The Woman Who Saw Dragons

[Skywizard]

A 52 year old woman suffered from a strange problem: she saw dragons wherever she looked.


Here’s the medical case report in The Lancet: Prosopometamorphopsia and facial hallucinations from a team of researchers including the famous Oliver Sacks.

In July, 2011, a 52-year-old woman presented to our psychiatric outpatient clinic with a life-long history of seeing people’s faces change into dragon-like faces and hallucinating similar faces many times a day.

What does a dragon look like? According to the patient, when someone turns into one, their faces become

Black, grew long, pointy ears and a protruding snout, and displayed a reptiloid skin and huge eyes in bright yellow, green, blue, or red.

These hallucinations didn’t just occur when the woman was looking at real faces. The dragons also came out of nowhere

She saw similar dragon-like faces drifting towards her many times a day from the walls, electrical sockets, or the computer screen, in both the presence and absence of face-like patterns, and at night she saw many dragon-like faces in the dark.

What was causing these strange phenomena? The authors of the case report confess that they’re not sure. Brain scanning revealed no obvious cause:

Neurological examination, blood tests, and electroencephalogram (EEG) were normal, and MRI brain showed only a few white-matter abnormalities

The authors nonetheless go on to speculate as to the neurological basis of the woman’s complaints, but I think that if they were to speak freely, they’d admit that it’s a mystery.

Our story has a happy ending, at least. The woman was put on rivastigmine, an anti-dementia medication, and this vanquished the dragons (mostly). Previously she had been unable to hold down a job because the hallucinations interfered with her social interactions, but now

She has remained in the same job for the past 3 years and her interaction with colleagues is greatly improved.

Source: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ne...o-saw-dragons/



peace...

[Snookie]

I wonder if she had more DMT in her system than most people do. There has been research done where volunteers who took DMT saw many strange sights they didn't normally see.

[Tesla_WTC_Solution]

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

He is immortalized in the tale of Saint George and the Dragon and is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. His memorial is celebrated on 23 April (6 May), and he is regarded as one of the most prominent military saints.

Many Patronages of Saint George exist around the world, including: Malta, Georgia, England, Egypt, Bulgaria, Aragon, Catalonia, Romania, Ethiopia, Greece, India, Iraq, Lebanon, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Sardinia, Serbia, Macedonia, Ukraine, Russia and Syria, as well as the cities of Genoa, Amersfoort, Beirut, Botoşani, Drobeta Turnu-Severin, Timișoara, Fakiha, Bteghrine, Cáceres, Ferrara, Freiburg im Breisgau, Kragujevac, Kumanovo, Ljubljana, Pérouges, Pomorie, Preston, Qormi, Rio de Janeiro, Lydda, Lviv, Barcelona, Moscow and Victoria, as well as of the Scout Movement[4] and a wide range of professions, organizations, and disease sufferers including leprosy, plague, herpes and syphilis.

Meningovascular syphilis typically presents with apathy and seizure, and general paresis with dementia and tabes dorsalis.[4] Also, there may be Argyll Robertson pupils, which are bilateral small pupils that constrict when the person focuses on near objects, but do not constrict when exposed to bright light.

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

Argyll Robertson pupils (“AR pupils” or colloquially as "Prostitute's Pupil") are bilateral small pupils that reduce in size when the patient focuses on a near object (they “accommodate”), but do not constrict when exposed to bright light (they do not “react” to light). They are a highly specific sign of neurosyphilis, and might also be a sign of diabetic neuropathy. In general, pupils that “accommodate but do not react” are said to show light-near dissociation- i.e., its the absence of a miotic reaction to light, both direct and consensual, with the preservation of a miotic reaction to near stimulus (accommodation-convergence). A video of AR pupils and light-near dissociation is available here

AR pupils are extremely uncommon in the developed world. There is continued interest in the underlying pathophysiology, but the scarcity of cases makes ongoing research difficult.

A third cause of light-near dissociation is Parinaud syndrome, also called dorsal midbrain syndrome. This uncommon syndrome involves vertical gaze palsy associated with pupils that “accommodate but do not react."[6] The causes of Parinaud syndrome include brain tumors (pinealomas), multiple sclerosis and brainstem infarction.

Due to the lack of detail in the older literature and the scarcity of AR pupils at the present time, it is not known whether syphilis can cause Parinaud syndrome. It is not known whether AR pupils are any different from the pupils seen in other dorsal midbrain lesions.

State hospital bulletin: published four times a year by the State Hospital ...
By New York. State Hospital Commission






sad stuff

[Gatita]

I can think of worse things to see.

Cat

[Ellisa]

That's an extraordinary story. It would be a horrible thing to happen to you I think. They do appear to be hallucinations, as they were alleviated by medication.

I really like that picture Tesla, the colours are brilliant,and the information in the background is intriguing.

I wonder what those ancient 'dragons' were. There are so many myths and legends about them, everywhere, all over the world.

[Hervé]

Posted by Skywizard (here)
[...]

The woman was put on rivastigmine, an anti-dementia medication, and this vanquished the dragons (mostly). Previously she had been unable to hold down a job because the hallucinations interfered with her social interactions, but now

[...]

I... I... hic... I... see ppp... pink... eleph.... hic... phants... in... hic... rooms...

... do.. you.. hic... think you can... hic... conjure... hic... my delir.... hic... rrrium trem... hic... mmens... hic... with some... hic... chemi... hic... cals... ?

Dose some... hic... of my ... hic... neurons... with... hic... chem... hic... cals... lobotom..... hic... mizing... thing... hic... gies... ?

Happ... ppp ... hic... pppy... New... hic... Year... every... hic... one!!!

No, nnnnn... no.... hic... not dddr... hic... unk... yet!

[Mod's hat off... hic.. on... hic.. OFF... yeah!]

[ghostrider]

Posted by Gatita (here)
I can think of worse things to see.

Cat

yes like Dick Cheney ...

[InTheBackground]

Is it just me, or do the people in the tower have... odd... faces?

I think the woman was seeing a vibrational overlay...