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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Is Alice In Wonderland Syndrome?

hello, i am researching a disorder called Alice in Wonderland Syndrome . i would perfer a primary source for what it is about the disease i need to know. i know that it alters the perseption of an idividual. i also found online that the people with disease don t truely understand that they have or the extent to which they have it? is there something you can tell me.
Mon, 7 Apr 2014
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Neurologist, Surgical,  's  Response
Hi, hey wow, thanks for the question!

I have only ever seen 1 case of AIWS and it was the initial presentation of a viral infection called the Epstein-Barr virus. It's the same virus that causes 'mono'.

From what i understand of the issue, the virus causes inflammation of the blood brain barrier, especially in the posterior vertebral distribution. This has been theorized to cause tiny perturbations in the blood flow through the occipital cortex and THAT causes the visual changes.

There have been other instances of AIWS, it's been seen in psychoses especially in the young, it has been related to certain types of illegal drug use, etc

The symptoms are basically issues with the perception of relative size. The patient thinks that they are incredibly small and everything around them is gigantic... or the opposite.. they are the giant and everything is small. It's a distortion of the visual pathway. I'm sorry I wish i could tell you the exact pathology, but i don't know it, and my experience with the syndrome is very very limited.

I hope this helps. Thanks for coming to HCM. I hope your research goes well.

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What Is Alice In Wonderland Syndrome?

Hi, hey wow, thanks for the question! I have only ever seen 1 case of AIWS and it was the initial presentation of a viral infection called the Epstein-Barr virus. It s the same virus that causes mono . From what i understand of the issue, the virus causes inflammation of the blood brain barrier, especially in the posterior vertebral distribution. This has been theorized to cause tiny perturbations in the blood flow through the occipital cortex and THAT causes the visual changes. There have been other instances of AIWS, it s been seen in psychoses especially in the young, it has been related to certain types of illegal drug use, etc The symptoms are basically issues with the perception of relative size. The patient thinks that they are incredibly small and everything around them is gigantic... or the opposite.. they are the giant and everything is small. It s a distortion of the visual pathway. I m sorry I wish i could tell you the exact pathology, but i don t know it, and my experience with the syndrome is very very limited. I hope this helps. Thanks for coming to HCM. I hope your research goes well.