ceiling fan

[altalomabird]

I wake up at night and the fan above my bed will take on different forms any thing from a reptile to airplanes.  I will  also see  spiders and bugs in front of my face and I will grab them to get them to go away.On occasion I have woke to find a dark shadow in the room with me which actually scared me to leave the room for nights before returning to the room.This went away for a few months but has just begun happening again. I feel like I am completely losing control. Any suggestions.

[ArchSeraph]

I am just new here nd uh~, you see, I think sleep disorders or something? they are all related, you all have been seeing spiders and stuff, but the point to me is, why spiders? you all have something in common, and that is spider. Can someone tell me?

[Dr Rajput]

Hi, welcome to the forum, you are going through visual hallucinations which seen due to neuroophthalmologic dysfunction resulting from a wide variety of underlying etiologies. The type of hallucinations you are experiencing is known as Complex or formed hallucinations as you see things with details like reptiles, airplane, bugs etc. In such cases it is very important to note any other conditions like stress, confusion, memory loss, alcohol, drug, and medication history is also important.

Conditions which can present with such symptoms are Migraine (aura manifests as visual hallucination), Seizures, Alcohol and drug use, psychiatric illness and metabolic encephalopathy.

You need to undergo polysomnyography (PSG) to rule out sleep disorder, EEG to rule out any epileptic foci, and also psychiatric evaluation which will help to rule out any factor.

I suggest you to sleep with lights on, good sleep hygiene, long acting sedatives against prescription will help you maintain sleep, keep away from any triggering factor (smell, food etc. need to be identified.), share your inner feelings with family and friends, hot and cold water bath will help you to alleviate condition.

I suggest you to consult neurophysician/psychiatrist for further evaluation. Take care and regards.

[harrychampagne]

I too had frequent occurrences of seeing bugs and creatures at night. My sleep doctor told me to stop taking my psych meds later in the day or at night and she also prescribed Klopin to be taken every night before bed. I am no longer seeing things, however I am still very restless - wake up every few hours and I sleep walk. I even get up and walk away with the maching and mask still attached to me. The crashing of the machine wakes me up.

I am going for another sleep study in two weeks to see if I am exhaling properly - sleep titration study.  I guess the decision to go from CPAP to BIPAP is being considered.

[beccabug84]

type in "wake up seeing things" . it sounds like what you have and i do it too. it can get annoying i know but from all the comments i've read, there's no name for it, or medication. Look at the other one and see if it applies to you

[KatEyes]

First, are you aking any medications that have the possible side effect of hallucinations? I have a friend whose medicine does it to her. She has taken to keeping a flashlight by her pillow and when she wakes up and sees something, she said shining the light on it makes it disappear.

Someone else I know says their hallucinations were from lack of oxygen to the brain due to sleep apnea. Since being diagnosed and treated, they no longer happen.

This is a real long shot, but if the things you see are a distortion of something actually in the room, why don't you try sleeping with a room darkening sleep mask on. When you awaken, give yourself a few moments for your brain to be fully awake before taking the mask off.  I'd be really curious if that helps. Just thinking if sight is initiated before the brain is fully prepared to interpret the images, giving them time to get in sync makes some sense. I wouldn't do that in place of getting evaluated, but maybe you'll feel less out of control in the short term.

Sometimes hallucinations are a part of a sleep disorder. A neurologist or a good sleep doctor could help you out in the long term.