Migraines, Visual Illusions and Alice in Wonderland Syndrome

A young man had an upsetting incident in school.

“I had trouble concentrating and remembering anything the whole day. I feel triggered and mental. I had a constant headache.” The most interesting thing was how it affected his vision.

“My eyes hurt, and I had trouble seeing. Things look less colorful. My eyes hurt when I tried to focus on things. It was as if there was a halo around them. Small things seemed smaller. I really had trouble reading words. Everything seemed blurred. I began to see flickers, and I saw clouds on ceilings. As I walked home, I saw the sidewalk shrink. Everything feels so heavy. I feel weak. I am so confused. Am I mental?”

He felt weak, his toes were numb and his feet felt as if they were bandaged.

A single dose of Platina 30C calmed him down. Within minutes, he was no longer seeing things shrink or shape shift. He regained his strength and returned to school within 2 days.

Philadelphia is a treasure trove of medical curiosities. On a recent visit to the Mutter Museum, I learnt that there is a name to this curious condition where a migraine is accompanied by the experience of objects and people changing size, distance and shape, sometimes all at once. It’s the Alice in Wonderland Syndrome.

I told the young man about it. He was amused. “So I’m like Alice in Wonderland!” He thought a little more, and asked, “Is there a cure for it?”

I assured him that most children outgrow it, and if he didn’t, he’d be in the good company of Charles Dodgson, the Oxford professor of Mathematics who wrote Alice in Wonderland under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.  And didn’t homeopathy help? That seemed to satisfy him.

It has been more than 6 months, and he has not had another episode of migraine or visual disturbances.

The Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is a rare neurological disorder that does not respond to conventional medical treatment, and not for lack of trying. When medical researchers admit in the Journal of Pediatric Neuroscience, “Chronic cases of AIWS are quite untreatable and must wear out, eventually,” it is time to look to homeopathy for an elegant, simple solution.