Hallucinations 

Are you hearing noises, seeing things, or smelling something foul that no one else can smell, see, or hear? If yes, then you are suffering from hallucinations. It is a condition where people develop a false perception about an object, thing, or people which affects their senses (such as sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste). It is basically a symptom of certain conditions or things such as infections, mental health conditions, neurological conditions, or medication side effects. There are many types of hallucinations that can affect an individual. However, treating its cause can fix this problem. So, when you notice a hallucination symptom you should contact your doctor to check your condition to treat it accordingly. Visit the best Mental Health Clinic in Brooklyn at Doral Health & Wellness or log on to www.doralhw.org. 

Learn about hallucination in detail to know about its types and treatment.

Types 

Many different types of hallucinations can affect taste, vision, hearing, smell, or body sensations such as:  

Auditory (sound) hallucinations:  

This is the most common type of hallucination which causes hearing sounds that aren’t real like music, someone calling your name, footsteps or door banging, etc.  

Visual (sight) hallucinations:  

In this type of hallucination, you see things that aren’t there, such as objects, shapes, people, animals, or lights.  

Tactile (touch) hallucinations:  

In this type of hallucination, you can feel someone or something touching you or moving on your body that is not real. It can involve something like a bug crawling on your skin or internal organs moving around.  

Olfactory (smell) hallucinations:  

This type of hallucination involves different smells that are not present there or no one else can pick such as flower smell, or foul smell.  

Gustatory (taste) hallucinations:  

This hallucination causes taste hallucinations which are often strange or unpleasant such as picking a metallic taste while eating meat. It is very common in people with epilepsy.  

Presence hallucinations: 

This hallucination makes you feel the presence of someone with you in the room or standing behind you (like a ghost).  

Proprioceptive hallucinations: 

This hallucination makes you feel that your body is moving on its own such as flying or floating, while it’s not.  

Symptoms 

Hallucination symptoms can vary from person to person and the type of hallucinations they experience such as:  

• Hearing sounds or voices when nobody is there or nobody else hears. 
• Seeing things that are not there such as objects, shapes, people, or lights 
• Feeling like someone’s touching you or moving your body that is not real like a bug crawling on your skin or internal organs moving around.  
• Smell things that are not present.  
• Taste things that no one else can pick or feel that make you feel unpleasant or strange.  
• Think that your body is moving around on its own like flying or floating, but it’s not.  

Diagnosis 

To diagnose your hallucinations, the doctor first asks you about your symptoms and then performs a physical exam to check your condition. The doctor also recommends some other tests as well to rule out the cause that caused those symptoms such as:  

• Blood or urine tests to check for infections or disease.  
• ECG to check your brain for unusual patterns of electrical impulses in your brain for seizures or epilepsy. 
• MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) test to see the clear picture inside your body to see if there is a tumor or stroke that affects your brain.  

This way your doctor can find the cause that makes you hallucinate and treat them accordingly.  

Treatment 

 The treatment of hallucinations depends on the underlying cause such as temporary conditions such as high fever, severe dehydration, or infection, which can be treated by treating their underlying condition.  

Usually, medication and therapies are used to treat hallucinations, such as:  

• Typical (first-generation) and atypical (second-generation) antipsychotic medications may help decrease the severity of hallucinations in people with schizophrenia, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder with psychotic features.  
• Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for auditory hallucination that doesn’t respond to antipsychotic medications.  
• Antiseizure drugs to treat epilepsy 
• Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors are used to treat hallucinations or delusions in people with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Lewy body dementia.  
• Surgery or radiation therapy to treat tumors.  
• Drugs such as triptans, beta-blockers, or anticonvulsants for people with migraines.  
• Therapy like cognitive behavioral therapy can also help people to change their thinking and behavior, and to manage their symptoms better. 

Need help with any kind of hallucination, then call us at 1-347-384-5690 to schedule a consultation. If you need help learning coping methods, register your information and make direct contact with our doctor or psychiatrist to learn those methods, log on to www.doralhw.org. Doral Health and Wellness has the best Doctors and Psychiatrists that specialize in Behavioral Health make accurate diagnoses, and craft tailored treatment programs. Visit us at 1797 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11212.