Total newbie, I wanted to discuss something. I never mentioned this to anyone before, but now I think it might be worthwhile.

While going to sleep, I have always had this "thing" happen as I am about to doze off. It's hard to describe. Basically, I fall into a weird mental state and I hear a loud ringing sound. Sometimes, my heartbeat gets thrown off. Therefore, I snap myself out of it (not exactly a pleasant experience). This may happen a couple times before I just fall asleep.

Also, does anyone else have sleepless nights only to get sleepy right before it's time to wake up? At those times, I usually go into a half-sleep state and really strange images flash about. Not even really dreams. I'm mostly awake, but I'm not thinking. It's just uncontrolled things that flash in my head. And I hear things. I sometimes think a phone is ringing or someone is calling my name.

The reason I'm asking this is that I think it is a combination of these two things that gave me my first lucid dream. I was doing both of them and all of a sudden I got sucked into a dream. I just want to know if these are gateways and if anyone else has experienced anything like them. Or is it a brain tumor or something?