I've had several episodes where I entered into an 'alternate' reality. There are a set of characters in this 'alternate' reality, though I can't completely recall them when the episodes are over, who seem to know me and treat me like I'm always there. It's always the same set of people. At any rate, my heart races, I get short of breath, feel very clammy - but before I "pass over", or whatever it would be - I always pull myself out. It's a conscious effort - while everyone seems nice enough, very accomodating, I really don't want to commit to leaving this world for that one. My fiancee would probably be a tad bit upset :)  After these epsiodes, I'm not particularly frightened. I'm just curious as to what might happen if I didn't pull away.  And, if it helps answer the question, when I was younger, I had frequent episodes where time would speed up. Less now that I'm older. But I was fishing at a pond once, by myself, and caught a fish. The time shift occured. It's very disorienting, as though things are going by much too  quickly. And in the end, I was left holding a dead fish. So I take it the time actually did pass?
But I can always shake all of these things off - they're really just more "interesting" to experience than anything that's scary. Except when I'm driving - that's kinda scary, because there's a possible loss of control. Even though I never have lost control. But I do my best to shake those things off immediately when that happens. 
Thanks for any advice,
Jack


Hi Jack --
As your primary care doctor (using correct doctor talk) if perhaps you might need an EEG to make sure this kind of thing is not a sort of seizure-related condition. Sounds pretty suspicious that way to me. If the EEG is normal, at least you have some reassurance you've not missed something obvious; although EEG's aren't perfect, and can miss seizure activity if it's pretty deep in the brain.

Published October, 2003