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anon157322
Post 60

I am seventeen and I suffer from hypnagogic hallucinations. If you'd like details, here's the beginning of an essay I wrote on it for English.

Here I am, in my comfortable bed, freshly showered and ready for a relaxing, peaceful slumber. I shift positions a few times, and finally I close my eyes. I lie still as the cute, small snores from my dog, loyally laying by my side, lull me to fall asleep. Moments before I actually do fall asleep, a sharp and tingly sensation shoots up my arm and my body becomes far too cold for comfort. Every part of me gets goose bumps and I start to shake. I try to stop as I lay there and pray that what I know is about to happen, doesn't. Out of nothing, my body is now hot and I struggle to remove my covers.

Tears are streaming down my face as I realize that I can't move. I weep silently as I start to give in and unwillingly accept my nightly curse. In the same way your arm or leg might fall asleep, my entire body is now almost completely paralyzed. This isn't even the worst part, my throat and mouth become dry and I cannot swallow; I know what comes next.

My head pounds and I hear an awful, high-pitched ring. I can't close my eyes anymore and it is almost painful to blink. I'm completely still now. I can faintly hear the sounds of children on a playground, the clanks and squeaks of a swing set and kids laughing. Those laughs soon morph into an elderly man who sounds like he is coughing and in a great deal of pain.

My vision blurs in and out, and I still cannot easily close my eyes. Eerie shadows dance on my ceiling and strange shapes start to form all over. The shapes and shadows start to form into pictures, some of them are well detailed and the others are still blurry. I see faces, not normal or attractive faces, their eyes are blackened, their mouths sewn shut and all I can hear now are screams.

Some of my feelings come back and I can blink, yet I am too afraid to close my eyes. I glance at a corner of my room and I never know what I'm going to see. Sometimes it's on fire, sometimes my walls are melting or other times they're just normal. My body continues to slowly turn back to normal, I reach a content temperature and I can feel my limbs. These are the symptoms of hypnagogia, and this is my life, almost every night.

I really don't understand hypnagogia too well. I obviously know what happens but, why? This isn't anything I would wish upon my greatest enemy, yet it happens to me and so many other people.