New and I keep having false awakenings...I think it's cause of Xanax?

Hi, I'm new here. :) I know this might be weird since a lot of you try to learn lucid dreaming, but lately I've been having some and they really freak me out.

I'm a nervous person in general...I'm always having awful panic attacks so I'm prescribed Xanax. Since I've been regularly taking it, I've been having really vivid dreams. My first false awakening happened a few days ago. I had a doctors appointment at 11:00. I woke up out of my bed, went to the bathroom (should have hinted me that I was dreaming cause there was a tv in there...), then I turned on the tv, and I noticed the digital clock said 2:00. I thought..."That's weird...I set my alarm for 10..." But I didn't think much of it and I went to clean my guniea pig's cage. Then I looked at the digital clock again and it STILL said 2:00. I got sort of freaked out and got the phone to call my parents, but it didn't go through. Then I got messages from my pharmacy telling me to pick up some perscriptions and they said it was November 17th...That's when I knew I was dreaming. I started having a panic attack IN my dream! For some reason the first thing I thought was, "OMG I'm dreaming, I need to find my body so I can jump back into it!" I went to my bed, and I didn't see myself lying there, so I rushed into my moms room to see if I was sleeping in there, and I didn't see myself. But then I woke up.

I started doing research, and I found out Xanax increases REM sleep so that could be the cause of it. I guess others have had false awakenings on it too...But sometimes I need Xanax to function...So I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt. I was so freaked out that I didn't take it for the next 3 days...But today I decided to take it again. I figured this way, if I had another false awakening...I'd know it was the Xanax...

So anyways I go to bed, woke up, and this one didn't really start as a false awakening, it just ended like one. It started off as a crazy dream, but then it turned into an everyday day for me. I went to call Sprint on the phone and I kept asking the rep on the other line, "Can you tell me what date it is?" and they couldn't tell me, they kept going in and out so I couldn't hear them. I asked again, and still, the line kept going in and out when they told me the date. So then I was like, "Is it May?" and he was like, "Oh ya ya so anyways about your problem..." So that freaked me out. Tried calling my parents, no answer...So I knew I was dreaming at this point. I started getting scared that I would get stuck in the lucid dream state. Then I remembered a lot of things I read on this forum and a few others when it comes to lucid dreaming and false awakenings, and I remembered reading that if you jump in your bed and pretend to sleep, you'll wake up for real...And I did. I jumped in bed, and woke up for good.

I've noticed that after these false awakenings I feel completely DRAINED...More tired than usual. I'll wake up so exhausted that I feel like I just slept for 10 hours even though usually I've only been taking a nap. I know I'm new here, but I just needed to tell someone about it since it was freaking me out. And now that I know it's Xanax, I'm definitely going off of it. It's just weird that the 2-3 nights I didn't take it, nothing happened, but then the one morning I take it again, I have another false awakening...Weird!!

Hi and welcome to DV! If the medication helps you then I suggest you don't stop taking it. Why not turn the False Awakenings around? When you get lucid, you're the one in control. There is nothing to fear, but fear itself.

Start Reality Checking as a habit every time you wake up, no matter what. If you do that and get Lucid on each False Awakening, you will have lots of Lucids :)

Why you're feeling drained is probably because you were getting so worked up and afraid in the dreams. Just relax, you're God in your own dreams. Set up a few goals and know that ANYTHING dreaming related (Sleep paralysis, FA's, evil dream characters) is harmless and you won't end up in a coma or go crazy or anything like that. Don't let anyone tell you differently.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

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Originally Posted by Matte87

Hi and welcome to DV! If the medication helps you then I suggest you don't stop taking it. Why not turn the False Awakenings around? When you get lucid, you're the one in control. There is nothing to fear, but fear itself.

Start Reality Checking as a habit every time you wake up, no matter what. If you do that and get Lucid on each False Awakening, you will have lots of Lucids :)

Why you're feeling drained is probably because you were getting so worked up and afraid in the dreams. Just relax, you're God in your own dreams. Set up a few goals and know that ANYTHING dreaming related (Sleep paralysis, FA's, evil dream characters) is harmless and you won't end up in a coma or go crazy or anything like that. Don't let anyone tell you differently.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

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Thank you soo much :) I do have a few questions!

1) I've heard that you can dream that up to 11 years have gone by while being in a lucid dream..And that even though you've only been sleeping 8 hours, it can feel like you've been asleep 11 years...That scares me! Is it true?
2) What if I tried to wake up in my dream, and it didn't work? If I keep going to sleep while I'm in my dream, will I eventually wake up? Like in that movie, "Waking Life" he kept trying to wake up but he couldn't. Thats the part that scares me =(

A good Idea would be to start doing RCs every time you wake up.

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Originally Posted by x3meaghan

Thank you soo much :) I do have a few questions!

1) I've heard that you can dream that up to 11 years have gone by while being in a lucid dream..And that even though you've only been sleeping 8 hours, it can feel like you've been asleep 11 years...That scares me! Is it true?
2) What if I tried to wake up in my dream, and it didn't work? If I keep going to sleep while I'm in my dream, will I eventually wake up? Like in that movie, "Waking Life" he kept trying to wake up but he couldn't. Thats the part that scares me =(

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1: Time Dilation IS possible, but only if you try. You will never be able to dilate time long enough by accident so that you'll stay in the dream for more than an hour. Even Dilating time more than a few hours is really not something I believe in fully. You think you've been dreaming for days, but that's just the mind filling in the gaps and screwing up your perception of time. Dilating time for more than a few hours is in my opinion bogus. Also like I said, you need to know HOW to do it in the first place and focus.

2: No you can't get stuck in a dream that long. Our REM periods only last up to 90 minutes tops, after that you will wake up. Although having FA's and never seem to wake up for real is completely possible. Just see it as a gift, you're still lucid and can do whatever you want! :)

Let go of your fear of dreams. They're nothing but experiences in your head. Hallucinations by your mind, completely harmless. Only by paying attention to them can we make them good or bad experiences. It's a matter of attitude, what you want to believe they are to you.

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Originally Posted by Matte87

1: Time Dilation IS possible, but only if you try. You will never be able to dilate time long enough by accident so that you'll stay in the dream for more than an hour. Even Dilating time more than a few hours is really not something I believe in fully. You think you've been dreaming for days, but that's just the mind filling in the gaps and screwing up your perception of time. Dilating time for more than a few hours is in my opinion bogus. Also like I said, you need to know HOW to do it in the first place and focus.

2: No you can't get stuck in a dream that long. Our REM periods only last up to 90 minutes tops, after that you will wake up. Although having FA's and never seem to wake up for real is completely possible. Just see it as a gift, you're still lucid and can do whatever you want! :)

Let go of your fear of dreams. They're nothing but experiences in your head. Hallucinations by your mind, completely harmless. Only by paying attention to them can we make them good or bad experiences. It's a matter of attitude, what you want to believe they are to you.

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Thank you, you've been a lot of help! :) The FA's are what I was worried about, they're more scary! Just as an update last night I didn't take any Xanax, and I slept well with no Lucids or FA's. So I do think it was the medication. I also looked up drug interactions and found out it interacts with birth control and it prolongs it's effects, so I bet it was building up in my body. I'm definitely favoriting this forum though cause this is all so interesting. You are all so helpful! My mom has lucids a lot, and she loves them...Maybe I could learn from her haha

No problem! :) Yeah you should definitely talk to her about it. Hearing it from a person in real life should make you alot less worried. Good luck!

1. Matte87's advice on RC when you wake up is very good - I began doing this myself and after only 4 days or so of doing that, I can turn most FA's into a lucid.

2. Dont worry about time dilation, getting stuck, or anything like it. Once you're lucid you can affirm "wake up now" any time you want (not that you ever want to!)

Hope this helps :D

My brother gets panic attacks, and takes Xanax. I will have to ask him if he has crazy dreams. I think he switched medication to klonopin because it had fewer side effects. You can always ask your doctor to test out a different medication. There is a ton of stuff you can try out.

Like everyone else has mentioned, extra REM is only a bad thing if you believe it is. Definitely try to take advantage of it if you can. I know that with anxiety, it can often be completely out of your control.