[PurpleFlyingMonkeys]

I think i posted this before and was told it could be due to lack of sleep. I was averaging only 4 hours of sleep so i figured that was true but... for the last two weeks ago i have been getting 8 or so hours at night and a hour nap during the day, yet it happened again. I am always tired but figure its from the new anxiety meds im on. But this has been happening for long before any meds.

Basically, while laying in bed, while awake and knowing whats going on around me (i can hear and follow conversations while in this state) i have dreams. Im awake but when my eyes close i slip into a dream. Most of the time i know im awake and its a dream. Sometimes when i wake up and try to fall back to sleep it happens again. I hear everything around my body but when my eyes are closed, i go back to the place i was. It can carry on for hours when im desperately trying to actually fall asleep.

Ill get up and even go do things and lay back down and im right back in the half dream. I never feel rested when this happens and my head is so full of pressure it feels like it will explode. The pressure doesnt go away until i decide to get up for good or until i actually fall to sleep.

Anyone know what this could be? Im going to bring it up with t but i dont have another appointment until next thursday. Anyone care to shed some light on what may be happening?

[shipping]

I dream while I am awake, too. But it doesn't feel as though my head will explode from pressure. I am usually sitting up and if a person is around, my body wants to interact so much that I start talking to that person with "dream words". Ex: my husband says, "do you want dinner?" and I say, "yeah, but first we need to put those rabbits back in the cage." There are no rabbits; this is in my dream. Since I never feel distress during this, I hadn't thought much of it. If you are feeling bad from this you should tell a medical doctor; you might have blood pressure issues, especially if changes occur when getting up or lying down. Good luck!

[PurpleFlyingMonkeys]

I do that too. It makes me laugh sometimes but when im in that state i can and doget mad if my fiance looks at me like im crazy. A lot of the time i get mad and say "i know what im talking about!" Maybe the two are connected i hadnt thought of that before. The difference thou what i was writing about above happens when istart to sleep too and i will be dream just not sleeping and can, if i chosex to, join in on a conversation completely aware of what is being said, what i am saying, and at the same time stay in the dream. When i open my eyes i know where i am and everything and while in this state of dreaming, i know its a dream.vwhen i actually fall asleep though the dream changes slightly but i no longer know its a dream.

It doesnt worry me per se but its strange to me, it doesnt always happen but it does quite a bit. Yet another thing to confuse me

[PurpleFlyingMonkeys]

Another thing about this state of dreamung, sometimes it feels like im vibrating like im laying on a vibrating bed or something. Gosh im a freak

[Astridetal]

I dream while awake too, but I don't have your other symptoms. Has the cause of your fatigue been checked out? I mean, you say you feel tired all the time, and you used to get only foru hours of sleep. So it may be the fatigue rather than the lack of sleep.

[PurpleFlyingMonkeys]

You could be onto something. My sleep issues have never been figured out, like many other things about me. The doctors give me sleeping meds when i bring it up with them but they i guess assume my sleep is due to all of the chaos always in my life. Thats what one doctor said at least. Sleeping meds only work sometimes. The only real medicine that ever seemed to work for my sleep was seroquil but that also turns me into a space cadet so i dont take it anymore. The other medicines only help me fall asleep. I will sleep for 2-3 hours and from then on out im waking up every hour fighting to sleep. The muscle relaxer im on now for my anxiety only gets me the same results. But ive been getting better at not getting out of bed everytime to wake up. But i am severely fatigued all the time. I dont think its depression. Well i didnt. An appointment with the pdoc next wednesday, maybe she will know what to do

[doglover5]

Have you had a sleep study or nap study done? Going straight into the dream state (REM phase of sleep) is the main problem of that. REM sleep brain waves are the closest to wakeful brain waves on the "sleep brain waves" spectrum. Deep sleep, which is where we actually get rest and our bodies restore themselves, emits waves the farthest from wakefulness. Another hallmark of narcolepsy is disrupted sleep patterns like you describe. If your brain doesn't reach deep sleep, even if you are sleeping, even if you get a full 8 hours, you won't be rested & you'll feel fatigued.

[Moodysmood]

It sounds a bit like a form of sleep paralysis, which your medication may be heightening the frequency and/or lucid effects of. I understand because it sounds similar to something I once dealt with. I haven't taken any meds but I used to experience very intense lucidity and paralysis. I would be in the same room where I didn't know if I was asleep or awake, or perhaps I had fallen under just briefly, but I would swear I'd maybe just seen my brother enter the room or something else that couldn't happen actually happen. But i couldn't get up from where I was watching him and he would seem not to see me even though I was right in front of him. Then I would jolt up and I would see I am alone in the room I thought I wasn't alone in. I began to get very afraid to fall asleep in the day by myself for fear I might be ambushed or caught offguard. I live alone now though and I don't fear someone coming in if I fall asleep in the day. It is something to mention in your appointments. Perhaps you are experiencing visual side effects it would be helpful to address. You might also learn from what you see during these spells you have at the same time...

[suicidechick]

i suffer from 19 disorder and this is one, lack of sleep why do i do ?

[shipping]

You might also make sure your blood pressure is OK. You said you feel like you are vibrating--that could be a pulse or bp issue. When my blood pressure is too low or too high I get weird symptoms; recently my bp was too low (because of new drug) and my arms felt like they existed a few inches above where they actually were.

[PurpleFlyingMonkeys]

Thank you everyone for such informative responses. I've never had a sleep study done, I suppose they cost a good ammount and I have no insurance but considering I have been living with sleep problems since I was an infant, I suppose I should look into it.

I do have low blood pressure from time to time. It lasts for a couple of months but then seems to smooth out for a while. When I was a teen the meds they put me on caused me to have high blood pressure so instead of taking me off the meds they gave me meds to lower my blood pressure. And now I have low blood pressure without meds at all. So I suppose I've had strange blood pressure as well. I wonder, would having a sleep study done be able to determine if it was blood pressure issues that cause this?