Synaesthialicious

[shanmonster]

f00dave wants me to write a collection of my synaesthetic thoughts. It will be a tricky project for me, as my sensory associations are too obvious to me (like writing, I have a nose. My skin is on top of my muscles). But now that I know this doesn't happen for other people, I ought to invest a bit more thought into it

Comments

[cathellisen]

When I close my eyes, I don't see black. I see coloured static which coalesces into all sorts of shapes and movements.

Um...doesn't this happen to everyone? *is confused now*

[shanmonster]

Dunno. Maybe it does.

Like I said, it all seems obvious to me, so maybe it's obvious to other people, too.

[f00dave]

Nope. I see "black", unless I'm tired or too hungry or something. I can _imagine_ stuff, but that's not the same.

[cathellisen]

Weird, you've shifted my perception of myself now, I always assumed that everyone got the pretty colours...

[issi_noho]

When I close my eyes, I don't see black. I see coloured static which coalesces into all sorts of shapes and movements.

I've always had that, but I've never thought of it in terms of synaesthesia, I've always put it down to pressure of the eyelids on the eyes (or something). Certainly, I've never experienced anything else that'd suggest the syndrome.

[shanmonster]

It's like that for me in a perfectly black room with my eyes open, too.

[issi_noho]

Ah, well I don't have that.

[phil_in_a_box]

Same here. The colors aren't really bright, they're mostly dark maroonish purple patterns with some orange and a little green thrown in, I think.

Do your ears ring any time it's quiet, like mine? Not one specific pitch like after a gun goes off nearby, but a kind of pitch or cluster I can't put my finger on.

[tobysionann]

My boyfriend has epilepsy, and while he hasn't had a full-blown seizure since he was a kid, he has some synaesthetic characteristics. He tells me he sees certain sounds as symbols, a different symbol for each sound, and sometimes they combine. He's drawn them for me before at one of those restaurants that give you crayons to doodle on the paper tablecloth. It's pretty fascinating. He doesn't get migraines very often, but when he does he's out for a day or more. I think it's all related to his epilepsy.

[shanmonster]

Hmmm.... I wonder if this has any bearing on why my doctor wanted to put me on anti-seizure meds for my migraines? I've never had a seizure, and am not epileptic. Weirdness....

[shanmonster]

I can understand that....

I've smelled green smells.

[zombienought]

You got the shining, girl!

When I pay attention to the actual words people are saying, I see black text scrolling simultaneously with the words

I wonder what this would be if you'd never
learned to read?

Anti-seizure meds seem to be the new anti-
biotics. The last doctor I saw tried to
get me on them because they are good at
blocking random firing of the nerves, so
they have been effective for people with
shingles. They're also sedating.

[shanmonster]

"I wonder what this would be if you'd never learned to read?"

I've wondered this, myself.

I still can't figure out why my doctor wanted me on powerful anti-seizure meds. I think she chooses pills at random, based on ads in her medical journals. One of the meds turned me into a drooling zombie for three days. I got off that one right away. Others have left me depressed, fat, and wholly lacking in energy/drive.

So I'd really rather not go on anything else if it can be helped. I'd rather treat things through painkillers (when necessary), or through herbal or meditative means.

And I really don't think I need sedating. I like being hyper!

[nymphie]

Those are really cool! I too see the "personal cartoon show". Though actually, something really weird started happening to me, I think once I started getting really into film photography and computers. When I first started shooting really long exposures under low light situations, I would be frustrated that I would get a lot of grain, even with lower grain films like 200 ISO. Then one day I noticed, while lying in bed looking up at the white ceiling and realized I saw "pixels" in real life, little specks of red, green, and blue. I still see them, even in the daylight. Though admittedly it works better if I am looking at an evenly colored object, like a table, and I think about it

[f00dave]

We call those things "hippos", and they mostly happen when she's falling asleep. Though there are very, very many Random Utterances when you're around Shan. ;-)

[nymphie]

I love "sleepy talk". My husband says it, I just think it. Like once I developed a whole new way of communicating based upon the Japanese numbers 1- 10. Unfortunetly I forgot it once I fell asleep.

[cathellisen]

Hey - the pixel thing, me too. And floating germs. I see lots of tiny squirmy things in the air (think: a white noise filter), but I actually have to concentrate to see them, because I tend to tune them out. I am short-sighted though, so perhaps that has something to do with it. Although I get (very) occasional migraines. *shrug*