This is my first time on one of these medical forums so here goes, I will try not to ramble on like a mad man.
I have looked at other peoples postings and have not seen anything which is similar to my own unique problem.
I am 25 years old and at around aged 21-23 suffered terrifying sleep paralysis episodes. I saw things that are not for the faint hearted. My soloution was to wear a sleep mask and move house, which to be fair worked. It is now 2 years since my last serious sleep paralysis episode. The secret I think is not being able to see your surroundings for the brain to interact with and create a hallucination.
My sleep problem evolved and moved into something very fascinating. This is the ability to form a crystal clear hallucination at the onset of sleep. The brain just seems to kick in and tell me I am still awake and then the hallucination fades. This is coupled with prolonged talking in my sleep and feeling I have found out some big life secret only to wake up the next day and not remember a damn thing.
It sounds crazy but sometimes I feel I am in a different world when these things happen and that I really am talking to someone. I am baffled how my brain can manifest such a clear hallucination of a certain place. Sometimes it can be negative and I can feel such intense feelings of dread and doom, which for someone who is light hearted in waking life can be really strange. Has anyone else experienced this??