having the sensation that everything is far away and in slow motion

[georgiabread]

This is something I’ve experienced now and then, more often when I was younger, and infrequently now as a teenager. I never knew what it was, and was always curious about it.

In the past i would sometimes lie in bed and my room, especially the walls and door, would feel very far away and stretched, and I would feel very small. It was quite a frightening sensation for unknown reasons. Also, sometimes I will do something and the action seems in slow motion. For example, just now I wet my lips and the action felt very slow and afterward, things felt far away. Again, i was frightened by it but I’m not sure why, how or in what way. 

Additionally, this used to happen when I was sick and had fever dreams. This feelings were always heightened. I remember lying in bed with my mum and having her stroke my arm, but I had the opposite sensation of slow motion. Her stroking felt very fast and scary. 

Could someone please attempt to explain this? I’ve never understood it. 

[mrmusic]

Hey @georgiabread, just wondering how you are doing this morning?

I can’t say that I’ve personally experienced what you’re going through, but I just wanted to let you know that we care about you and are here for you.

[redhead]

@georgiabread I have occasionally had similar experiences. It tends to happen when I dissociate. It can get scary but I think your brave in trying to explore the cause.

Have you ever talked to anyone about how you feel.

[roseisnotaplant]

Yeah I notice this myself from time to time @georgiabread, idk what it is though. I might look into it when i'm not in class lol

[ElleBelle]

Hey @georgiabread, I've never experienced that exact sensation but every now and then when I'm laying in bed trying to sleep I get strange sensations, often to do with my mouth. If it's frightening you, have you thought about talking to a doctor? 

[Jamiefitzy]

I have came across your post from trying to find someone else that has similar experiences. I used to wake up screaming as a kid from this feeling and not really knowing what was happening it was absolutely terrifying. My parents would always come into my room to comfort me and trying to go back to sleep. I am now 17 and it has just happened to me when trying to go to sleep  but as now I am older I still don’t know what this feeling is. I am not scared By this feeling anymore but I tried making it last longer to try help me realise why this feeling upsets me. It feels as though I am in my room and I am very small and the world is such a big place and I believe it has something to do with time. When I open my eyes and look at my clock in my room it looks like it is moving closer and further away very fast. I can still remember one dream I woke up from and it was that I had got home from going to a place (2 hours) away and I had left my iPod there and dad said he was going to get it and when he got back there I found out that I still had it. After this and woke and the most terrified I had been, this what makes me believe it has something to do with being very far away and time. Hope you have had results with finding out what the problems you have experienced were. If so, tell me about it if you like so I can hear about this from another perspective.

[Maddy-RO]

Hi @Jamiefitzy - thanks for joining ReachOut and sharing what's going on for you. It must be scary to feel that way and not know what's causing it. I'm glad you reached out and managed to find someone else who has experienced something similar.  I'm wondering - have you spoken to anyone in your life about this? 

Also, I noticed from checking your IP address that you're an international user.As per our Community Guidelines, ReachOut forums are only for users within Australia and therefore we will ban your account in 24-48 hours. We'll leave it active so that you can receive some support in the interim. Also regarding our community guidelines - I had to remove the email address you shared because we do not allow the sharing of personal details on this site. I hope this is okay with you. 

Even if we do ban your account, you will still be able to access to our forum as a guest and read articles on our website - just remember that the linked services might not be accessible in your country.  I've linked you a list of potential services that we have created for international users like yourself here.

Sorry if this message has disappointed you. We encourage you to look up similar services in your country . We want you to get the support you deserve. Thanks again for sharing 

[solar]

Hey... you describe it perfectly. When I was younger I would constantly try to explain this feeling, because I felt like everyone did it at first. But I eventually stopped trying to explain it, and as I got older it happened less and less frequently. Now Im 20 and not sure how long that last time it happened was. Sometimes I would will it to happen and it would. I would feel so small, but everything else wasn't necessarily big. But the distance between me and the corners of the room were so far. And the walls were so far away from me. And the door. And sometimes I would feel like everything was happening so fast but at the same time very slow, it was like a person whos mind is on go but their body is so slow. Usually nobody knows what the fuck im talking about so i love you

[georgiabread]

Hey @solar, OP here. It's so good to know someone else has this experience! So I finally did some more research on it and I found Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS) closely matched my symptoms, and will probably match yours. Here's some links:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4302569/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_syndrome

I mean, it's probably best to see a doctor about this rather than diagnose yourself, but I hope this helps!

[Musta100]

Ok here i am now... For 25years i have had this feeling. I have never searched for it until now. I typed "Everything i see feels far away" and this thread came up. I made an account just to answer your comment. I have The same feeling!!!!! Put of nowhere when i lay on my bed Everything feels far away and I have a wierd feeling on my body. If I look at my phone the letters are sooooo small my phones feels 2-3meters away. If I look at a person his/her head looks like a peanut. From the beginning when i was younger i was so scare of it, but now i love it hahah i have learned to accept it and I feel so happy when i get it. Anyways now to the crazy part, i never told anyone about this, about 6month ago me and my brother had a converations about wierd feelings, i dont know Who said it first but BOOOTH of us have this.... Both of us have keept it as a secret (dont ask me why, i dont know). So nooow whenever one of us gets it we text each other "i have it" and we start to laugh until it goes away. So today ny brother got it we decided to search it and here i am now. I just want to tell you, you are not alone.