I don't know if this will help anyone else but this is something that happened to me in a dream I just woke up from not long ago. I was in a place I knew I shouldn't be and started to question whether I was dreaming or not. Okay, done this before and managed to not become lucid. I had to force myself to stop paying attention to everything that was going on around me (it wasn't easy) and concentrate on why I was here, how I got here, etc. My DCs were staring at me like I was crazy. Then I tried to say "I'm lucid" but I couldn't, it was like the dream was trying to stop me. I had to pause and build up the energy and willpower to be able to say it, and when I finally shouted the words and believed in them, everything around me became brighter and more detailed.

Anyway the point, I think in situations like this you have to consciously STOP the dream plot temporarily because it's so distracting that even if you do realize you're dreaming, you might be too caught up in what's going on to fully realize what it means to know that you're dreaming, if that makes any sense. It's like watching a movie while being fully aware of the fact they're all just actors, versus being the director.