Posted by weirdosleeper on May 15, 2009 at 14:42:21:Hi everyone... I just discovered this website, and I would love any input about my really unusual sleep behavior. I had a sleep study done about a year ago, but I couldn't fall asleep for about 4 hours because I was so uncomfortable with all the equipment and electrodes attached to me, so I only got 3 hours of sleep and they "found nothing abnormal about my sleep whatsoever"
A little background on me: I'm 21, in good health, 5'4, 125ish pounds, good student, hard worker, lots of friends...
Here's some of the various things that happen to me while I sleep:
-Nearly every night I semi-wake-up in the middle of the night convinced that I see some unusual hallucination... It's like I'm not fully conscious, and I'll look over at my poster on the wall and think it's a cabinet with silverwear, or last night I was convinced there was a model ship hanging from my ceiling, and I once thought my stuffed animal was a baby I had just given birth to...
-Sometimes I'll have much scarier hallucinations. Twice I was convinced that there was a person stuck behind my bed and the wall, so I got up out of bed and pulled the bed out, then realized I was hallucinating and went back to sleep. I also once dreamed that I was suffocating by my coat (I think the heavy down comforter was covering my face) and then pulled it off and woke up. I always seem to realize that I'm hallucinating and fall back asleep, and I remember that something weird happened when I wake up in the morning.
-Every time I sleep with people, I'm told I talk in my sleep-- sometimes just mumbling, sometimes they can tell me exactly what I said. (Usually random conversations and nothing too scary)
-I also occasionally scream in my sleep. An extreme example: I was sleeping with my boyfriend in a hotel room and I started to scream. He freaked out and covers my mouth with his hands in an attempt to stop me from screaming. I had a cold so I could barely breathe out of my nose (and I was still asleep) so I thought someone was trying to hurt/kill me and started shrieking... I maneuvered my way off the bed, he came off after me and we physically fought each other to the point that we both had cuts and bruises on our bodies. It was the most terrifying experience of my life.
-When I remember my dreams, they are usually really scary or bad ones... I'd say more than half of the dreams I remember are nightmares where I'll wake up with my heart pounding/ sweating.
I've gone to a sleep specialist and a psychologist before, and both say they don't think it has anything to do with my psychological stability... I'm very happy and my only main stress is schoolwork.
I'm sorry this was so unbelievably long, but if you've managed to read through it, THANK YOU! If you have any thoughts or have heard of anything remotely like this, please let me know what you think! I really appreciate it :)