Autokinesis

Alena, Autokinesis, 2006. © 2006 Alena (see here)

The term autokinesis (Klee and Willanger, 1966) refers to the visual illusion of seeing movements of stationary objects.

"the last days i feel very bothered by light. it is as if light background always 'pulsates'. also, when i look at the sky, almost always the sky starts pulsating (around half of it) and i feel an odd pressure in my face, dilated pupil, faster heart rate and 'hot' face. after ophthalmological check and CAT scan i have been told this is a 'visual' migraine."

(Robin, Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: visual migraines?, November 27, 2002)

"Eye yi yi - I'm pretty sure that yesterday I had a visual migraine. The kindly elder doctor on that page describes precisely what happened to me and his nice friendly face and very informative article reassures me that I probably do not have a brain parasite. I had been knitting and I hadn't really been paying attention to the sort of swimmy motion going on in the peripheral vision to the right of me; I just assumed that things in that corner of the room were really... uh, busy. Then I realized something was up and I FREAKED OUT just a little."

(Cameron Felix the Cat, LiveJournal for Support Group for Migraine Sufferers, Subject: your next stop, the migraine zone, January 19, 2003)

"I woke up with a migraine this morning and now I feel like I'm in some kind of a psychogenic fugue. Objects appear to be undulating, I feel like I'm floating, my chest feels tight, and my limbs are tingling. No real pain in my head, just moving pressure."

(Wendy McClure, Poundyblog, April 14, 2004)

"Currently battling with a migraine. I got in the car this morning and headed off to school... and I couldn't figure out why all the cars in front of me were shaking....... then I realized it was just my head... o_O... so I kept going anyways.... and my reflexes are always majorly dulled by migraines and I almost rear-ended someone... so I turned around... and almost did it again... -_- I have advil migraine now though... works veeery well... except it makes me dizzy as all hell, I have a difficult time focusing, and I act really... weird..."

(Selenity, artist's webpage at deviantart.com, February 15, 2005)

"Based on... what happens when I look at the ceiling or doors, I'm really starting to question my sanity... they move, the ceiling just completely moves. we have six panel doors, and the panels on the doors move. then if i don't blink, and sometimes even when i do - i can see the streams of air moving"

(nabba, LiveJournal for Support Group for Migraine Sufferers, Subject: problems a plenty, October 23-24., 2005)

References

Klee A, Willanger R. Disturbances of visual perception in migraine. Acta Neurol Scand 1966; 42: 400-414.

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