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Oliver Sacks – Hallucinations

Such a psychosis took hold of Ed toward the end of 2011. He started to have hallucinations of people who entered his apartment, emerging from "a secret chamber" behind the kitchen.

"They invade my privacy," Ed said. "They occupy my space'”

“They are very interested in me - they take notes, take photos, rifle through my papers."

Sometimes they had sex - one of the intruders was a very beautiful woman, and sometimes three or four of them would occupy Ed's bed when he was not using it.

These apparitions never appeared if he had real visitors or when he was listening to music or watching a favourite TV show; nor would they follow him when he left his apartment. He often regarded these persecutors as real and might say to his wife.

"Take a cup of coffee to the man in my office'"

She always knew when he was hallucinating - he would stare fixedly at one point or follow an invisible presence with his eyes. Increasingly, he started to talk with them - or at them, for they never replied.

Ed's neurologist, on hearing this, advised him to have "a drug holiday," to stop all his anti-Parkinson's medications for two or three weeks, but this left Ed so incapacitated he could hardly move or speak.

He then planned a gradual reduction of medication, and, two months later, on half his previous dose of L-dopa, Ed's hallucinations' his fears' and his psychosis have cleared completely.