Hallucinations and panic

I often have hallucinations at night and in the morning which I think is fairly normal, but since last week it has happened every night and almost every morning.
It begins the moment I turn off the lights and lie down.
The hallucinations used to be soft voices but now they're louder and I've also started to see things when I close my eyes. A strong feeling of panic is often present when this happens. Most of the time I see unknown faces and landscapes accompanied with voices.
I can get rid of the visuals by opening my eyes but I still hear things.
I try to stay awake as long as I can to avoid going to sleep but eventually I give in and it still happens.
Can I solve this by taking sleeping pills or should my therapist know about this in case it's something else?

Tell your therapist if you aren't seeing a psychiatrist you should try to see one to see what they say. I am not a doctor so I can't say either way about sleeping pills other than I wouldn't mess with it without a professional opinion.

I don't think taking sleeping pills will do anything but mask the problem. I would talk to my therapist about it-- having hallucinations at night and in the morning is not "fairly normal."

The lack of sleep may be causing this. Get more hours of sleep. Therapy will help with your anxiety.

scaredycat, this is one for the therapist. Call them asap and bring them up to speed what is happening with you. Maybe they can come up with an answer for you. (((hugs)))

Def call in the therapist. This means it's time for some additional help which may include some meds. But you def don't want to try to deal with this alone. Good luck and lots of hugs.

I used to have hallucinations at night, visual and tactile mostly. It was terrifying. Had them every night for months. I got through it without sleeping pills. One of the things that worked for me was to talk about it with whomever would listen and was supportive: a few close friends and a counsellor (was still on a waitlist for a psychiatrist at the time). Eventually it faded on its own to some new horror (heh) but I wouldn't advise taking matters into your own hands regarding medicating (I don't see you suggesting that; I'm assuming you'd need a prescription to get sleeping meds anyway? Not sure how it is where you live...). Also, I agree that it would only be masking the problem. My two cents is to find a way to deal with the hallucinations (some kind of counselling/therapy/something else) with meds as a last resort, if the hallucinations are being caused by an imbalance and not stress from something else. Hope you find what works for you. I wish you peace and safety in the meantime.