I'm not sure what forum this would go under, but it has to do with sleep and dreaming so I hope this one works. Two days ago I took a nap after a night of staying up late. I have been able to lucid dream multiple times successfully in the past. It happened this time without me wanting to though. When I realized I was dreaming, I wanted to wake myself up so I tried and then performed reality checks. This had to occur 3 or 4 times before I was successful at actually waking up. Each time I "woke up" in my dream I was convinced that I was actually awake. I was confused and didn't like it. It was a frightening experience because I felt like I was trapped inside my dream. After I woke up I tried my best to forget about what had happened because I didn't ever want it to happen again. I went to bed the next night and it didn't occur, but I woke up frequently. Last night I went to sleep and it happened again around 4 AM. I tried to wake up about 4 times, unsuccessful every time. I began to panic and did everything I could to tell myself to wake up. I was almost in some kind of paralysis at the end because I felt myself wake up but couldn't bring my eyes to open or my body to move. I was awake for about an hour and then got really tired so I drifted back to sleep around 5. Then it happened again! I got scared and started crying. It is a horrible thing and I want to figure out why it's happening. Has this ever happened to any of you?

Hi kpeace,

aboard (pun intended).

Have you had any changes in medication, medical condition (apnea or narcolepsy?), diet, or routine? Any major life stress issues (death, divorce, surgery, job loss, etc.)? These are all factors known to affect sleep & sleep cycles.

I have lucid dreams quite often - the kind where you realize you're in a dream - not the kind where you go from conscious to unconscious w/o realizing it. I've also experienced the "waking up only to find you're still asleep" phenomenon - nested dreams.

This phenomenon is known as hypnopompic or postdormital sleep paralysis, and is known to follow lucid dreams:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_p...ossible_causes
It's disconcerting/unsettling, but it's not usually dangerous. I've had it a few times.

Knowledge is empowering. Read the article, and google:
sleep paralysis
lucid dreaming
nested dreams

Then if it happens again, you'll know what it is, and that it's not to be feared. Sometimes I like to have fun with it. When I'm lucid dreaming, I can fly, breathe underwater, etc. If the dream is so disturbing that I want to wake from it, I concentrate on that very hard. If that fails to arouse me.... well.... let's just say that any time I've died in a dream, I've never failed to wake up immediately (or within seconds). It's never failed. (Since I know it's a dream, this isn't really as morbid/weird as it sounds.)

As for the paralysis upon waking, just wait it out. It only lasts a few seconds (though it may seem longer).

Sweet Dreams, Kiddo.

Doc

My wife & I were both up very late last night with pain flares, so after getting up early this morning for dog duties, we went back to sleep. During that time I had the most edifying lucid dream experience I can recall.

In the dream, I woke up sitting on my mother's couch (the one I had grown up with) as if I had fallen asleep there. My wife was standing a few feet away, and I asked her why my mother's couch was here instead of our own, and how I got here. It was at this point that I realized I was dreaming because I remembered going back to bed. Her response didn't make sense, which confirmed my realization, so I took the opportunity to make some observations and try some experiments to see where it might go. I was conscious of - and intentionally made note of - the colors and textures of everything I recognized; they were all correct.

I looked down at the floor, and saw our dog lying there wagging his tail, but due to lighting, I couldn't tell if it was our current dog (dark brown) or our previous dog (black) - both Labrador Retrievers. I bent down to pet him, and could see it was our current Chocolate Lab. I took note of the color & texture of his fur. Then I stood up and turned around and, perhaps because I was thinking of him or wanting him to be there, there was our previous dog (the Black Lab) - older and very grey on his muzzle, as he would appear if he hadn't died two years earlier. I greeted him as well, happy to see & feel him again and telling him how much I missed him, but still in the realization that this was not reality - just a dream. Nevertheless, I believe I may have made him appear - thereby exercising some control over the dream (kinda like in the movie Inception, but not nearly to the same degree). About then I became aware of lying in bed again, so I must have drifted back to semi-consciousness, and not being able to return to the same dream, I woke myself up. When I got back from the bathroom, my wife was awake, and knowing how quickly dreams fade from memory I immediately related everything I had experienced, as quickly and detailed as possible - for self-documentation if nothing else.

I've left a few things out, but it was my dream. What seemed important to me was recognition/validation of my lucid dreaming, awareness of accurate colors, textures, & sounds, and the ability to consciously control/create some factors/events within the dream. My wife & I thought all this was extremely cool. Just wanted to share it with some friends.

Doc

Hi kpeace, I am not sure if I can be of any help, but at least you will know you are not alone in this. My experience was pretty embarrassing for me and until now I have never told anyone but my sister. I think I was caught in some kind of nightmare but I dont recall anything before I "woke up" I was however able to open my eyes I could see my entire bedroom, and I could see my arms and legs. The paralysis was terrifyng because I could see my body struggling to move. Part of me realized I must still be dreaming because I felt like I was being held down by two different invisable entities. (thats the crazy embarrassing part) I was also able to yell out because I was cussing something fierce telling them to leave me alone. I think I woke myself up with my loudest and final shout for them to get the ** out, almost immediatly after I was able to raise my head and shoulders off of the bed all I can remember after that was feeling incredibly tired and I passed back out. scarrier still is when I woke that morning I could recall every detail of the dream. I recently caught part of a documentery on dreaming and they had talked about the different stages of sleep. During REM swhile sleep something in the body causes a sort of paralysis to "keep you safe" while in active sleep. most sleep walkers lack this and that is what can cause them to act out their dreams physically. I personally have never slept walked before but this is the only conclution that I can logically come up with, that some how I must have half woken up during REM sleep when my body was still in paralysis mode.
Kristy