Is this considered sleepwalking? or something else?

[capblueberry]

For a while now whenever i get a fever or get overheated i would "sleep walk" but the thing is. I remember everywhere i go and what i do. but something in my head has my convinced that something is there that isn't.

 

EX: Last night i had trouble sleeping as it was hot in my room. Well at about 3 am (im assuming) i got up and was scared to death as i thought i saw giant spiders crawling all over my room. I left my room and stood in my brothers room for a few moments. (he didn't wake up) then i went back to my room, cut on the light to check things. and went back to sleep.

 

am i sleep walking? ive been told im not because i can remember everything. is this true?

 

its like im not fully conscious when this stuff happens otherwise reasoning would kick in and i would be able to realize that there really isn't anything to worry about.

 

why does this happen?

 

no...i was not dreaming this.

 

ive experienced this before where i did actually wake other people up and they had to help me come to and i remembered that just like i remembered what happened last night.

 

it felt similar too...in the sense i was convinced of a false reality.

[yeawutever]

Maybe you're in a state between full awareness and sleepness, kinda like in between. You should go see a doctor if you're having trouble on what is that all about.

[capblueberry]

alright thanks!

any other opinions?

[jul-els]

There are 5 stages of sleep from deepest to lightest. The lightest stage is the one in which dreams occur. It sounds like you are in a very light stage of sleep as if you are somewhere between waking and dreaming. You should have a doctor check it out for you.

[big greg]

When you are in the middle of one of these episodes, you say you realize what you are doing and why you are doing it. Is there any way you can remember to realize that you are in a state of suspense the next time this happens? I used to wake up in the middle of the night and be what "seemed" like 100% conscious looking around, but would "wake up" from that. Now, every time that happens I remember to think to myself that it's happening and I can willingly wake myself up out of that trance. I never walked around, I would just wake up in my bed and look around.

[unabashed]

Are you also on any medications? You could be experiencing a side-effect of medication. You are obviously not fully conscious when you are experiencing these episodes. It doesn't sound like sleepwalking, exactly. I truthfully would be concerned about the hallucinations and why this is happening. I would see a physician and perhaps seek a referral to a neurologist if medications or illness can't be ruled out. I know several cases where the individual hallucinates with high fever--I believe this is common.

[laisla]

sometimes when i wake up from a bad dream or i feel weird, i am laying on my bed and it feels like there is water around the bed...but i get over that after a few seconds or a minute or so....i think you should speak to your doctor about this since it lasts long enough for you and it begins from you feeling hot temperature wise.

[Sparchitecht]

This is a recorded phenomenon, you're not alone.

 

Most often these episodes occur when the sufferer's sleep is disrupted during the deepest states (stages three and four; known as Short-Wave Sleep) and the phenomenon is described in layman's terms as your brain getting stuck in the sleep-wake transition.

 

When we sleep a few things happen between the body and brain. First, as we enter sleep (REM stage) our brain shuts off its ability to "command" our body. This is referred to as "paralysis" is sleep lingo. As we leave consciousness our brain also turns off it's "self-awareness" mechanism. Think of it as the part of the brain that is able to look around and question what it is having fed to it through sensory perception, and thus everything it perceives is automatically "real" and our brain hence runs wild in dreamland.

 

The world of sleep disorder treatment has documented countless variants of physiological sleep-wake malfunction, and for most they've come up with their own nifty names for the diagnoses.

 

You basically are suffering from a form of Somnambulism (sleepwalking) that is atypical in that you can recall the episode after it subsides. To put it plainly, you awake from deep sleep for whatever reason, but do not go through the motions correctly. You achieve consciousness somehow, but your brain forgets to turn on the part of it that does the 'self-aware' reality check (wish I could remember the name; too lazy to go reading for it). Somehow, as well, you've gotten to this state of improper consciousness without the paralysis of your body in place, thus letting you move about, hence the core problem of sleepwalking itself.

 

There are treatments for and documents published on such phenomena; for a quick rundown go to Wikipedia and search "parasomnia" - as it's basically what you would fall under from what you're describing.

 

Also, don't be too freaked about the 'hallucinations' - they're a normal part of sleeping (see Hypnogogic/Hypnopompic hallucination again via Wikipedia).

 

What to do about this is up to you. See a doctor for sure if it becomes an issue; don't panic if it's not posing immediate threat of danger. Definitely spend some time studying this and gathering information. There's info on the Wiki page describing possible antagonists of the disorder, as well as age-related information for your consideration. For closing, don't panic, it happens. It may be a passing part of your youth as you grow up, the result of metabolic malfunction, sleep-deprivation, drug/alcohol use, medication, anxiety (a big culprit, actually), another sleeping disorder like Obstructive Sleep-Apnea, or genetics affecting brain chemistry in ways people smarter than me don't understand.