What is this called? (Dream/hallucinations)

[Emba]

I am having a problem, which is not new to me but seems to be worse lately. I don’t know if it has a name, so Google isn’t helping me.

When I fall asleep, sometimes something like DH turning over in bed will partially wake me, and dreams get mixed up into reality. I sit up in bed and turn on the light, or jump out of bed, usually with some amount of yelling or shaking DH because, you know, he should be aware that there’s a gnome with a frog on his head standing in our bedroom. DH takes a very dim view of these episodes. Sleep is his Preciousss.

He always tries to tell me there’s nothing there, and gets very irritated, but it doesn’t do any good because you can tell me there isn’t a robot in the room but I won’t believe you if I just saw it with my own eyes.

Its kind of like sleep paralysis, which also happens to me but usually in the morning, only instead of not being able to move, I’m moving when I wake up and it takes my brain awhile to catch up to reality.o

This is taking a toll on our relationship as it increases, especially since sometimes I wake up paranoid (for example, thinking he was texting another woman, I flip the light on and grab at his phone, turns out it was sitting charging on the nightstand where it should have been). If this is a thing that I can do something to stop, i’d Like to know.

[mellifera33]

Have you ever watched the comedian Mike Birbiglia’s standup routines? He has a condition called Rem sleep behavior disorder and he talks about it a lot during his comedy shows. Some of what you describe sounds similar to his descriptions, but it’s an actual medical diagnosis and not a phenomenon like sleep paralysis that can be self-diagnosed. 

Edited June 1, 2020 by mellifera33

[Jean in Newcastle]

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sleep-terrors/symptoms-causes/syc-20353524

[The Governess]

It’s a special kind of hallucination.  

http://sleepeducation.org/sleep-disorders-by-category/parasomnias/sleep-hallucinations/overview-facts

It’s happened to me before and it’s really freaky. I’ve woken and seen a person standing in my room. The hallucination slowly fades the longer I’ve been awake. Once I woke up to an entire carnival scene on my wall in neon colors that slowly faded. I’ve also had audial hallucinations before where I thought I heard something and it woke me up, but there was no noise.  I think if you are stressed or have insomnia or other disrupted sleep it is more common?

 

 

Edited June 1, 2020 by lovelearnandlive

[Emba]

7 hours ago, mellifera33 said:

Have you ever watched the comedian Mike Birbiglia’s standup routines? He has a condition called Rem sleep behavior disorder and he talks about it a lot during his comedy shows. Some of what you describe sounds similar to his descriptions, but it’s an actual medical diagnosis and not a phenomenon like sleep paralysis that can be self-diagnosed. 

Thanks. I read a little about that on, and it doesn’t seem to quite fit. I am not very active when totally asleep, just n those wired momnts between Asleep and awake. But now I’m very curious to see some of those comedy acts. 🙂

Edited June 1, 2020 by emba56

[Emba]

7 hours ago, lovelearnandlive said:

It’s a special kind of hallucination.  

http://sleepeducation.org/sleep-disorders-by-category/parasomnias/sleep-hallucinations/overview-facts

It’s happened to me before and it’s really freaky. I’ve woken and seen a person standing in my room. The hallucination slowly fades the longer I’ve been awake. Once I woke up to an entire carnival scene on my wall in neon colors that slowly faded. I’ve also had audial hallucinations before where I thought I heard something and it woke me up, but there was no noise.  I think if you are stressed or have insomnia or other disrupted sleep it is more common?

 

 

Bingo! I think this is it.  At least it gives me a place to start looking.

[Mbelle]

Years ago I had a lot of these dreams.  I was later diagnosed with hypothyroid and this all went away.  I did read you can talk to yourself during those type of dreams and I tried it and it helped a bit, but it was still scary.  Until one day my asthma flared and I was prescribed montelusk.  Wow, thankfully I had a friend who is a pharmacists and she figured it out right away.  I quit taking that immediatly.  I made my husband get up and look for the mouse that was on my bedside table! LOL  

[Lady Florida.]

10 minutes ago, Mbelle said:

Years ago I had a lot of these dreams.  I was later diagnosed with hypothyroid and this all went away. 

There are a number of medical conditions that can cause weird sleep issues. @lovelearnandlive's link seems to describe your problem but I would recommend seeing a doctor. It could just be a sleep disorder or could be something more. Either way, hopefully you can find out and treat it.