Sleep Paralysis/Hallucinations.

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.
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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?

Bodhisopha

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 think the presence of something evil is because you're half awake, notice you can't move but because you're still in something of a dreamstate you translate the fear of paralysis into a nightmare scenario. Dreams aren't rational at the best of times. That's just the conclusion i've come to through my own experience of them. Interestingly enough (to me anyways), since i have come to that conclusion the evil presence has for the most part disappeared.

The last one i had was just someone behind me slowly pulling the duvet back from over my shoulder which is pretty mild compared to the ones i've had with demons sat on top of me screaming into my face.

LupinFace

I'm surprised that I even have the balls to think about it at this hour.
Well, it's only ever happened to me once. It was very sudden, as I presume it usually is. I became extremely stiff and ridged, and felt a' pressure pushing down on me' (:P) very forcefully.
I can't remember whether my eyes were open, or if they shut when this came upon me.
I do remember just waking up a few seconds before-hand, has that happened to anybody else?
I started shaking a lot, and I tried my hardest to scream or move some part of my body, with no success.
Then I saw this, entity at my bedroom door- Like and eighteenth century woman. She was quite young, but she seemed to be in a sepia toning.
Then all the pressure lifted - I was shocked and everything, but it didn't seem to have that much of an affect on me really. I would've thought that it would affect me terribly, seeing as I'm so highly strung around these things/ extremely paranoid.

scoobymunster

Just had my first experience of this last night and I'm terrified of going to sleep tonight. I genuinely never knew about this until I googled it. It's quite scary some of the things the human body is capable of!

spunkymunky

This has happened to me a few times and all been quite a scary experience! The latest one, last year some time, I realised I couldn't move and didn't panic. I just said to myself, Ok, you're asleep and this paralysis thing is happening again. WAKE UP. So I woke up from what I thought was the "Dream" and realized I was still paralyzed. Then i started to freak out! Thought I was proper stuck (on account I thought i was fully awake). Finally snapped out of it and nearly cried with relief!!
Its so intense when it happens! Dont think I experienced people in the room but I remember looking about to see what going on and trying to shout. Nothing comes out though!!
Scary stuff!!

Doolee

I've had the sleep paralaysis thing a good few times, with the old Hag mentioned earlier.

A few years ago, when it first started, it went on for 3 weeks, coming to the point where I dreaded going to sleep. I would "wake" in the middle of the night by feeling a pressure on me, usually I'd be lying on my back or on my tummy with my hands under my chest and the pressure would be pushing down on my shoulder and head. The pressure was in the form of a woman, faceless, but wearing a black cape/hooded thingy. There is/was no arms, just her being, pushing me into the bed, leaning over me with her face quite close.

I'd be completely paralaysed, could hear traffic or noise around me, can move my eyelids trying to wake up but its like they get glued shut! I learned to wake myself up but breathing really really heavily...its the only element I seem to have control over when it happens. I realize whats going on eventually and so when my eyes feel totally glued, I just breathe, breathe breathe, deeper and deeper till my eyes burst open. I need to get up and make sure Im totally awake when it does happen cause if I dont, and fall back asleep I'm always afraid the same thing will happen again. When I've been sharing a room with someone, during times when its been happening I'll ask them to wake me up if they hear me breathing really deeply.

I read as much as I could find about it and there was only two books I coiuld find (in the library in New Zealand where I lived at the time) and one actually mentioned The Hag, and basically, your worries are overwhelming your subconscious. I had a whole lot on my mind and until I solved it, I was still having the episodes. I had the odd one more recently.

Its never nice and just quite unsettling really. But its a sign to sort out your head, your worries and anxieties, I'm sure.

TrollHammaren

I've been getting episodes of SP since I was in my early teens, maybe, and they increased in frequency since I was about 17 (I'm 22 now). Nowadays, I get it about once every two months or thereabouts, but I've gotten it quite a few times this month, including this morning.

My SP experiences usually aren't that bad, as I've only ever experienced two or three accompanying hallucinations. The worst experience was a loooong time ago when I was sitting up and I could see a group of aliens in the room, which freaked the crap out of me. The next one I can remember was about 6 months ago, when I could hear a voice counting numbers and it got louder and closer until I was able to move again.

I'm usually not fully alert, and more often than not I go back to sleep rather than wake up. It only ever lasts about 10-20 seconds, but I'm rarely aware enough to know what's going on. It almost always happens when I'm lying on my stomach, but that's more than likely because I sleep on my stomach in general. This tends to be a problem because I sleep with the duvet over my face, and it can restrict my breathing (a horrible feeling - like I'm being smothered).

I never have lucid dreams, and very, very rarely have nightmares I can remember, but my girlfriend has woken me up on several occassions, telling me I was having a nightmare.

VNP

I had one of those sleep paralysis hag type dreams too, I presume thats what it was. it happened once during the end of the summer last year. The bedroom door was a crack open letting in a faint light in the early morning, I dont remember the start of it well but i think there were two figures there initially, but the main figure was dressed in like a black latex type suit with a head of kelp like hair only black, bizzare as hell. All I remember then is not being able, or trying to move, the figure was joking with me and then electrocuting my chest with wires trying to give me a heart attack . but it couldnt, then I woke up turned over and went back to sleep. I didnt feel terrified but the whole story is a bit freaky when I retell it. I tried to google the image of the head of the thing incase it was some cartoon or movie charachter or something wierd thing i'd seen but found nothing like it. I probably was a bit stressed at the time and wasnt sleeping well. I was on my back too, i had been sleeping with the duvet down a lot then getting cold shoulders in the night, horrible waking up absouloutely freezing. Well Thats my odd tale good to know others get it too.

pieface_ie

i suffer SP regularly. Mine are always terrible. My mind wakes but my body doesnt, i can see whats around me in the room but cannot breath. It lasts a couple of seconds.

I have never seen people in front of me, but i have heard "voices" to me it seems like i can hear my own thoughts rather than someone elses voice.

Only started happning after been involved in a serious accident(with serious injurys) 18 months ago.

I hope it goes away eventually.

TrollHammaren

Bodhisopha wrote: »

The last one i had was just someone behind me slowly pulling the duvet back from over my shoulder which is pretty mild compared to the ones i've had with demons sat on top of me screaming into my face.

Funny you should say that; last year I was in bed lying on my back and woke up in the morning because this "alien hand" reached across me and pulled the duvet off my chest. It frightened the crap out of me.

I don't know if it's relevant, but the night before I was working as a bouncer and was called to an incident with a girl who was having a seizure (it looked like anaphylaxis, as she was arching her back and would stop breathing intermittedly). She was only my age (I was 21) and she turned out to be a friend of a friend. I got back at about 04:30 in the morning and was still a bit on edge after the incident, so I wonder if that affected my sleep and thus induced the hallucination.

Fago!

For some reason the scene in Harry Potter Prisoner of Azkiban, where Harry's on t'train and the dementors are givin' him a good oul demetor baitin' is kinda like my Sleep Paralysis! I can't move but I'm awake, hear that echo-ey woman screaming sometimes (rare though), it feels like i'm being pulled away by a sort of demonic presence (like the scene in Harry Potter where they're sucking the life out of him) and I feel kinda sad like I'll never be Jolly again (again like HP).