Am I hallucinating? Spiders when I wake up in the middle of the night.

January 17, 2016 1:30 AM

A couple weeks ago, I had to spend the night in a hotel (long story) downtown in my large city. The hotel was a big chain, generally quite clean, located only about a 5 minute walk from my apartment. I woke up suddenly, in the middle of the night, around 3 AM, and saw a the shadow of a huge spider on the window.

Big enough to be clear without my glasses on, which means BIG because I am extremely nearsighted. When I say shadow, it looked like it was between the window and the window sheer part of the drapery, but the outline was pretty clear. This would make sense with the light in my city because all the lights downtown can make it lighter outside at night than it is inside.

The spider appeared to just be walking slowly and was about the size of my hand spread out. Thick legs, not quite as thick as my fingers, but pretty thick. I don't have an extreme fear of spiders, but it was pretty freaky.

In the hotel, I immediately got up and turned the lights on to try to find it and kill it. Then I was unable to find it. I figured it had hidden when the light turned on. There was a lot of fabric with the window drapery. I had been on the third floor of the hotel, which would be pretty high up. I went downstairs and they let me switch rooms, I went back to sleep and I had not thought about it since.

Except. Tonight. I am back in my apartment (where I live on the 5th floor, no trees or foliage anywhere near my windows). I woke up suddenly and saw the same thing again, this time between my blinds and the window. I grabbed a book and didn't turn the light on. When I got over to the window, I couldn't find it; I whacked a shadow that I thought could have been it, but nothing. I turned the lights on and opened the blinds all the way to the top of the huge window. Nothing there. I can't see where it could have gone, but it's possible it managed to hide.

Is there a huge spider that behaves like I describe? For reference, I live in the mid-South of the U.S., and it is pretty cold (just above freezing right now). I'm not from here so there could be a crazy spider I don't know about. I have never had a problem with bugs in this apartment though; I've seen maybe two tiny, delicate spiders in the two years I've lived here. Also, I mentioned I am extremely nearsighted, I am not sure if the spider I described is something I physically would be capable of seeing from that distance without my glasses. It wasn't perfectly clear so maybe.

Or could I be hallucinating? I have no history of hallucinations, but I know weird things can happen to people in the space between being asleep and fully awake. In case it's relevant, I recently started taking Wellbutrin for depression (but I have taken it before, and never hallucinated anything). If it is a hallucination and just one of those weird "waking up" things, is there any reason to think something is actually wrong with me medically? RIght now, I would rather have imagined it than have this big-ass spider in my apartment so I can go back to sleep without worrying about it...what do you guys think?

posted by Squalor Victoria to Health & Fitness (35 answers total)

Response by poster: Additional info: It is unusual for me to wake up like this in the middle of the night. Also, my dad has really bad sleep apnea. I got tested for it about 3 years ago (not at a lab but with an apparatus they had make take home) and was told everything looked normal. (I got tested because a guy I was dating had told me months earlier that I stopped breathing in my sleep--maybe it happened very occasionally but not enough to show up on the test?)
posted by Squalor Victoria at 1:39 AM on January 17, 2016

More informed people will chime in, but the fact that both times you woke up in the middle of the night strongly suggests to me that you were still dreaming. Either you were still in bed and imagining the whole thing, or you may have gotten up and been sleepwalking, and seeing giant spiders that weren't there. If this was happening during the day I'd worry more about you seeing things, but I think these were probably situations where you weren't as awake as you thought you were. It's very unlikely you were seeing real spiders the size of your hand. (Since you're so nearsighted, it's not impossible you were seeing some normal thing and your sleepy brain was turning that into a spider. Maybe there was a leaf outside your window, skittering around like a spider.)

I don't know for sure that we can blame the Wellbutrin, but looking at the side effects page on Drugs.com they mention "abnormal dreams" and "seeing, hearing, or feeling things that are not there". So it's not unlikely you're just having some weird stuff happen as your body adjusts to the drug.

It's also not impossible you're feeling extra fearful and strange because of the drug. I took Halycion years ago and it messed me up bad. I thought I was dying and I lived with utter terror for months, and it all got much better once I went off that drug. I'm not sure that's happening to you but if you're really scared of giant spiders it's something to consider. Don't assume that you are 100% rational right now. There's a new drug in your system, and you need to allow for some wackiness as you adjust.

Maybe you should talk to your doctor about adjusting the dose or trying another drug, but I really doubt you're having a breakdown and I REALLY doubt you're seeing urban tarantulas or something.

Also, consider reading Charlotte's Web before bed.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:01 AM on January 17, 2016 [4 favorites]

I can't swear that you're not seeing an actual spider, but for the record I go through phases of this happening to me. For me the spider is always on my pillow, not the window, and I "see" it clearly running past me and I'll jump up - and have been known to wake my partner to put the lights on so I can find it - but there's never anything there and as I fully wake up I realise I dreamt it. I know it's a dream as I had a fun alternative version happen in the Summer where it was a wasp instead that I trapped under the bedclothes, and again there was nothing there (my partner particularly enjoyed being woken up for the grand unveiling.)

I'm not on any medication but I put it down to an anxiety thing, it happens when I'm stressed so I view it like a mild form of sleepwalking. I had a couple of episodes of that as a kid and I have sleep paralysis from time to time so while my sleep is normally pretty good I think there are just one or two glitches in that department. Maybe you're the same?
posted by billiebee at 2:06 AM on January 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

Well, yes, there are a couple type of spiders that get that big in your area, namely wolf spiders and fishing spiders. It's uncommon to find them indoors, though it does happen from time to time, especially in winter.

However, the fact that you saw a large spider twice, in entirely different places, is probably a good indicator that you were having some kind of sleep/wake transition (hypnopompic) hallucination, which may be due to the medication. Most people have these occasionally anyway, it may have nothing to do with the Wellbutrin.

Also, maybe you really did see a spider the first time, and it shook you up enough that you had a hypnopompic hallucination of a spider once you were back home.

If it keeps happening, check in with your doctor. You're not taking your meds late in the day are you? Wellbutrin can definitely cause sleep issues if you take it too late.
posted by ananci at 2:22 AM on January 17, 2016 [3 favorites]

they may well be hallucinations. When I had a bout of mild depression some years ago I would see spiders descend from the ceiling and dangle in front of my face while I was lying in bed. I do not have a deep fear of spiders but I suppose we all have an atavistic aversion to them. The dreams were fairly vivid but pretty quickly I learned to recognise them as hallucinations even while only half awake. I only needed to think "go away now, stupid hallucinations" to go back to sleep, with not too much disruption.
posted by bluedora at 2:44 AM on January 17, 2016

If it just happened once, maybe it was a spider, but waking up suddenly to see two big spiders in the same way a few weeks apart stretches credibility. It's almost certainly a kind of dream.

I know someone with a moderate entomophobia who often dreams that they see a bug and then has to wake up and convince themselves it wasn't real. Perhaps it's a common genre.
posted by value of information at 2:46 AM on January 17, 2016

On the sleep apnea front, it is not at all uncommon to test negative on the home test but positive on the lab test. According to the sleep tech I had for my in-lab test, it's actually pretty common for people who have mild sleep apnea to test normally at home, since it's a much less sensitive test.

Waking up in the middle of the night disoriented is a symptom of sleep apnea (and the related sleep breathing disorders). Hallucinations are also pretty normal for people waking up from sleep or falling asleep.

*shrug* I may be projecting, but in your shoes, I'd find a good sleep doctor and ask them about all of this (the not-breathing, the spider/potential hallucination). If it's just normal stuff, then good, but if it's sleep apnea, you really do need to have it treated for other health reasons.
posted by pie ninja at 3:53 AM on January 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

It's possible the first one was real (although probably enlarged a lot by the shadow conditions and sleepiness) and the second was a hypnogogic hallucination based on it. The similar positioning would make me lean towards that.

I have a friend who used to vividly hallucinate lobsters in her bed and on the ceiling when half awake. She is otherwise normal and happy. :)
posted by Erasmouse at 5:40 AM on January 17, 2016

When this started happening to me, I was concerned that something was very wrong. The idea that I could be hallucinating, seemed very scary to me, but I was assured that aside from potential sleep-disorders, it was a somewhat normal occurrence.

My doctor describes them as hypnagogic hallucinations: something that can occur when transitioning between sleep/wake states. (google provides more sleep-phase specific terms ).

Ultimately, we switched one of my medications, because of increased occurance/frequently. However, I later discovered that regardless of medication, I tend to experience this (& sleep paralysis) if I'm a combination of stressed/exhausted and am asleep my back.

Once I understood what was going on, and the mechanics behind it, I was less shaken by the experiences. I reframe it with some variation of "wow, a lot must be going on in my life, because my brain wants to be awake and asleep at the same time. I wonder which side will win, guess I'll find out within the next minute."*

YMMV of course, and it's probably worth mentioning the changes in sleep to your doctor.

* although, if I saw spiders, I'd probably just amuse & distract myself by saying "the damn sleep spiders are eating my brain again" (just maybe not to the doctor)
posted by bindr at 6:01 AM on January 17, 2016 [3 favorites]

This happened to a friend of mine when he mixed alcohol with his anti-depressant. We joke that it's his spirit animal (always a snake). I don't know which anti-depressant he's taking.
posted by lab.beetle at 6:07 AM on January 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

I was relieved when I saw that you had started taking Wellbutrin- I was concerned about the possibility of something more serious developing. You were travelling when this first happened, which can be stressful, and then the incident on its own is unsettling, so it might happen again. Mention to your doctor that this has happened and keep track of any other moments that are similar. I don't think you are seeing real spiders. I think it is a combination of stress and starting Wellbutrin. Just for your own (middle of the night) piece of mind, keep a laser pointer by your bed.
posted by myselfasme at 6:30 AM on January 17, 2016

Since a spider is basically a big blog with thinner parts around it, and you say your eyes are not very good, I have this really strange theory that maybe it was something your eyes did, not your brain. I'm sure what the others says is much more plausible, but just to throw it out: You know how we sometimes see weird shapes when we look into lights? Maybe you woke up, looked at the window, and something blinded you in a way your saw that weird shape. I'm sorry, I'm usually better at describing things, but my own brain fog has me at the limits of my English language abilities today. :/
posted by LoonyLovegood at 6:38 AM on January 17, 2016 [3 favorites]

To chime in from the spider perspective, the only possible kind of spider I can think it'd be is a taurantula (big as a hand, thick legs). All the common big spiders in North America have tiny skinny legs and mostly long bodies. I am 99.9% sure there are not tarantulas wandering around your dwellings unless you live in a tent in the jungle.

Also I totally had this happen to me - out camping, saw a raccoon approaching the tent, sat up and screamed. Woke me and my tent-mate up. Fortunately she forgave me and mentioned he partner did this on a regular basis. No medications but tired from a long hike.
posted by hydrobatidae at 7:00 AM on January 17, 2016

I have things like that happen all the time to me. This type of confusion usually comes about after waking up in the middle of the night and not fully leaving dream state. Sometimes I'll see people screaming at me, or hear music, things that absolutely don't exist. The images tend to recur, so seeing a spider twice doesn't sound odd. I also take wellbutrin.

I've eventually dealt with it as being acceptable vs the side effects that SSRIs give. Also I've had years of disordered sleep so I'm used to it.
posted by Ferreous at 7:20 AM on January 17, 2016

I don't believe there are any indigineous spiders in the US mid-south area that are anywhere near as big as your hand. To have seen two in two different locations makes me think they were not really there.
posted by raisingsand at 7:32 AM on January 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

Is there any way it was a flying squirrel that you interpreted as a spider? Because this has happened to me more than once but it was a flying squirrel. Because of your fear of spiders you could have drawn that conclusion.
posted by belau at 7:40 AM on January 17, 2016

I have this dream! Not often, and I "wake up" to big spiders dropping down onto my bed with their webs. I panic and look for them but there's nothing there. I'm not taking any medications and don't drink much so I always just assumed it was my confused brain. Boy, is it disorienting!

It's neat to hear that it's common enough, like a falling dream or naked dream or something.
posted by eisforcool at 7:42 AM on January 17, 2016 [2 favorites]

Whenever I've asked myself whether I dreamt something or if it really happened, it's always been the former. This has included a lot of retrospectively silly things, often involving levitation and spontaneous flying :)
posted by Quisp Lover at 7:59 AM on January 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

I got tested for it about 3 years ago (not at a lab but with an apparatus they had make take home) and was told everything looked normal. (I got tested because a guy I was dating had told me months earlier that I stopped breathing in my sleep--maybe it happened very occasionally but not enough to show up on the test?)

I agree with everyone that the spiders were a hallucination, and probably related to the apnea or the Wellbutrin.

I have a friend that I've been sharing a hotel room with for a convention once a year since 2009 - that first year I was horrified/terrified at how badly he snored, and told him he needed to get to a sleep study asap because he definitely seemed to be stopping breathing throughout the night. By the next year, he said that the sleep study had found no apnea, but it sounded just as awful to me, with those same frighteningly long silences of no breathing, and I told him I thought his study results were wrong. He got another study done, and they found the apnea that time, and the CPAP machine has fixed it. So, if his apnea could be missed once in a full-on sleep study, I can easily imagine that a take-home self test could fail.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:19 AM on January 17, 2016

My brother and I both had "omg spider on the bed! on the bed! kill it! *swats furiously at comforter, terrifies partner, then wakes up fully and realizes there is no spider*" episodes maybe a once or twice a year in our 20s and 30s. We are both very deep sleepers. We were not on medication, nothing awful came of it.
posted by kimberussell at 8:51 AM on January 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

The human eye is a network of blood vessels leading to a spot in the back called the fovea centralis, I believe. It is common for people to see those nerves on the back of their vision inside the eye and interpret it as a wheel with spokes. I think you are reading it as a spider. The wheels can occur independently of light input. I hope this is helpful information.
posted by effluvia at 9:11 AM on January 17, 2016

I occasionally have a "big spiders dropping from the ceiling" incredibly realistic dreams that lead me to jump up, turn on the lights, and prepare to kill these huge spiders...only to realize it was a dream. The first time it happened I was completely terrified and happily, now it takes only a few seconds to realize it was a dream. They do tend to happen in clusters, either several nights in a row or twice in the same week. Your description sounds like what happens to me and I'm really gratified to learn it's fairly common!
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 9:26 AM on January 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

It sounds like a waking dream to me. I've not had many of these, but I've known shirts that were hanging on a closet doorknob start moving and try to reach for me. Woke up screaming and the whole house came running into my room.

The shirt was too smart to let on, of course, and acted inanimate after that. But *I* knew, oh yeah.

We don't have poisonous spiders in the UK, so I'd personally rather it was a spider than a possessed shirt, but YMMV. Have you ever tried to trap a possessed shirt under a glass and put it outside? It wasn't easy.
posted by tel3path at 9:56 AM on January 17, 2016 [4 favorites]

My money's on the Wellbutrin. I've been on it for years with no issues, but when Mr. Superna tried it to quit smoking he stopped after a few weeks due to realistic disturbing dreams that sometimes blurred into waking up.
posted by superna at 9:58 AM on January 17, 2016

I have a recurring semi-waking dream like this that also includes bugs. In my case, it's that I'm being bitten by swarms of mosquitos. Usually it happens on hot nights, or if I get overheated in the middle of the night. It feels very, very real, but I never find any evidence in the morning, and it often happens in settings where mosquitos are very unlikely to be biting me.

So, yes, I'm also going for some kind of sleep-related hallucination in your case.
posted by Sara C. at 10:00 AM on January 17, 2016

Anecdata, but when I was on wellbutrin, I often thought I saw insects out of the corner of my eye that disappeared when I turned to look at them.
posted by rodlymight at 10:28 AM on January 17, 2016

The only way you really really know is to get a cat and if the cat is also looking at the spot you see the spider then you have your answer.
posted by waving at 1:19 PM on January 17, 2016 [2 favorites]

When I fall asleep being read to or listening to the radio I'll often see scenes being narrated, but sometimes I see weird rebus-like images, such as one startling occasion when 'I saw' became an eyeball being cut in half by a hacksaw.

So if you have a particular concern about being watched or looked at, I might venture to suggest 'spied her' ==> spider.
posted by jamjam at 2:26 PM on January 17, 2016

I hallucinated a huge black spider in my bed once when running a high fever as a kid. (I grew up in PA, no big black spiders there.)

I'm guessing your spiders are hallucinations too.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 7:00 PM on January 17, 2016

Just wanted to throw out the idea that just because you took Wellbutrin before without any side effects, doesn't mean that you will never see those side effects happen. I was on a medicine for years without incident, went off of it for a few years, and when I started taking it again I had pretty bad side effects, so much so that I finally stopped taking it for good. It was the same exact medicine and both times it was the only meds I was on. But, for some reason it affected me differently the second time. So I would guess that you are hallucinating/dreaming, and it very well could be the medicine and/or stress. I would not worry about it too much, but mention it to your doctor next time you see them, or if it gets worse/more frequent.
posted by sillysally at 8:34 PM on January 17, 2016

Even if it was spiders, you'd be far better off just leaving them alone and going back to sleep than trying to kill them. Spiders want nothing to do with you, and if they do accidentally touch you while you're asleep the first thing they'll do about that is run away.
posted by flabdablet at 10:14 PM on January 17, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm going to Nth the hypnagogic hallucination hypothesis, because this happens to me all the time, and has done for more than 20 years.

Spiders, cockroaches and, most recently, cracks in the walls. Sometimes people. Once an alligator/crocodile.

For me it has nothing to do with alcohol or any medications, could be sleep apnea and is often stress related at its worst.
posted by Mezentian at 11:54 PM on January 17, 2016

Another point of anecdata: I've hallucinated all sorts of things within the first minute or so of waking. No big spiders yet, although I probably will now after reading this post (thanks).
posted by Jacqueline at 1:02 PM on January 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks guys, it is good to hear that this is not crazy uncommon (and be reassured that there isn't a flock of monster spiders in my city).
posted by Squalor Victoria at 8:32 PM on January 18, 2016

Without asking you why you were sleeping in a hotel near home, I wonder if your waking life circumstances might be spilling over into your dream state.
Not to get too esoteric on you...
Last year I had a series of vivid spider dreams and I wrote them down immediately upon waking - which turned out to be invaluable as they added up over the course of a month. I did my own obsessive research, through the multitude of spider dream interpretations out there and- without taking too much stock in a definite answer- concluded that some sort of change was happening in my real life.
The spider (take it or leave it) represents the weaver of your own web. It can mean that you're trying to spin something new or repair something existing - particularly in the realm of your support system. A spiderweb represents your own foundation or security- particularly in your career or your most important relationships or family.
I'm deathly afraid of spiders so the dreams were like nightmares that I can STILL see today when I close my eyes. Interestingly, looking back on the time and events in my life when I was having the dreams, I was in the process of changing careers. Perhaps you've conjured up this image at a subconscious level as well- out of necessity. Perhaps you need to pay attention to your own web and the patience, endurance and deliberation it takes to create, maintain and repair it.
posted by evcourtexaminer at 1:38 PM on January 19, 2016