Thread: First Post - Need Help

First, I must explain that I first learned about LD from an aquaintance ten years ago who bragged about being able to fly in his dreams and control his dream experiences. He was an odd fellow, so I didn't pay to much attention but the idea fascinated me and I became palgued with nightmares in which I thought I was dreaming and could fly, but each time I did, I was not able to control my altitude, nor able to land. This was interesting but not fun. Also, I have always had very good dream recall, but unfortunately that is a bad thing as most of my dreams are either terrifying or leave me derpressed.

Second, You need to understand that I suffer from a sleep dosorder, though the diagnosis is not too specific at this point (probably delayed sleep phase) which is a much more serious problem than people without it would guess (far worse than mere insomnia--this is actually resulted in loss of several career oportunities and contributed to a relationship loss. I also suffer from Manic-Depression, which may be a cause of or result of the sleep dosorder--who knows?

Finally, I experienced a strange lucid dream after I ran out of sleeping pills and took a Gravol (similar to most over the counter antihistaminess but is geered for nausea and upset stomache. My aunt was a nurse and said it would make me fall asleep as a side effect) because it was the sedative effect I had available, and I was feeling a little naseau anyway. I did not sleep well but I had a somewhat pleasant lucid dream, though the lucidity seemed to only last for the last few seconds of the dream. That is when I found this site and tried a few nights of dream recall diary experiments. I also said, "I'm only dreaming and I can control my dreams," over and over again until I fell asleep (which by the way really seemed to help me get to sleep fast, though I was already sleep deprived anyway.

HERE'S THE PROBLEM:

Both nights that I did this, I successfully entered four seperate dream entries in my dream journal, all with great detail. But, at least three times, I awaoke without any recolection of a dream and experienced a terrible sense of confusion and felt like I had been physically assualted, almost as though I'd been slapped across the head a few times. My body felt like it was made of lead, though I was able to lift up my head enough to check the time on my alarm clock on one occasion (the first time, and it was thirty minutes after initially falling asleep) I also woke up even more tired than I normal do, and I normally feel like ****.
I also had a vague sense of someting being wrong, like you would if awakened by someone screaming or a fire alarm.


DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG? IS THIS NORMAL?

Please note that I have never used an drugs or alcohol, except for prescription drugs which I am very careful with (I generally don't just take my doctor's word for it--I check them out first). The pills I take do have some effect on dreaming/sleeping and fatigue, but not like this.