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Sleep Paralysis

les12

les12

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
236
Who has experienced this? It happens to me from time to time, most recently last night.

Here's a link that contains some information for those of you who are not familiar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis#Symptoms_and_characteristics

And a little snippet from that article:
"Sleep paralysis occurs when the brain awakes from a REM state, but the body paralysis persists. This leaves the person fully conscious but unable to move. The paralysis can last from several seconds to several minutes "by which the individual may experience panic symptoms and the realization that the distorted perceptions were false"...In addition, the paralysis may be accompanied by terrifying hallucinations and an acute sense of danger."

So last night, I suddenly awoke after feeling/seeing my husband slap me on the shoulder. My eyes were open and I was frozen in place, unable to move. I was trying SO hard to make a sound, anything, trying to ask him what had just happened. I was struggling to make the tiniest moan, which I wasn't even able to do. Eventually (I guess less than a minute later) I could freely move my arms and speak. I figured that I just imagined him slapping me hah and I was really tired and sort of lucid so I didn't wake my husband. The next morning I told him what happened, and of course he assured me that he didn't slap me. It was strange, but it wasn't the first time it's happened to me.

About 4 years ago I had an extremely terrifying episode with this before I knew what it was and for a few years after I still hadn't heard of this. I won't go into the details of that instance, it would probably be much longer of a story than anyone would care to read!

Please share your stories if this has happened to you! (and bless you for reading my lengthy post!!)
 
Its happened to me twice. The first time was when I fell asleep in front of a very hot fire. I woke up but couldn't move. It was really scary. I was trying to make a noise thinking I had a stroke or something!

The second time was when I had fallen asleep on the sofa. I was aware of everything going on around me but couldn't move. Its a horrible feeling and I'm glad it hasn't happened since.
 
It happens to me frequently. Before DD it would happen about once a week or so. Now its rare. The first few times it did, I was not aware of the condition and was very fearful for my life. I would wake up, see the room, hear everything around me but could not move or speak. It felt like someone was holding me down so I would say a prayer to wake up. Once I googled I understood (although I still say a prayer :p). Now I also remind myself that my body isn't ready to wake up and I calm down enough to fall back to sleep.
 
I agree It is really frightening if you don't know what is happening and why. I'm glad I finally did some research so I can have a little peace of mind when it occurs.
 
I happened to me once. I wasn't like GAAAH aliens!!! But I felt like my tall dresser was something alive. Lots of pressure on my chest and could not move. Even once I started moving my fingers and hands and touching myself I felt dead and limp.

Men of Hmong decent are actually known to die from it.
 
Sounds like a chinese superstition saying that a 'ghost is pushing down on you'. Never happen to me before.
 
I've had that happen a handful of times. The first was when I was in my freshman year at school, and my dormmates were talking, and I could hear them, and see the room, but I couldn't move. It was the weirdest sensation.

It is scary, even when you know what it is, because your brain is telling your body to move but it CAN'T. Luckily it doesn't happen to me often!
 
It happens to me about a dozen times a year. I seem fully aware of what is happening around me but I can't move. I can hear everything. Very scary. Then eventually I wake up and realize none of it was true. I would SWEAR the stuff really happened, but alas, no. I also was a big sleep walker as a child, but not anymore. Wonder if it is related?
 
This happened to me once in my old apartment. I heard a terrible screaming howl coming from my open closet and I felt like someone (perhaps a sumo wrestler by the way it felt!) was sitting on my chest. I was trying to yell, scream, say my roommate's name, anything and not a sound came out. I felt fully alert but I was completely paralyzed. After a few minutes I came out of it. It was terrifying, I felt like Elliot in that scene when he first sees E.T.
 
I experience it pretty frequently. The first episode that I remember happened when I was 3 years of age and was sleeping on my stomach. Luckily it resolved pretty soon. I wonder if SIDS is related to sleep paralysis; it usually happens to babies who sleep on their stomachs. After age of 16, the episodes became frequent. I sometimes (very rarely) experience hypnagogic hallucinations but never had cataplexy, the third element necessary for the diagnosis of narcolepsy. I almolst never have frightening dreams before it. As anyone in REM sleep, I would dream before it but nothing horrible.

Narcolepsy, actually, is related to autosomal dominant gene but its prevalence in families is about 2% (an interesting example of low gene penetrance; you carry the gene but the chance of passing the disease onto your kids is very low). I know that my mother experienced one episode of sleep paralysis in her life.

I taught myself to sleep on my side. Never on my back or on my stomach. In general, if you are a back sleeper, it is better to use a high pillow or a couple of pillows (so that your head is up) - there may be a (rare) chance of suffocation especially if you are sneezing at this time.

Like periodic sleep movements, there is some connection between sleep paralysis and temporal lobe epilepsy. I was prescribed benzodiazepines for it and they helped (they deepen the sleep) but you do not want to use them on a regular basis because they are quite addictive.

The episodes rarely happen if the room is well-ventilated (higher level of oxygen); I think that eventually I shall have to use CPAP.
 
I've had this several times but not recently... I kind of perfected a method to snap myself out of it though. It was happening fairly frequently - frequently enough that I no longer paniced and would just be pissed lol Anyway, being fully lucid but still under the veil so to speak, I would "rev" my body up, not sure how to explain it but just build up energy and then explode and it would make my arm move a little and then I would be able to break through. I can't really explain it better than that, but now when it happens I can "will" myself out of it. And of course now it doesn't happen often lol

Hope you can figure out a trick for yourself! I love lucid dreaming too - read a book about it years ago and have had some fantastic adventures... but that's another topic...
 
I've had it happen several times. I never knew what it was until someone on another forum talked about it. I thought I was having mental issues. Once I knew I wasn't going crazy it wasn't so scary anymore. It was a little more involved than being awake but unable to move, but still, when it would happen, I knew what was going on and could work thru it.

Cehra-lucid dreaming is *so* fun! My husband thinks there's something wrong w/me b/c of the fantasical dreams I tell him about, but I love it.
 
I've had it happen several times over the past maybe 15 years. Recently, I have not had it happen. When it first did ditto everyone else who said it was very scary. I didn't know what was going on and I got really, really worried that something had happened to me and that I would never be able to get up. And for me all the times it has happened I have the experience where I'd keep willing myself to get up and I'd think I had sat up, moved, whatever only to realize nothing had happened and I was still lying there unable to move.
Now that I have read up on it I understand better and I don't get as scared but I certainly don't like it!

I find now though what seems to work for me is I try calming down and breathing very slowly and deeply and I give it a couple of minutes where I don't try to move even though I really want to and then I try to get up and it works.
I've asked my family about it too and my mom and dad say they have never had it happen but my little brother says he has also experienced it several times it totally freaks him out!
 
Nashville said:
This happened to me once in my old apartment. I heard a terrible screaming howl coming from my open closet and I felt like someone (perhaps a sumo wrestler by the way it felt!) was sitting on my chest. I was trying to yell, scream, say my roommate's name, anything and not a sound came out. I felt fully alert but I was completely paralyzed. After a few minutes I came out of it. It was terrifying, I felt like Elliot in that scene when he first sees E.T.
Click to expand...

Something similar happened to me. I was in the middle of a dream, and then the voices of the people in the dream started sounding like those charlie brown adult voices (know what I mean?). Then, I heard what sounded like dishes clanking together and it turned into a LOUD screech. The difference is that I was not in a "paralyzed" state, but instead I was clutching at my ears trying to stop the sound. Then complete silence. It was the most terrifying experience... For years I thought it had been some kind of panic attack or something. I never really figured it out because it's different from my sleep paralysis episodes.
 
This happens to me a couple of times a week! :sick:

The paralysis is awful, mostly not coz I feel in danger but just that I cannot move. I know it's time to get up but cannot force myself! Keep thinking "I'll be late for work..." :lol: I try to count myself out of it like "Ok ready I'm gonna move in 1, 2, 3!" and that sometimes works.

Nice to others have it too, when I tell people they look at me like I'm a weirdo...
 
I hate this. I've had it since I was about 13, and I only realized that it was a condition of sorts when someone overheard me telling my Dad in a restaurant and the person came over and told me all about it. Such a weird concept that the brain wakes up and the body is still asleep so they can't communicate...

I try to tell myself to just go back to sleep, but it's so horrifying, especially for a control freak like me. It usually happens when I take naps or fall asleep unexpectedly at an odd hour. I cannot imagine having this happen more than my once per month...it's exhausting if you ask me!!!
 
Lol... I just posted this in the 'Lucid Dreaming' Thread.

Copied & pasted:
OMG!! Sleep paralysis happens to me on occasion. I work nights, and my sleep schedule can get whacked out sometimes, and I believe it has something to do with it. Sometimes it's cool - I start floating up through the ceiling, and can fly around the house or neighborhood. I have complete control over it, and I know I'm asleep the whole time.
Sometimes it's scary, though... the floating ability is accompanied by scary A/V hallucinations, like a loud buzzing that gets louder and louder, or scary images. And again, I know I'm asleep, but can't wake myself up. I can't move, and the only thing I can control is my breathing, so I try to breathe loud and fast to alert DH to wake me up. So crazy! It hasn't happened at all since I've been pregnant, though. The preggo dreams are another animal altogether!

Les... the sound gets me, too. The visual stuff I can deal with, but the sound gets so LOUD. It's pretty frightening!
 
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