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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 10 of 10. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by uncouth on July 9, 2014, at 1:49:03
Hi, quick note. Has anyone experienced this condition. I think it might be related to temporal lobe epilepsy or left ACC lesions from the pubmed research.
Basically, I am experiencing the very strong sense that certain people are familiar to me, the "don't i know you" feeling. Numerous times per day to a point of being distressing and distracting. And of course, none of them are familiar, which I realize quickly after looking and feeling the sense of familiarity (so i'm not delusional).
Anyone? The condition is actually called "hyperfamiliarity" or "hyperfamiliarity for faces" if you want to look it up. Very odd.
Emailed my doctor, he says it sounds like deja vouz, but it happens all the time, and ONLY with faces.
Concerned. Figure it's been going on for 1-2 months. Only thing new has been Nardil, and the Psychotropical guy says "if anything, Nardil would reduce the risk of epileptic activity".
Thanks
uncouth
Posted by Partlycloudy on July 9, 2014, at 13:09:12
In reply to Hyperfamiliarity for faces?, posted by uncouth on July 9, 2014, at 1:49:03
Actually, I have experienced this intensely when I have travelled overseas for long periods. For example, I lived for some years in the UK during my ex's job transfer. For months, I did double takes as I kept on seeing really familiar faces around the village we lived in. Like, close friends from home, acquaintances, not many people I could put a name to.
Same experience when I would travel abroad from there.
I put it down, eventually, to recognising familiar gene pools. I do take anti seizure medication, as a preventative for migraine. (Zonegran) but didn't during all of that time, only some of it.
So I wonder if some of what you see is a facial pattern that is familiar? (I thought I was going bonkers, because my ex husband was oblivious.) There must be a sensitivity to it.
PC
Posted by uncouth on July 9, 2014, at 13:16:52
In reply to Re: Hyperfamiliarity for faces? » uncouth, posted by Partlycloudy on July 9, 2014, at 13:09:12
HIghly doubt its anything gene pool for me....and don't you think it was the fact you were not on your zonegran that may have caused it? It's definitely related to seizure related activity somewhere in the brain (temporal lobe i think).
Posted by Partlycloudy on July 9, 2014, at 14:25:05
In reply to Re: Hyperfamiliarity for faces?, posted by uncouth on July 9, 2014, at 13:16:52
Actally, I think it has more to do with the global gene pool, frankly, and how it is distributed.
But that is me, and I have never been taken seriously, nor has it been questioned so. Just a theory of mine.
Posted by Phillipa on July 9, 2014, at 19:02:32
In reply to Hyperfamiliarity for faces?, posted by uncouth on July 9, 2014, at 1:49:03
I googled this and it says something about a temporal lesion of brain. But with it headaches. Are you under a lot of stress? Phillipa
Posted by uncouth on July 9, 2014, at 19:17:08
In reply to Re: Hyperfamiliarity for faces? » uncouth, posted by Phillipa on July 9, 2014, at 19:02:32
Yes, but nothing new in terms of stress. No headaches. Have been sleep deprived the last two months but its gotten betteer the last two weeks, and again, every summer i get sleep deprived and this has never happened before.
Suspect it could be side effects from neurofeedback or some mediation or maybe, who knows, actual lesion. I want to see a neuro.
Posted by alexandra_k on July 9, 2014, at 19:39:22
In reply to Re: Hyperfamiliarity for faces?, posted by uncouth on July 9, 2014, at 19:17:08
i get it when i travel / move someplace new. keep thinking i'm running into people from where i was before. it passes in time. as new people start to be familiar to me, i guess. on their own terms.
the 'feeling of significance'... familiarity... whatever... that might be correlated with temporal lobe goings on.
i get those kinds of feelings when i'm stressed... sleep deprived...
i've actually come around to thinking that a bit of that... helps make life worth living.. i do also get a sense that too much of it... might not be the best thing, though. something... a bit psychotic or something about it, yeah.
is it... pleasant enough? or do you find it disturbing?
Posted by uncouth on July 9, 2014, at 19:49:43
In reply to Re: Hyperfamiliarity for faces?, posted by alexandra_k on July 9, 2014, at 19:39:22
interesting, tell me wy you fee it makes "life worth living!?!?" a little of it maybe, but to me, this is pathological and new and distracting and disturbing.
Posted by tom2228 on July 10, 2014, at 6:24:12
In reply to Re: Hyperfamiliarity for faces?, posted by uncouth on July 9, 2014, at 19:49:43
I used to get this really strong when I used to do meth... always wondered about this
Posted by 8LenaK on March 13, 2015, at 1:46:37
In reply to Hyperfamiliarity for faces?, posted by uncouth on July 9, 2014, at 1:49:03
A little late, but just came across your post.
I developed the same condition or symptoms about two weeks into going on the anti-epilepsy drug topiramate for migraine prevention. It had already set in at a low 25 mg dose (therapeutic dosage was to be 100 mg).
The only other possibly related factor was experiencing an 11 day fairly severe status migraine right before going on the medication and another 22-day one around the time the hyperfamiliarity set.
I figured that either the topiramate (paradoxically) 'activated' an epilepsy-related area of the brain or the status migraines had some sort of almost stroke-like damaging element to them. I haven't had the opportunity to report this to a neurologist.
I agree with you that it's quite distressing. You find yourself very preoccupied with intensively racking your brains trying to figure out where you know someone from. Before I realized that I was experiencing some sort of distortion of perception, I had to restrain myself from going up to people and asking where I knew them from.
I hope that like me, your symptoms have subsided over time. Mine lasted a couple of months and diminished after going off topiramate (for other reasons). This was last year, but I still seem to experience it occasionally and possibly exacerbated by migraines.
This is the end of the thread.
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