Hello, sorry this is so long, this is my first post here after discovering this sub, I have suffered from insomnia for around 20 years.

This is incredibly embarrassing and distressing for me to talk about, but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this. I have seen a couple of articles online where people have had hallucinations after lack of sleep, but they seemed to be aware that they were hallucinating, and I truly, truly believed what I was seeing was real :(

3 days ago I had been awake for 72 hours. I was convinced that there were fish swimming out from under my floor, and that there was a snake in a plastic bag in my living room. I actually took a video on my phone of this and sent it to a friend and my mother - just thinking about this makes me cringe. I actually called the police to get rid of the snake because I was so terrified, they came out and obviously no snake. I assumed it had moved elsewhere in my apartment.

The police asked me about my mental health and then left. They then had apparently called paramedics, who checked me over and asked me the mental health screening questions like the date, year, who the prime minister is etc. I was convinced at that point that the snake was on one of the sofas in my living room, and after they left I could see it clearly - a HUGE snake, if I made a noise it would react, it was slowly opening and closing its mouth...I wasn't scared by this but wouldn't go near it. I even took more photos. I also called the RSPCA to come and get it. They did attend and as soon as they did I couldn't see the snake anymore. They searched my place and found nothing, looked at the photos and said they were not convinced that it was a snake. I was still COMPLETELY convinced at this stage, about 12 hours after I first 'saw' it.

In the meantime, my friend was incredibly worried about me and the texts I was sending her telling her about the snake. I want to smack myself in the face thinking about this now! As I work with her, she spoke with my HR contact and they had a conference call with me, concerned about my mental state. They asked permission to speak with my brother (my next of kin, my parents live abroad). My brother came over after work and searched my place again and told me that he fully believed that I was hallucinating. He told me that he had experienced it too after going several days without sleep. I still insisted it was real. My brother also insisted that I eat something as I'd gone a couple of days without food - I'm severely disabled and can't cook meals when I'm having bad days so have been eating only once a day for a while as I have to depend on meal delivery services.

That evening I was really scared, believing that there was a snake somewhere in my home. I set up barriers of plastic bags around so I'd hear the snake moving around. Thankfully I fell asleep with the help of some sleeping pills (far too many actually- 350mg diphenhydramine, some clonazepam and mirtazapine). The next day I knew that I'd been hallucinating. I felt so so upset, embarrassed, horrified that so many people were witness to my psychosis episode.

The paramedics had spoken to my doctor, who is incredibly good and familiar with my problems with insomnia as well as my complex medical history. She is part time though so told them to instruct me to get an emergency telephone consultation as soon as possible. I spoke to a doctor I had never seen before late the day after the hallucinations. He was absolutely horrible, was somehow convinced that I was calling to obtain Tramadol, when in fact I'd been trying to explain my recent medical history since he was unfamiliar with my case. I've been on painkillers long term for a severe back injury. He shouted at me, wouldn't let me speak, and at the end of the call told me he was going to prescribe me Amitryptaline with no explanation. I was very distressed throughout the call and for the rest of the evening in floods of tears.

Thankfully the next day a GP I've had treatment under before called me and was very kind, she spent about 40mins discussing treatment options (the first call lasted just over 5 minutes). She had obviously read my medical records and hospital correspondence, MRI results etc. She decided that the best option for me is to begin treatment with fentanyl transdermal patches to cope with the chronic pain which contributes to my insomnia. She also explained the Amitriptyline and how it would help, and increased the amount of mirtazapine I take. We also discussed other measures that will possibly help as zopiclone doesn't work for me anymore.

So, I'm hoping that things will improve, but I'm still terrified of the hallucinations happening again, and still very tearful and embarrassed about what happened. Last night I began the Amitriptyline and got about 3 hours of sleep. On Monday I begin the fentanyl, and I am both glad that my pain is being taken seriously and apprehensive about taking such a strong painkiller. My brother is coming over today to help with some housework and have lunch with me, so I'm looking forward to having him to speak to. I'd really like to know how common this is though, or if my brain is completely screwed up...I'm so scared of this happening again, it was absolutely real to me, now I can't help but wonder if I can really trust anything that I see!