pre sleep mental deterioration

[uviol]

I have been experiencing this for several months now.
It occurs just after my mind and body are sufficiently relaxed and ready for sleep.
It's a horrifying sensation and comes on fast. The simplest way to explain it is probably that my mind is switching off while I'm somehow still aware of it going on. like my mind is being yanked into a dark hole and if i don't quickly harness it again I might die/faint. it lasts a few seconds and I have to open my eyes wide fast and "reel" my mind/thoughts back in again. I dare not think what would happen if i don't open my eyes fast enough and kind of have "flex" my mind to keep it from "disappearing".
I have never been diagnosed with any anxiety/stress or mental disorders. However maybe I should mention that I do semi regularly smoke pot. I drink only in moderation and do not use any form of medication.

[PanchoGoz]

Hello - let's correct your misinterpretations.
What you are suffering is is common and its called the hypnagogic state. Just before you sleep you aware of your subconscious mind as your conscious mind is closing down. You are very fatigued and yet - I'm assuming you are stressed/anxious as well - you still have your observing, rational self in total awareness of this "deterioration".

This is actually very very common and everyone has it, some people are more aware than others, and sometimes you are more aware of it than others.

You can't really stop it but it may help to learn to switch off before you sleep, or make sure you let yourself wind down before bedtime so you can drift off.

It's scary during the hypnagogic state because of all the wierdness you experience, all sorts of unexplainable shapes, images, things you can't experience in the light. One of my favourites is seeing the face of a person, but it morphs into lots of faces, sometimes very disturbing faces. Other people have experienced imagining millions of spiders before them. I've had it where my minds eye becomes just a load of cogs moving with each other.

You will not die or faint. Stop opening your eyes, let yourself fall asleep, the thoughts/images don't go anywhere, you just go to sleep and turn your fear into interest. I find it quite fun to observe now before I sleep but I was scared when I didn't know what was going on. Nothing will happen to you during this time. You will not go mad or anything like that, you will not go to a dark place, you will not get posessed, nothing. It is nature waving goodbye as you fall asleep.

I've just noticed what you said about the pot. I'm not sure if that can cause this more, but it is a psychoactive drug so it can do all sorts of things - please stop smoking it, I have watched people waste away on that stuff and I'm afraid I am very against psychoactive drugs for this reason (sorry!). You'll get more side effects than what you have now.

Hope that helps a bit anyway!
Pan

[uviol]

Ok. Thanks for clearing it up a bit for me.
It does normally occur if i've been smoking pot during the afternoon/evening.
However, I do not see any "weird visions" or anything like this. It's a sudden pull, there is nothing too see/feel and when it's bad I break out into a sweat and even momentarily lose the sensation of having a physical body. Again, this is all over in probably under a second. But the feeling is extremely disturbing. Nobody I've mentioned it to so far as been able to relate to it. But you say it's a normal occurence?

[theharvestmouse]

Don't know much about the sleep thing, I've had sleep paralysis but thats different but also a very odd experience.

On the smoking pot thing I agree with Pancho, I know someone who has suffered from serious problems, people think its harmless but you can actually suffer from long term damage.

[PanchoGoz]

Oh yes its normal - but as it's worsened by pot then I think you have your answer. You are going into panic when you break out into a sweat because you think that something bad will happen. You will not find it as scary if you see it through, let it happen and you will find that all that happens is you fall asleep.
All I can advise...is try to stop the pot, or try to live with this occurance. A lot of people get panic disorder from pot because they have had a strange sensation and been terrified of mental death/physical death that they go into panic, and then become afraid of the panic itself, and the fear cycle sets in. I can only reiterate it is not good stff I'm afraid.

[uviol]

Just read up on hypnagogia on wikipedia. I don't think I've ever experienced what is described there. According to wikipedia it is all based around various tangible sensations, like you also mentioned. Such as mild hallucinations etc.
I've dabbled in stronger psychoactives than pot and can normally handle an eventual bad trip and turn it into something positive, like you say "turning your fear into interest".
But this sensation i've been getting is sudden, violent nothingness of the mind, like my mind is rapidly being blanked out. There are simply no thoughts, imagery. Nothing. Breathing also seems to cease and to bring it all back I just have to open my eyes and try to force a thought, any thought into my mind so that it has something tangible to go on.

And yes I am sure it could be related to pot. But it would be interesting to see if other people who didn't smoke pot had had the same experience.

[PanchoGoz]

Wikipedia is pretty surface stuff tbh, I haven't had exactly what you have had, but no one has had exactly what I have. It's nothing other than hypnagogia though, there isn't another explanation. My mate takes heroin and speed because she can handle them fine - but she can't do pot becuase she gets "cotton mouth, paranoia, munchies, everything". They all have their bad bits. Drugs are bad. I'll say no more.

[lleksam]

Hey,

I think I have had similar experiences to you, To me it feels like my mind is being sucked into a black hole of nothingness and that sensation causes me to panic and I jolt awake, like switching the light back on in my mind.

I don't really fear it anymore and actually just accept this is part of my mind shutting down for the night.

As for smoking pot, well I know it can cause some mental health issues like anxiety, depesonlization disorder etc Maybe stop for a week or so and see if that helps?

Ha det bra! :D

[rockydog]

Hi i have had this its an awful feeling and i think people who find it hard to relax sometimes experience it in some form or another. Maybe not as extreme as halucinations or maybe this is an early stage of that who knows :) I think is as sated above just a state that some people tune into when they are sinking into sleep. I havent smoked pot and have experienced it.
However as far as the pot smoking goes if you are going to stop to see if it affecting you i have some experience of this. My son smoked it for about 2 years without any noticeable side affects until one night he woke up in a panicked state with hallucinations, dread, fear etc and was visibly terrified. He saw a doctor who said it was possibly the drug and to stop immediately( this is just his experience) The gp said it would take at least a month to clear through his system and it did. Now five years on if he is a room where it is being smoked it triggers the symptoms. Everyone is different with drugs so im not suggesting this normally happens x

[annie.hall]

I also have this urge to wake up as if I were dying. I think I'm always aware of my body working and when I fall asleep, I lose that awareness, so I wake up in panic. Also, I don't think the problem is pot, as I don't do drugs. If you smoke pot every night, now that's another thing. Smoking pot shouldn't be part of your daily routine. That's where the problems occur, I think. But, imo, there's nothing wrong with smoking pot if it's not too frequent.