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Avatar universal

Why am I hallucinating spiders / ants when I wake up?

Hello my name is Conrad,

I have always had dreams since as young as I can remember, really creative vivid dreams. They vary hugely in variety, like scary to funny to action packed to just plain weird.

Anyway, I am 28 now, still dream nearly every night, but lately (the past week or so) I have been experiencing these hallucinations (encounters) when I wake. I KNOW that I am awake though.

Sunday 26th August 2012. Just normal nights at home with the girlfriend, ya know, go to bed usual time, BUT when I woke in the morning, I opened my eyes and when I looked up, my ceiling was covered with ants! I scanned the roof to the wall closest to my bed, the arcatrave to midway down the wall was also covered with ants, as I sat up and looked behind me a huntsman spider (about the size of a mans hand) scuttled across the top of the ants and disappeared behind my blinds. This blew my freaking mind! I blinked, rubbed my eyes, shook my head, and must have made some noise in doing so because my girlfriend woke up asking wtf is going on. I told her what I saw, lights went on and we were spider hunting! NOTHING... WTF RIGHT?!

I can’t stop thinking about what happened... few days go by... But I don't think much of it and carry on my everyday life/routine, etc.

The last few nights my dreams have been getting weirder and weirder, and every morning when I wake I am greeted with these spiders and sometimes ants.

Yesterday, 1st September 2012. I wake to find I had been sleeping on my side, it's a bright morning, some light is breaking through the cracks in the blinds, as I reach to get my iPhone I see ants on my bed, like in bed with me, on my pillow (where my head wasn't touching), and the mattress (where I wasn't lying) I brush my hand and forearm across everything to sweep them away but nothing, I feel no ants, they just slowly disappeared as my eyes adjusted to waking. I reach for my iPhone again and notice 3 small jumping spiders (about the size of a child's hand) slowly walking from the middle of my bedside table toward the shadows behind my bedside table, each in their own separate direction. This all took place in about 30-45 seconds.

Then this morning, 2nd September 2012. I have a bit of a late night with the Mrs, we are playing some online computer games etc, we end up going to bed at an unreasonable hour, about 4am. I'm so tired; I pass out, pretty much asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. I awake to find 5-6 large (about the size of a man’s hand) daddy long leg spiders individually hanging from the ceiling, by a single strand of web, only on my side of the room. They look so real, I want to reach out and touch them but I’m frozen in fear, as I reach for my iPhone, they start to scuttle up their strands of web, I slide the unlock and hit the torch app and blast light at the ceiling, there is nothing. I want to get up but I don't, I want to go back to sleep but my heart feels as though it is in my throat, I want to close my eyes but instead I lay as stiff as a statue for about ten minutes with my phone light shining at the ceiling. I finally turn my head and look at my partner sleeping peacefully. I play a game on my iPhone for a few minutes. I get up and have a shower.

I am not scared and have never been scared of spiders/bugs before. I'm a 1984 child, so I've spent most of my childhood playing/being outdoors in the mud, helping in the garden, etc. I'm used to insects and learning about them.

I think to myself... Am I going nuts? Today 2nd September, I jump on the net and research into these encounters as there seems to be no escape for me.

I find this page and similar ones. I really want to know what is going on. Having a name to this 'ability' is one thing but I really need answers.

I'm going to the doctors first thing tomorrow.
7 Responses
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Avatar universal
How can this be treated?...
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Oh my gosh. This has been happening to me for years, since I was 6 years old. (I am 22 now)

I could never tell anyone because I sounded insane.

I have no advise, I am just shocked that other people go though this, so I am not crazy.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I am so glad I'm not crazy- I thought I was the only one with this side effect.  Not only do I see large insects (mine are usually moths), but I have seen  many people (beings), and animals in my house and outside my window.  One night I saw 3 people standing in the trees at the side of my house.  I grabbed my knife and cell phone and went running out onto the deck.  I was less than 20 feet from them and we were staring at each other.  I turned my head for a second and when I looked back they were gone.  Then I looked at the end of my driveway and they were there- then they just slowly faded away. Another night I was laying in bed looking out my bedroom window(after waking up for some reason) and a crowd of people (some were 8-9 feet tall, some regular size, some clown-like and some Alien-like) were slowly walking through the field behind my house.  One of the little Alien-like people looked back at me and started walking toward me.  He stopped at my fence, looked at me for a minute or two, then slowly turned around and joined the others. I could go on and on with these stories.  They don't scare me anymore (except maybe the giant flying moths).  As long as they're friendly, I have come to accept them.  Just to throw this out there- I read an article that hinted that Propranolol relaxes the mind and lets you accept things that your brain may be closed off to normally.  They went on to say that they thought this was another dimension that we are seeing.  I'm not saying that I believe it, but it's an interesting thought.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I had exactly the same symtoms as you two years ago. Saw spiders and other insects after waking up but still not really awake. I had taken Propranolol for several years because of my high blood pressure. My wife started to complain that I sat up in the bed pointing at things, something I could not remember when I woke up. This happened more often and finally I got these hallucinations. I suspected the medicine and took it early in the evening and I think it helped somewhat but after changing my blood pressure medicine to Enalapril the hallucinations disappeared at once.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hello and hope you are doing well.

The symptoms you are experiencing could be due to an entity called Hypnagogic hallucinations. Hypnagogic hallucinations are hallucinations that occur between sleeping and waking. This is the symptom of a sleep disorder called Narcolepsy. This sleep disorder is characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep paralysis, cataplexy where the person has episodes of loss of muscle function while awake, hypnagogic hallucinations and automatic behavior. You will need to consult your primary care physician, who may schedule you for a polysomnogram (sleep test) to rule out sleep disorders and initiate appropriate therapy.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
It's the 5th Septemeber 2012. I have been having broken sleep since suddenly waking up from the ending of vivid dreams...

4th September 2012 - I wake up to find a long tube 'thing' like a snake coming across my ceiling, I immediately close my eyes and throw the covers up and shouted "you're not real!" my mrs woke up and said that everything was ok that nothing was there, I agreed but my eyes were still closed. When I opened them I saw the mudcrab from my previous vision, in the top left corner hovering above my door surrounded by all this swirly 'snake-like' stuff. As I tried to make out exactly what else was there it faded out...

I fall back asleep and I'm woke by some weird jolt of my body, I see tiny three tiny crabs floating across my room, I just watch them. I keep telling myself they are not real. I look over at my girlfriend and above but behind her head I can see a wasp just hovering vertically looking straight at me...

It disappeared after some time...

5th September 2012 - I have no energy... I have been sleeping most of the day, I have the blinds open so that when I wake up the room is light. I have many vivid dreams, none which are scary, I wake up and my girlfriend is home. :)

I don't know if I will be sleeping at the normal time tonight as I have been sleeping most of the day, I still feel very drained of energy so I just may be able to!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
OK, so the night of the 2nd Sept. I did not go to bed, I stayed up all night. I just didn't want to see these things anymore. At 8:30am I call the Dr. and book an appointment and head down to see him.

So I tell him...

I have been taking these migrane tablets known as "Propranolol hydrochloride" The brand name I was taking was called "Deralin". I was advised to go see a doctor two weeks after starting them to advise if my condition had changed. I went to a different doctor as my usual clinic was closed two weeks after starting the pills and I told him everything was really good, that the migraines were not as frequent and not as severe. He advised me that if I was still getting migraines to double the dose, so I would be taking 80mg (2 tablets) in the morning, and two (80mg tablets) at night.

I went back to refill my script but they had no Deralin, that they had the same stuff though (Propranolol hydrochloride) but it was called "Inderal" it was about a week after starting these that the really vivid dreams and hallucinations occurred.

The Dr. that I went to see on the morning of the 3rd Sept. today advised me that what I had been told by the other Dr. was completely off. That Propranolol hydrochloride is a  sympatholytic non-selective beta blocker. After more research on the medication I had been taking; sleep disturbances including vivid dreams and nightmares, vision disturbances, and hallucinations were just some of the side effects. He advised that he wants me to slam these migraines with 600mg of aspirin and stop taking the Inderal.

I wasn't able to afford any Aspirin as it is not payday, so I will just grin and bare it if the headaches start to come on.

So I went to bed last night, 3rd September 2012 around 11:30pm. I had a slight headache due to not taking and pills, but still managed to get to sleep. I had a dream about camping in the wilderness somewhere, then I was at some fancy indoor event, and even Hamish and Andy were there (really cool & funny Australian guys), so a pretty cool dream!

I woke up for some reason, and hovering over my girlfriends head was a giant white/gray mud crab about the size of 2 basketballs, and it was coming straight at me; not fast though, just like a slow drift. I woke my girlfriend up (as she had asked me to if anything happened again) and I said "look right there (pointing), can you see that", my girlfriend thrust her hand in the air and pointed right at huge crab and it backed away slowly, and my girlfriend replied "no, there is nothing there..." Without taking my eyes off it, I reach out to my left to my bedside table and grab around for my phone, as I do so, the crab slowly scuttles to the darkness of my side of the bed and disappears. I slide the unlock button and hit the torch app. There is nothing there... I apologize to my girlfriend about waking her up and I crack a joke about if the crab was real it would be some really good eating! She laughed softly and closed her eyes again. I kissed her forehead and got up, got dressed and now I'm writing this. It is 3:57am and I am way too awake to go back to sleep.

I cannot wait to get this medication (if that is what is causing these visions) out of my system. I had no problems taking the pills in the first place, so I wonder why all of a sudden the side-effects?  
Helpful - 0
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