Medium…

No, not the setting but the online publication. I used to write for them from time to time but haven’t done anything or visited in a long time. A Facebook author friend asked about phantom music and I went on the hunt for the article I wrote about phantom sounds and smells. Did you know that not all hallucinations are visual? Neither did I, until I experienced the phenomenon.

Here’s a couple excerpts – you can read the whole article here (no membership required).

In my mid-50s, I was on a long driving trip and I experienced a visual aura for the first time. Sometimes called “ocular migraines”, they are a more common than you realize. Mine presented as a zip-zag pattern that started in one spot and ended in a full circle. It reminded me of a kaleidoscope vision. After seeing my ophthalmologist when I got home, I better understood what I experienced.

So on to the next hallucination — olfactory — or smelling things that aren’t there. It has an official name, phantosmia. I have suffered from phantosmia for the last twenty years. Initially, I swore I was smelling cigarette smoke and thought it was coming from our new neighbors house. Over the ensuing years I’ve come to realize there is no odor and I am the only one smelling it. At least now I know why.

The third hallucination I suffer from is auditory, and yes, it has a name, paracusia. This one really surprised me when I researched it after discovering my olfactory issues were not my imagination.

It started in one room of our RV (a 41′ fifth wheel toy hauler), the bedroom. We have speakers in there so initially I wasn’t surprised to hear something. But the music wasn’t coming from the speakers and it sounded like a radio station, voices interspersed with the music. That happened several times over a couple of years, but I didn’t think much of it.

Again, you can read the whole article here (no membership required). There is more information on these phenomena along with some links.