Hypnagogic Hallucinations

[Mrogreturns]

Has anyone else here experienced hypnagogic hallucination?

These are relativley common hallucinations that occur in the transition between waking and sleep and are not related to drug taking or mental illness. They are often associated with some for of sleep disorder.

IIRC the most common forms are visual and are often either geometric shapes or faces. There are also hynopompic hallucinations which are similar but occur upon wakening.

Up until my late teens I had these every night- always faces seeming to form out of the shadows in front of me. The faces were always very realistic human faces but always distinctly unpleasent. They were constantly shifting and changing- sort of like morphing really.

I don`t see them anymore ecept very occaisionaly if I am overly tired when I go to bed.

So- anyone else had this- if so what did you see\ hear \ feel?

 

[eyrei]

Yes, I have these once a month or so. They can be quite disturbing...of course, I can't be absolutely sure mine are exactly the things you described.

 

[ainwood]

I have had very similar ones to you - faces morphing in and out.

It was during my orientation period at university, where I was spending a lot of time drinking & socialising, and very little time sleeping. A bit freaky really - the faces would morph in, and just before I could recognise them, they would change and disappear....

 

[Ohwell]

Yes, I have them mostly every night. When I switch out the light, I sometimes see a pair of eyes pop out of the darkness for a split second and then dissapear, only to reappear minutes later. It used to give me the creeps. Beforehand, I always am actually quite alert in a semi-tired state. And as well beforehand, I usually get ringing in my ears. The "eyes" are very realistic, usually they are human but sometimes they appear to be cat or dog eyes.

I remember once -- many years ago -- I was up to see little balls or something flying around my head.

 

[Bose]

Can't say i have... or that i ever want too

 

[stalin006]

do you ever feel like you are dreaming but at the same time you are awake? like it felt too real to be a dream, yet too unrealistic to be so?

take the red pill and ill show u how deep the rabbit hole goes.

i dont, i never ever dream, i just forget what happened in them, altough....i always dream this thing everytime b4 my first day of school.....is the same or very similar dream...weird

 

[Mrogreturns]

Originally posted by ainwood
I have had very similar ones to you - faces morphing in and out.

It was during my orientation period at university, where I was spending a lot of time drinking & socialising, and very little time sleeping. A bit freaky really - the faces would morph in, and just before I could recognise them, they would change and disappear....

Yes that sounds very similar to what I saw- except that this was for many years. The faces I saw were always unpleasant, always looking at me with dislike / disapproval. Can you comment on the nature of the faces you saw?

 

[WillJ]

Nope, never have, and hopefully never will. (14 years old, BTW, if that's relevant.)

And is this related to sleep paralysis? It's where, when waking up, you can't move, and you're quite concious/alert (about as much as when fully awake), and you sort of hallucinate, usually of colors moving around (sort of like a lava-lamp or nebula)? I've never experienced this either, but I've heard of it, and there was a thread on it a while ago.

 

[Mrogreturns]

Originally posted by WillJ
Nope, never have, and hopefully never will. (14 years old, BTW, if that's relevant.)

Oh don`t be such a stick-in-the-mud- it isn`t all that bad really.
Having said that though-I was pleased when mine stopped, although, in a funny way, I miss them sometimes.

Originally posted by WillJ

And is this related to sleep paralysis? It's where, when waking up, you can't move, and you're quite concious/alert (about as much as when fully awake), and you sort of hallucinate, usually of colors moving around (sort of like a lava-lamp or nebula)? I've never experienced this either, but I've heard of it, and there was a thread on it a while ago.

It seems to accompany sleep disorder of various forms. Sleep paralyisis is normal- its only a problem if you become aware of it. I`m not aware that it is usually accompanyed by hallucinations (I have experienced the former without the latter). Its probably related at least in the general sense that both are likely to involve a break down in mechanisms that attribute sensory cortex activity to either external stimui or internally generated activity.

 

[WillJ]

Originally posted by Mrogreturns
Oh don`t be such a stick-in-the-mud- it isn`t all that bad really.
Having said that though-I was pleased when mine stopped, although, in a funny way, I miss them sometimes.

Yeah, I know it wouldn't be that bad, after all, I don't think it would be any worse than nightmares, which aren't that bad (sometimes even fun). But still, you have to admit that the thought of faces appearing out of nowhere and morphing is kinda creepy.

Originally posted by Mrogreturns
It seems to accompany sleep disorder of various forms. Sleep paralyisis is normal- its only a problem if you become aware of it. I`m not aware that it is usually accompanyed by hallucinations (I have experienced the former without the latter).

Yeah, I was only speaking of the kind w/ the (specific kind of) hallucinations. I don't know what the medical term for it is, though.

 

[Perfection]

Those aren't hallucinations, it's me warping your mind