In today’s world, most people in the US deal with Hallucination. It is a type of health condition where a person finds things that might smell, see, feel, hear, or taste things that appear to be real, but they are only false perceptions of the brain. It can be caused by various health conditions, and using pain meds is one of the factors. This blog helps you to know the various pain meds that cause Hallucinations.
A common hallucination is called “Sensory Hallucination”, which varies from person to person, and not all are found distressing. It is a symptom of psychiatric disorders like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Hallucinations can be caused by various reasons like chemical reactions and abnormalities in the brain.
What are hallucinations?
When an individual feels like some bugs crawling on the body, sees light around other people or an object, or hears different types of voices in the head, all these things, you can say, is Hallucinations.
All these things are perceived by the mind and can affect all of our senses. Hallucinations are the different signs of a person’s mental health condition. Alcohol and epilepsy can also cause hallucinations.
Types of Hallucinations
The different types of hallucinations that affect many people in the USA are as follows:
Auditory Hallucinations:
This is the most common type of hallucination affecting people. It involves hearing sounds that are not real.
For example, when nobody is speaking, but you hear voices, these voices may command you to hurt yourself and others. The voice can be critical, neutral, and complementary.
Visual Hallucination:
When a person sees things that are not there is a type of visual hallucination. A simple visual hallucination can consist of color, lines, lights, or shapes. However, a complex visual hallucination can include objects, images, animals, people, etc
Tactile Hallucination:
In this case, a person feels that insects are crawling on your body, or feels like someone is touching or their hands are on your body. It can be caused by the withdrawal of alcohol in people.
Olfactory Hallucination:
Bad smells and pleasant smells, both of these smells come in the olfactory hallucination. It involves smelling things that do not exist and that other persons can’t smell.
Gustatory Hallucination:
The main type of gustatory hallucination is tastes that are often strange or unpleasant. For example, people with epilepsy complain of having a metallic taste in their mouth.
Presence Hallucination:
In this condition, you may feel that someone is with you or someone is standing behind you, even if there is nobody near or around you.
Proprioceptive Hallucination:
In this hallucination situation, you may believe that you are flying or floating, but this is not the case.
Hallucination Causes:
It can be caused by various health conditions that affect the senses in a person’s body. Also, it may caused when an individual takes certain medications, such as pain medicines.
Common causes of hallucination are listed below:
- Certain medications can cause hallucinations
- Mental health disorders can be a major cause
- A person having a neurological condition
- Surgery, operation, or after administering anesthesia to patients
- A change or loss of vision
Temporary causes of hallucination:
- Trauma
- Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) in older people
- Severe pain
- High fever in older people and children
- Dehydration
- Migraine
Signs & Symptoms:
A person with hallucination might experience these symptoms:
- Belief in conspiracies
- Seizures
- Headaches
- Changes in brain function as the person ages
- Unusual beliefs and thoughts
- Depression or anxiety
- Visual or hearing problems
Pain Meds that can Cause Hallucinations in Persons:
Here are a few pain relief meds that can cause hallucinations in persons.
1) Fentanyl:
It is an opioid medicine that helps to treat pain. It functions by blocking pain receptors.
Some of the side effects are mentioned below:
- Low blood pressure, fleeing faint or lightheaded
- Stiffness in the body muscles
- CNS depression – slow breathing or shortness of breath
- Allergic reactions on the body surface like rashes, itching, swelling on the face, etc.
- Loss of appetite, weakness, or dizziness
2) Methadone:
When other pain medications are not working and pain cannot be tolerated by the person, in such situations, Methadone is prescribed by doctors. This medicine works by blocking pain signals in the brain.
Side effects that may be caused by Methadone are listed below:
- Drinking alcohol with this medicine can increase the risk of side effects
- Allergic reaction — symptoms like hives, rashes on the face and body, etc.
- Low adrenal gland function — nausea, vomiting, etc.
- Changes in heartbeat — sudden rise in the heartbeat of the patient
- The feeling of faintness and confusion
3) Tramadol:
Tramadol is a strong pain relief medicine used in treating severe pain. This medicine is a synthetic opioid. It acts directly on the brain and spine (central nervous system) to reduce the amount of pain.
Adverse effects of Tramadol are as follows:
- Breathing problems may occur during sleeping, for example, noisy breathing, sighing, and breathing that stops during sleep
- Sudden increase and decrease in heart rate
- You may suffer from dizziness
- Seizure
- Low cortisol levels — nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite
4) Hydromorphone:
Hydromorphone drugs are used to relieve pain. It comes in the form of oral liquid, capsule, and tablet. It is severe enough to require opioid treatment. This medicine prescribed to Patients when they are cannot tolerate pain and other pain medications do not work well
Side effects of Hydromorphone drug :
- Sudden mood changes
- Problem of itching
- Breathing problems may occur
- Constipation problems in young adults and older people
- Older people may suffer from dry mouth issue
5) Atenolol:
Atenolol is used to prevent angina (chest pain) and improve the condition of a person after a heart attack. Also, Atenolol is used to treat alcohol withdrawal, heart failure, irregular heartbeat and to prevent migraine headaches in patients.
Atenolol drug may cause some of the side effects, which are listed below.
- You may feel problems like dry eyes
- Sudden swelling in the hands, legs, and face
- Heartbeat becoming irregular
- Numbness and tingling of the mouth
- Pale color
- You may feel excessive tiredness
You should consult and inform all the medical history before using any of these medications with doctors. Like, if you have stomach/intestinal problems (such as blockage, constipation, diarrhea), brain disorders (such as brain injury, tumor, seizures), breathing problems (such as emphysema, chronic bronchitis, asthma), heart problems (such as irregular heartbeat, heart failure, low blood pressure), diseases of the pancreas (such as pancreatitis), etc.
How You Can Prevent Hallucination:
- You should participate in stimulating activities in your daily life routine.
- Keep cross-checking sounds that might be misinterpreted, like noise from electronic gadgets and home appliances.
- Try to concentrate on lighting that casts shadows, reflections, or distortions.
- Always cover your mirror. Doing so, you don’t feel like you are looking at someone else in your own reflection.
Conclusion:
Concluding the blog providing details on Pain Meds that can Cause Hallucinations in Persons will be helpful for you. There are various treatments available to control hallucinations. A person suffering from Hallucination should never be left alone. In this condition, a person may get nervous and frightened. It will be very disturbing and dangerous for a person If they are not treated on time.