BODY WEIGHT:

160 lb

In my early teens I was very interested in the cause and effect of hallucinations, both drug and non-drug induced. Reading reports of hostages and terrorists suffering hallucinations due to lack of sleep led me to my own experiments with sleep deprivation. I shall skip my first experiments and detail the final experiment which had the most profound effects.

When I was about 18 I talked some friends of various ages (19-35) into participating in a sleep deprivation experiment with me. Most lasted less than 36 hours. I was determined to last longer than my previous 3 days and with the help of 'wake-ups,' I managed to last 9 days.

After two days exhaustion began to set in, my thoughts became scattered, and I was visibly fatigued. Dizzyness came and went. Though I felt miserable, I was determined to continue.

Caffeine pills followed on day 3, giving great boosts of energy that would last about an hour or so, but were followed by an even more intense exhaustion. On day 5 I gave up the pills as I decided they were making it harder to cope. Thoughts had now become highly confused and though I was awake and for all intents and purposes alert, I had difficulty reacting to stimuli and holding a decent conversation, giving half answers or just not making much sense. As well, my body was heavy and I staggered as I walked. By this time my body had begun to be effected. My face was pale and my skin was becoming very itchy and problematic, my stomach hurt, my appetite was non-existent.

By day 6, exhaustion was interspersed with natural bouts of lucidity that would last up to 4 hours, during which I was wide awake, clear headed, vocal, nimble, and could not have slept if I had wanted to, though I ached. Just as suddenly fatigue would set in during which I experienced audio hallucinations and some minor visual distortions similar to hypnogogic hallucinations. Emotionally, though I tried to stay affable around my friends, I was moody and disagreeable. In the following days my hallucinations became more severe, culminating in a full-blown vision of a large goggle-eyed cheshire cat laughing at me from atop a kitchen cupboard. After this incident I laid down on my bed and became overwhelmed by sound and vision. Next thing I knew I awoke 2 days later. Since this experiment I have found it impossible to remain awake for more than 20 hours. I can only assume that I set off some kind of saftey mechanism in my brain, some kind of trigger of sleep.

Exp Year: 2000	ExpID: 673
Gender: Not Specified
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Oct 10, 2000	Views: 28,084
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Sleep Deprivation (140) : Various (28), General (1)