Answer: I have tried several different prescription sleeping medicationsand one of them (Sonata) gave me weird hallucinations too! [So you are not alone.] The walls of my bedroom looked like they were melting.... very strange. I only took that one time. Too creepy for me. I tried Lunesta and it gave me the weirdest metallic taste in my mouth that lasted all the next day. So that didn't work. But now I'm taking Ambien and (just like the commercials say) it "works like a dream". The only side effect I have with Ambien is that if I don't go to bed right away (or if I happen to get up in the middle of the night) and the pill starts doing it's thing but I don't get in bed like I'm supposed to... then I may end up doing odd things during the night and have no memory of them the next morning. That's why you need to go right to bed after you take the Ambien. I have awoken (just a few times) to find notes I had written or things I had done around the house during the night but had no recollection of having done them. Spooky. But that's really a rare occurrence.In general, with sleeping pills, some people might feel groggy the next day (but I never do).