Anybody else experience Sleep Paralysis?

mysterious

It's not uncommon at all and it's a widely known medical condition as in all doctors etc describe it as the body a sleep but the concious is awake or still awaking from REM (dream state). It normally happens when you are in a deep sleep or sleeping on your back. Fear is almost spontaneously occurring since your feeling paralysed. since you can't move your mind will hallucinate etc.

Nothing unusual about it. btw if someone brings up UFOs your mother deserves to give you a red arse:rolleyes:

blorg

Has happened to me twice in my lifetime, both times sleeping on my back. Very scary, after a few minutes was able to move again and fully awake.

GrumPy

blorg wrote:

Has happened to me twice in my lifetime, both times sleeping on my back. Very scary, after a few minutes was able to move again and fully awake.

I noticed that myself actually, most times it's happened me I have been lying on my back.

Susannahmia

Yep has happened to me a few times scared the crap out of me!! Once it felt like there were people in the room whispering but I couldnt turn my head or open my eyes to see. Something to do with the hormone that paralyses you when dreaming (so you don’t act out your dreams) not wearing off in time. Ive always been on my back when it happens. Id definatly put down the majority of abduction stories circling to this. I also get night terrors. Sometimes I kind of half wake up extremly confused and angry or terrified for no reason at all and start going beserk!!!! I even started hitting and kicking my poor boyfriend once! He ended up with a shiner!

GenericName

So I'm not just dreaming then!

Thanks, now I know what it is. I get this a lot. Once every two weeks about. It's a horrible horrible experience. You're awake enough to contemplate never being in control of your body again. Though sometimes I can push hard enough to move an arm and that settles me down.

But I've never had the 'presence in my room' feeling a lot of people are describing. So I guess it could be worse.

As others have mentioned it happens when I'm particuarly tired and almost always when I'm sleeping on my back.

Cutie18Ireland

programme on now on channel 4 sounds exactly like this...

hmm... according to the rte summary it did, doesnt really seem like it now... sorry

The_Conductor

There are 5 stages of sleep- stages 3 and 4 are deep night sleep (known as N-REM). In normal people the body is paralysed at this stage. Occasionally if your sleep is disturbed for a particular reason (stress/night terror/fear for example) your sleep can be disturbed and you can awaken without your brain fully awakening- which may result in being totally awake but unable to move, or indeed classical sleep walking- where your brain partially awakens, often reacting to an instinct to flee from a perceived terror, and you sleep walk or do things in your sleep. Most normally because your brain is not fully awake, you do not remember what you do.

Awakening in a state of paralysis, or other unusual sleep patterns are very common. Most normally, because our brains are not fully conscious, we do not remember awakening (or other nocturnal activities).

UCC did a study on this some time ago- related to the ingestion of certain types of foods. Think it was in the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre? (Forgive my spelling)

The_Conductor

Ps- Just switched onto Channel 4- there is a programme covering some of this on now (its about people who do weird things in their sleep- someone tried to fly a helicopter, couples who have sex in their sleep (sexonomia), people who drive in their sleep etc.) Lots of weird stories.

ninebeanrows

Oh my god this happens me all the time:eek:

It happened me last nite, its not something i ever think about though
until now! What happens to me is i half wake up and im lying there
for what seems like a minute just unable to move, i get scared
crapless!! but then it kind of slowly wears of and im able to move my
limbs:D

What also happens me in bed and really sucks is when i lie on my arm and
wake up and cant move it and it really really really hurts!!

But nothings worse then this but best is not to think about it because
you'll probably be scared of it happening agen!!

Stompbox

I remember this happened me once,absolutely terrifying.The worst thing was unbelievably dramatic music played in my head as if it was building up to some sort of event.Horrifying!

eskimo

It's kinda comforting to know lots of you go through it as well! I mean it can be so terrifying. But I think it helps if, when it does happen to you, just remember that it'll do you no real harm and that you'll soon be absolutely fine again - this lessens the shock and makes it less frightening.

It's hard to believe something that frightening is so common though!

Crash

I suffer from it quite regularly - usually during periods of utter exhaustion that it triggers the worst. I'v egenerally learnt how to control it - unfrtounately its become near involtuntary in how i control it, so if i suffer from the pre sleep version of sleep paralysis (which is also a pain) sometimes i cause myself to wake up by naturally jerking.

Strokesfan

I suffered this too recurringly and it ONLY happens when you sleep flat on your back so now if I'm afraid it'l happen I always sleep on my side or with my back against a pillow - it works and stops it. It's unpleasant

Amazotheamazing

I get this too, the whole thing, like someone's holding me down. I usually manage to lift one arm and if I bless myself (guess some deep hidden religious thing going on) and it literally vanishes, weird eh?

solas

reading some of the posts some people think it a dream state or hallucinatory experience. It's not and thats the part which probably freaks most people out, the fact that your very conscious your awake and you just can't move a muscle and all the trying in the world won't do a thing. Like the op says its akin to how it must be to be paralyzed from the neck down.

I think the moment you stop fighting against it, it begins to ease off. just relax and stay calm and you'll soon be moving again.

so if i suffer from the pre sleep version of sleep paralysis (which is also a pain) sometimes i cause myself to wake up by naturally jerking.

I've a tendency to this too although it got to the stage where I looked forward to the sensation. It was always accompanied by waves of extremely intense vibrations, like a very loud humming sound that would pulse about me. The first time it happened it got so loud I thought my head would explode but as I relaxed it became almost soothing at which point its easier to let go. funny really.

I'm not sure what causes it, I understand the scientific explanation defines it as a protective mechanism which prevents us from hurting ourselves when we sleep but anyone who has slept with another individual will tell you that most people are not "paralyzed" during sleep. It's possibly anxiety or stress related.

[p.s., i read somewhere that it most often occurs when people sleep on their back, try sleeping on your side or front in a recovery type position)

This happens to me also and its really scary happened before when my mam and sister were in the room and i was trying to scream and I couldn't!!

5starpool

It has happened me a few times as well over the last 12 years or so (never happened until then). The first couple of times it was very weird and a little bit scary I must say, but then I thought about it and figured out what it must be (sort of waking while still in dream paralysis). Whenever this happens to me I just try to concentrate of wiggling my toes and it goes away after around 10 seconds usually.

No feelings of other people or other sounds for me thankfully. I'd say it has only happened about 4 or 5 times ever for me, and I don't really mind it now, I find it kinda cool actually.

From the article that was linked earlier in this thread it mentions that people who get this also sometimes report other sleep related things like floating or falling. Has this happened others here? Years ago, until I was about 18 or so I think I used to get a floating sensation all the time when asleep, like I was up against a roof in a really high building, and after a while I could control where I went and so on. I can still feel the sensations of this even now when I think of it, but I don't get it asleep anymore.

Edit: Should also have mentioned that whenever I wake paralysed I am always on my back too, obviously some correlation there.

Sleep is the coolest thing