sleep paralysis

jackie1983 · 22-11-2011 1:07pm #1

hi all just wondering about sleep paralysis i have been getting this on and off for the past while.. absolutley terrifying! i was aleep on one occasion and woke up unable to move i heard the front door handle going as if someone was trying to get in then i heard footsteps on the stairs and then my door was being opened and a man came into my room and walked over my bed and just stood there looking at me.. i couldnt make out the face because my head was turned straight and i couldnt move i tried to scream and nothing came out my body was totaly lifeless and all i coudl move were my eyes !! i had another night when an animal was trying to come up my bed i could actually feel the bed being weighed down by this animal scratching up fromt he bottom of my bed also i have had the "man in my room" episode a few times. just wondering has anyone had similiar experiences. i know its common but its just so terrifying.

thanks

ikol_ · 25-11-2011 12:09am

I have had this kinda of dream several times , but thankfully not in the last few years, like you it was like i woke and i could hear someone open the door and walk into the room and it felt like there was a heavy weight on my chest, i couldn't move or open my mouth just was frozen in the bed, Another time i remember i could hear voices outside my bedroom window then heard them climbing up the drain pipe and what felt like them reach their hand in to put over my mouth. Absolutely terrifying. and even though i've experienced it i'd say maybe 5 times or more still freaks me out

Mint Sauce · 25-11-2011 12:14am

I've dreamt that people (i know) have came into the room and have stood over me in the bed. But the scarest two were (i) an image floating across the room from where the dressing gown is on the back of my door and hovering over me, and not being able to move, and (ii) lying on the edge of a railway platform, a train approaching, and not being able to move out of the way untill the very last moment.

The first one, I may have woke people in the house.

erskin · 29-11-2011 3:54am

hi jackie,
Sleep paralysis isn't a mysterious phenomenon. during normal deep sleep your body induces sleep paralysis where the body's large muscle groups are essentially paralised. this is to give your body a chance to repair its self after a day of activity. sometimes this stage of sleep can overlap between deep and light sleep or REM levels causing some strange effects, essentially you are starting to wake up but can also be dreaming at the same time, where i suppose you are at the mercy of your imagination!! this can happen in some people who have a tendency to sleep with their eyes open where the brain is still receiving visual input whilst also dreaming or making sense of various experiences or memories.
sleep is controlled by the release and inhibition of certain hormones in the brainstem, if this is a very regular occurrence it could suggest an imbalance in these horomones or psychological influences, stress etc which would be better answered by a sleep specialist, this is not my field but i find it interesting and have a little knowledge.
believe it or not it is also a big source of lower back pain where the spine looses some of its support and in people with for example disc problems, hypermobile(loose joints) etc, as you start to wake up, subconsciously your body realises the joints have shifted and begin to tighten leading to the muscles being fatigued by the time you wake up, with a lovely achy back!

hope this helps put your mind at ease a little, there is lots of research available on sleep if you look for it. you might find this interesting

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brain_basics/understanding_sleep.htm

take care, E

Fionne · 30-11-2011 5:23pm

erskin wrote: »

believe it or not it is also a big source of lower back pain where the spine looses some of its support and in people with for example disc problems, hypermobile(loose joints) etc, as you start to wake up, subconsciously your body realises the joints have shifted and begin to tighten leading to the muscles being fatigued by the time you wake up, with a lovely achy back!

Wow, that's interesting about the back pain as it's something I suffer from alot and often wake up worse than it was when I went to bed so now maybe I know why!

Fionne · 30-11-2011 5:32pm

Hi Jackie,

I had my first episode of sleep paralysis when I was about 16, so about 20 years ago. I didn't know what it was then, I just knew that I woke up and was totally unable to move. I could actually hear my Dad snoring in the room next door but I couldn't move a muscle or speak. I tried to call out for help but couldn't make more than a moaning sound. I then had the sensation of floating above myself, looking down on myself in the bed. Scared the bejeebus out of me.

I didn't have another episode for about 10 years and again it was similar, I could hear noises and was aware of my surroundings but couldn't move.

In the last few years the episodes have gotten more frequent, I would say I have them every 2 months or so now. They still scare me a little but I just tell myself to go back to sleep and then I wake up properly the next time.

I have to say the most recent one was pretty scary, I had been awake with nightmares a lot of the night and then woke up unable to move but was aware of a man standing over me. He had one hand on my neck as if checking my pulse and he was pressing on my side with his other hand, really hard so it hurt. I was sure that my boyfriend must have called a doctor as he was unable to wake me and when I went back to sleep and woke up again properly I was certain a doctor was going to be standing there in the room but it was empty. It was so realistic that even now I can almost feel him hurting me by pressing on my side.

My Nana used to say that my grandfather used to appear at the end of her bed and I wonder was it really sleep paralysis rather than a ghost?

The mind is a mysterious thing...

krd · 02-12-2011 9:57am

jackie1983 wrote: »

just wondering has anyone had similiar experiences. i know its common but its just so terrifying.

thanks

It can be really terrifying. But once you've had the experience a few times, you'll know what it is. And it becomes just more annoying than terrifying.

The paralysis comes from your brain switching off your arms and legs so you don't trash about in your sleep. Sleep paralysis, is when the paralysis sets in, but you're not completely asleep - your in a half state. A trick that sometimes works - if you wake up and you can't move, try wiggling your fingers or toes, give it a minute - usually, suddenly the paralysis vanishes and you can move again.

Best thing to do is not panic, no matter what happens - it usually comes with really terrifying dreams. But once you're aware of what's happening, it becomes easy to deal with.

Sephiroth_dude · 04-12-2011 5:28pm

I've gotten it a few times over the last 3 yrs and its not nice.

Ozymandius2011 · 07-12-2011 6:38am

A good few years ago I dreamt that I was awake and paralysed, and that this shadow-man appeared at the foot of my bed. This man was like a shadow with no discernible unique features (like a shadow has). I was terrified and I couldn't move. It was like I was totally at his/her mercy.

krd · 07-12-2011 10:53pm

Ozymandius2011 wrote: »

A good few years ago I dreamt that I was awake and paralysed, and that this shadow-man appeared at the foot of my bed. This man was like a shadow with no discernible unique features (like a shadow has). I was terrified and I couldn't move. It was like I was totally at his/her mercy.

I've got a better one.

Waking up in bed paralysed, with a cold dead rotting body wrapped tightly around me.

Or a dead big fat lady lying on top of me.

Occasionally, I experience sleep paralysis. Exhaustion and stress is usually involved. But I've had horrific experiences - I know none of it is supernatural, though it can seem like it.

Padjooshea · 08-12-2011 4:00pm

That stuff sounds really scary.I once had a friend who was driving me home froom Dublin.It was really late.I got a late flight.I fell asleep for about half an hour and i woke up.I looked at my mate and i seen this look in his eyes.It was so distant.Like he was in shock.I said a few things to him and no response.So i got scared.I didn't want to startle him just in case we crashed.He was asleep and driving at the same time.Everything he was doing was perfect.Changing gear and all.Better in fact than normal.He drove me home straight to my door.I shook him a few times when we got back and he woke up.He said he was dreaming about floating on the top of water.He has been fine since.We put it down to lack of sleep from work

7Sins · 17-12-2011 8:02pm

Yea I get these, the first time I got it was after consuming a large quantity of energy drinks, a link perhaps? I don't know. I was about 20. Anyway I think stress causes it with me. Originally I didn't know what was going on. I never had the hallucinations to the extent people are describing here so I guess I'm lucky.

I used see black shadows at the end of the bed and they'd come up onto my back (sleeping sideways/belly down) putting what felt like a tremendous weight on my back, even cutting off my breathing. I assume this is something to do with my muscles relaxing.

Anyway I overcame these hallucination rather quick myself. I associate this with the fact I frequently had lucid dreams when I was a kid so maybe I don't find it as difficult to differentiate between dreams and reality as some people would.

I haven't had them now in a while and anytime I did, I found it really easy to just wake up and gain control of my movements again. Still though it was really annoying because it upsets my sleep. I was sufferering with sleep apnoea a bit aswell when these were occuring. It's probably all linked.

I'm having lucid dreams instead now again as opposed to the paralysis which I prefer to be honest, very rarely though.

Padjooshea · 18-12-2011 11:22pm

Lots of beer doesn't help.I went on a 4 day bender years ago with the lads in koln.Bad idea form the get go but the lads were sound ina calmed out way and it was birthday.Great place where you can let your hair down and enjoy yourself rather than being watched by a bouncer who'd just love to get ridda ya for having fun.Anyway came back for recovery and was dreaming whilst awake.The moon was shining in and it played tricks on me eyes.Thought people were in the room.My mind was making faces and figures that weren't there and i couldn't move.Freaked me out.Now i drink only for enjoyment.Heard of some guys having abilities whils in this state.Heard a guy in Clare broke into a load of cars and went home.The mind is funny.

Kashkai · 21-12-2011 7:04pm

I've experienced this a few times but thankfully not for years now. In my case, my brain is "awake" but I can't move and more distressingly I can't breathe. When this first happened, I was in a state of panic until I "regained" control of my body and then gulped in air. The next few times it happened, I stayed calm, tried the wiggling fingers and toes bit and soon was able to move. Not nice but I can cope with it.

When my Dad suffered a stroke this year, his paralysis brought my own sub conscious fears to the surface.

Padjooshea · 23-12-2011 11:16pm

Sorry about your dad.Death is a shock i'd reckon for the conscious and the subconscious

krd · 26-12-2011 12:07pm

Padjooshea wrote: »

Lots of beer doesn't help.I went on a 4 day bender years ago with the lads in koln.Bad idea form the get go but the lads were sound ina calmed out way and it was birthday.Great place where you can let your hair down and enjoy yourself rather than being watched by a bouncer who'd just love to get ridda ya for having fun.Anyway came back for recovery and was dreaming whilst awake.The moon was shining in and it played tricks on me eyes.Thought people were in the room.My mind was making faces and figures that weren't there and i couldn't move.Freaked me out.Now i drink only for enjoyment.Heard of some guys having abilities whils in this state.Heard a guy in Clare broke into a load of cars and went home.The mind is funny.

That's being "in the rats" (also known as "the horrors" - or Delirium tremens)

I've never had the experience but I know a few people who have. If you go on a bender for a few days, and then stop drinking, you can go through a detox with pretty heavy hallucinations. Lots of Irish people have had the experience, because there are Irish people who will on occasion drink non-stop for a few days.

If a group of people go on the same bender, they can all have the same experience of "the rats" together. Someone I know who went on four day bender with some friends. On the last day, they were all in the flat recovering - they were sober at this point - first one hallucinates a giant spider coming down out of the ceiling, then they all started having the same hallucinations - this went on for a few hours.

It's called "the rats", because sometimes people hallucinate rats crawling all over them.

childsplay · 08-01-2012 9:34pm

There is a lot of folklore associated with sleep paralysis. In the past, it was thought to be a demonic visitation by a creature called an incubus. These creatures would appear and straddle the victims chest, creating a feeling of pressure and panic. Females believed they had been raped by the creature as they would wake up sore and in discomfort around their genitalia.
I have had some nasty experiences with sleep paralysis. I always feel like something horrible is going to happen to me or as if I am in some terrible danger. Its kind of easy to see how past generations could have believed it was the work of the devil!

Julie London · 11-01-2012 2:43pm

I suffered for years wuth this and accasionally i get a revisit of it. But it normally only happens now if i oversleep .
In the beginning I actually believed i was haunted because th episodes were so frightening, i even frightened my partner who was sleeping with me. And housemates.
I experienced 2 visions. The first was a black witch. It would start with me asleep and dreaming of spiders or snakes then i would wake and would be hearing voices and the room going cold. I would be unable to move. The black witch would sweep around the room and eventually sit on my chest and terrify me, pressing down on me.
The second vision was more sinister. He was a strong, invisible male. Who was threatening me sexually. First encounter sleeping on a mates couch I awoke unable to move. I heard knocks on the front door then his voice. Then he got on top of me. I eventually got free and ran into my friends room. I was so terrified i terrified her and i had to sleep on her floor.All of this is 100% per cent a true account.
I contacted a spiritualist at the time who refused to see me as she was frightened by my accounts.
The doctors said it was sleep Paralysis.
At this time in my life I was 23-26 and I was wild. Drinking alot and dabbling with drugs like hashs and coke. ( I am now a non drinker/drug taker). Only adding this cos I believe it had something to do with the drug use or the drink. The minds a fragile place.

Jackanackanory · 03-02-2012 9:04pm

I have experienced sleep paralysis on about 3 occasions. It is a very unpleasant and frightening experience. The last time it happened, only a few nights ago, as I was drifting off to sleep. I had the sense of someone approaching my bed from the right hand side, lift the covers and climb on top of me. I was unable to move a muscle and when I tried to speak my words were slurred. I knew though that it was sleep paralysis so I knew not to be too frightened and the episode ended quickly again.

For me a common theme is that it is early in my sleep, just as I'm drifting off and only happens when I'm sleeping on my back - maybe that's normal, has anyone else noticed that? In fact I try to make myself fall asleep on my side!

emma11811 · 15-02-2012 12:14am

I have had this for years now and even though I know what it is it still scares me .Sometimes it feels like something is trying to have sex with me and I find myself liking it but also being so scared .When it happens and I wake up Im teriffed to back back to sleep and will get up for a while because its happened that id wake up and fall asleep and it would happen again,When you try to tell people about it they said you were just dreaming:)

Herb Powell · 26-02-2012 5:28pm

My only episode of sleep paralysis happened recently. I knew exactly what was happening though, so it didn't freak me out, it was actually kind of fun. Possibly the fact that I dream lucidly regularly helped me realise it was a dream-state.
It was a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream

So the first one was the classic "wake-up", can't move, start vibrating. Each subsequent time after that when I "woke up", I'd start floating up above the bed (against my will) and again, start vibrating violently.
The time before I actually woke up, I was able to move, so I picked up my guitar, and when I started playing I floated up above my bed again. I tried to put my guitar down, and I got thrown to the wall at the end of my bed, beside the door. I was pinned down to the floor. The door was moving weirdly open, and there was a soft glow in the hall. I knew there was something there, coming up the hall. I was pissed off when I woke up that I didn't get to see what it was.
I know that sounds generally unpleasant, but it was mad, I knew I was only dreaming, so it wasn't scary in the slightest. I never experienced sleep paralysis before that, so I wanted to see what it was like.

29-02-2012 12:16am

Suffer from sleep paralysis now and again, had the weirdest hallucinations one night during it, could not be sure what parts were real and which were not. Weirdest thing is my ex also went sleep walking the same night and managed to make, and drink, a cup of coffee. The coffee was the only indication that the events had happened at all, the empty cup there in the morning where it hadn't been the night before. We put it down to the only thing we could, that we'd ordered enough Chinese takeaway to feed five people and eaten most of it before going to bed.

Was going through fits of it one night, finding it hard to sleep then waking up unable to breathe (as is common) and not able to shout out for my boyfriend who was in the other room on his PC. When I woke up I'd walk into his room just to convince myself I was actually awake and not hallucinating again. He told me to come sleep in that room if it was bothering me so much (it's his "office" but he often sleeps in there often rather than wake me up late at night). I tried to sleep in that room but the auditory hallucinations would not go away. I could hear the neighbourhood kids outside screaming, as they do every day, and I could hear my two budgies cheeping their heads off, but I knew neither noise was real. But I could not turn them off. I had to lie in a sort of dozing state listening to them clear as day. Incredibly frustrating.

Usually it's only when waking from a nightmare and in the grip of sleep paralysis that it frightens me, otherwise I find it quite fascinating, albeit very annoying.

dvae · 29-02-2012 9:39pm

i have not had sleep paralysis for about 10 years now. when i did get it id say i would only have it about twice a year.
from my experiences most of the time it was probably drink related or fatigue, perhaps a combination of both.

the most frighting time was some time back while on Holiday, i woke up one morning to find myself pinned face down on the bed.
from the corner of my eye i noticed the bedroom was glowing white and i could hear a breathing noise kind of like Darth Vader

.
at the time i never heard of sleep paralysis and was sure i was about to be beamed a board a space ship or even worse.

anyway after a short while i managed to free myself and look around. the light turned out to be the early morning sun reflecting on the
bedroom wall and Darth Vader turned out to be my now wife snoring.

ZX7R · 01-03-2012 11:49pm

This has happened to me at least 3 times but i never senced anyone else there ,i new what had happened after the first time as i had asked my friends, so when it happened again i would scream as load as i could for my amusement ,but the strang thing was nobody else ever heard me scream

Also i never felt frighened when it happened just very angery?

02-03-2012 1:34am

Has anyone suffering from sleep paralysis suffered a hypnogogic hallucination? I have them with most episodes of sleep paralysis.

Also do any of you remember having sleep paralysis as a small child? I remember having it at least once, around the age of two. I was having an awful nightmare (Dracula, always Dracula) but when I woke I was lying face down, could see my brother's bed, and was trying to cry out but couldn't move.

I guess I had it so often I got to accept it as normal! I have it regularly now but nothing as dramatic or as alarming as the episodes I mentioned.

Wonder what causes a person to be more susceptible to it?

ZX7R · 02-03-2012 11:22pm

The 3 times i had i was always over tired. Usely i might not of sleept for 3/4 days and always be stressed around the same time

Wild Bill · 04-03-2012 12:44am

I had this for maybe a year back in my mid-twenties (not today or yesterday).

While it didn't really worry me (I figured it was some half-sleep state) it really was annoying - like someone above, it made me a bit angry that I couldn't wake myself up.

I remember shouting "wake effing up" at the top of my voice only to realise (by the non-reaction of folk I could actually see!) that I wasn't really making a sound.

After persisting for a year it ceased as suddenly as it started and I'd forgotten all about till I found this thread.

Ain't life weird?

[Jackass] · 18-03-2012 5:23pm

This has happened a few times to me, and it is terrifying! The first time it happened was the worst, as I had never heard of the phenominom of sleep paralysis, so it was very shocking.

I was lying in my bed, and it seemed like I was suddenly awake, but I wasn't sure if I was sleeping before hand (disorientated), and I was very aware of being wide awake all of a sudden and I could not move anything in my body, suddenly, I heard a buzzing, and I thought a bee or wasp was flying into my ear, I started to panic more and more, and the buzzing got louder and louder, until I was almost trying to jerk myself into movement, I eventually let out a Rocky-esq scream, as I was unable to talk it was kind of a muffled "bwwwaaahhAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" and as soon as I was able to let out that noise, the buzzing stopped and I was fully able to move again.

The whole thing felt like it lasted about a minute, and having read up on it since, the buzzing or "bee in the ear" is one of the most common effects of sleep paralysis, but it is perfectly normal thing to happen, and has maybe happened to me 3 times since, but never as severe, long or scary since, as I'm aware of what's going on when it happens, so I'm calmer, but there is a instinct fear of being vulnrable or something that can make you panic slightly.

I also twitch quite a lot in my sleep, so it may be a problem with how my brain controls my body whilst I sleep, as I've read that one of the reason you are partially paralised whilst you sleep is to protect your body from acting out your dreams in your bed (I'm sure we've all wokee ourselves with a big movement in our sleep, like a kick or something, where you react to something in your dream by actually moving your body)

Nothing to worry about though, and it has been part of many stories of ghosts in room or alien abductions (as sometimes some people are very sensitive to light or can see a growing light - never happened to me though) and is the reason for so many "paranormal" or unexplained events happening to people whilst in bed - they are just in a semi sleep / semi awake state...

xflyer · 18-03-2012 5:36pm

This also led to the 'Old Hag's syndrome, I think it's called, where people wake up but can't move because an old woman is sitting on their chest. Of course once it has a name that's exactly what everyone else experiences. It's also probably an explanaton for many people's alien abduction experiences I would have thought. Folklore explanations become real the more they're retold.

It's only happened to me a couple of times, although I know what it is, it's still terrifying. Sleep paralysis that is, not alien abduction.

AllGunsBlazing · 18-03-2012 6:02pm

I've had episodes of sleep paralysis going back as long as I can remember, even as a kid I used to get it. I especially hate it when it occurs while I'm lying on my back. My breathing becomes laboured and I really panic.

It probably only lasts a minute but it feels like an eternity. A horrible sensation.

okioffice84 · 20-03-2012 11:48pm

I get SP all the time. Did a bit of research on it a few years ago...apparently it is very common in those who keep 'odd' hours e.g. nurses on shift work.

I also experience 'exploding head syndrome' quite regularly....I actually try to let it go on as long a possible to see how far I can push it.
I don't experience visual hallucinations, which is a good thing as the grey alien really freaks me. I do sometimes get the feeling there is someone in the room and sometimes hear footsteps on a carpet floor... there is no malevolence there though.

sleep paralysis

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