I have recently had a recurring problem with sleep paralysis which is very hard to explain, however I will try my best as I am intregued if anyone else has the same problems.

The last few times I have taken a midday nap (extremely tired) I have had very vivid and sometimes lucid dreams but the problem is when these dreams are ending I find myself in a state of sleep paralysis like nothing I would normally experience. I find that my consciousness remains in the dream world yet somehow mixes with the real world. I know I am dreaming and would like to exit the dream to wake up so I shake my head (which usually works to wake up) but for some reason I can't seem to get myself awake for a very long time. On top of this, while still "feeling" connected to the dreamscape, parts of my vision seems to be coming from my actual room and bed and through the wrong eyes - for example while lying on a grassy hill in the dreamworld I get half of the vision of the hill spliced together with vision of my real arm next to my face in reality.

Sometimes I try to stand up and its as though I can feel my physical body responding but my vision stays stuck in the one state of paralysis with both reality and dreamscape images. Unsurprisingly this is an extremely uncomfortable and confusing state to be in, especially when I can't wake myself up for real. Has anyone else experienced this?

Duncan