Should I tell?

[mrfuga0]

I start my PhD in the fall after having done two master's degrees (one quite long and one short). I'm curious about a certain situation. I have migraine headaches, which is pretty common and kind of boring, honestly. What's not common or boring is the syndrome I have along with them, which is called Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. It often occurs preceding a migraine or in place of one and is a visual hallucination of sorts that lasts for a short period of time. I'm usually pretty aware of it happening, but it can be disturbing for me and for those around me because I am in sort of a trance while it happens. It's very strange and not at all as fun as it sounds.

My question is this: Should I tell my professors about this in case I zone out during class? I fear that such a revelation could end up making me look like a whiner who wants special treatment. I didn't mention it during my first master's (the long one) because I didn't know about the syndrome. I mentioned it to a few professors during the second master's, but always felt like that one student who always asks for extensions and special treatment because they have some sort of disease no one has ever heard of. Not that I asked for extensions, but you get the point.

Any advice? Should I mention it? Not mention it and wait to see if it happens? Pretend like I'm not feeling as tiny as Alice did after she drank what was in the bottles?

[dherres]

From your description, it doesn't sound as though it's an issue that might warrant extensions/special treatment. If it were me, I would approach it from a "I want to make you aware in case this happens, as it tends to scare those who don't know what's happening and why I'm unresponsive" angle. And maybe bring a doctor's note?

[Canofbeans]

I have a medical condition associated with a really bad anxiety disorder. I never told any of my professors because I never wanted to make an issue out it and I hated feeling like a whiner. At times it got really bad where I couldn't show up in school for a few days or even a week (this was during undergrad), if I had to turn in a paper late, I just did and accepted the consequences. However, recently in my last year as an undergrad, grades were crucial to me and these were seminars that I couldn't just skip, and was forced to tell one of my professors about it. I only brought it up because I felt the need to as I couldn't get my paper done on time, he understood and I've never asked for anything else. From my experience, I wouldn't bring it up unless it becomes an issue that is affecting your work in an extreme fashion but I wouldn't tell them just to give them a "warning". I'm not too sure how I will be handling it with graduate school but for now, I'm just going to attempt to do what I can to control it so that I don't have to tell anyone about it.

[curious zygote]

I'm dyslexic, and not the, "ha ha I'm having a dyslexic moment" kind, but the on paper "I have this problem" kind. For basically all of my undergrad I refused to tell anyone. But something happened there toward the end. I realized that, if said in a matter of fact way it suddenly became a not-so-bad-thing. I actually wrote about it in an essay for my schools, and the response I got was really positive all around. But the trick, for me and my sense of self worth at least, is that I didn't blame things unnecessarily on my dyslexia. Sure, the extra GRE time needed explaining, but my grades were what they were, I made the choices I made and I didn't associate my performance with being dyslexic. Everyone has something that makes academics difficult at times, whether it is on paper or not, I'm no different. It was a very straightforward "this is what I have, this is how it has influenced my life, this is how I compensate". This approach has worked really well for me so far. I don't want to apologize or make any excuses because this is just one part of my life. It sounds like you're the same, in which case this approach may be of interest to you.

Good luck in whatever you're striving for!