Grey encounter...

I suffer from sleep paralysis, used to be up to 5-6 times a month.

The first time it happened to me, I was FREAKED out. Seriously. After several months of this, I sought professional help and went to a sleep clinic. Unfortunately, it never happened when staying the night at the sleep clinic, so no action was taken. They offered me drugs, like ambien and whatnot, but I didn't have a problem falling asleep and the thought of taking a pill to fall asleep scares the hell out of me.

But I learned to work with it. My first episode (and several after that) fit in perfectly with what I hear sleep paralysis is.....immobile and seeing/hearing things that are either your worst nightmare or your secret fantasy. Once I fully understood what the problem is and how it works, I was actually able to use it to my advantage to really control my lucid dreaming. Was really cool.

But, I will say I can see how people that suffer from this and don't understand how it happens or the science behind it, and can think they are visited by aliens. Hell, I have been visited by "aliens" several times during my episodes, and I had a lot of fun with it. I realized that its everyone's fantasy to know they are dreaming and control their actions in that environment. If you are aware of sleep paralysis, you can do that and it is COOL.

I remember the first time I had it. It was SPOOKY. I didn't "see" anything that scared me, but I was "awake" and immobile...yet there were things going on in the "real" world that were blown way out out proportion. Like the silence before our air conditioner kicked on. It was the most quiet and stillness I have ever experienced, and when the A/C kicked on all hell broke loose. I felt like I was being watched when things were quit, but when the ambient surroundings produced stimulus, I "knew" there were "people" in the room that were watching me.

I remember one night I "woke" up when my two cats were having a midnight "lets freak out and run around" excursion. The sounds of their claws digging into the carpet as they ran around (for no reason) was CRAZY and made me imagine (and therefore experience) all sorts of wired things.

The best thing is, now that I realize I suffer from this problem, I can control it. It is everyone's fantasy to control their dreams. When I "awake" in this state I instantly know it and can control what my mind is telling me I am experiencing. It's actually pretty friggin cool.

But I have not had an episode for some 6 months, and I fear that my time with this "disorder" is over. Sucks, once you understand it and know more about it, the whole thing is actually really, really cool and fun.

But, having experienced this thing first hand, and more severe and repetitive than most do, I can say I know how some people think they have been abducted, or how the OP's post comes to light. At first you honestly think that what your brain is telling you is really happening. But once you learn more about it, and can control it (somewhat) you realize it is nothing more than fantasy.

The only thing I could not get used to is being unable to move. I remember several times, totally unable to move and have crazy dreams, experiences, I thought to myself....glad my house its not on fire right now........not being in control of your own body and being AWARE of that fact does weird things to your mind. Even knowing full well what was going on, I would be nervous.

Also, whenever I had an episode, I noticed that it I would be experiencing whatever I must have been dreaming about last..as that's how it would start. I would wake up and be immobile, then be "in" the reality I was just dreaming about...or outside stimulus (such as mu A/C unit or my fish tank humming) was directly affecting what I was "dreaming" about.

In short, it is very hard to describe to those who have not experienced it, but I can totally see how people think they get abducted by aliens when it happens.

I know my post jumps around a bit, but I am at work and out of time to format my thoughts better. If anybody has any specific questions concerning my experience put them out there and I'll try to respond to them in the context of this thread.