strange light in sleep

[mymommymy]

this is going to sound so very strange...but I have been having this happen a few times a week...I am lying down to sleep and it feels like a lightning bolt hits me and I see a bright flash of light..thats it..but it is very jarring...it only happens once, twice at the most, then I fall asleep (for an hour then I go to the restroom every hour on the hour for what seems to be no reason)...trying to make sense of it all

[Redwings]

Hi mymommym:
At the moment, I can't remember the name of the phenomenon (I'm sure another poster will come up with it pretty quick), but what you're describing is one of the weird sensations that come as a person is falling asleep -- in the brain's crossover from being in wakeful control to going onto sleepy autopilot. It has the same source as myoclonic (in this case, hypnic) jerks and hearing a loud noise (can't think of the name of that one, either...).

All three of them (muscle jerk, light flash, and/or loud sound) occur normally and spontaneously in the population in general, but can also occur as a symptom of a neurological condition. As long as they occur occasionally and only when falling asleep or coming awake, they're considered to be normal, harmless brain activity and aren't anything to worry about.

In a person who already knows they have a neurological condition such as MS, more frequent occurrences of these phenomena are usually just accepted as one of the manifestations of the condition. If someone doesn't already know they have a neurological condition, frequent occurrences can be a clue to the presence of a neurological condition and should be checked out by a neurologist or sleep specialist.

If one or more of them occur when a person is wide awake -- whether or not there is a known neurological condition present -- that is cause for concern because it isn't really the same phenomenon and is not normal.

Since you've been noticing the light a few times per week, it might be beneficial to ask your neurologist about it. But as long as it happens only during the "expected" time of falling asleep, it's likely that your neuro won't have much to say about it.

[LisMG]

Wow..I 've experienced this same thing! I'm not sure if I remember the flash of light but I do hear a loud noise right when I'm falling asleep every once in awhile.

I never really thought about it being neurological. Interesting....

[KMCangel00]

Wow..I 've experienced this same thing! I'm not sure if I remember the flash of light but I do hear a loud noise right when I'm falling asleep every once in awhile.

I never really thought about it being neurological. Interesting....

It's weird how, now that I'm learning more and more about MS through you guys (thanks again, by the way! ), I see things in myself that I never thought about being potentially related to MS before, and now see a link. I don't hear a loud noise or see a flash of light, but at least 1x a week right as I'm falling asleep I'm "jolted" awake by a body part (LOL) - that's a myoclonic jerk, right? I guess it does make sense that it could be related to MS - I just figured it happened to everyone, irregardless of MS (probably because my boyfriend has a case of the "that happens to me too"'s for everything I ever complain about, HAHA!).

[Redwings]

Hypnagogic hallucinations

I remembered the term for those sensory phenomena that occur while falling asleep: hypnagogic hallucinations.

[mymommymy]

I am reslly excited to see that I am not the only one...lol...sounds goofy, and I dont mean thatI want anyone to feel yucky or anything...but I really thought it was just me...that alone is a good reason to be on this forum...thanx

[LisMG]

I'm doing some reading on this and it's really interesting..seems its more common than you would think (considering how strange it sounds).

It mentions several possible reasons for this phenomena happening, one of which is lesions.


http://www.sleepdisordersguide.com/t...cinations.html

[LisMG]

One more interesting article on this:

http://www.sleep-insomnia.net/hypnag...allucinations/

[Lendi]

I remembered the term for those sensory phenomena that occur while falling asleep: hypnagogic hallucinations.

They're also a part of narcoplepsy and can be very scarey but just seem to be a normal part of it. I don't know if narcolepsy is a big part of MS (I have both) but I know that MS seems to be a big part of narcolepsy.

Um, I mean that it seems like a higher than expected % of narcoplepsy peeps also have MS but i'm not sure if a higher % of peeps with MS have narcolepsy. I hope that makes sense.

it sounds liek there are lots of possibilities, though.