Reply #12: hypnopompic hallucinations [View All]

[NorthernSpy]

I've had them too. Most people who hallucinate while in the process of waking seem to experience temporary paralysis at the time, but others don't. I remember leaping out of bed when I realized that this strange, pale being was lying next to me. I stood beside the bed for several seconds while it stuck its tongue out at me; the tongue grew and grew, and snaked toward me -- and the whole vision slowly melted away into the air.

The experience strongly colored my mood for the rest of the day. Things like that leave a kind of 'aura' -- a sense of fear, unease, and extreme weirdness that can last for hours. That feeling usually disappears after a nap, just as migraines (and the aura that surrounds them) frequently resolve after a period of sound sleep.

Have been undersleeping at all recently? Do you tend to wake up too early? I ask, because the more exhausted and sleep-starved you are, the more likely by far that you will suffer episodes of unquiet sleep.


Mary