Sleep paralysis - anyone here experienced it?

Hi, i am a regular experiencer of sleep paralysis.

My very first one was the most bizzare, i almost wanted to call it a near death experience because at the time i thought i was dead.
When i explained it to the doctor he said that waking up but not being able to move is sleep paralysis. I dont know, because that first experience was different to the others.

The other ones, and they happen usually every few months, but when they happen they will happen maybe twice in a night or a few nights in a row, consist of me waking up about 2am, and im frozen almost like in a trance/ dream like state, i want to speak or move, and i cant, i feel this massive force holding me down, almost like a ton of bricks, and i`m fighting it mentally, and then a few seconds later it goes and i am able to move.
Does anyone else have similar experiences?

My doctor is useless, as when i was there today and asking him about a few things, one of them being the sleep paralysis which i seem to be experiencing regularly again, he just looked at me blankly as if he didnt even know what sleep paralysis was, and then carried on talking about my flue medication.

Ugh, i do not know what to say, i mean if sleep paralysis is purely a mental or sleep deprived condition, then what about the very first time it happened where i was out of my body falling into my body. And why do i feel myself pinned down.
Really hoping some people who have experienced similar things can reply.

I once woke up in my bed lying face down with both of my arms asleep under my torso. That's about as close as I've come. Terrifying ordeal.

reply to post by eliuk


Yes, many times. Usually as I lay their staring at the room I will see and hear what I would have to call ghosts. I will post some stories later as I'm running for a meeting. I've also had a few night terrors; horrible, horrible..

zazen
I once woke up in my bed lying face down with both of my arms asleep under my torso. That's about as close as I've come. Terrifying ordeal.

The only way.. and god forbid this should ever ever in a million years happen to anyone,
but the only way i can sort of describe the initial fear/ shock/ dread aspect that hits you at first, it is like waking up in a coffin 6 feet under.

Would you agree?

eliuk

zazen
I once woke up in my bed lying face down with both of my arms asleep under my torso. That's about as close as I've come. Terrifying ordeal.

The only way.. and god forbid this should ever ever in a million years happen to anyone,
but the only way i can sort of describe the initial fear/ shock/ dread aspect that hits you at first, it is like waking up in a coffin 6 feet under.

I'm sorry, I was just being silly. I did wake up like that and couldn't roll myself over for a couple minutes, but it was not serious like what you're describing. Now I feel like a douche.

Would you agree?

edit on 19-3-2014 by eliuk because: (no reason given)

reply to post by eliuk


many many many times....but you get use to it.....

It usually happens to me when im very very very physically tired, the first few experiences can be terrifying, but when you start to realize what it is, its really not that bad....you just have to remind yourself when it happens that you know whats going on and focus on a single part of the body to break it....

The weird hummms, bells and occasional other auditory anomolies are a bit strange sometimes

eliuk

zazen
I once woke up in my bed lying face down with both of my arms asleep under my torso. That's about as close as I've come. Terrifying ordeal.

The only way.. and god forbid this should ever ever in a million years happen to anyone,
but the only way i can sort of describe the initial fear/ shock/ dread aspect that hits you at first, it is like waking up in a coffin 6 feet under.

Would you agree?

edit on 19-3-2014 by eliuk because: (no reason given)

I'm sorry. I was just being a douche, although that did happen to me. I just had trouble rolling over onto my back. Your experience is much worse than mine.

ManBehindTheMask
reply to post by eliuk

 

many many many times....but you get use to it.....

It usually happens to me when im very very very physically tired, the first few experiences can be terrifying, but when you start to realize what it is, its really not that bad....you just have to remind yourself when it happens that you know whats going on and focus on a single part of the body to break it....

Exactly - and its like when its happening you say `im going to fight this, im going to fight this` and you move your arms and legs, well you try to, to break free, but they are totally lifeless for about 3 seconds, also even though your eyes are open, all you see is black/ darkness
can you relate to that?

reply to post by eliuk


I have had several, but over many years. I would guess 5 or 6 over 20+ years. I can remember three which involved another being beside my bed when I was paralyzed. Crazy scary. I try to yell or talk, but cannot. My heart feels heavy and hurts. When I come to, I am exhausted. Not cool at all.

I've had it once when I was much younger. The funny thing is I had just seen something on TV a few days before that mentioned sleep paralysis. I'm glad I did because then I knew what was going on and I didn't panic too much.

I kept reminding myself that anything I would see was a hallucination because my mind was still dreaming. I knew I was in my room but couldn't look around much. I recognised my ceiling light fixture from the light coming in through the w i n d o w. I kept trying to move my arms but they wouldn't budge. Finally, they lifted straight up in the air, but then fell across my chest again still paralyzed. Then I felt like I was rising up in the air and I saw a bunch of lights like a UFO or something that kept getting closer and closer... but I kept telling myself it wasn't real. Then after a while I felt like I was falling again, and then I could move after it felt like I reached my bed again.

EDIT: Apparently you can't type W I N D O W

reply to post by Boscov


I wish you hadnt mentioned the `being next to bed thing`.

1/ its almost 2am and im the only one up so dont scare me

and 2/ it wasnt during a typical sleep paralysis bout, but i have woken up to a figure (normal looking person not ghost like), standing next to me, and then he dissapeared.
ive tried for many years to pass it off as just my imagination playing tricks.. because i do not want to be laughed at, and because im skeptical about things like ghosts/ ufos etc myself.

However i definatly think there is some sort of paranormal aspects involved sometimes with sleep paralysis, just because there is a doctors medical term for it, does not mean anything, what weve been modern humans for a few hundred years but claim to know it all about the world which is billions of years old? my point is just because a doctor has a medical term for it does not mean that rules out any paranormal activity sometimes.

reply to post by eliuk


I am sorry my shared truth scared you. I am at a loss to explain them, but they were there.

Yes!

But stranger things happened while in that state. I'm not privy to sharing it yet as I have a hard time rationalizing what happened.

It was a terrifying experience...I can attest to that!

It's only happened to me once. It was after having a severe flu for a few days and not getting much rest/sleep. I did finally get a good nights sleep but in the morning after I woke up I was literally frozen stiff for what was probably only a few seconds but it seemed much longer and yes it was terrifying.

It's a feeling I never want to experience again as I had absolutely no control over my body and that was the absolute worst.

I experienced it a couple of times when I was younger. It was like I was in my body and floating above my body interchangeably and I was telling my limbs to move but nothing was happening. My arms felt like something was holding them down and weighed a ton.

The freakiest part was the appearance of these shadow like creatures that looked pretty close to the shadow daemons from the movie ghost who came out of the closet and surrounded me. I could see my than girlfriend laying next to me a sleep. This occurred during a mid evening nap and long before the movie ghost came out.

It was very weird but I lean towards waking up before my senses came too. I remember fighting to wake up and telling my self to wake up as I knew I was sleeping.

reply to post by eliuk


Yeah i have experienced sleep paralysis a few times in my lifetime, a couple of times it has been accompanied by a very awful feeling of dread and darkness. the feeling of being pressed down is fairly normal with this phenomenon. it can be very disturbing for a person to go through. the best advice i can give if and when it happens again is to say something positive and reinforcing to yourself to jerk your consciousness back to a fully waking state even out loud if you can. either that or just lay and breath deeply while your mind wakes up a bit and tell yourself your going to be ok because you will be ok

Peoples` replies mean a lot to me and i am so grateful for the responses so far knowing i am not alone with this.

In a nutshell, the majority of my sleep paraylsis just involve me awaking but not able to move for about 5 seconds

The first few experience was almost paranormal like maybe because my brain wasnt used to it, but the very first one was i could feel myself falling from the ceiling down into my body and then i awoke

I havent experienced the `bells` that people claim to hear, but i have in the past (not for a long time) awoken to hear a clicking sound or some kind of whisper something that woke me up.

ManBehindTheMask
reply to post by eliuk

 

many many many times....but you get use to it.....

It usually happens to me when im very very very physically tired, the first few experiences can be terrifying, but when you start to realize what it is, its really not that bad....you just have to remind yourself when it happens that you know whats going on and focus on a single part of the body to break it....

The weird hummms, bells and occasional other auditory anomolies are a bit strange sometimes

Aha, exactly on the button, very very very tired, in fact I mentioned this yonks ago here at ATS somewhere, and for the OP, yes it is scary but I will add to that, being a musician, I knew that a session makes the mind alert, and a need to have a post analysis, but when you are totally shagged the physical and the mind become out of sync, in some ways the brain becomes more active while the body wants to sleep, probably the synapsis at work.

Once right when I first met my wife I awoke unable to move and what do you know at the bottom of my bed is a black hooded figure in the shape of an old woman. The entity promptly walks up beside me and put its hands around my neck hers or its face I could not see with exception of its red glowing eyes. I litterly was being chocked to death frantically trying to move and then I did. Poof just like that she/it disappears and all is normal only later did I read about old hag and those same experience s Im not one to belive in paranormal however something is truly going on with sleep paralysis

Only once: Years ago I was sleeping in my girlfriends bed after a long day of swimming when I woke up to hear what sounded like an impossibly large group of people talking just outside of her door. I didn't know what to make of it but I laid there just thinking about it, trying to rationalize what it was when all of a sudden it seemed to get louder like the crowd was moving towards the door. I felt a tremendous amount of fear and was torn between trying to move and get out or acting like I wasn't aware of the noise. I ended up trying to yell to my girlfriend who was at the other end of the house but all that came out was a choked "ah" "ash". The noise got louder all of a sudden like everyone talking was around the bed in the dark. Suddenly I became very angry that something could make me feel afraid like that. I remember trying to say and failing that, thinking to my self "I will tear you apart, I will tear you all apart." I was gathering my strength ready for a fight, at that moment the noise peaked and I felt like something grabbed my shoulders and shook me hard... The "presence" was gone. I laid there for something like 30 minutes just thinking about what happened rationalizing that it was probably a night terror even though I have never had one before.

I think it had something to do with my state of exhaustion.