I'm here because I need help!

Let me figure out the short & sweet introduction, otherwise, I'll be here forever!
I had a life-altering experience with sleep paralysis/hallucinations when I was 17, although I didn't understand what was occurring until just recently. My lucid dreaming began around the same time. Throughout my early 20's my lucid dreaming was very controllable. I was able to recognize when I was in a dream state and manipulate my dreams with ease. These lucid dreams occurred very frequently, I'd say at least 2-3 times a week.
Fast forward into my 30's when my sleep pattern became a little more irregular, with kids, waking at night, etc. I am able to recognize when I am in a dream state, but no longer able to manipulate as easily as before. I might get "halfway there" so to speak - Lets say I'd try to will a ferris wheel to appear in an empty field and I get a roller coaster instead. I have also been experiencing multiple false awakenings, one on top of another, on top of another.
In recent years, I have learned more about the connection between lucid dreaming & sleep paralysis, and although I cannot know for sure, (how do you prove something like this??) I believe I have gone straight into a dream state from an awake state. I would feel the sleep paralysis kick-in, the hallucinations and noises begin, and when the noises/lights stop, I am in my quiet room, but the furniture would be out of place. Or the walls a different color. This is how I would recognize I was dreaming. These were my "flying" nights - i would get out of bed, open the window, and fly away - like swimming breast-stroke through the air. I could land, take-off at will, go higher, soar, you name it. I'd stop and meet people, some strangers, some people I know. Almost makes me feel as though they might have really been visited by me. I don't dare ask :)
Last night I had one of my paralysis into lucid dreaming experiences, but it was not a good one. The lucidity was coming and going, and many times made me question whether I was dreaming or actually experiencing things in real life. I am here because I would like to find my way back to controlling my dreams like the way I used to.

Welcome to DV!

I'm happy to tell you that your experience(s) of going from an awake state, through sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucinations (the lights and stuff), and into a dream actually has a name. There are a lot of people who work hard to do what you have done naturally. If you did this when you woke up in the night from a dream it is called a DEILD, or Dream Exit Initiated Lucid Dream. If you did this when you had been awake for a while and maybe even got up out of bed and then went back (or did it during a nap, or when you first went to bed) it is called a WILD, or Wake Initiated Lucid Dream. This expereince was, in all likelyhood, a dream. I've done this hundereds of times, often accidentally.

Since you want to learn to better differentiate between the waking world and dreams, I suggest you read about reality checks (RCs). These allow you to determine wether you are dreaming or awake. Here is a link to a tutorial on RCs.

If you are serious about controling your dreams I highly reccomend reading The Nature of Dream Control by The Cusp. The thread is long and on-going, but most of what you need to know is in the first few pages if you don't want to read the whole thing. It really is the definitive guide on dream control. I've been LDing for decades and I still learned a lot reading it. Here is the link.

I don't know wether people can "share dreams" or contact spirits or other entiies during dreams, but I'd like to think so. If you want to be sure wether or not this was just a dream or something else you can ask around in the "Beyond Dreaming" section of this site. There are a lot of people there who can offer their oppinions and expertise on the subject.

As always, feel free to ask any questions you have. If you want or need you can even PM me.