Insomnia Support Group
Insomnia is a symptom, rather than a disease, and is characterized by inadequate quantity or quality of sleep. People with insomnia complain of difficulty falling or staying asleep, which results in significant impairment of daytime functioning. Insomnia is categorized as transient (shorter than one week), short-term (one to three weeks) or chronic (longer than three...
I am sleepy, and want to go to sleep. I lay down, and really start to drift off to sleep. Then, I start hearing these weird voices saying randon things, and sometimes I see visual images. They are like dreams, but I am not fully asleep. They may start about three minutes after I lay down and close my eyes. The sounds and images cause a lot of anxiety, and makes me fully awake. I can't get past that stage to go to sleep. It is 4:33am and I have not been sleep yet because of this.
Has anyone ever had this problem? What did you do about it? I notice this started about three days after I started a meditation program, but I don't know if that is what caused it or not. I haven't done the meditation in about three days now.
What you are describing are hallucinations. Wondering if you have ever been diagnosed with any psychiatric issues. Are you currently on any medications? Have you ever heard the voices or seen the images at other times besides in bed?
A benign form of hallucination that occurs when drifting off to sleep is known as a hypnogogic hallucination. They by themselves are nothing to worry about. It's a sort of half-asleep, half-awake stage.
It's possible if you just relax and distract yourself from the worry about the hallucinations you might drift off to sleep more easily. But if it continues to cause you anxiety and insomnia, you should see your doctor for a workup.
In my case it is only amplified by extreme lack of sleep. You should think about getting some help. A lot of insomnia side effects can be treated or are well manageable.
For me full blown visual hallucinations have been really rare and mostly connected to medication but audio or near sleep hallucinations we more common in my really bad periodes. Using them like hypnosis described is part of my solution.
It is similar to lucid dreaming. A well documented trick.
But your current problem seems fear. I lost enough sleep by being scared of not sleeping to relate. I can only advice you to get help. And keep meditating. I benefit from it a lot.