Sleep Paralysis/Hallucinations.

Nefilim777

Just a question for those who may know about or have also experienced sleep paralysis/hallucinations. Although I've been free of them for some time but the memory of them is still pretty intriguing, and even a little disturbing.

For a couple of years I would wake in the middle of night to find 'people' standing in my room. Sometimes it would just be one person, other times it could be many. On one occasion there were just a ring of men and women standing around my bed, generally though, their faces were obscured by the darkness in the room. It would always take me a moment to, I suppose, wake properly, before the visions would disappear, however I never felt paralyzed as such and was always free to move, so I'm not sure this counts as 'sleep paralysis'. Has anyone else had similar experiences?

miss_shadow

Hi,

I get sleep paralysis from time to time. It can be quite disturbing for me, because sometimes I don't know where I am and trying to figure out 'who' i'm in the bed with (my oh).

I also see people standing in the room, but have got used to it. I was not paralyzed either, I sit up and then cower under the blankets and pray for the best :D.
It is strange though to wake to see these people, because I feel I didn't see these people in my dream so why are they perfectly formed beings just standing there and why are they there? why is it only humans I see and not objects floating in the air or animals..?!!

Nefilim777

Interesting, obviously its not strictly paralysis though? I mean if we can see these beings and still move then what is it? Is there a medical term?

calistro

I experienced something similar about 10 years ago. Staying at my GF's house, I was sleeping in the spare room and at about 2 or 3am I felt some kind of strange presence in the room. I was wide awake but couldn't move a muscle. I was sleeping on my side, facing the wall and could feel and even see a shadowy figure over, but not actually touching me.

It was like being paralyzed. It lasted for about 7 or eight minutes then I came around, I won't say woke up because I was fully awake during the episode. It scared the life out of me, I even asked the GF's mother if someone had died in the room in the past.!! Has never happened since and I searched a bit on the net for it and came up with the Hag or old hag syndrome. Weird.

locteau

This is very interesting, I do experience this kind of things since I had a major back surgery.

When in the hospital I suffer from severe hallucination of a women kind of flying around and I had this sensation of spinning very fast, like when you drink going to sleep, but I was awake and even was laughing at it.

I was on heavy opium based medicine for over 2 years to a point to have my left leg paralyzed before the surgery. After my surgery I suffer of a massive withdraw in august 2007.

Since then.... I am not taking anything, stop completely to drink and I have those "awake dreams" of seeing people. There is a lot of repetition in this were I just wake up, look at by the window and see lots of people dressed in white rags.

My partner then when she realize this and think I am sleep walking, but the funny thing is that I get very confused because, because I know where I am, can see everything around me, answer to my partner and really feel confuse and kind of ambarrassed as I know this is not real

Any how, I also see people in the house at night in the same state "awake and sleeping" more recently and even feel a kind of wind when walking, but certainly due to cold wind coming from the windows and doors, but again I don't wear any top at night so it does get chilly..... does not happen during the summer.

My own conclusion is simply the fascinating way the mind is working and trying to tell you something. For example I worked really hard in the last few years to change the way I was always rushing, been a workaholic, my parents relationship, and of course I am very creative, looking TV late with many silly shows.

I think since my surgery and legal drugs hallucination, my brain learn on how to create things in a different way, and because I am very creative it just play with me which obviously happen when you are all relaxed and in a semi conscious state. The proof that it is not real is simply that I actually don't interact just watching and that I get really confused when my partner intervene and try to justify why I am standing up at the top of the stairs for 20min in the middle of the night.

Obviously it is not dangerous, but really interesting psychologically....

Maybe you guys are also very creative ? be nice to know !

Smegball

Experienced this the other week, was only a few days after one of my close friends died, woke up but facing the wall, so back was turned to the room.

Felt like someone was holding me down, I kept trying to look back but couldn't move and kept saying the name of my friend to stop it, was quite unnerving.

In fact, I've only been living in this house a few months with my new housemates, and have experienced it 3 times, the first time I was convinced there was an old woman at the edge of my bed and felt like she was trying to take me out of the room and down the stairs, was horrible.

The other time just felt like my housemates were standing at edge of bed, I just sat there during this thinking this is nothing and soon went back to sleep.

Its probably one of the weirdest things I've ever experienced, words can't desribe it.

locteau

I think I am going to open a new thread about my own dreams if any body is interesting, I have a degree in psychology which might help to interpret them a bit, but unfortunately I have a poor knowledge of this kind of topics and the worst part is that I am french

MR.VICE PRESIDENT

Every week I suffer from it prob 2-3 times.. Does not really bother me anymore.. Can lead too some cool dreams if you just wait it out ..

Goldenegg

I'm just awake a few minutes after having my second ever sleep paralazis dream and now I'm petrified to go back asleep just incase it happens again.

I have two sets of nail marks on my arm and chest from where I couldn't move but was trying to wake myself. Also woke up crying,obviously recognising the fear in my sleep.

Is there any cure for these dreams or anything as I'm really finding them quite scary! Thanks!

lazlo

I suffer from this too. The first few times it was terrifying. I felt as though I was dying. Its still quite shocking but I've become quite desensitised to it now. I even find it interesting and mildly pleasurable

johndaman66

I suffered from sleep paralysis once ever and hopefully never again as it was a bloody nasty and frightening experience. Happened to me about 8/9 months ago and fair to say that between work and family matters I was after having a few stressful days or week even.

Was home at my folks house and if there was a full house would need to share a bedroom with brother as was the case that night. I was just half nodding off to sleep, probably snoozing more than anything. Could vividly see the bedroom door half a jar and brother sort of going in and out of the room brushing his teeth and what not to get ready for bed. Then all of a sudden it seemed some guy was pinning me down to the bed and stopping me from moving even though he wasn't choking me so much. Just stopping my body from moving. My shoulders and hands were pinned down by him and I was really fighting to move this upper part of my body. Legs were pretty much asleep and not part of the struggle if that sort of even half makes sense? Oddly its when I stopped fighting and sort of subconciously resigned myself to it that the struggle stopped and I woke up. I also sort of half knew my brother was around the room and shouted his name, followed by get him off me will you (when struggle was happening).

Then at first when I woke up I assumed it was brother and said to him what the hell was that all about?:D He assured me it wasn't him but told me I was roaring. He couldn't hear what I was saying though.

At a guess it only lasted 15 to 20 seconds but they were very frightening. Hope I never have the same experience again.

STIG83

Ive woke up the whole house a few times screaming in my sleep

lazlo

MR.VICE PRESIDENT wrote: »

Every week I suffer from it prob 2-3 times.. Does not really bother me anymore.. Can lead too some cool dreams if you just wait it out ..

spot on, you end up looking forward to it! Its horrible the first few times though

Mint Sauce

Had the weirdest case of this in the week. Anytime I had it before (couple of times) I was either dreaming I was in my own bed or possibly awakening from a dream of me being in my own bed.

But this one, I was dreaming that I was lying on the edge of a railway platform, with my feet and hands hanging over the edge, I could sense there was a train approaching, couldn't see from what direction but was unable to move out of the way until the last moment.

Didn't have any paralysis after waking but was kinda concious of how I was lying in the bed before going back to sleep again.

A bit freaky at the time.

x3wiggles

STIG83 wrote: »

Ive woke up the whole house a few times screaming in my sleep

Same. I wake up people when I get sleep paralysis. It's really embarrassing because you're trying to explain why you're screaming but you wake up disorientated and a little terrified.

STIG83

x3wiggles wrote: »

Same. I wake up people when I get sleep paralysis. It's really embarrassing because you're trying to explain why you're screaming but you wake up disorientated and a little terrified.

Does it happen to you often? Hasnt happened to me in a while, last time it was really bad i woke up my ex girlfriend, it scared the hell out of her

x3wiggles

STIG83 wrote: »

Does it happen to you often? Hasnt happened to me in a while, last time it was really bad i woke up my ex girlfriend, it scared the hell out of her

Haha, I've woken up an ex boyfriend with it too. Screaming and wailing in my sleep. He had to shake me to wake me up properly but that made it worse. It's not advised.

According to the Facebook group for sleep paralysis, apparently if you sleep on your side and not on your back, it decreases the risk of SP happening. I've tried it a few times and it works.

I don't get it that often though. It seems to happen at random.

STIG83

x3wiggles wrote: »

Haha, I've woken up an ex boyfriend with it too. Screaming and wailing in my sleep. He had to shake me to wake me up properly but that made it worse. It's not advised.

According to the Facebook group for sleep paralysis, apparently if you sleep on your side and not on your back, it decreases the risk of SP happening. I've tried it a few times and it works.

I don't get it that often though. It seems to happen at random.

And when that happened to me that time, she was trying to calm me, and i whacked her on the mouth, dont worry it wasnt a full on hit, i dont even remember doing it, even her parents heard it but thought it was somebody outside!!

heavyballs

calistro wrote: »

I experienced something similar about 10 years ago. Staying at my GF's house, I was sleeping in the spare room and at about 2 or 3am I felt some kind of strange presence in the room. I was wide awake but couldn't move a muscle. I was sleeping on my side, facing the wall and could feel and even see a shadowy figure over, but not actually touching me.

It was like being paralyzed. It lasted for about 7 or eight minutes then I came around, I won't say woke up because I was fully awake during the episode. It scared the life out of me, I even asked the GF's mother if someone had died in the room in the past.!! Has never happened since and I searched a bit on the net for it and came up with the Hag or old hag syndrome. Weird.

very similar to 1 of my experiences,the weird thing about mine was that it was defo of a sexual nature,i won't go into too much detail but it seemed like someone was defo on top of me

btw i went through about 6 months of 'normal' sleep paralysis but this one instance stood out,looking back the sleep paralysis was brought on by a sudden stressfull time in my life

GregoryNimmo

I'm sorry but there has to be a more thourough explanation for this because the exact same thing happened to me, where i felt like I was being pinned down by an external force. It was really strange and frightening but also kind of intresting :P

Maybe Aliens :O

I went there.

Davsavage

My sleep paralysis began a long time ago when I was in my late teens unfortunately.
My first episode was UNREAL! I was sleepy but awake, laying on my bed, then all of a sudden I hear a 'swurling' noise, like wind in my ears, and all of a sudden my eyes were closed and I couldn't move at all...I began to panic and couldn't breath.
I then heard whispering all around me, and the worst thing is - it wasn't a dream, I was fully mentally conscious.
I then looked at the end of my bed and saw a tall dark figure standing there with a massive hood, just staring at me! I couldn't move, talk, shout or breath properly.
I began to try and shout but all i could do was mutter a few small sounds. I tried and tried and eventually muttered 'F*** OFF'. At that point I began to wake up!

When I awoke i was terrified beyond belief...and since then I started getting sleep paralysis as a common occurance. They were a lot different than my first one though! One first one was the only time i could actually mutter a few words...

Since I've been suffering from these for the past few years, I've learned a bit about them, and how to manage them, so if you'd like to check out my webpage you can! I also wrote about a couple of my episodes.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Sleep-Paralysis-Symptoms-Causes-and-Prevention

18AD

Davsavage wrote: »

My sleep paralysis began a long time ago when I was in my late teens unfortunately.
My first episode was UNREAL! I was sleepy but awake, laying on my bed, then all of a sudden I hear a 'swurling' noise, like wind in my ears, and all of a sudden my eyes were closed and I couldn't move at all...I began to panic and couldn't breath.
I then heard whispering all around me, and the worst thing is - it wasn't a dream, I was fully mentally conscious.
I then looked at the end of my bed and saw a tall dark figure standing there with a massive hood, just staring at me! I couldn't move, talk, shout or breath properly.

Exact same thing happened to me. It was scary as hell.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_people

Do you know anything about the sensing of a presence in this state? It's very strange.

Good luck.
AD

Davsavage

18AD wrote: »

Exact same thing happened to me. It was scary as hell.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_people

Do you know anything about the sensing of a presence in this state? It's very strange.

Good luck.
AD

Oh I'm sorry this happened to you as well! Just know that there are lots of other people with this. The next time it happens, please stay calm, blank your thoughts and figure out your own ways to wake yourself up. Shaking my head works for me.

In relation to your question,

I think sensing of a presence has to be looked at in two ways, in a scientific way and a spiritual way.

From experience, when i let my mind go bananas and start imagining that there might be a presence there, I start to sense that presence and it always appears. So maybe if you dont imagine one there, none will appear.

When I look at it in a spiritual way, I think SP occurs when you are neither awake or asleep, but somewhere like limbo, and not having the security of the being conscious or unconscious you are just more likely to begin to sense things that exist in this 'limbo' state.

Some people think it may be a spirit like a relative or friend trying to contact you, but in most experiences a bad spirit.

p.s. I hope I understood your question right!

Good luck!

Das Kitty

It used to happen to me as a kid but I can't remember any of the incidents well. About 5 years ago I had flu and hadn't slept in about 4 days. I was staying on my now in-laws sofa. I remember waking up at some stage and seeing two skinheads crouching on the other side of the room. I rationalised that I was seeing things so stared to wait for what I was really seeing to become apparent, I stayed calm until they stood up and came toward me! I screamed my head off waking myself up and making the skinheads disappear.

Worst thing was not one f***er came to see what was wrong!

A friend of mine is an insomniac and he often sees a little boy just randomly standing around his house, calls him Nathan. Creepy as he'll to hear him talking about him. I can really see how people believe in ghosts if they don't know what's going on.

kerryman12

This has happened to me also, twice over a few years - but not for years now. In both cases In both cases I woke feeling absolutely terrified and angry/aggressive.

The first instance was maybe 12/13 years ago. I was at home in bed asleep on my back. When I wake I am completely paralysed. I look around the room and can see everything, it is dark but I can see the outlines and everything is as I left it that night. I see a small boy at the end of the bed, just standing there looking at me. A feeling of complete terror grips me. I want to move run but cant. The boy slowly moves around and comes up along the side of the bed towards me. I can still see him today, I can also see though him to the rest of the room behind. As he is getting closer I focus all my energy on raising my left hand, but I can’t it is stuck to the bed. Realising that I can’t move my hand and with the boy getting closer still I start to shout out, but no sound will come. I shout louder and louder and eventually wake, screaming. I pivot in the bed and punch the wall next to me, OOOOOuch.
The second time I was t at the in laws, in bed alone again on m y back. As before I wake but I am completely paralysed. Again I can look around the room and can see everything, it is dark but I can see the outlines and everything is as I left it that night. I can see an old lady, she is not a hag – has silver hair, neck length. She is quite tall. She just stands there looking at me. AS before I am in complete terror I want to move but I cant. I can see through her as before. Again I wake shouting.
I can honestly say that to this day I have never experience the same feeling of terror as experience on those two occasions, and sincerely hope I never do again.

common sense brigade

I have suffered with Sleep Paralysis over the years. First time being age 23. It was absolutely terrifying. I am lying there awake unable to move and then i hear voices whispering my name. sometimes i see what i think is a witch sitting on my chest. other times i felt the presence of a man who i know means to do me harm. friends and family who have seen this happen to me have also become quite unnerved and frightened. My husband actually sat up terrified one night after witnessing an episode. I have noted just before this happens i am dreaming and my dreams are full os spiders and snakes and foul things then i awake but as i said i cant move. I have a theory myself on this. over the years im convinced the sleep paralysis was connected to my diet. many times over the years i was eating very little each day and im convinced the lack of sugars caused it to happen. Hallucinations as such.In past year i have maintained an extremelly healthy diet and the problem has almost disappeared. Its just a theory!

Mutley2009

for many years I suffered with this too. The SP finally came to an end after I began to study Reiki. I took the Reiki level 1 weekend course and ever since then no SP! :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reiki

I'm not going to try to explain why I think the Reiki works, as many of you are simply experiencing the SP and do not relate it to the Spiritual World.

But my guess is, regardless of your beliefs, if you book yourself in for a Reiki session (normally 1 hour is €30) you will find your SP will have all but vanished.

smelltheglove

I have been suffering for years, I sometimes suffer multiple times in one night its that severe, I had a stage of maybe a year or so when I didnt have any other than that I would be lucky if a couple of weeks went by without.

I had my first ever reiki session late last year, that night I suffered, and again a few nights later, and again multiple times since then. I have heard many people say reiki works but unfortunately it didnt for me.

kerryman12

that is though

18AD

I had it a few times, as I said. I begain to test myself with it. Now I wish it would happen again. Sadly it doesn't. I've only had some intensey weird dreams since then.

One thing I find that brings on really weird dreams now, is the temperature in my room. Keep it cool to avoid horrible nightmares or turn up the heat to bend your brain. Clockwork.

Azureus

Ok so Ive had something a few times recently but I dont know if its what you guys are talking bout...
Ive never seen shadows or outlines or any of that stuff, but a few times lately I have had this thing where my whole body freezes. I feel like I am fully awake but I cant move a muscle, I try to scream but no noise comes out, at most the tiniest peep even though ALL my enwergy is going into it. Its like there are really intense pins and needles all over my body, making me unable to move, paralysed and stiff. Once I felt like there was somebody there but I couldnt see them and heard no noises...

Weird. I never knew what it was and it was startin to really really freak me.

18AD

Azureus wrote: »

Ok so Ive had something a few times recently but I dont know if its what you guys are talking bout...
Ive never seen shadows or outlines or any of that stuff, but a few times lately I have had this thing where my whole body freezes. I feel like I am fully awake but I cant move a muscle, I try to scream but no noise comes out, at most the tiniest peep even though ALL my enwergy is going into it. Its like there are really intense pins and needles all over my body, making me unable to move, paralysed and stiff. Once I felt like there was somebody there but I couldnt see them and heard no noises...

Weird. I never knew what it was and it was startin to really really freak me.

I do believe that this is sleep paralysis. The thing is that your mind is fully awake but your body has gone to sleep.

It has happened to me often when I tried to get to bed early for whatever reason but wasn't tired. My body would fall asleep but my mind would be still aware.

Thing is, it happens to everyone every night, but you don't notice if your mind drifts off first.

Sweet dreams.
AD

Joe10000

I think some ppl need to open their minds to the possibility that they are not hallucinating. Just maybe.

18AD

Joe10000 wrote: »

I think some ppl need to open their minds to the possibility that they are not hallucinating. Just maybe.

How do you mean?

common sense brigade

I think some ppl need to open their minds to the possibility that they are not hallucinating. Just maybe.

The alternative to hallucinating does not bear thinking about. In the beginning when I first had sleep paralysis I sought the help of a spiritual healer. They refused to see me based on phone converstaion as to what was happening to me. Over the years i really attribute it to diet and lack of sugar for me personally. i think people who have claimed to have alien abductions, perhaps had sleep paralysis

18AD

common sense brigade wrote: »

The alternative to hallucinating does not bear thinking about.

Why not? What is the alternative?

i think people who have claimed to have alien abductions, perhaps had sleep paralysis

I don't know about other's experiences, but I had an abduction experience and it was most definitely related to sleep paralysis. It was also quite cool.

Best.
AD

Joe10000

It's very difficult to communicate some experiences without being considered a crack pot but will share a couple such stories.

I lived in a house with my gf where we experienced many visitors without actually ever seeing them, we both heard them move around, heard them move around stuff and heard them opening and shutting presses. The two of us were there and we both heard it.

So what ? Ok so I have told this story a few times in the years that have past since and I have been amazed by ppl then telling there own experiences that were similar but with faces, always at night, some alive and some dead. Some tried to communicate and some didn't.

Anyway I'm just passing on my own experiences and not making judgements on anybody elses.

I had sleep paralysis only once, was young and it scared the **** out of me, was sure someone was coming to get
me.

Perhaps what they saw were in fact hallucinations they interpreted wrongly.

smelltheglove

Joe I hope the things I saw in sleep paralysis came from nowhere but yes I do accept the trainn of thought you are on. Unfortunately I was approached by a lady once who told me a few details of something that related to both sleep paralysis and my history. She 'passed' a message on and it is true since then the things that would happen in the paralysis, directly related to this history, have not happened since but saying that the paralysis still kicks in and is still frightening because of the fact that I expect these things to happen, maybe I just shake myself out of it before it gets to that stage.

As regards to your house, I had similar circumstances with a house in the past too, very strange goings on.

Azureus

I'm actually so relieved to hear about sleep paralysis on here, I googled what had happened to me before and got nothing, it seriously freaked me out!

Strangely enough I hadnt had it for awhile before I posted in this thread the other day, and then last night it happened again! This time I was more aware of it being 'ok' and it made it a lot less scary. Almost enoyed it in a way because I was able to appreciate the sensations of it instead of being paralysed by fear as well as a sleeping body!

cynder

I suffed it a lot from teens to mid twenties dont really get it now, same goes for my brother and my dad who passed away.

kano476

Get this from time to time, usually the night after ive been out drinking and is coupled with a bad nights sleep and nightmares! most recently had it last weekend - scares the hell out of me but usually after a couple of minutes i realise whats going on and can bring myself out of it.

Its always a feeling of someone over me or breathing on me and often i can hear heavy breathing - which i then cop on that im hearing my own breathing! I usually attribute it to the effects of a heavy weekend or sometimes stress

Doom

locteau wrote: »

I think I am going to open a new thread about my own dreams if any body is interesting, I have a degree in psychology which might help to interpret them a bit, but unfortunately I have a poor knowledge of this kind of topics and the worst part is that I am french

Ok tell me about this one. In my dream my daughter was a small ball of light, she followed the dog in to swim in a lake, and told her don't go. i was very worried but she just glided along, but i had an awful sense of dread and that she would not be coming back...tg it was a dream

GLaDOS

I've been getting this for about a year and a half to two years now, always as I'm about to fall asleep, it's as if my body falls asleep but my mind doesn't.

Every time it is the same hallucination: Hearing screaming directly in my ear and the sensation (not seeing, just sensing, I'm sure anyone who has suffered form it knows what I mean) that people are either standing around my room or bursting in through the door. Always accompanied by an unnatural feeling of terror and of my body "locking up" so to speak, until I force myself awake which seems to take a mammoth effort.

Used to happen irregularly but the last week or so it's happening at least once as I try to go to sleep every night. Don't suppose anyone has any tips for avoiding it?

Fago!

I get this fairly often, and am very fascinated by it. When I get it, there's always like a "presence" in the room. Like a demonic one. It's kinda scary, but I kinda look forwards to it, although I haven't experienced it in a while.

mickman

this sleep paralysis thing seems really scary. it must be terrible not to be able to move when you wake up

how do ye cope with this?

GLaDOS

Personally I'm so used to it it doesn't scare me as much as I used to, once you wake up properly it kinda goes away like a dream.

Bodhisopha

Used to get it very bad quite often but now i only get it every once in a while without the really bad nightmares, but i still feel a presence.

It can be quite terrifying at first if you've never heard of sleep paralysis and have no understanding of it. I found the more i understood the less severe the nightmares.

claire2010

I used to get it often when my parents broke up when I was about 19 and I remember once I fell asleep during the day when I was alone in my mothers house and could here like an animals come in the bedroom door and walk across to my bed and could feel it crawling up onto me and on top of me and I remember it looked like that girl out of the Ring when she came out of the TV at the end face all black. I had it last night for the first time in months I was lying on my side and could feel someone pulling me. I think I tend to get it when I sleep too much or stressed.

starviewadams

Had something like this the other night,was half awake/half asleep but I couldn't move at all,and there was a dark figure at the end of my bed trying to drag me under the duvet,went on for 5 or 6 mins until I could move again and I was so freaked out that I got up and stayed up even though it was only 4.15am!

Hope it doesn't become a regular thing!

Horse_box

This subject absolutely fascinates me

I find it really strange and scary that everybody who experiences sleep paralysis feels the presence of something evil in the room. Everybody seems to have very similar experiences

I've had it happen a few times, all of which have scared the sh1t out of me. The first time I had one was when I got back from a mad party trip to Ibiza. The lack of sleep and intake of mdma is what I think triggered it in me. MDMA(ecstasy) releases serotonin in large amounts and it is thought that this chemical plays a big role in our dreaming patterens

Anyway, the few days after that holiday I was getting them regularly and my sleep pattern was all over the place. I too, like other people found they came on just as I was getting to sleep, or coming out of sleep. They really did frighten me and it got to the stage where I was dreading nodding off.

What I will say is, and I only realised this after, was that every time I got them, I was sleeping on my back. This tied in with the famous stories of sleep paralysis where you're supposed to feel the evil presence sitting on your chest. Since then I've been sleeping face down and have avoided them to date

Sleep paralysis and lucid dreaming are fascinating topics, I'd love to know the science inolved in them

newmug

Horse_box wrote: »

This subject absolutely fascinates me

I find it really strange and scary that everybody who experiences sleep paralysis feels the presence of something evil in the room. Everybody seems to have very similar experiences

I've had it happen a few times, all of which have scared the sh1t out of me. The first time I had one was when I got back from a mad party trip to Ibiza. The lack of sleep and intake of mdma is what I think triggered it in me. MDMA(ecstasy) releases serotonin in large amounts and it is thought that this chemical plays a big role in our dreaming patterens

Anyway, the few days after that holiday I was getting them regularly and my sleep pattern was all over the place. I too, like other people found they came on just as I was getting to sleep, or coming out of sleep. They really did frighten me and it got to the stage where I was dreading nodding off.

What I will say is, and I only realised this after, was that every time I got them, I was sleeping on my back. This tied in with the famous stories of sleep paralysis where you're supposed to feel the evil presence sitting on your chest. Since then I've been sleeping face down and have avoided them to date

Sleep paralysis and lucid dreaming are fascinating topics, I'd love to know the science inolved in them

I get them in any position. I usually get out of them by moving my toes or little finger, then the power comes into my arm or leg, then I force myself to wake up. Never experienced any evil feelings or hallucinations, but the feeling of not being able to breathe is horrible. I notice I get them when I'm in "the horrors" from drink. I suppose the feeling of the horrors is the evil feeling? Does anyone else get the horrors while wide awake?