As a child, I used to frequently sleep walk and talk; even through college (really freaking out my roommates). At the age of about 22 that nearly all stopped and seemingly switched over to hypnogogic hallucinations. I do occasionally sleep talk a little, but it's not the actively engaging people in clear (if not bizarre) conversations anymore. During childhood I had the occasional hallucination, but it was so far and few between that I didn't recognize what it was and always figured I was dreaming. Now they're very frequent and I recognize the hallucinations for what they are.

I've always had difficulty sleeping. I'm a twin, and we were born full term, but at birth, both of us had apnea and breathing problems. We were kept in the NICU for 6 months because our Dr. didn't feel confident having us both monitored at home until we were more than stable. Even still, once he did get sent home we had to be monitored for up to a year.

My entire childhood I had trouble sleeping, I often missed school due to being "too tired". On the weekend I would sleep 16 hours or something ridiculous like that. My mom tried me on various things like melatonin, valerain, etc. Nothing really worked. As I got older, in college, started working, etc, "being too tired" was no longer good enough to stay home in my mind. So I'd tough it out through the day on 3 hours of sleep.

The point I'm at now, I'm taking 10mg Ambien for sleep and it sometimes works, it sometimes doesn't. I hardly feel like it does anything for me, I take it 2 hours before I want to go to bed so that I can feel the effects by then. At the time of me writing this, I have already taken the Ambien an hour a go. Last night for example, I took my Ambien and was still up all night. I eventually went to sleep at 4am, then woke up at 6am for work. I have only been taking Ambien for a month and a half. I'm not interested in increasing the dosage, as I feel that's a dangerous road.

I am also still having the hallucinations at night upon waking. On nights when I do sleep, it can be very interrupted, which I think only exacerbate the likely hood of hallucinating. A couple nights ago I lept out of bed to use the restroom and noticed a golf-club across the door as I walked by. There was also a shimmering blue mist in another room that I passed. This freaked me out as it was the first time I had seen these hypnogogic hallucinations outside of the safety of my bed.

Thursday I have an appointment to see a sleep doctor. I am looking forward to his recommendations. The last time I saw a sleep doctor was probably 3 or 4 years ago, and it was a big disappointment. That sleep dr basically told me that the hallucinations were normal and if I have trouble sleeping I should do something boring. The end. Hopefully this time will show more promising.