Lucid dream within a dream within a dream.

I've been a frequent reader of this forum, but I had to register tonight because I just had a weird experience. I just had a lucid dream within a dream within a dream. It was extremely bizarre. I've only attained lucidity once and it was only for 5 seconds. However, what I just experienced was completely new and shocking. Please bare with me, as I'm a bit new with this:

I attained lucidity and it lasted about 5 minutes. I knew I was lucid dreaming because I controlled everything that went on. Even the people in my dream knew I was lucid dreaming - they asked me to prove it to them, and I did all these things just to show them I had the power to, and it happened. Just after about 5 minutes, however, I feel like I "woke up", but was in a completely different state, of which I couldn't do anything/control anything, and then after about 10 seconds I woke up because I was horrified. So was this a lucid dream within a dream within a dream? So basically I had a dream that I was dreaming, and in that dream I was lucid dreaming? It is immensely surreal to me. The crazy thing, though, is that the people in my dream knew I was lucid dreaming. Can anyone please explain this to me? Thanks!

Technically, a dream within a dream is not possible. What you experienced was a series of FA's (false awakenings) after each dream. This can be a very common occurrence after a lucid dream so make sure you reality check upon waking up!

Seems to me that you had a dream and then another dream and then another, I would guess that the "within" part is an illusion that we get from it.

Good luck luciding.

Yep it deffo sounds like false awakenings to me, I get them all the time like that and it can be so bloody annoying because it totally screws your head up, every time you go to bed or wake up in the morning ask yourself "am I dreaming" and this will cross over into your dreams so it makes it easier for you to controll and less confusing for you :)