Dreaming while awake?

Question

Has anyone else ever experienced hypnagogic hallucinations? If so, what were they? Is there a trigger that causes them and do they ever go away?
I wake up seeing "cockroaches" almost everynight. Sometimes I get so scared I wake my Fiance up to "kill" them, then I wake up enough to realize what the heck is going on and kinda of laugh it off, but at the time I feel scared to death! I am glad he is understanding, haha I'm sure that would freak most people out!

Answer 1

I have a couple of questions, semi-rhetorical?

1) Why do you wake up your fiance to kill them, instead of trying to kill them yourself? I have a terrible roach infestation in my house, but they have never presented a problem where I was terrified of seeing them. Is there something else they represent that is making them more 'terrifying' to you?

2) Why do you see cockroaches? I can understand seeing moving blank spots, but I am wondering why you see roaches? It sounds like your brain is not fully coordinating with your senses when you awake, so that it could be that the 'roach' images are actually 'holes' in your perception that your mind sorta fills in the blanks. What I mean by holes is that, as you transition between being awake and being alseep, your eyes have to change over from processing the back of your eyelids to receiving images. Sometimes, if the brain is not processing the transition fast enough, there will be 'gaps'. Its kinda like looking at a bright light. When you turn away, the 'ghost' image remains because your mind hasn't caught up to the process of getting past the impression.

I am wondering if, as you are waking up, your mind is carrying these gaps, and since you have to plug something into them, you are seeing roaches. And even if they were dream imagery that your mind hasn't fully digested yet, the repetition seems to imply a deeper disturbance that is triggering them.

3) It could also be that, somehow, you are expecting to wake up seeing roaches (something in your past) so your mind is running on the instinct by carrying them over from your dream state. It's doing it at this moment because, like an alarm clock going off, your mind is letting you know something isn't being taken care of or addressed. Again, I have a terrible roach infestation (german roach kind, not the florida super-cockroach kind) but I have rarely woken up in a panic because of them, eventhough I have been embarressed by them enough times.

Every person hallucinates personally, so that what might disturb one person wouldn't even register with another. I really think once you understand why you are seeing 'roaches' and not something else (like snakes or spiders or wombats), you will be halfway to understanding your problem.

Answer 2

Yes, I have actual dreams while being awake all the time. They call it lucid dreaming, but I have dreams where I am seeing other places, things, but still able to move on my body if I wanted to, I'm awake, it's like I'm watching TV in my head, yet I can still see the real world around me, it's hard to explain. I can dream and be awake at the same time, and it's not lucid dream...each to their own. You asked, I tired to answer this one. PEACE Its not a day dream I'm a sleep, but awake. I've been between many states of consciousness. But that is my personal life, another life than I live if you would. I've seen ghosts that way many times as you've mentioned. It happens, really, research this, look into it a little, is it your sister, grandmother, mother? Maybe it's some one you actually know. I've had similar experiences , researched them and the truth proved stranger than fiction. I've seen apparitions before, and even logical explanations could not explain how I would know what sort of spirits were in a area before I even knew that area was haunted. I went to Moonville tunnel. And saw a woman in a night gown and a crying baby cross in front my fire, fire is gas and heat, energy , vapors and so it's good for apparitions, as is water , but she said"Hush now"... Later when I got home we had been to a cementary and I hadn't looked at the graves and my mother told me after leaving there that a baby was buried up there, we were in a tent ,just down hill from the cemetary . And that's the direction within the flame this apparition came from. I get on the computer and I find information about a female haunting the area, and then I hear stories about a crying baby, only to later find a audio recording of that crying baby. The same crying sound I had heard, but it's not uploaded to the net at this time as far as I know. I'll look for you. Don't rule out the paranormal, the truth can be stranger than fact or fiction. EDIT: I'm not saying it was a ghost, but in my other life, I believe these things are real. I don't know what you'll believe in the real world, but I'll tell ya, it's a good hobby.

Answer 3

I have hypnogogia. I see spiders coming down the wall. I understand that seeing bugs is common, something about how we're wired.

I don't get scared because I know that I'm still dreaming, that my body has woken up but my mind is still caught in a dream sequence. I tell myself it will go away in a couple of minutes, and it always does.

I did take Trazodone for awhile, and it helped me get asleep and stay asleep, and it cut down on the hypnogogia, too, but I don't know if it has that last effect with others. It improved the quality of my sleep, though.

Keep telling yourself it's a dream, it does help.

Answer 4

I use to have this happen to me also. It is very scary. I would pray the "Lords Prayer". I learned some scripture also about taking authority over fear in the name of the Lord. That was many years ago and it does not happen anymore except once in a great while if I am stressed or fearfull about something going on in my life. But I just pray.

Answer 5

I have had something like this happen but it sounds a little different. I start to dream sometimes after I close my eyes but know I'm not yet asleep. It's rather strange. When I open my eyes, the dream stops but if I close them again it can pick up right where it left off.

Answer 6

I understand, I get those too sometimes. It happens to me when I don't get enough sleep at night. It does get pretty scary. When this happens to me, I just see things out of the corner of my eye, most often a person, no one in particular.

You just need to get more sleep and learn to relax. Know that what you're seeing isn't real.

Answer 7

Sometimes i can't tell or remember what happened in my dreams or in real life. Once i woke up in the middle of that stage where your not suppose to wake up and your body is almost paralyzed that is the scariest feeling in the world....

Answer 8

Wow! I never did but my 8 year old son wakes up a lot in a terror, that there are thousands of Bumble bees in his room. And he was never stung, my daughter was 3 times.
Fear of them i guess.

Answer 9

I dream of donuts. In my sleep and in my wake. I dont like to be without donuts. Yum!

Answer 10

Pray to the Lord to help you.