sleep paralysis

[Lobotomy]

Have any of you ever had sleep paralysis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis)? I had it once a few months ago. I dreamed I was just laying in my bed and this ambiguous dark figure slowly started to appear and got closer and closer to me. there was also a screeching noise that got progressively louder. and then it just poofed and went away and I guess I woke up. I don't think I slept for the rest of the night.

the weird thing was that I realized exactly what was happening because I had read about sleep paralysis before. so I guess it was like a lucid sleep paralysis dream...?

[Die Rote Fahne]

Yes. I woke up (i think so), sleeping on the couch, and was convinced that there was a ghost/banshee/witch sitting in my computer chair ( i didn't have glasses on, but i could have swore I seen it). I couldn't talk, move or do anything, but stare.

Then I...awoke?

[mrmikhail]

Have any of you ever had sleep paralysis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis)? I had it once a few months ago. I dreamed I was just laying in my bed and this ambiguous dark figure slowly started to appear and got closer and closer to me. there was also a screeching noise that got progressively louder. and then it just poofed and went away and I guess I woke up. I don't think I slept for the rest of the night.

the weird thing was that I realized exactly what was happening because I had read about sleep paralysis before. so I guess it was like a lucid sleep paralysis dream...?

I have had sleep paralysis many times, as well as related out of body experiences. It sounds as though you were having a sort of OBE yourself with the viewing of shadowy figures (something I have found common in my own...)

[9]

yep, happens to me whenever I sleep on my back.

[Seth]

I have it frequently, but I never see other beings or experience the heavy-thing-on-your-chest phenomenon.

I think trying to breathe faster/harder helps me snap out of it.

[NewLeft]

I woke up today, saw my alarm clock but it was all hazy and I heard beautiful etheral music and felt like a baby.

[o well this is ok I guess]

That's where you're still conscious but your body feels like you're in a sleep state, right?

I always feel scared of it. I always want to sit it out and see if any weird shit happens, but I always end up deciding I want out.

[GPDP]

I just tell myself to wiggle my big toe Kill Bill style, and eventually I snap out of it.

[Welshy]

I had it once when I was coming out of a nightmare. The loud low pitch voice was still talking and it felt like my bed was moving up and down. It was freaky as fuck and I hope I don't have anything like that again. Though I have had cases where I was awake but couldn't more or at least had a hard time moving even a tiny bit.

[piet11111]

As a kid i had a nightmare about a shark attack (just watched jaws) and i somehow was so scared that i woke up but i could not move while i was awake the nightmare just kept going.
While i could feel the pillow underneath my head and the blanket on my body i could not get my eyes to open.

[Quail]

I've only had it once that I recall. I woke up and just couldn't move and I had no idea what was going on so I tried to talk and I couldn't do that either, and then I think freaking out about it woke me up.

[The Dark Side of the Moon]

I had a dream where a figure about a foot high was in my hallway outside of my room.
Woke up staring at the hallway.
Couldn't move, nearly could breath.
Eventually the adrenaline kicked in and I got up and slammed the door

[Red Rabbit]

I used to have it constantly when I was younger, now it's just occasionally.

Still scares the fuck out of me.

[A Revolutionary Tool]

I'm a little confused as to what it is so I'll post what happened and you decide if I had it.

I was hella cross-faded and I sat down and "fell asleep". Only problem being I could still hear and feel everything that was going on, I just couldn't move anything. So I sat there and everybody at the party thought I was asleep. I could hear them say "He's asleep, anybody got a marker?" and I tried to shake my head and say something but I couldn't move anything at all. Then they proceeded to mess around with me, blowing smoke in my ears, all sorts of things that pissed me off because I knew exactly what they were doing but couldn't move. I don't know how long it lasted, but it felt like it was hours, and it was the worst, I thought I was going to die.

[Grigori]

Yes. I woke up (i think so), sleeping on the couch, and was convinced that there was a ghost/banshee/witch sitting in my computer chair ( i didn't have glasses on, but i could have swore I seen it). I couldn't talk, move or do anything, but stare.

Then I...awoke?

It's happened to me as well. This may make me look bad in front of the atheists, but i think there is something behind it. Crazy shit tended to happen in my house, and myself and others occasionally acted real bizarre. You'll think I'm insane if i told you how it was stopped.

[Nox]

Have any of you ever had sleep paralysis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis)?

No, I haven't.

[Erratus]

I use to get it (hallucinatory) all the time when I slept at my grandmother's house as a child. I didn't know what it was and I would always be scared. There would be a couple of shadow people talking. They weren't really ding anything scary, other than being shadow people, but I think you are always terrified when it happens.

[ColonelCossack]

That happened to me. I was lying in bed half asleep and I was like, wtf? because I couldn't move. It was quite disturbing because I was having a horrible nightmare at the same time and I was really struggling to move. It was pretty fucked up. :scared:

[Sasha]

had it once, the classic demon on my chest, scared the living shit out of me.

[Astarte]

I woke up today, saw my alarm clock but it was all hazy and I heard beautiful etheral music and felt like a baby.

Yeah, contrary to popular belief, not all sleep paralysis experiences are bad. I was getting it for a while a couple years ago and after a while I actually learned to control it as if you were controlling a dream. Made myself levitate :), or at least it really felt like I was levitating.

EDIT: Also one time I managed to convince myself an Angel was visiting me and I had overwhelming euphoria, i guess like you described above.

Another time I felt like I was on a really fun rollercoaster, and it was a great time even though i hate rollercoasters irl.

Of course I have had bad experiences too, like seeing demon/alien looking specters, but you are basically dreaming while you are awake, so it is up to you and your fears or the lack of them at the time that determines what the sleep paralysis experience will be like.

[Nicolai]

Yes, and me having a bit of claustrophobia as well it was a real nightmare. I "woke up", and tried to open my eyes, but I weren't able. I was completely stuck in my bed. If I even tried to move a muscle, this intense pain would hit my whole body, and even more when I tried to open my eyes (I think I opened them in real life as well at that moment). Then I stopped breathing, and it was then I really started to panic. I was stuck there for at least 10 minutes, and then I finally woke up!

I've had this moment 5 more times though, less intense and shorter, but I panic so badly every time (being chained inside your mind must be a real hell).

[Nicolai]

Yeah, contrary to popular belief, not all sleep paralysis experiences are bad. I was getting it for a while a couple years ago and after a while I actually learned to control it as if you were controlling a dream. Made myself levitate :), or at least it really felt like I was levitating.

EDIT: Also one time I managed to convince myself an Angel was visiting me and I had overwhelming euphoria, i guess like you described above.

Another time I felt like I was on a really fun rollercoaster, and it was a great time even though i hate rollercoasters irl.

Of course I have had bad experiences too, like seeing demon/alien looking specters, but you are basically dreaming while you are awake, so it is up to you and your fears or the lack of them at the time that determines what the sleep paralysis experience will be like.

There's a difference between sleep paralysis and lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is what you describe here; that you know you're awake and can control the environment in your mind.

[ColonelCossack]

had it once, the classic demon on my chest, scared the living shit out of me.

Easy to prevent: sleep on your side!

When I had it I couldn't move, but I didn't have any hallucinations. I suppose if I did I'd go all soviet tankie on them. Not that I am a tankie in waking life... :p

[Patagonia]

Happened to me two or three times, but I made an effort to make it happen. I fell asleep thinking about it and stuff. The first time I was in my bed, and the door of my wardrobe was open, and I saw this weird black-shadowy figure leaping from shelve to shelve. It was... cat-like. Another time I was lying on my bed as well and "woke up" but couldn't move, and heard a really strong sound, it was like in crescendo, scaling up in volume and tone. Then it just stopped and I was fully awake.

It kinda scared me.

[Nox]

That happened to me. I was lying in bed half asleep and I was like, wtf? because I couldn't move. It was quite disturbing because I was having a horrible nightmare at the same time and I was really struggling to move. It was pretty fucked up. :scared:

Da fok?


Easy to prevent: sleep on your side!

When I had it I couldn't move, but I didn't have any hallucinations. I suppose if I did I'd go all soviet tankie on them. Not that I am a tankie in waking life... :p

Damn, I can only sleep on my side so it looks like I'll never get sleep paralysis.

My medication sometimes gives me hallucinations so I guess I've had my fair share of 'weird dreams'

[Art Vandelay]

I have scariest fucking thing of my life. Get it from my dad I think, he has it worse than me.

[Luc]

When I was a kid sleeping with my parents in their bed there was this thing at the end of the bed that would just sit their and I'd stare at it. Scared the hell out of me.

Turns out it was my dad's foot

[Blackscare]

No, but I have night terrors once or twice a week.

[NewLeft]

Yeah, contrary to popular belief, not all sleep paralysis experiences are bad. I was getting it for a while a couple years ago and after a while I actually learned to control it as if you were controlling a dream. Made myself levitate :), or at least it really felt like I was levitating.

EDIT: Also one time I managed to convince myself an Angel was visiting me and I had overwhelming euphoria, i guess like you described above.

Another time I felt like I was on a really fun rollercoaster, and it was a great time even though i hate rollercoasters irl.

Of course I have had bad experiences too, like seeing demon/alien looking specters, but you are basically dreaming while you are awake, so it is up to you and your fears or the lack of them at the time that determines what the sleep paralysis experience will be like.

That's some trippy shit.. apparently it's caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain. :confused:

[ColonelCossack]

Da fok?


Indeed.

[Astarte]

There's a difference between sleep paralysis and lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is what you describe here; that you know you're awake and can control the environment in your mind.

No, I was actually describing sleep paralysis. I wasn't able to move, I am not sure if I mentioned that in my last post.

What you have experienced actually is a more acute kind of sleep paralysis and not the norm. Sleep paralysis does not usually last 10 minutes. Most occurrences last about a minute or so.

[Rusty Shackleford]

i dont think i ever had anything like as visual or visually lucid as anyone here but i did have a few supernatural night experiences. i dont think its ever been sleep paralysis though, more like stress induced night panics.

one of them which was an occasionally recurring one of perpetual falling which varied in intensity. some nights i would be on the verge of sleep, and all of a sudden i would feel a great shock go through my body and would not be able to sleep for a while afterward. it could happen twice a night even. that was when i was younger though. that part was terrifying because it always thought something was pulling my sheets/feet from the foot of the bed.


Its only happened once or twice in recent years where i was able to look back on it with a bit more clarity. the most intense night was probably when i was having an auditory hallucination. at the time i shared a room with my brother and i wasnt sure he was even home that night but i could hear consistent breathing coming from his side of the room and my eyes were open ant the room felt red, though that was because of the damn lava lamp, all of a sudden i began to feel that pull towards the foot of my bed.

[Lyev]

I've had this maybe 4 or 5 times over this year, never really had it before. I didn't know it was a diagnosable thing, I just thought it was weird, half-awake half-sleep dream: this kind of thing is quite common? Anyway, I think I've had numerous times whilst sleeping on my side (or at least in the dream, I think, I was sleeping on my side) -- I remember it as lying on my side with my back facing the wall, and it was as if somebody was staring right at me, like when you know something is there even though your eyes are closed. There was a breathing on my neck which was quite unnerving. I've not had where I've seen "dark figures" or anything like that. I've had ones where the reading light near my bed flashes on and off. I've had one where something keeps on pulling my covers away from me. Like everyone else, scares the hell out of me. Interestingly, I remember often that the layout of the room is different in some small aspects; there's a keyboard at the end of my bed, for example, and in the dream it is not there. I haven't had a "demon" pushing on my chest, but I have had ones where there is something hovering over me. Not sure if all these things are direct symptoms or maybe I'm confused about it? it's really interesting anyway, I got really interested about lucid dreaming and stuff after watching 'Waking Life'. Me and a friend tried some dream herb tea to induce vivid dreams, but it didn't work at all (tried two nights in a row). I know a guy who did it with weed as well and had psychedelic dreams for about a week

[ColonelCossack]

I've had this maybe 4 or 5 times over this year, never really had it before. I didn't know it was a diagnosable thing, I just thought it was weird, half-awake half-sleep dream: this kind of thing is quite common? Anyway, I think I've had numerous times whilst sleeping on my side (or at least in the dream, I think, I was sleeping on my side) -- I remember it as lying on my side with my back facing the wall, and it was as if somebody was staring right at me, like when you know something is there even though your eyes are closed. There was a breathing on my neck which was quite unnerving. I've not had where I've seen "dark figures" or anything like that. I've had ones where the reading light near my bed flashes on and off. I've had one where something keeps on pulling my covers away from me. Like everyone else, scares the hell out of me. Interestingly, I remember often that the layout of the room is different in some small aspects; there's a keyboard at the end of my bed, for example, and in the dream it is not there. I haven't had a "demon" pushing on my chest, but I have had ones where there is something hovering over me. Not sure if all these things are direct symptoms or maybe I'm confused about it? it's really interesting anyway, I got really interested about lucid dreaming and stuff after watching 'Waking Life'. Me and a friend tried some dream herb tea to induce vivid dreams, but it didn't work at all (tried two nights in a row). I know a guy who did it with weed as well and had psychedelic dreams for about a week

:blink: :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink:

[Rusty Shackleford]

Lyev pointed out one of the sensations i was getting but didnt put in. that feeling of something being over me or behind me.

[Leonid Brozhnev]

I rarely get sleep paralysis, when I do I can usually jerk out of it. I've hallucinated once or twice... usually involves a lot of flying colours and the room spinning violently.

[RedGrunt]

I have times when I'll start having them but most of the time I'm fine. However, when I do get sleep paralysis I tend to force myself out of one and then find myself continually too tired to stay up and then it'll repeat several times over. And I have had some weird ones, such as imagining an imp on my back laughing maniacally and another where I imagined my room flooding with water and then I heard my friend laugh maniacally(again) and push me out my window. They're fucking weird.

[piet11111]

Is the sensation of falling through the bed also a form of sleep paralysis ?
I had that many times but never thought it could be the same thing.

[ed miliband]

Is the sensation of falling through the bed also a form of sleep paralysis ?
I had that many times but never thought it could be the same thing.

like, just before you go to sleep?

nah, tho i can't remember the exact explanation for that.

[Le Socialiste]

I've only experienced something like this twice, both during the same evening. I don't know if it qualifies as sleep paralysis as there weren't any weird 'visions' or sounds, but I was sleeping on a couch on my back, during which time I woke up but couldn't move or open my eyes. I could here everything around me, like people talking (my family), but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't roll over or move my head. I don't remember panicking, just being groggy and confused about the whole situation. Eventually I 'woke up' and shifted my head - after which I promptly fell back asleep, only to wake up to the same situation. That's my only experience with it though.