WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS: PERCEPTION DIFFICULTIES

Apr 21 2009

Some of the action of the drugs is on the temporal lobe of the brain. During withdrawal, this area is trying to get back to normal. For a time this may result in temporal lobe symptoms. Perception difficulties are included. This means your senses (sight, sound, touch, taste and smell) may appear to be playing tricks on you. Your senses have been dulled by the drugs for so long that you have slowly become accustomed to altered perception. This may increase a little before it clears. Don’t be alarmed if things seem odd at first. You will realize that this is how the world looked before drugs. Lights and colours may seem so bright at first that you need sunglasses. Many people have forgotten the pleasure of colour and are thrilled by their gardens. One woman kept scrubbing her carpet thinking it looked dull. When she came off her drugs she said she felt as though the colours were leaping out at her they were so bright. Overbreathing also heightens perception. If you see a dirty mark on the wall as a beetle or a coat hanging behind the door as a person, these are perceptual disturbances. If there is no mark on the wall nor a coat behind the door, and yet you see these things, these could be hallucinations. Many people say that faces seem to change as they look at them, or heads appear larger than they should be when they watch television. Buildings can appear too tall and thin, or bent at the top. These are temporary disturbances and will go in time.