When you've had an "unnatural experience" (e.g., hearing voices, seeing flashes of light coming from your wall, etc), have you ever wondered if you were hallucinating or dreaming? Right now, I am not sure if I was hallucinating or dreaming when I was hearing voices last night. I mean, I know I was hallucinating earlier in the day because it was like 4pm when I heard voices and I was wide awake since it was the afternoon, but I am not sure about the "hallucinations" at nighttime. The hallucinations and dreams seemed to have meshed together, so I am left confused.

Oddly, sometimes I hallucinate within my dreams, so that only adds to the confusion. Yes, when I am in a dream, I will hear voices, and I recognize within the dream that I am hallucinating. So, such experiences are very odd, to say the least...

It is important for me to know whether I was dreaming or hallucinating because if things get worse, I have to tell my pdoc. I mean, I am at a lower Rexulti dose (2mg now instead of the maximum 4mg I was in before),

Would you consider these experiences bad or frightening in any way? When I remember my dreams they sometimes seem like they were very real, but this doesn't scare me. I often wish I could go back to sleep and find my dreams again so I can return to dreamland.

Originally Posted by AB2371

Would you consider these experiences bad or frightening in any way? When I remember my dreams they sometimes seem like they were very real, but this doesn't scare me. I often wish I could go back to sleep and find my dreams again so I can return to dreamland.

They aren't frightening themselves, but they are frightening in the sense that they could be a premonition. I do not want to lose touch with reality.

I've actually had dreams where I go to sleep, wake up for an hour, then go back to bed and the dream continues. I have also had dreams that occurred on different days but continue on a different day, month, year, etc.. When I am in the dream, I recognize the scenery as scenery from another dream, and because my dreams are lucid, I actually tell people in my dreams that I recognize this from before. It's very strange, to say the least, but interesting for sure.

[fern46]

I don't want to confuse things, but during my episode I hallucinated while I was in a dream like state. I was 'awake', but all of my behavior was like it is when you're stuck in a nightmare. I was watching myself and I did all sorts of odd things like the strange things that can happen in a dream. I didn't think things through. They just sort of played out before me automatically. I was hallucinating the whole time and I told my therapist it was like my brain was malfunctioning and stuck in dream mode while I was awake.

I bring this up because I wonder if that's what happens to some of us. Our brains perhaps get stuck in brainwave patterns that generate waking dreams. I haven't researched this to see if there is anything scientific to back this up, but I wonder if maybe you were in a waking dream like state while hallucinating. I imagine strange things happen when the two worlds cross over. If there's any truth to this I then wonder how can we 'wake up'? I was given something in the hospital (Haldol maybe) that snapped me out of it pretty instantly.

[fern46]

I found this... Oneirophrenia - Wikipedia

And this
Psychosis – A Dream-Like State Of Mind? | Brain Blogger

[Wild Coyote]

HI Blue!

Sounds like you've had a rough night?

There is literature on this very question. I am linking an article from Medical News Today. There are other references in actual medical journals. I thought I would link this article so it would be easier for the average reader , and/or for people having difficluties concentrating, to understand.

Hypnagogic hallucinations: Causes, symptoms, and treatment

This article touches upon how we might be able to tell the difference.

In addition, I'd think, maybe:

If the content of the nightime hallucinations are the same/similar to the daytime hallucinations, then maybe it is more likely the nightime phenomenon are hallucinations.?
It sounds like both the daytime and the nightiime experences exacerbate your anxiety? it is possible the anxiety then exacerbates the hallucinations. I am wondering if you have found some way(s) to cope with the anxiety?

It sounds like you might be experiencing an exacerbation of illness. Please be careful and do call your pdoc if you feel things are getting worse or are just too much as it is. You need to work tomorrow. I hope these experiences never cause issues with your work/employer.

I am concerned about you; yet, I know you have always done well in managing yourself in these "episodes."

Is there anything I can do to help?

Much Love

[Wild Coyote]

Originally Posted by fern46

I found this... Oneirophrenia - Wikipedia

And this
Psychosis – A Dream-Like State Of Mind? | Brain Blogger

Interesting!

Originally Posted by fern46

I imagine strange things happen when the two worlds cross over. If there's any truth to this I then wonder how can we 'wake up'? I was given something in the hospital (Haldol maybe) that snapped me out of it pretty instantly.

I am sure there are plenty of people walking around living their daily lives having not met their physical and emotional needs for the day, causing them to walk around in a daze, or a haze, or dream-like nightmare, but for me, the cross over goes the other way. Maybe I am lucky or maybe one severe walking nightmare was enough for me to not want to return to that dreamland - in fear that world may become a new reality. For example, when I first started biking, I took one typical route that I would bike to and from the same location four days every week, twice on Saturday and Sunday. On my way home there was a house I would pass by that reminded me of a race course. Then I began to have a dream that I was a professional racer, and I would win awards and ride the racecourse frequently. When I woke up, I knew I wasn't a real racer, but I do continue to bike frequently.

[fern46]

Originally Posted by AB2371

I am sure there are plenty of people walking around living their daily lives having not met their physical and emotional needs for the day, causing them to walk around in a daze, or a haze, or dream-like nightmare, but for me, the cross over goes the other way. Maybe I am lucky or maybe one severe walking nightmare was enough for me to not want to return to that dreamland - in fear that world may become a new reality. For example, when I first started biking, I took one typical route that I would bike to and from the same location four days every week, twice on Saturday and Sunday. On my way home there was a house I would pass by that reminded me of a race course. Then I began to have a dream that I was a professional racer, and I would win awards and ride the racecourse frequently. When I woke up, I knew I wasn't a real racer, but I do continue to bike frequently.

Your fear is exactly what happened to me. I was in a dream like state where surreal things were happening (the hallucinations) and they became my reality. I acted as though it were 100% real. I also blacked out for portions of it similarly to the way people struggle to remember parts of their dreams.

I've daydreamed like what you describe. This was on another level altogether.

[yellow_fleurs]

That does sound confusing, Blue! The sleep state is such a strange thing. I find that half awake state to be such an odd one, and I have sometimes questioned "did I really hear that or was I just sleeping?" I don't actually hallucinate when awake, but I experience that kind of thing when falling asleep sometimes.

Fern/Wild Coyote that's really interesting and what you wrote reminds me of how a family member of mine used to experience waking up and still being mentally in a dream. Like they didn't hallucinate I don't think, but they still thought the circumstances of the dream were real and would panic they didn't do something for work and try to go to work in the middle of the night for example. Eventually they woke up after maybe 10 minutes of talking and us arguing they were still asleep.

I experienced that same thing one time when I was a child. I had a fever so I think that affected my dreams and then I woke up in a daze and panicked I was supposed to wake up my parents and had overslept. Apparently not waking them up could cause the actual end of the world or something and I was beyond devastated to the point that I wondered if I even wanted to live. Fortunately after about 15 minutes and crying to my mom I woke up fully. I never experienced that again. However with the mixed episode and worsening OCD I had I actually felt like I was in a nightmare. I recall thinking, wait, I have felt this terrible feeling before and was brought back to that mental state I experienced as a child during that dream. That's how I actually describe how I have been feeling a lot when my brain feels off: like I am in some nightmare state.

@fern46 Yeah, I don't know if I'm experiencing what you describe about being "awake" but feeling like you're in a dream.

@Wild Coyote When I have these dreams/hallucinations, I am unsure if I am awake or not. I have had hypnogogic and hypnopompic hallucinations before, so I know what they're like, but I recognize those in the moment as being hallucinations from falling asleep or waking up. This is about me not knowing whether I am in a dream or not when I experience such "hallucinations." e.g., "Did I actually hallucinate, or was I in a dream?"

[Wild Coyote]

Hi Blue, Are these high anxiety dreams/hallucinations something like night terrors?

I am asking because I have night terrors. I have a recurrent dream/nightmare about an intruder entering my room. Sometimes, I hear every footsteps, I hear someone breathing, and I see a sillouette in the dark. It is moving toward me.

I awaken. I am very upset. My heart rate is very high and I am sweating. I am in a panic! It takes me awhile to sort out if it is real or not.

When I was on high doses of prednisone, I became psychotic. I would hallucinate all colors of lights. The colors would suddenly shoot out of the walls and were very bright.!

I hope you can get things sorted out.

Originally Posted by Wild Coyote

Hi Blue, Are these high anxiety dreams/hallucinations something like night terrors?

I am asking because I have night terrors. I have a recurrent dream/nightmare about an intruder entering my room. Sometimes, I hear every footsteps, I hear someone breathing, and I see a sillouette in the dark. It is moving toward me.

I awaken. I am very upset. My heart rate is very high and I am sweating. I am in a panic! It takes me awhile to sort out if it is real or not.

When I was on high doses of prednisone, I became psychotic. I would hallucinate all colors of lights. The colors would suddenly shoot out of the walls and were very bright.!

I hope you can get things sorted out.

No, I have never had night terrors before. I can't even remember when was the last time I had a nightmare in general. So basically, I haven't experienced anything "scary" at night in a long, long time.

I just can't tell what was a dream and what was reality.

[Blueberrybook]

One of my sisters & my daughter tell me they see colored small things floating around the room while they're awake but trying to fall asleep. When my daughter told me about it, I freaked out and also thought, "Why didn't you mention this before we went to the eye doctor last week?!" But when I brought the topic up to my sister, she said, "Oh, I've seen things like that my entire life." After reading on the internet, some people had found these were sleep migraines, but many others found they (or their parents) dragged them through endless tests and worries and nothing was every found and now they were happily living in retirement.

I have had sleepwalking episodes. Those I don't remember at all. I know I sleep talk too, and people who sleep talk tend to have a greater tendency to sleep walk. Sometimes, I'll wake enough to realize I have been talking awhile to nobody. When I was in the hospital, after ulcer surgery and on all sorts of pain medication, I hallucinated off and on and very continuous type hallucinations at all times of the day (locations of various objects in the room, where my bed was located & what it looked liked, the bathroom, and it did change (again to wrong locations) when I was brought to a new room closer to the nurses station for not listening and trying to walk on my own (falling & triggering the bed alarm, thinking another position would be more comfortable. Sometimes, I'd hear voices of lots of kids, like an elementary school class, but God know they wouldn't bring kids to a post-surgical ward. All hallucinations (at different hours of the day, not surrounded by sleep all the time) and really consistent, which struck me as odd.

H claims I was hallucinating around a week ago when I feed the cats honey, but it was surrounded by sleep, and I didn't remember a bit of it. He said I was even talking some and I guess I was making some sort of sense, but I don't remember a thing about it.

[Under*Over]

Sometimes I hallucinate, fall asleep while hallucinating, and then wake up because of MORE hallucinations.

Its hard to draw the line between hallucinating and dreaming. Im not sure how to help except to say its probably a good idea to talk to your T and psych about it