Desperate Is a floating/bobbing sensation a HPPD symptom?

[RagingPlatypus]

Hi, I'm pretty sure I have HPPD. After doing a bunch of drugs (weed, MDMA, shrooms), I developed HPPD symptoms, (visual snow, palinopsia, floaters). I've had these issues for years.
I went on a two week stent of Zolpidem, and about two or three days of abstaining from zolpidem, I popped some Valerian extract and got into bed after it kicked in and BOOM, felt like I was floating on a magic carpet. I've been this way for six months now. I've been completely abstinent from any drug use. I get the feeling after sitting or laying down for about a minute, and the sensation is constant, but it gradually subsides to a very minute level. Once I get up and move around, then lay back down again, it starts up again, then gradually subsides in time.
Is this a HPPD symptom? Is there a name for this symptom? I've searched the web extensively for a while now and haven't learned much. Any help appreciated.

 

[neversickanymore]

Hey Raging, can you describe the feeling your experiencing some more please.

 

[RagingPlatypus]

Hey Raging, can you describe the feeling your experiencing some more please.

Feels like I'm floating on water, like I'm laying on a raft and being gently buffeted by random currents. You could also say its like floating in the air on a magic carpet. Sometimes it feels like I'm going up and down, side to side. It all feels random. Generally the longer I lay down, the more the sensation subsides. Also, the night that this happened, I had taken three valerian extract capsules ahead of time. I'm not sure if that contributed to the problem. There has been one soul night that the problem didn't bother me.
Sometimes it feels like I'm moving in one direction, like gravity is pulling me to the side. I even get the sensation of moving, like I'm going down on an elevator.

 

[Snafu in the Void]

@RagingPlatypus to me it sounds like you may be describing tactile hallucinations, which is not a symptom of HPPD

this has been going on for 6 months?

you could also be describing something hypnagogic in nature. Does it happen immediately after laying down? or does it start to happen the moment your brain starts to drift off to sleep? does this only occur while you are laying in bed trying to sleep? do you sometimes have jerks and twitches, any weird closed eye visuals?

this occurs when you're sober? what are you taking (or stopped taking) on the nights this occurs? You stopped taking zolpidem and started taking valerian? Nothing else?

if this only occurs while you are trying to sleep, I'd lean towards hypnagogic tactile hallucinations



Hypnagogic hallucinations are vivid visual, auditory, tactile, or even kinetic perceptions that, like sleep paralysis, occur during the transitions between wakefulness and REM sleep. Examples include a sensation of impending threat, feelings of suffocation, and sensations of floating, spinning, or falling.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/hypnagogic-hallucination#:~:text=Hypnagogic hallucinations are vivid visual,floating, spinning, or falling.
Sensory or tactile hypnagogic hallucinations refer to when a person feels bodily sensations that aren't actually occurring. For example, you might feel weightless, or like you're falling. Sometimes people sense that another person is in the room, even though no one is present.


I have quite extreme hypnagogic hallucinations every single night from my psychedelic/drug use, but almost never tactile. They start around 1 minute after I close my eyes to sleep. It's harmless.

When I first started having them it kinda scared me. But after a year or two they do not bother me anymore. I usually get extremely vivid visual hallucinations. I think its kinda interesting almost entertaining now. Like a free TV show I get to watch while I drift off to sleep lol.

Also, mine are slowly going away over the years. They are only about 20% as intense as they were just a year or two ago. I quit drugs and they are slowly going away. I wouldn't worry that much my friend.

 

[neversickanymore]

It’s a common symptom in balance disorders. Have you ruled out the common causes of these?

 

[snortyjones]

Hi, I'm pretty sure I have HPPD. After doing a bunch of drugs (weed, MDMA, shrooms), I developed HPPD symptoms, (visual snow, palinopsia, floaters). I've had these issues for years.
I went on a two week stent of Zolpidem, and about two or three days of abstaining from zolpidem, I popped some Valerian extract and got into bed after it kicked in and BOOM, felt like I was floating on a magic carpet. I've been this way for six months now. I've been completely abstinent from any drug use. I get the feeling after sitting or laying down for about a minute, and the sensation is constant, but it gradually subsides to a very minute level. Once I get up and move around, then lay back down again, it starts up again, then gradually subsides in time.
Is this a HPPD symptom? Is there a name for this symptom? I've searched the web extensively for a while now and haven't learned much. Any help appreciated.

Valerian has a reputation for giving flying dreams, this was a common ancient pagan belief. Raging platypus, How much Acid/ hallucinatory drugs have you taken?
what kind?

 

[neversickanymore]

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) - Symptoms and causes

www.mayoclinic.org

 

[RagingPlatypus]

It’s a common symptom in balance disorders. Have you ruled out the common causes of these?

I haven't. Though when I look up information on it, all I get is vertigo information, and I don't have vertigo (thank god) or dizziness, so I've steered away from it. I will say that walking feels odd (like hard surfaces are squashy) sometimes, and sometimes my head feels heavy, and like someone is pushing it from behind, like there is a force acting on it, and it feels unpleasantly odd to move it around, but I've had that problem for years after my drug use and before the floating sensations. I missed a lot of sleep last night (unrelated gastrointestinal stuff from eating too much icecream) and I have a bit of a headache right now. I'll keep this in mind though. I do get balance disorder stuff when I google my symptoms.

@RagingPlatypus to me it sounds like you may be describing tactile hallucinations, which is not a symptom of HPPD

this has been going on for 6 months?

you could also be describing something hypnagogic in nature. Does it happen immediately after laying down? or does it start to happen the moment your brain starts to drift off to sleep? does this only occur while you are laying in bed trying to sleep? do you sometimes have jerks and twitches, any weird closed eye visuals?

this occurs when you're sober? what are you taking (or stopped taking) on the nights this occurs? You stopped taking zolpidem and started taking valerian? Nothing else?

if this only occurs while you are trying to sleep, I'd lean towards hypnagogic tactile hallucinations



Hypnagogic hallucinations are vivid visual, auditory, tactile, or even kinetic perceptions that, like sleep paralysis, occur during the transitions between wakefulness and REM sleep. Examples include a sensation of impending threat, feelings of suffocation, and sensations of floating, spinning, or falling.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/hypnagogic-hallucination#:~:text=Hypnagogic hallucinations are vivid visual,floating, spinning, or falling.
Sensory or tactile hypnagogic hallucinations refer to when a person feels bodily sensations that aren't actually occurring. For example, you might feel weightless, or like you're falling. Sometimes people sense that another person is in the room, even though no one is present.


I have quite extreme hypnagogic hallucinations every single night from my psychedelic/drug use, but almost never tactile. They start around 1 minute after I close my eyes to sleep. It's harmless.

When I first started having them it kinda scared me. But after a year or two they do not bother me anymore. I usually get extremely vivid visual hallucinations. I think its kinda interesting almost entertaining now. Like a free TV show I get to watch while I drift off to sleep lol.

Also, mine are slowly going away over the years. They are only about 20% as intense as they were just a year or two ago. I quit drugs and they are slowly going away. I wouldn't worry that much my friend.

They happen constantly, but I cannot feel them unless I sit, stand, or lay down perfectly still for about fifteen seconds or so, then I start to feel a bobbing sensation. It sort of feels like I'm feeling my soul floating around inside me, because I can feel that my body isn't moving, but I still have a motion sensation.
I haven't taken one single dose of any drug since the sensations started. I had taken three caps of Valerian extract the night it started and never took another since (they were from the Vitamin Shoppe). It was a couple days after a two week long Zolpidem stent. I haven't taken so much as an aspirin since this all started. I don't even use caffeine.

There was ONE single time that the floating sensations didn't bother me at night because they were so minimal. Only one in all the months since it started. I started to think that I was cured and I would feel better, but I noticed it again the next night. Very disappointing. I had changed nothing about my routine. I have no idea why it improved for such a brief window.

I have Hypnagogic hallucinations when falling asleep too ( had them for years before the floating problem I'm discussing here). They are usually visual and sometimes auditory. If I'm feeling good and fall asleep quickly, I don't even notice them. Glad to hears yours are fading with time.

 

[Snafu in the Void]

They happen constantly, but I cannot feel them unless I sit, stand, or lay down perfectly still for about fifteen seconds or so, then I start to feel a bobbing sensation. It sort of feels like I'm feeling my soul floating around inside me, because I can feel that my body isn't moving, but I still have a motion sensation.
I haven't taken one single dose of any drug since the sensations started. I had taken three caps of Valerian extract the night it started and never took another since (they were from the Vitamin Shoppe). It was a couple days after a two week long Zolpidem stent. I haven't taken so much as an aspirin since this all started. I don't even use caffeine.

hmm

I would talk to a doctor, my friend. It sounds like it could be neurologic, which is definitely something you want checked out sooner rather than later

too easy to speculate, and it could be something minor or something very serious

this doesn't sound drug related to me, I really doubt it's the valerian doing this

 

[RagingPlatypus]

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) - Symptoms and causes

www.mayoclinic.org

Thanks for the link. I don't have any dizziness to speak of. Here is the closest thing I've found on the net that describes what I'm feeling.

Relief from "floating" anxiety | Mental Health Talk

The floating sensation associated with anxiety described and what you need to do to get relief from it.

mentalhealthtalk.info

but I don't think this is an anxiety thing, because it doesn't increase or decrease with anxiety. It pretty constant. The longer I lie down in bed, then more the movement and floating subside. When I roll over to another spot on the bed, it starts back up again, then slowly subsides the longer I'm still in one spot. When I first open my eyes in the morning, the condition is usually minimal.

 

[RagingPlatypus]

hmm

I would talk to a doctor, my friend. It sounds like it could be neurologic, which is definitely something you want checked out sooner rather than later

too easy to speculate, and it could be something minor or something very serious

this doesn't sound drug related to me, I really doubt it's the valerian doing this

I deeply appreciate your help. I will call my doc up and get with a specialist. I wondered if i wasn't just more HPPD, but I've never heard of anyone experiencing this with their other symptoms.

 

[Snafu in the Void]

I deeply appreciate your help. I will call my doc up and get with a specialist. I wondered if i wasn't just more HPPD, but I've never heard of anyone experiencing this with their other symptoms.

that's the best thing to do here, maybe even speak to a neurologist

I had HPPD for a long time as well but never anything like that

 

[RagingPlatypus]

Valerian has a reputation for giving flying dreams, this was a common ancient pagan belief. Raging platypus, How much Acid/ hallucinatory drugs have you taken?
what kind?

back in the first part of the 2010s, I smoked weed almost daily for six months. I had about five MDMA trips in that time also. I also had a few Shroom trips. I had one experience with Ketamine (100mgs).
I've done some 20-30 mg doses of zolpidem in the last few years, but they aren't psychedelic, but make me feel funny and feel like there's people in the room, or something exciting is going on. I was also the last drug that I've touched since the floating started. The floating started like three days after my last dose of Zolpidem(the same night that I dosed Valerian extract)(I've taken a different brand of Valerian before and didn't have any issues). I've never had these symptoms while under the influence of Zolpidem, or any other drug that I can remember.

 

[snortyjones]

I haven't. Though when I look up information on it, all I get is vertigo information, and I don't have vertigo (thank god) or dizziness, so I've steered away from it. I will say that walking feels odd (like hard surfaces are squashy) sometimes, and sometimes my head feels heavy, and like someone is pushing it from behind, like there is a force acting on it, and it feels unpleasantly odd to move it around, but I've had that problem for years after my drug use and before the floating sensations. I missed a lot of sleep last night (unrelated gastrointestinal stuff from eating too much icecream) and I have a bit of a headache right now. I'll keep this in mind though. I do get balance disorder stuff when I google my symptoms.


They happen constantly, but I cannot feel them unless I sit, stand, or lay down perfectly still for about fifteen seconds or so, then I start to feel a bobbing sensation. It sort of feels like I'm feeling my soul floating around inside me, because I can feel that my body isn't moving, but I still have a motion sensation.
I haven't taken one single dose of any drug since the sensations started. I had taken three caps of Valerian extract the night it started and never took another since (they were from the Vitamin Shoppe). It was a couple days after a two week long Zolpidem stent. I haven't taken so much as an aspirin since this all started. I don't even use caffeine.

There was ONE single time that the floating sensations didn't bother me at night because they were so minimal. Only one in all the months since it started. I started to think that I was cured and I would feel better, but I noticed it again the next night. Very disappointing. I had changed nothing about my routine. I have no idea why it improved for such a brief window.

I have Hypnagogic hallucinations when falling asleep too ( had them for years before the floating problem I'm discussing here). They are usually visual and sometimes auditory. If I'm feeling good and fall asleep quickly, I don't even notice them. Glad to hears yours are fading with time.

Do you ever take walks by your self at night, a place where you feel safe, question #1 Do you feel your symptoms subside even for a few mins, do you look at stars in space. can you lay down and see if you notice a symptom reduction?

 

[neversickanymore]

This one includes the floating sensation

Balance problems - Symptoms and causes

www.mayoclinic.org

 

[RagingPlatypus]

This one includes the floating sensation

Balance problems - Symptoms and causes

www.mayoclinic.org

This is very interesting. I will read this more after work. Thank you very much.

Do you ever take walks by your self at night, a place where you feel safe, question #1 Do you feel your symptoms subside even for a few mins, do you look at stars in space. can you lay down and see if you notice a symptom reduction?

I don't normally feel any symptoms until I'm being very still THEN i notice that I'm floating, bobbing, moving. After remaining still for a while, the symptoms begin to slowly subside. I notice them again when I get up to use the bathroom and lay back down again.