The strangest thing happened to me in a public rest room today

...and no, it had nothing to do with foot tapping...

It's really very hard to explain. I was standing there tending to business, looking at the wall as men are prone to do at such times. I looked down for a moment then looked back up at the wall- that's when it happened.

It must have been an optical illusion thing brought on by the pattern in the wall tiles- suddenly my brain was telling me I was no longer standing upright, but the entire wall and everything attached to it was sharply tilted forward. It was as if everything in the room, me included, had shifted 45 degrees.

There was no dizziness, no distress, no feeling at all of anything changing, other than the sudden tilt in my perception. I remember looking at the pattern of the tiles and feeling everything shift inside my mind- I tried for a few seconds to steady myself, then closed my eyes and opened them again. Everything was back to normal. It had lasted perhaps five seconds.

No, I wasn't stoned- I had just eaten lunch, and I was otherwise as normal as I'll ever get. It's just that for a brief flash of time the entire world literally tilted in front of my eyes.

Thankfully, it hasn't repeated.

So just what the hell WAS that??? Has it ever happened to YOU? :shrug:

It compares things and figures out how it compares to what you expect to see, feel and hear and fills in the gaps for you.

So every now and then it might interpret something weird and come up with something completely unexpected. :)

I think it has to do probably with blood sugar or blood pressure changes. I don't think it's any big deal.

I think it was a brain perception glitch. I recall seeing the angled pattern of the tiles jumping out at me- I'm certain that was what set it off.

Specifically, the stretch between Albany and Springfield, Oregon.

35 miles of absolutely STRAIGHT highway. No curves. No nothin'.

It's the last 35 miles of my trip to see my family, and I can't tell you how many times my perception suddenly shifts, and I suddenly feel as if I'm driving straight UP, not straight AHEAD.

Freaky!

I was driving home from Portland one weekend, and remember absolutely nothing between Longview and Chehalis.

I'm no Carrie Underwood fan, but I think Jesus took the wheel that day, because I obviously wasn't driving. :think:

That's another horrid spot!

And then there's that nasty curve just north of Centralia! :scared:

Well, I can't say I've ever had that happen to me...

Of course, not being male...:blush:

the brain.

I've had something like that, but it was caused by a brief illness and lasted for a couple of days. I'm trying to come up with the name of it but can't remember. Was it positional vertigo?

I wouldn't worry about it, unless it happens again and doesn't go away.

Works for me! :rofl:

:rofl:

Did you piddle on your shoe?

Perhaps the stream switched its angle of perception too? :shrug:

Nothing else can explain it, really. No need for further investigation.

I will say that the first time I experienced it I was sort of (ahem) involved in an intimate physical activity - and it seemed that the entire room was spinning. I thought I was having a stroke and was going to die - what a way to go!

According to my physician - and I buy this explanation - it happens with some people, that particulate matter gets released into the fluid of the inner ear causing a perceptual change in orientation. There is in chronic cases no treatment - although sometimes meclazine can relieve symptoms.

A similar effect is often observed in astronauts, particularly first time astronauts experiencing weightlessness for the first time. Interestingly enough, people who have spent a very long time in space experience similar symptoms upon returning to earth.

That's my two cents.

:thumbsup:

But I get dizzy spells and hot-flashes, so it's not so unusual for me. :shrug:

Avert your eyes from the grout or the room may spin about!

Actually, I've had something like that happen, but it was more a depth perception thing. Looking through something like a chain-link fence at a farther-away object, for a second the fence will appear to be closer. I assume it's just my eyes refocusing.

http://www.magiceye.com/

Your brain has to merge two images to see the world in 3D. With a repeating tile pattern it's easy for your eyes to shift so the wrong images get matched up, causing disorientation.

In Magic Eye pictures you do this deliberately to see the hidden 3D image.

Whew! What a relief! :)

in a moving vehicle or boat for a while before it happened? I almost fell out of a chair a few times after coming home from a stormy ocean crossing.

I'd had a leisurely lunch that lasted the best part of an hour (crab cakes and a loaded baked potato, and iced tea). Nothing out of the ordinary. :shrug:

They really need to stop using those.

I never thought of that. Happy Time 'Shroom Cakes.

I LIKE it.

:hippie:

I attributed it to the Buspar I was taking at the time - and which I stopped taking as a result of my brain going "boing" that day. I actually had to hold on to the desk for a few seconds even though I was sitting down.

The first words out of my mouth would have been "Computer, end program" if a coworker hadn't walked up right about then.

I guess one has to laugh....

Our sense of being upright or not is controlled by our inner ear.

http://www.medicinenet.com/vestibular_balance_disorders/page2.htm

Welcome to The Village.

Although I DO stare at computer screens all day... :shrug:

...such as you and I may share, enables the mind to seize on an alternate frame of reference, even to its own detriment? I recall a stairwell where my father worked which has brick-work laid diagonally. I would stare at the wall as I went up or down, anticipating the weird shift--it would feel as though I were suddenly being pulled down the steps.

You mentioned tiles. Those criss-crossed lines can define a space of their own, sometimes.

Funny- I've been in there numerous times before, and it's never happened until now. Next time I eat lunch there I'll just have to keep my eyes closed and hope I don't make too much of a mess. :evilgrin:

:shrug:

Was given Dramamine, listed above in its clinical name.

:evilgrin: :P

If you stare "through" the wall, the grid will throw your perceptions all screwy. I get that sometimes when I'm just relaxing at the urinal, too. I don't get dizzy or anything but I'll stare past/through the wall and my perception will shift.