I just want to sleep without seeing dead people in my room

July 22, 2009 11:40 AM

Why do I keep having these insane dreams and how can I make them stop? (long)

Starting at a young age I started to sleepwalk, but it often included trying to climb on things, yelling, and sometimes attempting to get out of the house. My family dismissed it as something I picked up from my great-grandmother. The sleepwalking then began to incorporate my dreams, and I would remember it - ie in my dream I am in my room with my friends, but they need a ride home so I walk (in reality) into my parent's room and ask them to drive them home, then walk back and go back to bed. Or the dream requires me to spread my blanket on the ground.
In high school, the walking toned down, but was still there, but more monsters, and all of this was set in my room.
In college, lots of dreams about people in my room and going to steal something from me, etc.
Currently, it's a matter of phases. Sometimes there are gross things in my bed that I can "feel" or "see" like snakes, rats, severed heads. Or I can see floating grey matter, that I can control. The classic person in the house/room is also there. As is thinking my boyfriend is somehow conspiring against me, or playing games in my head that if I move the wrong way, I will die.

This all takes place in my room, and I believe it to be real, until I "figure it out" over a few nights, or weeks, and my brain kicks in and says "STOP." Then a night or two of no dreams, and my brain thinks up something else to torment me with.

This always happens shortly after I fall asleep, so right after to an hour or two into it.

Now, I've talked to doctors, nutritionists, holistic healers, gurus, and searched the InterWebs. No, I don't think I'm in connection with the Astral Plane because I can control it so that explanation is moot.

I've tried to eat more before I go to bed so that my blood sugar doesn't drop, no dice. White sage? Nope.

I also found out my grandfather had similar dreams, to the point that they had two beds so that my grandmother wouldn't get attacked at night. As far as I can tell, this is hardwired into my brain.

I'm afraid this will only get worse as I age, so, has anyone else experienced this? Have you fixed it? What else can I try?

posted by anniek to science & nature (19 comments total)

Are you on any medications? That might exacerbate the problem.
posted by orrnyereg at 11:48 AM on July 22

I think that Mike Birbiglia has a more intense version of what you are describing. Check out his story - It's a comically told story, but in terms of the information he describes regarding his sleep disorder I think he is very serious.
posted by extrabox at 11:49 AM on July 22 [2 favorites]

Comedian Mike Birbiglia does a routine based on his real-live experiences with out-of-control dreams along the lines of the ones you describe. A longer version of the routine showed up on This American Life awhile back (but originated with The Moth). He's a great storyteller, so it's very, very funny stuff, but the matter was pretty serious for him.

If it were me, I'd check with a place specializing in sleep disorders.

(on preview, what extrabox sez)
posted by jquinby at 11:51 AM on July 22

You've tried doctors, but have you tried a sleep specialist?

You might want to listen to this, particularly Mike Birbiglia's segment.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 11:54 AM on July 22

I wouldn't say that your sleepwalking is a function of your dreams themselves, but rather a function of biochemistry. Usually there is a hormone/biochemical/whatever the proper name is for the body goo that keeps you paralyzed during dream states, precisely do you don't jump up and run around when you're dreaming. (For sake of convenience, I'm going to call it "paralysis goo".)

Some people are lower in paralysis goo than others, and that's what makes them especially prone to talking/walking/gesturing/having conversations with others in their sleep. Sometimes with frustrating consequences, sometimes with hilarious ones. The opposite also happens -- some people have higher concentrations, and will have instances where they'll become fully conscious, but their bodies aren't yet out of the "I'm asleep so my body needs to be still" state yet, so they'll wake up and be paralyzed (which just sounds freaky as all HELL to me, personally).

This sounds like a description of what you're going through -- see if this sounds familiar, and then maybe speak to a doctor about it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:54 AM on July 22

Antidepressants are known to suppress REM sleep, cannabis can help too.
posted by ripple at 12:09 PM on July 22

My best friend suffers from sleep paralysis - what empresscallipygos mentioned as too much paralysis goo - and its frightening for him. Often as he wakes he sees elements from his dreams that are still present, yet he's unable to move to "get away" or what have you.

His episodes are more frequent when there's a significant amount of stress or lack of sleep. Are you able to narrow down any specific triggers?

Speaking to a sleep specialist if you haven't already, is probably the best idea.
posted by getmetoSF at 12:23 PM on July 22

Try to find out if there's a sleep lab in your city - being monitored while you sleep might give you helpful information, and you'd probably be interesting enough as a subject that you could get seen fairly soon.
posted by Billegible at 12:24 PM on July 22

I've had sleep paralysis a few times, mostly in times of great tiredness or stress. The first few times were very scary because I did not understand what was happening, but eventually I was able to identify the experience as it was happening by recognizing an unmistakable noise I would hear in my sleep paralysis dreams. I can't really describe the noise, except to say it is a very buzzy, persistent loud tone, but for some reason it was always there when my sleep paralysis began, along with a strange vibration in my head.

I don't know if your experience is similar, but if you can recognize those signals, then perhaps you can minimize the fear and anxiety, and even enjoy the experience (I'm always excited when I hear the noise as most times it leads to pleasant lucid dreams, such as flying, etc.).
posted by jchgf at 1:01 PM on July 22

Yes!! I thought immediately of the This American Life program about sleep problems - especially Mike Birbiglia's segment.

He explains his whole history with this problem, plus the process of denial and the events that led up to finally taking his problem seriously, and the results afterwards.

He gets help.
posted by Locochona at 1:12 PM on July 22

Do you smoke? It might help to not smoke close to bedtime. A known effect of nicotine is crazy dreams.
posted by Electrius at 1:15 PM on July 22

Do you take a multivitamin close to bedtime? Certain B vitamins can have that effect too.

If you're anywhere near New York City, you could always be a paid volunteer for a sleep study at Clinilabs.
posted by aquafortis at 1:26 PM on July 22

I'm going to Nth all of the aforementioned suggestions, especially seeing a sleep therapist. I had a friend who suffered from sleep paralysis and used to see totally creepy, malevolent dark gray shapes in the bedroom. I knew another person who woke up from a sleepwalking episode on a bycycle, in their underwear halfway down the street at 2 AM. Thank God it wasn't a busy street! I don't say these things to jest, but rather to let you know that you're not alone in your strange sleep world... A sleep therapy center would definitely be able to help pinpoint the problem and potentially solve it.

Just to throw a oddball question into the mix though, you're not eating cheese within a few hours of your sleep, are you?
posted by muirne81 at 2:13 PM on July 22

You might be experiencing a hypnagogic state. I started to get this as an adult; the first time it happened it freaked all hell out of me (I had the classic "sinister figure in room" hallucination the first time, and only a couple of nights ago in a separate incident was convinced something was crawling over my duvet).

I heard that eating too close to sleeping can disrupt sleep as it raises your metabolism, so maybe it might be good to try eating two or three hours before going to bed instead?

The major factor I've noticed is that all the times it's happened to me has been during hot nights- your body needs to sleep in a cool room so it makes sense that being too hot would mess up your normal sleeping patterns.
posted by cryptozoology at 3:29 PM on July 22

This is a great source of information on Sleep Paralysis and Associated Hypnagogic and Hypnopompic Experiences. There's a page on prevention and coping. Many of those techniques helped me -- you have my empathies!
posted by peagood at 6:13 PM on July 22

Thanks all. I don't take anything besides birth control, and I had this issue before I started that, so I doubt it has an effect. And I don't think I have paralysis, as I can easily move, moving limbs, sitting up, turning on the light, etc quite easily. I've experienced sleep paralysis once, and yes, I don't envy anyone going through it.

But I do tend to snack before bed, so I will try stopping that, and keep the room cool, which is normal for me anyway. And yes, it's probably time to see a sleep specialist, but I'm not too excited about antidepressants or wearing mittens to bed. :(

And I haven't jumped out of a window, but it makes me doubt my own senses, as one time I woke up to what I thought was me imagining someone turning a door knob to my room (that I had locked) and then calmly went back to bed, thinking it was just me, and it turns out that we were in the process of being robbed.
posted by anniek at 7:23 PM on July 22

Yes!! I thought immediately of the This American Life program about sleep problems - especially Mike Birbiglia's segment

Speak of the devil, I sorta remember listening to it last year, and I see that it's actually up on the web site for downloading this week.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 11:16 PM on July 22

And I don't think I have paralysis, as I can easily move, moving limbs, sitting up, turning on the light, etc quite easily.

Sorry if I confused you -- I was saying that perhaps you had the opposite of sleep paralysis. Others have described the exact name of the syndrome above better than I.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:08 AM on July 23

A friend had a similar problem, right down to the "someone's in the room" hallucination. She went to a sleep clinic and learned that she had a fairly well known sleep disorder (I don't know the details--it had something to do with getting stuck in a particular phase of the sleep cycle.) Whatever they did helped her. Sorry I can't be more specific but if it were me I would certainly seek out a physician who specializes in sleep problems.
posted by Morpeth at 8:07 PM on August 10