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Original poster

Strange incident at school when I was a child- what can I do about it?

74 replies

Flamingo49 · 27/10/2021 19:33

This is a bit of a weird one. I'm in my 40s, and every so often a memory pops into my head of something that happened to me when I was at school in London, during the 80s. I get two images in my head. In each one I'm in a room in an area of the school that we would never normally go to unless it was sanctioned by a teacher. In the first image, I am sitting with an adult going through one of those psychological tests- a stack of cards which each have lots of coloured dots on them, and you have to try and pick out a number which is hidden amongst the dots in a slightly different colour. The other image is more disturbing. I am sitting in the same room with a young Asian man, some kind of mask is put over my mouth and I'm asked to take a deep breath in. It tastes sharp and peppery and unpleasant. These memories make me feel.... strange. I'm not sure if something untoward was going on but I find it very difficult to hold onto these memories when I have them. In that, I'll say to myself "I should investigate this further" but then my brain immediately blocks it out until it pops back into my head many months later. I suppose my question is, does anyone know why the mask test might have been carried out? An innocuous reason like checking for asthma or something? Or did anyone else have a similar experience? The memories feel so slippery that the closer I try to examine them the harder it is to hold onto them, and I wonder if my brain is playing tricks on me.

OP posts:

Giggorata · 27/10/2021 21:28

How odd. My school in Kent had a similar windy staircase up to a hidden study, where the Headmaster lurked. Did they all have similar architecture?
It sounds like a gas extraction, or filling, with its characteristic smell. There was the dreaded School Dentist in those days, so I wonder if it was a forgotten treatment?

Malibuismysecrethome · 27/10/2021 21:29

Flamingo49 yes this school was in SE London, one of those old 3 storey Victorian primary’s.

RustyBear · 27/10/2021 21:32

There used to be school dentists that came and inspected the children's teeth and sent a report to the parents recommending treatment - I don't remember them actually carrying out treatment, and I'm not sure when the service stopped - possibly at different times in different health areas.

Sarahlou63 · 27/10/2021 21:42

The thing with memory is that when we remember something we don't recall the original memory, we recall the last time we thought about it. For example you could remember a birthday party when you were five and you were wearing your favourite red dress. The memory is solid - until you see an old photo and realise you were wearing a blue dress. But the year after you got the beloved red dress and the memories got merged because the party and the dress were highlights in your mind.

That's why "false memory syndrome" is such a contentious issue and why regression is an area that most hypnotists steer well clear of.

DukeofEarlGrey · 27/10/2021 21:47

I remember the dots as a legit colour blindness test. Also other basic health checks around hearing, height and weight at school.

I agree that memory can be misleading - I have bad memories of some bad dreams that I had as a child, bonkers situations so definitely not real but engrained in my memory as a stressful experience.

You could look into memory repression / hypnosis if this is something you want to explore, but our minds are complex things and I think we suppress some things for good reason so unless you have problems in your present life that could stem from this somehow I don’t think I would pursue it. However, I am in no way any kind of expert. Maybe it would help you.

Newnews · 27/10/2021 21:50

Also anyone who claims to be able to resurface your suppressed memories is a fraud who is, at best, deluded but most probably just trying to rip you off. No reputable psychologist would claim to be able to do this.

Alidalivali · 27/10/2021 21:54

I have a lifelong phobia, which has to be controlled with medication otherwise I can't function well - I've never got to the bottom of how it developed, but whenever I'm around it or someone talks about it I get the deepest, most profound feeling of horror, despair, fear and hopelessness. I've had flashes of memories but I don't know what's real and I'm too scared to find out. Had loads of therapy, nothing helped.

But anyway - your experience does sound like conflating two memories.

mewkins · 27/10/2021 21:58

Could the weird taste be the polio vaccinatio medicine you are given? That tasted horrible. Maybe you have confused the mask from being at a dentist and the horrible taste?

kiki22 · 27/10/2021 22:02

It sounds like you have a memory of the mask and your colour blindness test which have merged. If you look up about false memories it's a real thing peopke fill in blanks often with related or familiar things.

NameChange74567 · 27/10/2021 22:02

The sharp, peppery, and unpleasant taste is how I would describe ibuprofen. Could you have been unwell and they gave medicine?

tigerinyourtank · 27/10/2021 22:03

Peak flow test is a sharp outward breath not a breath in so it definitely wasn't that (I've been taking peak flow tests since 1984).

Cattitudes · 27/10/2021 22:07

It does sound like the dentist and nitrous oxide. They did checks on everyone at school but if you had your own dentist you could go there for treatment. Maybe you had treatment at school?

Botanica · 27/10/2021 22:10

Could you have possibly had a panic attack at school? They may have made you breathe into a paper bag (my school teacher made me do this) and I do remember it tasting and smelling funny.

BrutusMcDogface · 27/10/2021 22:19

I have horrific memories of the gas in the dentist. Had a couple of baby teeth pulled out due to overcrowding aged about 5. Can still taste it. My mum said someone in the waiting room was telling her about a child who had died after having it....nice

I wonder if you have merged some memories. I know I have memories of childhood that are based on photographs I’ve seen.

ddl1 · 27/10/2021 22:27

It sounds like some sort of medical test (the first one is definitely for colour blindness). If it's really bothering you, or if you just want to sort out your school memories, perhaps you could see if there's a friends-reunited or similar group that might include your old school?

ancientgran · 27/10/2021 22:39

We had some university people come into my school, parents were asked to give permission. It was about a liquid that some people could taste and some people thought it was just water. Seems weird but I know it happened.

I remember the colour blind test, the nit nurse, dentist coming into school for checks, foot inspection for veruca or athletes foot and when I was 5 we all had a polio jab at school it was before it was taken orally then the TB jab when we about 13 or 14. It's a wonder we ever got any school work done.

I once had a dream about the PE sheds at school, full of smelly hockey boots in real life and I was sent in to sort them all out. It was so real and it still seems real but I know it never happened. The very idea that our PE teacher would have allowed a child in there unsupervised is so far fetched as to be ridiculous.

anappleadaykeeps · 27/10/2021 22:52

I still think the second memory might be asthma-linked, in the school medical room.

My daughter had a 'spacer' which had a face mask attached for various asthma treatments when she was younger. It might have been for a immediate response 'bronchial dialator' (ie like today's blue inhalers), or a preventor (like today's brown inhalers).

So asthma related, but not a peak flow meter.

YearsSinceISawYou · 27/10/2021 22:52

What do you want to do about it?

Why is it important that the man with the mask was Asian?

As no-one knows the school you were at, why do you think describing his race would help?

anappleadaykeeps · 27/10/2021 22:53

asthma.net/living/8-retired-asthma-remedies-you-may-remember

TatianaBis · 27/10/2021 22:53

Our school took part in various medical studies for Imperial College.

Could be something like that?

foxgoosefinch · 27/10/2021 23:02

@ancientgran
There’s a substance called PTC that some people can taste and others can’t because of a genetic predisposition - so it was probably that (when was this by the way?)

thebakeoffwasntasgoodthisyear · 27/10/2021 23:04

I’m not sure what the second memory could be, sorry.

For years I thought I had a false memory from primary school. I had a vivid memory of going on a school trip aged 4 to see a dolphin show at a local swimming pool. Every time I asked my mum, siblings or similar-aged friends about it, they all laughed and said I must have dreamt it. A couple of years ago there was an old newspaper clipping posted on Facebook, about our local pool that was being demolished to make way for a new leisure centre. It was about the time there had been a dolphin show, the year I was 4.

OverByYer · 27/10/2021 23:05

Maybe you dreamt it?

TeamFreeWill · 27/10/2021 23:07

Very strange, OP. On a slightly unrelated note, can I say that my youngest son vividly remembers breaking both his legs when he was 10, how much it hurt and how he struggled to walk with crutches, it is a stand out memory for him. The problem is, he never has broken a bone in his life! False memories are a thing, is this possible in your case? Not that you would know! The human brain is a bizarre thing.

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 27/10/2021 23:08

@godmum56

it is possible to conflate memories so that two things which happened separately are remembered as one memory with parts of each situation mixed together. I have personal experience of this where I remembered a staircase as being in my primary school when its actually in Wells Cathedral!

I agree,it's really common.

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