Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: pingu on 16/09/2007 15:12:13

Title: Closed eye hallucinations
Post by: pingu on 16/09/2007 15:12:13

Hi all, can anyone explain the physiology behind closed eye hallucinations which lasted 5 days following general anaesthetic with propofol?  Fascinating to experience but totally exhausting as it's difficult to sleep just when you need it most.  Also how common is it?

Title: Closed eye hallucinations
Post by: RD on 17/09/2007 15:53:37

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphene

Title: Closed eye hallucinations
Post by: pingu on 17/09/2007 16:01:19

No.. not that.  Whole scenes, buildings, castles, deserts, shut your eyes and there it is, roam about like a TV camera.  It's a known thing, just damned hard to find out much about it.

Title: Closed eye hallucinations
Post by: RD on 17/09/2007 16:03:42

Quote

A lucid dream is a dream in which the person is aware that he or she is dreaming while the dream is in progress. During lucid dreams, it is often possible to exert conscious control over the dream characters and environment, as well as to perform otherwise physically impossible feats. Lucid Dreams are known to be extremely real and vivid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dreaming

Title: Closed eye hallucinations
Post by: pingu on 18/09/2007 08:43:44

Haha.. not dreaming.  You're not very helpful.  It's a reaction to a drug.  Something like this... 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=1929906&ordinalpos=5&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

or this

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=2036612&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus

Never mind, my post has been picked up by google so maybe someone in the future who has experiences the same after general anaesthetic will post.

Title: Closed eye hallucinations
Post by: RD on 19/09/2007 16:24:41

Quote from: pingu on 16/09/2007 15:12:13

Hi all, can anyone explain the physiology behind closed eye hallucinations which lasted 5 days following general anaesthetic with propofol?

Propofol supposedly has a half life of 2-24hours,
If you were affected for 5 days perhaps it was due to another medication you were given during this 5 day period.

Quote

one of propofol's most frequent side effects is pain on injection, especially in smaller veins. This pain can be mitigated by pretreatment with lidocaine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propofol

You gave a link to lidocaine producing hallucinations
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=1929906&ordinalpos=5&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum