Alice in Wonderland Syndrome
An odd neurological disorder which bears similarity to the changes in size and perception suffered by Alice in Lewis Carroll’s hallucinatory novel.
This is a neurological disorder that presents with alterations in the way patients perceive their bodies in relation to their surroundings. For instance, a patient may feel that objects in the immediate environment are enlarged in comparison to his/her body. This is a phenomenon known as macropsia. Patients may state that they feel less than a foot tall, or that furniture may be grossly massive.
The opposite sensation; where one’s surroundings are minute compared to one’s body, is called micropsia. Other distortions, such as perceived asymmetry of body parts, have also been reported. Odd sensations such as time slowing down or quickening may also be part of the Alice in Wonderland Syndrome.
Unsurprisingly, the syndrome derives its name from Lewis Carroll’s book – Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland. After drinking from a little bottle with a paper label enscribed “DRINK ME,” Alice describes “shutting up like a telescope,” and ending up 10 inches high. Technically, this would be an example of macropsia.
Afterwards, Alice finds a cake in a glass box and proceeds to eat it which causes her to enlarge rapidly: “Now I”m opening out like the largest telescope that ever was.’ This altered perception is an example of micropsia.
There are a variety of causes of this syndrome, but in the majority of cases it occurs as part of a migraine. Other causes include epilepsy, the use of drugs and certain neurological infections- including Epstein-Barr virus encephalitis.
Although sometimes a source of anxiety for the sufferer, the condition is usually innocuous and may be treated as migraines are treated i.e. with analgesic medication or serotonergic drugs like Triptans.
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