When I was very little, pre-school/kindergarten/1st grade age, I saw a multitude of sparkling, swirling dots as I lay in the dark in my room -- they were so vivid, aggressive, and bright that I used to hide under my blankets in terror! When I was a little older, say about the second grade through the fourth, I suffered from what I believe are called "myclonic jerks" -- I'd be lying in bed, almost asleep, and suddenly it would be as if the bed had been flipped over with me in it. Terrifying!

The dots finally stopped after I realized I could control them -- I used to form them into the shapes of roller coasters and Ferris wheels -- and the bed-flippies happened less and less often and eventually stopped when I grew up (I was kind of enjoying them by the time they stopped.) Apparently the sensation of flipping over was caused by my inner-ear growing as I got older, and I found out later that very near-sighted people like myself can have "visual migraines" when they are young, also probably caused by the eye growing, and the brain trying to make sense of what it's seeing.

I am really glad I never told anybody about the dots -- schizophrenia runs in my family (grandmother & uncle) and I think I might have been falsely diagnosed if I'd shared!