Do You Know What This Sleep Disorder Is?
Posted by: Alan in Sleep Disorder, tags: Disorder, Know, Sleep, This, What
I’m trying to find more information on a sleep disorder, but I can’t figure out what it’s called.
If you’ve seen the film “The Science of Sleep”, you’ll know what one I’m talking about. I just found out that a girl I’m seeing has this disorder. But she’s not sure what it’s called either.
Basically, this is what it is:
Sometimes when she wakes up, she is still in a dream state and experiences dream like visions while being lucid and awake.
So in other words, all the crazy dreams that we have when our eyes are closed and sleeping, hers gets carried over to her waking moment.
So if she’s dreaming of snakes or something, when she wakes up, something in her head doesn’t click right and the dream carries over and she really see’s snakes in her room or whatever. She snaps out of it not too long after. But she says those first waking moments are VERY scary and vivid.
Does anyone know what this is called?
PS. And no….she’s not on drugs.
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January 22nd, 2010 at 6:43 am
These may be ‘hypnagogic hallucinations’, which are defined as when a person dreams while awake. These waking dreams are usually experienced in combination with paralysis. Hypnagogic hallucinations are associated with the sleep disorder Narcolepsy, which is characterized by “sleep or some of its components at inappropriate times”. The primary symptom of narcolepsy is the ’sleep attack’, when the sufferer will fall asleep suddenly during the day.
My questions for you are:
-Is she paralyzed when she experiences these ‘waking dreams’?
-Does she feel paralyzed either right before or after sleep?
-Does she experience an irresistable urge to sleep during monotonous periods of the day?
-Does she fall over, paralyzed, in response to a strong emotion, like laughter, anger, or a physical effort?
These, in addition to what you described, are all symptoms of the sleep disorder Narcolepsy.
Secondly, does this happen regularly? If not, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If it does, however, she needs to get it properly diagnosed. The fact that she does not know the name suggests to me that she may not have been diagnosed. The first person to talk to about it is your general practice doctor.