Weird experience sleeping

[stuckinawhirl]

This might be too specific but posting to try and get help anyway.

for the last 3-4 weeks I’ve had really awful experiences going to bed. It’s usually the same thing that happens each time- I fall asleep and sometimes I have a dream and sometimes I don’t. when I do have a dream it is isn’t always bad either. But shortly after i experience something as if I’m travelling through a whirl or vortex. It’s like there are lots of lights and swirls and it’s really unnerving. It’s also really loud- think millions of mid to high pitched alarms in my ears. As if I’m being screamed at from inside my own ears. Then I wake up feeling startled and the noise in my ears keeps going. It’s like a painfully loud static alarm. Like a radio static but so, so loud. It also has a whooshing sort of thing to it as well. Like a whooshing static sound. I can’t get back to sleep afterwards for a while because it’s so loud and uncomfortable. It also feels as if my entire head is throbbing- not in a painful way, in a heartbeat way. I can feel it beating strongly inside my ear/head and I can hear it too. It’s like thud, thud, thud etc. i notice that sometimes I actually have the ringing and whooshing in my ears before I go to sleep and it all kicks off but not always.

im not stressed out at all and I’m otherwise ok. I’ve been having a lot of headaches which I think might be linked to this too. It’s just really freaky and unsettling!

Trip to the GP in order ASAP I would think.

https://sleepsurge.com/sleep-paralysis/

Sleep paralysis is a sleep disorder where the person experiences temporary paralysis either before falling asleep or just after waking up. The paralysis is often accompanied with vivid, very life-like hallucinations, combined with loud ringing or buzzing sounds. Many people report a strong sense that something evil is in the room with them, and feel that their breathing is being somehow restricted.

Absolutely agree trip to the GP .

My first thought is high blood pressure. Have you had it checked recently?

Doesn’t sound like sleep paralysis, at least not the experience I’ve had and have seen others describe.

Google exploding head syndrome. It's a sleep disorder, I've had it myself and sleep paralysis too. Very unnerving but not too uncommon

Have a read about brain AVMs (artereo venous malformations). One indication of having an AVM is tinnitus and another is having headaches. See if you can have an MRI scan xx

Definitely read a similar account on here before, so it sounds like its a "thing", but not much comfort to you OP!

I had something similar,the swirling continues after I wake and my ears ring I also have sleep paralysis and am pretty sure this is what this is too. It's like waking up before your brain is properly awake and your eyes are still moving as though dreaming. That probably sounds completely mad!

Could be hypnogogic/hypnopompic hallucinations.

The noises sound like pulsatile tinnitus. You need to describe these symptoms to the GP .. amongst whatever else they need to check, they should listen to your neck veins and probably refer you onwards. (Note: am not a medic but had similar symptoms which have been checked). Have you tried sleeping propped up?

Edit: the whooshing sounds like pulsatile tinnitus.

GP as others have said.
another possibility is nocturnal seizures.
hopefully it’s nothing but definitely need to be seen.

Some of the elements you describe, particularly the whooshing, the screaming sounds and the static describe do remind me of my own sleep paralysis episodes, but you don't mention any actual paralysis. Plus, for me, they go away when I properly wake up. I agree with others it's worth getting checked out especially as it's happening so regularly now.

They are all symptoms of hypnogogic/hypnopompic hallucinations and sleep paralysis, however if this is new for you alongside the headaches, I’d get checked out

Are you pregnant, op? I get horrific pulsatile tinnitus in the third trimester, like a deafening dragon boat drum in my head 24-7.

As for the sleep paralysis (with accompanying hallucinations) I've had episodes of that in the past but always when I'm stressed or unhappy. Is there anything like that going on, that you can work on? Another thing that triggers it for me is herbal/over counter sleep remedies like nytol and kalms. I'd way rather have insomnia than sleep paralysis so I avoid those pills.

I'd be wary of going to a HCP about this sort of thing. I did once and they went way overboard and tried to make out I was going into psychosis (ffs. Just ffs.) and were no help at all.