to bet it's some kind of symptom of the ptsd. If not, who knows! Haha
My hallucinations mainly come as inhuman beings, and they're always black. I've only had one hallucination of something humanoid - a hand reaching out to grab me whilst I was in bed but me waving at the air seemed to get it to go away. I'm not sure how you would get auditory hallucinations to go away though, I'm afraid.
Honestly the hallucinations don't terrify me. In fact they're more intriguing than anything else, and I actually enjoy seeing them because they're just so absurd and random they do a mighty fine job of distracting me from reality. ^-^

[Lilfae]

I do have the regular flashbacks too, but they don't tend to happen at the same time as the hallucinations.

I've never taken anything to promote halluscinations either. That thought didn't even occur to me as I wrote the threat to begin with. I used to have visuals, and they were far more freaky and creeping me out than the audiotory halluscinations. I guess I am so used to them, they don't scare me. But the concentration it takes away from conversations with others and in lectures are quite frustrating. So I was wondering how others dealt with it, without using drugs?

[Rainagain]

I had to stop one anti anxiety medication because of visual disturbances.

If you are on medication might be worth checking the small print?

I think lots of meds can cause vision issues as an uncommon side effect.

I see things moving/ sudden movement in my peripheral vision often and I'm not on any meds, its not a hallucination though, I think its hypervigilance, my brain thinking some danger might be present when its not. It doesn't bother me much, its common.

[AphoticAtramentous]

I see things moving/ sudden movement in my peripheral vision often and I'm not on any meds, its not a hallucination though, I think its hypervigilance, my brain thinking some danger might be present when its not. It doesn't bother me much, its common.

I get the same thing. It's not really bothering, seeing as you can usually just look around and see there is no real danger. Many times I've seen something in the corner of my eye and I've quickly snapped my attention to it... and the most obscure thing I've ever had pop up in my vision like that was not just a small blinking LED, but the reflection of one! I don't know how my eyes notice that! Haha. It kind of feels like a mini super power if anything, cat-like eyes almost.

[Sceal]

I've had all sorts of hallucinations.
Some of them were outright from zombie-movies. Others' not so bad, but left a lingering feeling of disgust. Some were just random.
I learned quite early to wait for other people's responses, if no one didn't react then it was most likely not happening.  The visual hallucinations are all but gone now. They come under extreme stress and paranoia.
For the last few years it was voices. But they are mostly gone now, and now I feel so alone.
And they weren't always malicious or abusive. Most of the time they just really talked over my head. More like constant noise, like when you're on the subway or inside a big hall full of people waiting for the show to start. It can get quite distractive. But sometimes I could sort of talk to them, like they were my friends. My secret imaginary friends.
They've been gone before, I am sure they'll come back again later. Thinking about this, reading what I've written. I sound like a lunatic...

[Kizzie]

I stumbled across this 2005 article today "Adverse childhood experiences and hallucinations" at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0145213405001468.

[Blueberry]

I see things moving/ sudden movement in my peripheral vision often and I'm not on any meds, its not a hallucination though, I think its hypervigilance, my brain thinking some danger might be present when its not.

I remembered you'd written this when a few weeks ago I kept seeing little brown scurrying movements in my peripheral vision up at the farm. You might think "farm = mice" and you're right but not in the room I was working in, a cheese room. No mice in there! So just hypervigilance at a time when some things were going on emotionally - realisations or whatever and I projected that onto the cheese room. I'm glad you posted because it meant I didn't have to wonder about it. 

[Alias]

I experienced a noticeable auditory hallucination for the first time a few weeks ago.  I was lying in bed trying to sleep.  I have trouble sleeping because sometimes I start just randomly running through bad memories and can't stop.  I like to make myself think of lists instead: favorite tv shows, every brand of shampoo I can think of, etc.  This is relevant, because that's the only reason I noticed.  Everything was quiet, my husband was asleep, and I was listing brands of toothpaste in my head.  I think it started really quietly, and gradually got louder until I noticed, but I started to hear whispering.  It was really disconcerting, since I was already thinking about toothpaste brands, so I realized 2 things:  1.) The whispering was not in my head (like the list), it was in my left ear (furthest from my husband)  2.) The voice that was whispering was not the same voice that is in my head.   

The experience really made me question my reality.  I have since been paying more attention to the amount of times I have those "What was that?" "I didn't say anything" conversations with my husband.  Also, I have been paying more attention to the times that I thought I saw something move out of my peripheral vision (just generic, shadowy movement) when I'm home alone.  My therapist confirmed that hearing something "in your ear" instead of "in your head" is a symptom of psychotic illnesses like schizophrenia, not dissociative or anxiety based disorders like my DPDR or CPTSD.  She also said that symptoms of schizophrenia don't normally just start up out of nowhere at my age (29), but that she would do some additional research to try to figure out why it was happening to me.  She said not to worry too much about it, but to keep track of it and keep her updated (especially if I start experiencing "command" hallucinations).  I also have regular flashbacks, but like Lilfae said, these seem to be a different experience.  I will let you guys know if/when I get an update.

[Sceal]

Hello Alias,

I know how scary these things can get. And yes, your therapist is right it is a symptom of a psychotic episode, and of schitzophrenia. BUT, I want you be aware of this, that it might not be either. There are people out there, highly functioning and without any mental illness who have auditory hallucinations.  There is a german or a dutch group that talks about this - but I can't quite remember their name. Although I'm sure you can find information about them online.
I also know that there is some ongoing research on this topic in Norway right now.

I hope that you will find out together with your T what these symptoms are for you.