Sleep Walking - My Battle with the Mirror

reply to post by paranoidfreak


Well, I was stressing about it earlier that evening, but I didn't go to bed thinking about it. But, if I had, how should I have prevented myself from thinking about it?

Originally posted by Mayson
I don't know if this is close enough to sleep "walking" to be mentioned, but I'll add it anyway.

My wife occasionally takes a night shift in order to get a little extra cash. She'll come to bed at 5 in the morning or so and have whole conversations with me that I almost never remember.

It's not as funny as peeing on the garbage cans

Actually, I remember one real-ish episode. It was when our first born was still waking us up a million times a night for feedings and such. I remember "waking" up with my wife asking me what I was doing and mumbling something about the baby crying and needing to be changed. She told me, the baby has been dead for 10 years. Where did I get the diaper from, then?

I'm just kidding. The first part is real, but she just told me that the baby didn't cry and I must have been dreaming. Talk about stress and irregular sleep schedules; Yikes!

LOL - been there and done that! My first kid slept through the night from about 3 weeks old. My second didn't sleep through until he was 5 YEARS old. Thanks for your story!

Basically you are on one of two sides:

A) Your subconscious mind extrudes into you conscious mind - symptoms are visions or voices and ambient objects and sounds being translated into apparitions and voices.

B) Your conscious mind extrudes into your sub-conscious, with your waking self attempting to enact various behaviours and patterns from your regular experience.

To lucid dream at this stage is dangerous, as you open doorways into the subconscious that you might not be ready to explore, the mirror is a metaphor for your hidden self, that you might or might not be grappling to come to terms with.

Although, I do not actually discourage you to lucid-dream, I recommend that you control the dream, and not the dreamer.

Originally posted by SystemResistor
Basically you are on one of two sides:

A) Your subconscious mind extrudes into you conscious mind - symptoms are visions or voices and ambient objects and sounds being translated into apparitions and voices.

B) Your conscious mind extrudes into your sub-conscious, with your waking self attempting to enact various behaviours and patterns from your regular experience.

To lucid dream at this stage is dangerous, as you open doorways into the subconscious that you might not be ready to explore, the mirror is a metaphor for your hidden self, that you might or might not be grappling to come to terms with.

Although, I do not actually discourage you to lucid-dream, I recommend that you control the dream, and not the dreamer.

edit on 19-10-2012 by SystemResistor because: (no reason given)

edit on 19-10-2012 by SystemResistor because: (no reason given)

Thanks for your reply! I felt fine with the lucid dream. It was a breakthrough, something I have tried to do for many years. I think I finally achieved it only because I was so physically exhausted that my body couldn't wake up. Unfortunately, just as I was celebrating the win, I had this freaky sleep-walking episode. So now, I'm thinking, I was too exhausted to wake up, and in a deep sleep...and yet my body got up and did stuff without my knowledge or memory.

I'll take C) subconscious not bleeding into conscious but causing me to do physical stuff unconsciously, for $500, please...

You're not having sleep walking (Somnambulism) from the sound of it, instead it sounds more like REM Behavior Disorder...

Rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) is a sleep disorder (more specifically a parasomnia) that involves abnormal behaviour during the sleep phase with rapid eye movement (REM sleep). It was first described in 1986.
The major and arguably only abnormal feature of RBD is loss of muscle atonia (paralysis) during otherwise intact REM sleep. This is the stage of sleep in which most vivid dreaming occurs. The loss of motor inhibition leads to a wide spectrum of behavioural release during sleep. This extends from simple limb twitches to more complex integrated movement, in which sufferers appear to be unconsciously acting out their dreams. These behaviours can be violent in nature and in some cases will result in injury to either the patient or their bed partner.

Sleep walking and REM Behavior disorder happen in different stages of sleep, and can be determined by a sleep study.

Originally posted by defcon5
You're not having sleep walking (Somnambulism) from the sound of it, instead it sounds more like REM Behavior Disorder...

Rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) is a sleep disorder (more specifically a parasomnia) that involves abnormal behaviour during the sleep phase with rapid eye movement (REM sleep). It was first described in 1986.
The major and arguably only abnormal feature of RBD is loss of muscle atonia (paralysis) during otherwise intact REM sleep. This is the stage of sleep in which most vivid dreaming occurs. The loss of motor inhibition leads to a wide spectrum of behavioural release during sleep. This extends from simple limb twitches to more complex integrated movement, in which sufferers appear to be unconsciously acting out their dreams. These behaviours can be violent in nature and in some cases will result in injury to either the patient or their bed partner.

Sleep walking and REM Behavior disorder happen in different stages of sleep, and can be determined by a sleep study.

Thank you! I will have to look further into RBD. I think I will want to record at least one or two occurrences, besides the one I already know of, before I would want to see a sleep specialist.

reply to post by defcon5

Do you happen to know... What are the recommendations to prevent this issue?

reply to post by gwynnhwyfar


They prescribe meds used to suppress involuntary muscle movement.

reply to post by defcon5

Ok, thank you for the article. I will look into this possibility.

I used to sleep walk and dealt with night terrors when I was younger. It was something I grew out of with time though and haven't had an episode in a while so maybe it will pass for you also. If it keeps up I would definantly recommend seeing a specialist.

reply to post by JROCK2527

Thank you for your reply. I haven't had any more episodes since this one. I also downloaded an app to track my sleep patterns and am trying to ensure that I get enough sleep, instead of being so tired and sleep deprived. I really have to try harder to keep work from taking over my life, its clear...

If you are afraid you will continue to sleepwalk, tighten a harness around you and glue it to the bed. Have it so that it restrains your limbs but not your forearms. Have a remote that only unlocks you if you type in a code - something that can only be done if you are lucid.

There is a story in my family from when I was around 6 or 7 years old and a sleep-walking episode. As the story goes it was around 10:30pm when I emerged from my room all snug in my closed-toed pajamas. My mom tried to ask me if something was wrong and I walked straight past her and into the kitchen. I got a bowl out and poured cereal and milk and began to eat. Once I finished I walked straight for the front door and that is when my mom had to intervene.

While this is my only time I can for sure say I have had an episode, I suspect that in my later years I still sleep-walk from time to time. I wake up in different locations (instead of bed, on the floor in the living room), food is located in a completely different location than where it normally would be in the refrigerator, etc.

I have pretty much the same factors as you do OP regarding sleep habits and/or distractions. I am also a naturally anxious person -- think 5 years old on Christmas Eve anxious. My mind races and sleep doesn't come easy, though my own methods of quieting my thoughts works wonders.

reply to post by ownbestenemy

Thanks for contributing! If I ever sleep walked as a child nobody mentioned it to me, but I do remember some strange situations like leaving my school books on the table by the front door and then dreaming about going to school and later walking up to find them somewhere completely different, like in the downstairs family room on the floor. Hmmm, now you have me wondering! I'll have to ask my folks when I see them for Thanksgiving.

reply to post by SIDRAT


Yes... jump aboard the crazy train.

reply to post by grimbeeper3


So when we give a viable solution, we are insane?

reply to post by SIDRAT


No, when you give a crazy solution, you are insane.

Someone mentioned ambien earlier, that stuff can be pretty scary. The only time I've ever sleepwalked to my knowledge was because of it. I used to think the warnings about ambien were a little extreme, but it happened to me. I have always had trouble getting to sleep and that was one of the many things I tried. I found that one didn't seem to do anything, so I took more the next night and I fell asleep on the couch instead of the bed. I remember thinking I was still awake for a short time and the noises of the TV and my parents talking were getting on my nerves. I was speaking (mumbling) to someone who wasnt there, according to my mom. I vaguely remember dreaming that I was talking to someone in the other room. Next thing I know my mom is telling me that I got in my truck and left, she thought something was wrong so she followed me across town to my grandmother's house. She talked to me and said I ran three red lights on the way but didn't speed or do anything else that was too crazy, and when she was satisfied that I was awake she got me to drive home and followed me back. The only thing I remember from the entire episode was being on the couch and then driving around a corner about a quarter mile from my grandmother's house and barely running off the road (just one tire hit grass, I think). Scary stuff. Needless to say, I didn't take ambien anymore after that.

OP what you describe sounds pretty dangerous too, good thing your husband was keeping an eye on you even if he didn't wake you up. I agree that you should see a sleep therapist about it if something like that happens again. Remember, don't sleep and drive.

reply to post by duke396

Yikes!! See, that scares me - I definitely don't want to find out about myself driving while sleeping! I told my husband if I ever open the garage door, he had better wake me up! I'm so glad you were ok...!!! I have never used any sleep aids - never needed to. I will continue to stay FAR away from sleep meds if that is the result!

I love sleep, and usually have no problem falling asleep, although I do sometimes get anxiety that wakes me up in the middle of the night, but that is stress related and infrequent. When that happens, I take a half of an anxiety tablet, but I have barely used the anti-anxiety meds since I got this job, because I am afraid I would not wake up when my pager goes off. At any rate, I haven't been on any kind of meds lately besides my allergy pills, which I take in the morning. So I don't think that precipitated the incident.

Since my episode with the mirror, I have been using two sleep apps, one to track how much I am sleeping, so I can make sure I get enough sleep, and one to record any noises while we are sleeping, in case I start talking or start walking into the mirror again, or whatever. So far, I have learned a couple of things...

First, I have always known my sleep cycle is longer than most people - but I always thought it was around 9 hours. Now that I have been tracking for a few weeks, it has become clear that my average is actually around 10 hours! I was pretty surprised about that. The other thing I learned is, I knew that I "rotate" during the night - I wake up and roll over pretty often. So, now that I am capturing all the sounds during the night I found out I roll over a LOT more than I thought - like every half an hour or so. I had guessed that I rotated every couple of hours, but it is much more frequent. It's pretty interesting to find out what you really do while sleeping.

Thank you for sharing your story, Duke396!

reply to post by gwynnhwyfar


Thanks for reading it, I hesitate to reply to threads especially when its a little off topic but I'm glad you replied. I actually have the same issue, I wake up and roll over A LOT during the night. Don't know why, I've always done it and I think it has gotten worse in the last 6 months - year. I think that might be what draws out your sleep cycle to 10 hours, mine is about the same depending on the night and the more I roll the longer I seem to sleep.

Weird thing about me though is I usually sleep pretty deeply once I actually get to sleep, but due to stress or my mind racing sometimes it takes me an hour or more of lying there to actually get to sleep. I love sleep too, mostly the dream aspect of it though. My girlfriend says I talk in my sleep sometimes but I've never got up and done things except for that one time, which was a few years ago. She talks in her sleep sometimes too so I wonder if we have conversations in our sleep? I digress, but you have a good idea about finding out what goes on during your sleep cycle. I have tried to record myself before, several times with audio and once with video. All I got was a lot of snoring, some mumbling, and some rolling over so I gave up on sifting through hours of that pretty quick.

I never did find a sleep Med that actually helped, so I go without one now other than maybe having a few drinks on a more restless night. The OTC sleep aids like diphenhydramine or herbal supplements were a joke to me and did absolutely nothing to help.

That being said, I've heard that even things you eat and drink can have effects on your sleep once its broken down into its component chemicals, so maybe if you can remember what you ate within about 12 hours of going to sleep and having a sleepwalking episode, and compare results if it happens again? Just an idea.