PULSE Magazine | February 2019 Issue PE

WHAT IS... Alice in Wonderland Syndrome

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Dr. Strangelove Syndrome

Two Weird but Real Medical Conditions

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome

The syndrome is associated with migraine headaches and named after Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, in which Alice goes through many bizarre experiences and transfor- mations. The fact that Carroll suffered from migraines is well documented, and some speculate that his suffering may have prompted many passages in the story telling of Alice in Wonderland. This neurological syndrome, also called Todd’s Syndrome, usually presents with migraines that distort perception of size and distance. Episodes, which can last up to an hour, involve seeing objects or people as very big, very small, or further away than they actually are. The condition, also known as micropsia or Lillliput sight, can also affect the sense of hearing, touch and perceptions of one's own body image. Patients can also experience hallucinations, as well as an inaccurate sense of time passing very slowly or quickly. The syndrome typically affects young children and can occur at the onset of sleep.

Dr. Strangelove Syndrome

Named after the title character in the classic 1964 film, this condition involves uncontrollable hand or limb movement. Most commonly the left hand is affected. The condition is also referred to as Alien Hand Syndrome (AHS). “From time to time, when the other hand is engaged, the affected hand may hop in and try to interfere with that hand or do something counter to it,” says Elizabeth Geary, PhD, a neuropsychologist with North Shore University Health System in Evanston, Ill. While under normal circumstances, thought, as intent, and action can be assumed to be deeply mutually entangled, the occurrence of alien hand syndrome can be usefully conceptualized as a phenomenon reflecting a functional "disentanglement" between thought and action. AHS is usually the result of a tumor, stroke, or surgery that affects the corpus callosum, which connects the brain’s two hemispheres. Damage to the right hemisphere impacts the left hand and vice versa because one side of the brain controls movement on the body’s opposite side. It also occurs in some cases after brain an infection, aneurysm, migraine and specific degenerative brain conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. Other areas of the brain that are associated with alien hand syndrome are the frontal, occipital, and parietal lobes.

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