Rakshita Singh
Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS)
is an unusual neurological disorder that induces blurred vision and disorientation in transient episodes. One might feel bigger or smaller than they are. One might also find that the space they are in appears to move and appear farther away or closer than it is, or the surrounding furniture. AIWS describes a series of body image modification symptoms.
A change in visual perception is discovered so that the sizes of body parts or external objects’ dimensions are wrongly perceived. The most common experiences are at night. The causes of AIWS are still not entirely understood. AIWS is caused by typical migraines, temporal lobe seizures, brain tumors, psychoactive medications and Epstein-Barr-virus infections. There is no proven, reliable treatment at AIWS. Migraine prophylaxis and migraine diet are included in the treatment plan. AIWS chronic cases still occur.
Such events are not the product of an issue with one’s eyes or a hallucination. The shifts in how the brain perceives the world in which someone is and how their body looks are triggered. Multiple senses may be impaired by this condition, including vision, touch, and hearing.
It affects children and young adults, mainly. As they mature, many individuals develop disordered perceptions, although this can also be observed in adulthood. AIWS is known as Todd’s syndrome as well. That’s because Dr. John Todd, a British psychiatrist, first recorded it in the 1950s.
The name refers to the well-known children’s book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, in which Alice feels her body getting both bigger and smaller (among other things). AIWS has started to attract scientific attention after 60 years of relative obscurity.
How is the Alice In Wonderland Syndrome observed?
AIWS episodes are different for each individual. What one experiences can vary from one episode to the next as well. A standard episode is a couple of minutes long. Some can be up to half an hour long. An individual may experience one or more of these common symptoms during that time: –
Migraine
Migraines are more likely to be encountered by people who experience AIWS. Some researchers and physicians think that AWS is simply an aura. It’s an early sensory symptom of a migraine. Others assume that a rare subtype of migraine may be AIWS itself.
Size and Perpetual Distortion:
An altered body image is one of the main AIWS symptoms. The person falsely observes the proportion of parts of the body. The head and hands seem unequal more often than not, and in general, the individual perceives growth of different components rather than a reduction in their size.
Another most acute symptom of the AIWS is that the patient inaccurately perceives various other items’ dimensions. The feeling that your body or things around you are getting smaller is micropsia. Macropsia is the feeling that the body or objects are growing bigger around you. Both are prevalent experiences during an AIWS episode.
Time distortion:
This syndrome is distinguished by visual perception distortions (metamorphopsias), the schema of the body, and time experience. Some individuals who have AIWS lose their sense of time. They might believe that time passes faster or slower than it does.
Loss of control over limbs or loss of balance:
When muscles feel as though they are behaving involuntarily, this symptom occurs. You can feel like you’re not managing your limbs, in other words. Likewise, how you drive or walk will influence the altered sense of reality. You may feel uncoordinated or have trouble getting about as you would usually do.
What are the causes of Alice In Wonderland Syndrome?
Researchers conclude that irregular electrical activity in the brain causes the parts of the brain that process the surroundings to have abnormal blood flow and experience sensory perception—the effect of many causes maybe this unusual electrical activity. One research showed that there were infections in 33% of people who experienced AIWS. Six per cent of AIWS episodes were tied to both head injuries and migraines. But there was no known cause in more than half of the AWS cases.
What is the treatment of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome?
There is no proven, successful cure for AIWS, but treatment services are used to bring about relief for the disease’s possible causes. Chronic AIWS cases are very untreatable and must, gradually, wear out. During the day, a person suffering from the condition may have distortions and hallucinations, and the symptoms may take some time to subside. The person can get nervous, anxious and panic-stricken. Such manifestations are not harmful or disruptive and are likely to fade over a while.
What is the diagnosis for the Alice In Wonderland Syndrome?
There’s not a single test to help diagnose AIWS. By removing all potential causes or reasons for the symptoms, doctors will be able to diagnose. To do this, doctors should do the following:
- MRI: Highly detailed images of organs and tissues, including the brain, can be created by an MRI.
- Electroencephalographic (EEG): An EEG will calculate the brain’s electrical activity.
It is likely that AWS is underdiagnosed. This is because the episodes do not grow to a degree of concern for individuals watching them, and sometimes last only a few seconds or minutes. For small children, this is particularly true. It can also be difficult for doctors to research AWS and better understand its consequences because of the episodes’ transient nature.
Episodes of Alice In Wonderland Syndrome can occur many times a day for several days in a row, and then a person may not have symptoms for several weeks or months. Over time, one is likely to experience fewer symptoms. As one reaches early adulthood, the syndrome can disappear entirely.
