Medical News of the Day

Ok, so let me interrupt the series on Ghostriding for something somewhat educational/interesting. It's almost inter-cational.

I sent the following email to all the slackers that I email from work to see what they'd heard about this condition I stumbled upon. Email makes for easier feedback, but I know there are some that read this that I dont send the daily emails to. So here you go, straight from my outbox:

Yesterday I stumbled upon a medical condition that I’d never hear of. Intrigued, I looked into it more. So allow me to share with you your medical lesson for the day. Here are some details about the condition known as “Synesthesia.” I’m curious to see if any of you have heard of this.

Basically, it is a neurologically-based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.

There are a few different types.

Grapheme -> Color Synesthesia is the most common. It’s where people think letters have an innate color. They see letters or numbers shaded with a certain color.

"I often associate letters and numbers with colors. Every digit and every letter has a color associated with it in my head. Sometimes, when letters are written boldly on a piece of paper, they will briefly appear to be that color if I'm not focusing on it. Some examples: 'S' is red, 'H' is orange, 'C' is yellow, 'J' is yellow-green, 'G' is green, 'E' is blue, 'X' is purple, 'I' is pale yellow, '2' is tan, '1' is white. If I write SHCJGEX it registers as a rainbow when I read over it, as does ABCPDEF."

Sound -> Color Synesthesia is where certain sounds, notes or tones elicit specific colors. People see the same color every time a certain note is played. Things like dogs barking also have visual effect on these people.

Number form synesthesia is hard to understand, but basically these people think of numbers differently. They arrange them in certain position on an axis in their head, rather than in a straight line.

Personification is where people associate numbers or letters naturally with personalities or traits.

"T’s are generally crabbed, ungenerous creatures. U is a soulless sort of thing. 4 is honest, but… 3 I cannot trust… 9 is dark, a gentleman, tall and graceful, but politic under his suavity"

And My Favorite!

Lexical -> Gustatory Synesthesia – This is a more rare case, but the strangest I think. This is where people can taste words. Hearing, reading or speaking words leaves a sensation in a person’s mouth.

“Whenever I hear, read, or articulate (inner speech) words or word sounds, I experience an immediate and involuntary taste sensation on my tongue. These very specific taste associations never change and have remained the same for as long as I can remember.”

Sources that I’ve seen range from saying 1 in every 20 people have these symptoms to 1 in every 2000 people have these symptoms. All reports have the types listed in the same order as I do from most common (Grapheme-Color) to least common (Lexical-Gustatory). Still I think it’s odd that I’ve never heard of something this prevalent. A lot of people don’t realize they have these symptoms until it’s pointed out that it’s not normal.

This doesn’t affect brain development or hinder any part of people’s lives, but I thought it was an interesting condition that some people have. The main source I used was Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia) if y’all are interested. There are pictures and such. The other sources I read through had a lot of broken links, so I found wiki to be the best. Just wanted to share this and see if y’all have heard of this