Confronting one's own Mr. Hyde?

[Ace of Spades]

Alright, so basically a couple years ago I became very good at lucid dreaming. I'm sure most people here know what that is, but for the select few that do not, I trained myself to become self-aware of dreaming while within a dream. Most people will have instances where this happens without actually trying to do it, and after the realization of dreaming occurs, they wake up. Anyway, I'm not exactly bringing this topic up to talk about lucid dreaming. Yeah it was fun, yes I was able to do basically anything and everything I wanted to do. I may have done it too much though, which brings me to my real point of discussion.

During my lucid dreaming escapades I was living a very busy life style, what with going to college and working etc etc so I never got to take naps. The only time I would ever lucid dream was when I "went to bed" and got at least 5 or more hours of sleep. But then, there was this one time that I actually was able to lay down for a nap. The usual dream process occurred and then just like other times before, something bizarre happened that was extremely noticeable to me and I realized I was actually dreaming. But this time what happened afterward was different. I woke up in my bed, it was dark, and I couldn't speak or move my body save for a slight wiggle back and forth. It was as if gravity was 20 times stronger (think Goku in the Capsule Corp ship training room before reaching Namek) I couldn't even get out of my bed. This went on for what felt like countless minutes, until I could finally sort of just roll myself out of bed. I then crawled toward the middle of my floor, my goal was to turn my light on. I'm not exactly sure why, but it was, and there is a lighted fan in the middle of my ceiling that has a drop down chord to turn the lights on. After struggling like hell to pull myself up, I finally reached the chord after several failures, and as soon as I pulled it to turn the light on, I found myself laying in bed again. Thinking I may have actually woke up, I tried moving and speaking and it did not work. Repeat this process about 20 times until being on the verge of tears and thinking to myself "I just want to wake up! I just want to wake up!" and mind you, it didn't work the first time I had that thought. I was essentially trapped within my dream, it felt like this went on for a day possibly more. It was the nightmare of all nightmares.

Finally, there came a point where I actually woke up in this supposed thing we call reality. I immediately let out a huge gasp of air, checked to see that my feet and hands etc could actually move and then jumped out as soon as I could to turn the light on in my room, and it actually worked this time. This is only the start of my discussion though. Needless to say, I never wanted to take naps again after this incident. Sometimes your body crashing is just inevitable though, so like it or not, I found myself falling into a few more naps. Every single nap entailed the same thing. This got so bad to the point that I would now be certain of not taking naps, regardless of how tired I was. If I wasn't getting a full sleep, I wasn't going to sleep.

Then, after some discussions and deep thought with my older brother and some friends of mine, that essentially dealt with the subconscious mind having more control over the conscious mind (different topic) I ended up having a nap again. This time, I found myself in the same predicament. Stuck in bed, can't talk, can't move etc. But I felt different this time. A sudden rush of, "**** this, I used to have control over all of this when I would lucid dream, why should it be any different?" I defeated the gravity thing, turned on my light and was thrown back into re-waking up again. Did the same thing, was able to move easier, in fact everything got easier. Now I could speak even. I turned the light on again, this time not re-waking up, but the light didn't turn on. I walked downstairs, where there was light on. My parents were there, talking to people. I tried talking to them, but they didn't even acknowledge my presence. I went downstairs to the basement, other people were down there, but again nobody acknowledged my presence. At this point I had overcome all obstacles the dream placed on me, now I could fly (which is usually one of the key elements to my lucid dreaming) so I floated up the stairs and into my living room. And this is where things became very strange. Standing in front of me was a shadowy figure, he almost looked like me, but the only way I can really describe "him" is that he looked evil. I tried speaking to him, I asked why all of this was happening, but he didn't answer. He just had this menacing grin on his face. When I told him to speak, he just sorta shooked his head a little and put one finger up doing the "no no no" sort of movement. So I guess after that I just got really pissed, I told him that I know what he is, but that he needs me more than I need him, and that "if I don't wake up right now I will make everything erupt!"

Don't ask me why I chose to use the word "erupt," I can't say why. But no more than a split second after I said that, I woke up to reality again. This happened at some point last year. The reason why I'm bringing it up now is because it happened again, just yesterday, this time an entirely different environment and set of circumstances. I won't to into details on this one because I've already said enough, but the end result was the same, the only difference being that I wasn't confronting another darker looking version of me at the end, it was someone entirely different, but he made that same menacing grin, shook his head when I told him to talk and as soon as I said "well I want to wake up," I immediately woke up.

I have my own theories and other such explanations for this occurring, but I'm interested to hear your guys' take on it. It's about one of the strangest things that's happened to me, and there isn't much else more I can say than that.

[Prpl_Mage]

Yeah you could use one of those therapists to clear out this mess. Not that it's a huge flaw or something, just something that needs to be processed to dampen the effect.
Got a friend with pretty much the same thing, to make sure that the second half of your post doesn't happen he got an alarm on his phone going off every 30minutes. It apparently wakes him up regardless of what mess is happening in dreamyland.

[Archem]

I don't lucid dream. It doesn't happen for me. I'd like to, especially if I can experience such a nightmare event. I find the thought appealing, even if it seems like the worst possibility available. Think of it like watching a scary movie, where, even though the content is terrifying, I want to experience it.

Sorry to downplay your situation. Try the periodic alarm if you want, but I must let you know that it will blur the line between dreams and reality quite a bit. I may not lucid dream, but I have a similar setup, and after a few years, it's making it hard for me to tell when things begin and end. You know, like going through a day, only for an alarm to go off when you're on the way to the store to pick up some groceries? That happens.

You know, I think I came close to a lucid dream last night. I was hoping to receive a call back from a job I'd interviewed for the other day. As I was sleeping, I heard my phone ring, and then I heard a message being recorded on my answering machine, stating an acceptance of my employment. I was pretty happy in that moment, before I realized that my cell phone isn't in any way audible while it's recording a message. After that, my alarm went off. The line blurred again. I checked to see that I had indeed received a message, and it was from them, but it seemed to be referring to scheduling an interview. I think I deleted it, but my alarm went off again. Now I'm not sure if I actually got any messages.

As for Shadow Ace over there, I imagine that's just your mind coming up with something creepy based on what you've gathered over the years. Think experiences over your life involving creepy (and usually fictitious) situations. A doppelganger is a pretty significant thing to fear, and it exists across cultures. You had a dream that wasn't lucid, despite feeling like it was. It was convincing as a lucid dream, since you've grown accustomed to how they work by now, but it wasn't. You became afraid at the realization. Your mind tried to rationalize a dream, and you invented a terrible being as an antagonist. Happening again likely means you'll see more of it, as your mind clearly recalled a past event in reintroducing him. Now that it's doubled, it seems more likely to be recalled, and may grow to be a common bother.

[HackersTotalMassLaser]

lol have you been reading into my mind of what's happening to me in recent months?

I have lucid dream before.... wait no... I tried to lucid dream. However, every time I did, my subconscious would kick me out. LITERALLY. My subconscious doesn't want me in there. Every time I become self-aware, my dreams collapse, and i tell my subconscious to represent itself visually before me, and it just says stuff in garbled different languages. As it speaks I see the dream becoming static and I get pushed out by an invisible figure (a la predator, and I know I do because that's how I feel) to the point where I wake up gasping as if I am being pushed. I've gone to lucid dreaming forums, and some say it might actually be me becoming too excited to continue being lucid. Others say I am actually DREAMING of being lucid. They both sound unlikely to me, as I know how to control excitement and I KNOW I am aware of dreaming when i am it, because I've played architect in my dreams. But then... it has just been me trying to get to my subconscious.

The only reason why I even learned to lucid dream, was to come face to face with my subconscious, and it has not let me. I am disappoint.

[drenrin2120]

Not to undercut what you're saying, it sounds absolutely terrifying, but after reading a bit, false awakenings seem to be pretty common. As for the nightmarish plot twist in your dreams, it could just be a reflection of stress in your life or some problem you have been ignoring.

I don't know too much about Lucid dreaming, but after reading up on it a bit, I want to give it a shot.

[Cerebus]

I've never had any lucid dreams and to be honest, I'm not sure I want it.
I mean... sure, looks like an interesting experience, but... I don't know.

It's pretty creepy, though. It's like some psychological horror. I like it. But am glad I'm not experiencing it.

Maybe soon enough you'll be seeing anthropomorphic versions of your inner emotions and such, à la Silent Hill!
Seriously, though, that's pretty f*cked up.

And your stronger gravity thing reminded me of something that I often see in my dreams.
I'll try to escape something or just reach a place fast and suddenly my legs will feel very, very heavy, and I'd walk extremely slowly.
I guess it has some meaning as this is a recurring thing, but it's still pretty weird... and annoying. Because since I can't control my dreams, I'm just stuck walking very slowly when I actually need to rush...

[Prpl_Mage]

Sleep 5 hours a day and you won't experience that much in your dreams.
Enter bed.
5 hours pass.
Exit bed.

[drenrin2120]

This may sound silly but do you use an alarm or anything?

[Prpl_Mage]

This may sound silly but do you use an alarm or anything?

If this refers to me, then yes. But I don't really have to. Body have adapted to it by now. Wake up by default after 5 hours passed, alarm is good if I'm slow to get up and fall asleep again though. More of a safety.

[HobomasterXXX]

Sleeping only five hours each night is pretty bad, that's a good few hours under your body's needs for sleep. You're probably experiencing sleep deprivation constantly.

[Uberpwn_w00t]

I find this sort of thing fascinating. I think there may be a lot more to dreams than many of us are willing to accept, or think about. I had some strange experiences when I was younger that I haven't been able to explain, and I wonder a lot about the nature of what we know to be real. But it's hard to talk about that without sounding like a nut... And I guess that's where the problem is.

I think if you spend too much time dwelling on these things, it starts to mess with the way you look at the world. And unless you're really devoted to straining your relationships with those around you, and pushing yourself out of society... It's probably better to spend your energy having friends and doing things you like.

[Cerebus]

Sleep 5 hours a day and you won't experience that much in your dreams.
Enter bed.
5 hours pass.
Exit bed.

I sleep under 5 hours pretty much every single day, so I guess I'm safe.

[HobomasterXXX]

I'm not sure how sleeping such a short amount of time would change things at all. Five hours is MORE than enough to go through several regular sleep cycles, which include REM sleep. And a lot of people who try to induce lucid dreaming actually do it using small naps.

[Linkizcool]

It sounds like you might have experienced sleep paralysis... my friend who was experimenting with dreaming had it a few times. Wikipedia says its got something to do with the body being away while transitioning into REM sleep, which is where you experience dreams.

Anyways, I'm not that experienced with dreaming, lucid or not. You can read up on it here to see if it sounds similar to your experience: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis