Sleep Paralysis

[hopefuldreamer]

Does anyone else ever get sleep paralysis?

I've only had it a handful of times in my life, and until last night I didn't even know what it was I was experiencing.

But last night, when I was still half in dream mode (so my brain had no concept of the reality of what was going on), I couldn't wake up. I felt there was some presence right behind me, but I couldn't open my eyes and I was battling with sleep, trying to push my way out. I tried to move my hands and managed to very very slowly move my arm (or at least I thought I did in my dream imagination), but I keep being pulled back under again.

Eventually, after struggling and struggling against the sleep that was trying to drag me back under, I did wake up, but still had the feeling of a presence in the room.

When I was younger and this happened to me a couple of times, I was into wicca and was absolutely convinced it was an incubus and so i'd do a protection spell to make myself feel better.

Now, I don't believe in anything supernatural really, so my first instinct was to look it up online.

And I found that it is actually Sleep Paralysis, and from the amount of responses i've had from my FB after posting about it, it's pretty common!

So I wondered if anyone on here has it?

I've read that it can be really bad with horrible hallucinations and stuff, so I'm pretty grateful that mines no been worse!

 

[Airwings]

I knew a guy who told me about these things, as he had them often.
I hadn't have one myself up to that point, but experienced my first one soon after.

My body was extremely heavy, but also numb. I couldn't move, and there was some shadow by the end of my bed. I felt some sort of creepy feeling. But my brain did function enough for me to rather quick understand that I had a sleep paralysis, and I managed to "break the spell".
Never really had it more than that one time.

But my friend got hallucinations, heard screams etc.

 

[Tanin]

I get this twice a week or so. Rather scary and my love is coping now that we share a bed and I wake up screaming.

 

[Teelie]

I've had a similar, milder thing happen before but nothing full-blown like this.

 

[X-Ray]

It's been years since I've had one. Had several minor cases and 1 or 2 major ones. Freaky.

 

[iwontsaveu]

I've had it a couple of times. I don't mind the paralysis but its that shadowy figure that bugs the hell out of me, but i haven't experienced it in years.

 

[Tanin]

I didn't have shadowy figures mine are straight up aliens.

 

[DarkSovereignty]

I once shared a taxi with a guy who's roommate suffered sleep paralysis, and one morning he woke up dead

 

[Teelie]

If I woke up dead, I'd just go back to sleep until I woke up alive again.

 

[iwontsaveu]

If I woke up dead, I'd just go back to sleep until I woke up alive again.

If i woke up dead my parents would still make me go to my classes.

 

[DarkSovereignty]

I just hate waking up dead, I never get anything done.

 

[jaqua99]

[YT]DCUh5liPkK8[/YT]

 

[iwontsaveu]

[YT]DCUh5liPkK8[/YT]

 

[Piper Maru]

I've been exprienceing sleep paralysis on and off for years. The first few times it happened was the worst for me though.

 

[dodgers2213]

Spring 2011 or so, I went nearly a week straight with sleep paralysis. It irritated me rather than scared me, I had prior knowledge of the topic

 

[regwec]

When under pressure, I sometimes wake up with a feeling of crushing dread. It is like a profound cynicism, when all the good in the world appears to be trickery, and only disappointment and death seem real. It always passes with the first grey of dawn. But, while it lasts, it feels like I am in hell.

 

[Teelie]

Oddly that's also one of the signs of a impending heart attack.

 

[Schlosser85]

When under pressure, I sometimes wake up with a feeling of crushing dread. It is like a profound cynicism, when all the good in the world appears to be trickery, and only disappointment and death seem real. It always passes with the first grey of dawn. But, while it lasts, it feels like I am in hell.

 

[regwec]

Fortunately, I'm in prime vascular condition. Perhaps the same phenomenon causes the attack in people who have latent predisposition to them?

 

[Victarion]

I had it once. I woke up early in the morning and couldn't really move. It was like I was half asleep at the time.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

I used to get it all the time and it's more terrifying than any traditional nightmare, especially if it's accompanied by auditory or (even worse) visual hallucinations. It happens when your eyes open, but your brain is still in REM. You can't move because your body is still immobile thanks to whatever chemical your body pumps through you to keep from acting out your dreams. But your dreams or dream-like thoughts are superimposed on your waking world, creating something quite surreal and disturbing.

I used to hear someone opening my door, walking around my apartment, turning of faucets and laughing. Scared the hell out of me.

The worst one was when something looking like Slender-Man grabbed my ankle and started dragging me off the bed towards the wall. Couldn't fall back to sleep the rest of the night.

I'm 31 now and luckily haven't had one in over a year. Even in my 20's I only experienced it rarely and less intensely than when I was a teen. When I was a teenager, I used to have it almost every night. It caused me to develop insomnia, I was so nervous about falling asleep.

 

[Piper Maru]

Here's a detailed description of my initial sleep paralysis incident. I posted it awhile back in the Scary Experience thread.

I've been experiencing sleep paralysis for a few years now. I remember the first time that it happened to me. My brother and his wife went for a vacation overseas and had asked me to house sit for them while they were away. I show up to their place in the late afternoon and unpack all my stuff. The night before I was having trouble sleeping and feeling just really ill for some reason. I had a small snack and decided to take a nap in the guest room.

It didn't take very long for me to doze off after my head hit the pillow, that's when it began. I opened my eyes and I could see the ceiling, everything was orange from the setting sun beaming through the window. That's when I felt an immense pressure on my chest, my neck and my face as if something were crushing me. I felt the most horrible terror I had ever felt in my life, I could hear my heart pounding. I tried to move but was unable to, I tried to scream but I just wasn't able to. That's when I had the distinct impression that I wasn't alone. I felt as if someone was standing in the partially open closet next to the bed. I knew I wasn't able to move my head. But I was able to glance at the closet and that's when the shadows in the closet got darker. That's when I thought that I was going to die.

Then I snapped out of it. I instantly sat up with cold sweat dripping from my forehead. I frantically searched the room, and the rest of the house. I was totally alone. I was not able to go to sleep again that night because I was too afraid. It's happened nearly a dozen times since the first experience. Each "event" stranger then the previous one. Sometimes I hear radio static and distorted voices, sometimes I see shadows shifting and other oddities. I've read up quite extensively on sleep paralysis so it eases my fear a bit.

 

[TheBat812]

Sounds like a sort of hybrid DMT trip. But the bad kind.

I wonder if anybody has any euphoric experiences with sleep paralysis.

I've only had it happen once, when I was taking a nap. I woke up, unable to move. Nothing scary technically happened, but it was kind of scary to try to get myself up but have my body do absolutely nothing.

 

[JaD]

I put some of my thoughts about this up in the Scary Experiences thread as I've had this happen quite a few times. It really is pretty terrifying since I feel like I'm tied to my bed and can't move.

Sleep paralysis tends to happen more to me when I take naps during the day, or if I go to bed earlier than usual.

 

[knowsbleed]

This sounds fun... I want this.