Recurring Sleep Paralysis in Dreams Within Dreams

**SkipBrutale** · 09-03-2011 06:26 AM

I think I may be sleeping with my eyes half open because even though I'm in a dream my vision is of my bedroom and ceiling, like I'm dreaming I'm laying in bed and really seeing my actual ceiling/room if that makes sense. For a long time now I've been having this same series that is frustrating and at times disturbing when it's going on.

I will "wake up" in my bed, see my ceiling and everything, then roll over off of my bed falling onto the floor. After I hit the floor I either get tangled up in my blankets or feel totaly weak/heavy or a presence pushing down on me and I struggle to get to my knees or move, I'm usually in a fetal position. At this point I become lucid of the fact oh it's this dream again, and stop fighting and just lay still where I get the oddest sensation I've never had in real life kind of like my equilibrium is adjusting and I'm flipping over and then I'm waking up back in bed again.

Then I roll off the bed, repeat until I wake up for real. I've had sleep paralysis once and it's similar to it except I can move with great difficulty. I also have SP in bed in the middle of the rolling to the floor loops, where it seems like I'm 100% dreaming even though again I can see my ceiling and room. When I wake up my field of vision doesn't change, I become aware I've woken up yet I'm looking at the same ceiling/wall with no disconnect. Often during this there will be a person standing at the foot of my bed, then when I wake up the only thing that changes is the person morphs into my fan or dresser or anything.

I will wake up, be unable to move, force myself up then roll onto the floor, be stuck in blankets on the floor unable to move, wake up in bed, roll to the floor, struggle to my knees and feet then be back in bed with a person standing over me, lean up to attack them, roll to the floor, wake up in bed unable to move with a black figure in front of me, then wake up for reals while the only change in vision is the figure leaving. It gets really frustrating after awhile.

I am confused if I really am rolling off of my bed and then climb back in while asleep, is this sleep walking? Sometimes I can power myself up and am barely able to walk but it feels like I'm asleep it's just very weird feeling and hard to describe. I'm not sure if I'm having waking sleep paralysis and hallulcinating I'm laying on the floor, if I'm actually rolling out of bed then sleep walking back in, or if I'm asleep the whole time and if so why can't I move.

Does anyone know what the deal is?

**Darkmatters** · 09-03-2011 06:54 AM

To be honest, it sounds like SP to me. I'd think if you fell out of bed for real it would wake you up, or at least you'd have bruises or be able to feel the residual pain after waking up.

1st question - when you're sleeping, how dark is your room? Is there enough light that you'd be able to see the ceiling?

2nd question - when you wake up for real, are your sheets all tangled around you or placed weird, as if you re-arranged them while asleep or half-asleep? Or are they still neatly placed?

You could try putting something on the wall or ceiling where you'd be able to see it (if this happens frequently) like a piece of masking tape or something, and see if it's there next time this happens.

**SkipBrutale** · 09-03-2011 09:08 AM

Originally Posted by Darkmatters

To be honest, it sounds like SP to me. I'd think if you fell out of bed for real it would wake you up, or at least you'd have bruises or be able to feel the residual pain after waking up.

1st question - when you're sleeping, how dark is your room? Is there enough light that you'd be able to see the ceiling?

2nd question - when you wake up for real, are your sheets all tangled around you or placed weird, as if you re-arranged them while asleep or half-asleep? Or are they still neatly placed?

You could try putting something on the wall or ceiling where you'd be able to see it (if this happens frequently) like a piece of masking tape or something, and see if it's there next time this happens.

I agree I don't think I'm really falling out of bed. In answer to your first question it's kind of embaressing but I sleep with more light than probably anyone you or I know. I like to be able to see, I also have a real bad sleep schedule where it's light out side most of the time I'm asleep. So its deffinitely possible for me to see clearly during sleep hours.

I don't recall the sheets ever actually being tangled around me. I don't actually use a sheet and lately have only been under one blanket. Now that I think about it in the dreams when I'm tangled up I must be under more covers than the single one I actually use.

I agree there is some SP going on. I think probably when my eyes open enough to see the room but I'm still asleep, maybe that triggers me going into SP that is still more dreamlike since I haven't officialy woken up.

Sometimes I wake up in stages where the first stage is I see my ceiling and wall but my mental coherence is still that of dreaming, I can't hear sound, there is some hallucination like a person or my door opening/closing back and forth, then the hallucinatory aspects go back to normal/dissapear, I recognize I have just woke up, and a second or two after that I hear outside noises I was deaf to. It's like waking up from a dream but with no break in vision, the change is mainly mental. I think I'm paralyzed during the first part but it only lasts a couple seconds so I don't notice it.

Is this uncommon?

**Darkmatters** · 09-03-2011 09:24 AM

Funny - I actually do exactly the same. I don't usually get to sleep these days till around 10 in the morning - some days even around noon!!

I've never had such terrible sleep habits before. I really need to get myself back to sleeping at night! Cause it's really hard to get to like the bank or anything this way...

And I have venetian blinds, but all they seem to do is stop me from seeing out. they're white and actually reflect all the sunlight up onto the ceiling, making the room seem even brighter. I can tell how bright it is even with my eyes closed, and I don't think that's a good way to sleep.

I remember a couple of SP experiences I had as a wee tyke, and they were very much like what you describe - I could absolutely swear I was wide awake and had my eyes open looking at my room. Everything looked exactly the way it should and was just the way it was when I went to bed. No weird distortions or anything. Then suddenly my robe (which was hanging on a hook in the open closet) came to life, walked out into the center of the room, and started talking to me! When it was done with it' little monologue everything just kind of faded back to normal, if I remember right the robe (which had tuned into a sort of dwarf wearing a floppy trench coat and big floppy hat) disappeared and soon I was awake, and it was like my eyes were open the entire time!!

I know people can sleep with their eyes open - my dog does it all the time!! I think the signal from the optic nerve supposedly is stopped from reaching the brain, or more properly still reaches it but isn't processed anymore since the dreaming shuts off all data from external sources. I don't know though, maybe sometimes a bit of it still gets through and affects what we dream about?

It's fascinating to hear about things like this and speculate about what's going on inthe brain as we sleep.