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Visual hallucinations & sleep deprivation

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posted on Nov, 3 2012 @ 10:19 AM
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(No idea where else to post this thread, seems like the appropriate section)

I suffer from CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome), typically low on energy most days, and my sleep routine typically goes all over the place, can be real hard to keep a routine with my sleep patterns, which is the biggest problem for me. When i get out-of-sync, so to speak, i force myself to stay awake as an *attempt* to reset my bodyclock. My therapist i have been seeing for the past few years has mentioned several times about this: en.wikipedia.org... which seems to be a good description of what happens with my sleep.

As a work around, to attempt to stay awake during the day; if i were to wake up at 2am in the morning (after a 10 hour sleep) i would deprive myself of sleep until an appropriate time so that i will wake up at a "normal" time the next day (eg; 9am).

Now, i'm aware that sleep deprivation causes hallucinations (which this post is about). I'm wondering if anybody who knows much about hallucinations and/or lucid dream states can explain anything about this. This has happened to me rarely in the past, but typically i hear mumbled voices shouting my name, almost as if someone is speaking directly into my ear, moments before actually falling asleep.

Last night (well, roughly 2pm i fell asleep) i had a visual hallucination of text appearing in my room, prior to going to sleep, literally the last thing i remembered before falling to sleep was this:

The words "? You need help" appeared scribbled in front of me, at the corner of my room. They weren't fixed to any surface, more or less floating in a fixed location, as i rolled my head thinking 'What. The. ****.', the words stayed in the same space (almost like they were written on a piece of glass hanging from the ceiling) and changed through purple/red/blue gradients.

This probably isn't making any sense, but i feel it's important to explain everything that i noticed about this event. Do hallucinations have a similar explanation behind them, as to dreams? In such a way that specific colours, sounds, or objects describe a persons mood. Is this the same with hallucinations related to sleep deprivation?

Any ideas what this could mean? It was very vivid, and rather strange. Pretty sure i wasn't dreaming at the time, and there was a weird physical appearance to it.



posted on Nov, 3 2012 @ 11:04 AM
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reply to post by InsideYourMind
 


Freddy Kruger is after you.



posted on Nov, 3 2012 @ 01:50 PM
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If the hallucination holds significance to you, I would suggest that it's simply a projection of some thought that you have floating around.
That being said, I've only ever hallucinated due to lack of sleep in the form of objects warping into themselves.



posted on Nov, 7 2012 @ 07:52 AM
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Originally posted by uraeus
If the hallucination holds significance to you, I would suggest that it's simply a projection of some thought that you have floating around.


I suffer from phases of insomnia so I know exactly how it feels. Also the hallucinating from sleep deprivation is a very unique but recognizable experience in my opinion, I learned to recognize it over time after my psychiatrist explained it to me. She said that the hallucinations are caused due to the fact that the fine line between being awake/reality and asleep/dreaming fades and that what's experienced during hallucinations is exactly how Uraeus explained it.

For example; I never saw text floating around the room, but I received a text message from my boyfriend who told me I required help. This was a strange event at first to me since I did not understand why he would text me such a thing... We live in the same house. An hour later there was no trace of the message, not on his phone as send or on mine as received. That prompted me to visit the psychiatrist again and she prescribed medication to sleep. Now I know, medication is not the best thing in the world, but due to my mental problems I do need support in that department, so that differs from person to person
The medication doesn't always work however so it's not a permanent solution.

I'd suggest to accept it as a subconcious message. Also an interesting thing to do is keep track of the hallucinations. Like a dream journal, and do not read back until you collected quite a few. Makes quite the interesting read! Sometimes it helps to connect a few things



posted on Nov, 7 2012 @ 11:16 PM
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Originally posted by Sovvy
I learned to recognize it over time after my psychiatrist explained it to me. She said that the hallucinations are caused due to the fact that the fine line between being awake/reality and asleep/dreaming fades and that what's experienced during hallucinations is exactly how Uraeus explained it.


This is really interesting, the way your psych explained it.
I've only ever had a loose understanding on this kind of thing, this makes a lot of sense to me.



posted on Nov, 12 2012 @ 05:41 PM
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Yes, that's how it made sense to me. As I suffer from a paranoid personality disorder, the insomnia fed the paranoia. That combined with the hallucinations at one point I wasn't even sure of I was awake or dreaming. The whole world didn't feel real. The sensations were so odd to me that it felt more like a dream than being in reality.

It took me 10 years though to find a shrink who could explain stuff properly!




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