Sleep Paralysis

Last week I was nodding off to sleep.Just fell asleep when my phone buzzed.I went to reach for it but I could not move my body.I tried to move my legs,not working,I tried to scream for help but all that came out my mouth was a high pitched whistle noise.The only thing I could use was my eyes.This went on for about an hour till I eventually snaoped out of it.

My opinion of the incident was that the phone buzzed between when my body shut off and my mind.I know that the brain imposes a paralysis like state on your body to stop you acting out your dreams.It was weird to feel what it was like to be a vegetable(even if it was only for an hour)I could empathise how long and boring that hour was.It must be hell for people in a vegetable state.

Anybody here ever experience anything like it?

Call Me Jimmy

woah, yea one of my friends has mentioned something like that happening to him but only for a few seconds. Are you sure it was a whole hour?!

Yeah it was just over an hour.Thought I was fcuked towards the end of it.Thought it was going to last forever.

Saruman

Used to happen all the time... though dazzler.. im not saying its impossible for it to be an hour.. but its certainly VERY possible that it appeared to be. You were NOT awake when this happened.. you were still technically asleep and dreaming.. your eyes open sure.. you are self aware.. yes.. but still in a state of sleep and as such can imagine everything from demon possession to alien abduction.. anything you can think of.. usually involving you being helpless..

Usually it only lasts a few mins until you recover.

Chinafoot

Yep I get this a fair bit and it's always accompanied with a feeling of someone else in the room, a man, usually standing in the corner. Its like a blurred outline of a person and it's a horrible feeling.

One of the worst episodes I had was about 2 years ago when the man wasn't in the corner. Instead I had a dead weight lying flat out on top of me. My chest felt like it was about to collapse. I was freaking out and trying to make myself scream but there was no movement and no sound coming out. Then all of a sudden the weight shifted off me and moved to the edge of the bed (you know the way the mattress goes down when someone sits there)....then the weight lifted off the mattress as if the person got up and I was able to move again.

I get this quite often, usually when I'm stressed or over tired. I usually just have to try and remember that I am awake and I just need to give my body time to wake up too.

This is going to sound really silly but since then I can't sleep properly in my own room. I need to have the tv on so there is some sort of light. If the lights are all off I just get a knot in my stomach and horrible feeling that something bad is going to happen. Weird or what!

I checked my phone just before I fell asleep.It was around 1:50,when I snapped out of it it was just after three.

The alien abduction thing occured to me as well when I was wondering at the beginning what was wrong.

Son Goku

Happens to me every week. I simply can't move. However I'm not dreaming, it's my standard fully conscious self. My eyes are closed and if I try very hard I can make a murmering sound.

I usually get out of it by slowly concentrating and moving a finger, then I can start moving my arm, then I manage to "jump" and snap out of it.

It feels really ominous when the "jump" fails though, because I reset to not being able to move anything.

Saruman

every time this comes up... and it does every few months be it here or paranormal forum or after hours...

anyway every time it comes up i post that its normal, used to happen to me all the time... i was a light sleeper and then i sorted out that problem.

I took 5htp for about 6 months.. it regulates your sleep.. in fact autistic kids show major improvements when on this stuff too!! you can get it at any health shop.. its all natural so should not be side effects.. although some people will react badly as with any natural substance... most people are fine.

What i found was i needed less sleep when on them. I could get 6 hours sleep and be very refreshed... eventually i noticed i started sleeping like a log..
before i could remember every dream as i was always slightly aware... now i rarely remember dreaming and i can sleep through almost anything.

Saruman

Saruman wrote:

every time this comes up... and it does every few months be it here or paranormal forum or after hours...

.

You referring to tha alien abduction thought?

Sorry.I did not know it had been posted before.

Saruman

well yes... and no.. it all comes down to sleep paralisys in the end... pity the search function is pretty much gone these days...

No need to say sorry.. this is a new forum and its a good topic!!

Rhyme

Happens only occasionally, really only when im especially exhausted. The last few times its happened its just been from the waist down... very disconcerting and pretty scary until i get my head around whats happened.

Peyton Manning

Sleep paralysis is linked to rapid eye movement. It happened me, and I was so freaked out by it I mentioned it to my therapist. She said that its basically (in simple terms) your mind waking up before your body at the exact time that you are just about to dream. You can therefor understand why it happens so rarely. You can see your dreams right in front of you. What happened me was I woke up (was lying on my side) and could move or speak at all. The room at the opposite end began to fade from darkness to a light, sunny outdoor scene where I could see my girlfriend and I sitting on a park bench (i assume it was me, because he was wearing my trademark kilkenny jacket). Thats what I was dreaming and its what I saw therefor when I woke up.

Its f'ing freaky stuff...

Saruman

I would say this perfectly natural body function.. albeit.. rare could be linked to dreamwalking and other stuff like that.. you know out of body experiences.

ST*

Source:answers.com wrote:

Sleep paralysis
An abnormal episode of sleep in which the patient cannot move for a few minutes, usually occurring while falling asleep or waking up. Sleep paralysis is often found in patients with narcolepsy.

A condition in which, upon waking, a person is aware of the surroundings but is unable to move.

Some report that various factors increase the likelihood of both paralysis and hallucinations. These include:
Sleeping in a supine position (facing upwards)
Irregular sleeping schedules; naps, sleeping in, sleep deprivation
Increased stress
Sudden environmental/lifestyle changes
A lucid dream that immediately precedes the episode

I've never experienced sleep paralysis, but my sister has. I believe her when she says it is one of the most frightening experiences shes ever had. Similar to waking up with a panic attack. The feeling of helplessness is quite alarming to say the least.

Only for what I have read about SP being 'in limbo' between sleep and awake, I would been inclined to believe that it was another symptom of anxiety.

From some case studies I've read, they both seem to have a lot in common - for example the feeling as though something or someone is sitting on your chest.

I remember from psychology class, the tutor held up a copy of a drawing (going to google for info on it), in which there is a person in bed asleep, and there are demons sitting on his/her chest.

Seemingly, old beliefs would imply that evil forces are behind it

radiospan

This happened to me for the first time on Friday evening.

I fell asleep unusually on my bed (kinda drifted off in the middle of watching a film on my laptop, an unplanned nap I suppose).

After about an hour of being lightly asleep, there must have been a noise in the house or something because I was convinced someone was coming into my room. I wasn't asleep anymore, but when I tried to open my eyes or move, I couldn't. At this stage I thought that the person had come into the room and was getting ready to wake me up by scaring me.

I then realised that I was able to control my breathing and I started breathing very heavily (I think I was doing this in an attempt to wake up, but also out of panic). After about half a minute of this, I was able to make a murmering sound, and after about another half a minute I was suddenly able to open my eyes and move again. It was only then that I could look up and realise no-one was in the room, and my door was closed.

It was very unsettling when it was happening, although I think it was because of the unusual way I fell asleep.

Black Swan

Deleted User wrote:

Last week I was nodding off to sleep.Just fell asleep when my phone buzzed.I went to reach for it but I could not move my body.I tried to move my legs,not working,I tried to scream for help but all that came out my mouth was a high pitched whistle noise...It must be hell for people in a vegetable state...Anybody here ever experience anything like it?

Yes, but with different details. Then I awoke.

nxbyveromdwjpg

I used to get this when I was younger and used to take E frequently, I put it down to low serotonin in the days following a weekend of MDMA... horrible, one of the main reasons I quit all that lark.

iFight

I may have experienced something similar a while back, I woke up during the night, tried to reach for the alarm clock and couldn't move my arm, after a few minutes of struggling I got the clock, and then went back to sleep.
Could have been it, luckily no alien abductions.

Terry

Saruman wrote:

I took 5htp for about 6 months.. it regulates your sleep.. in fact autistic kids show major improvements when on this stuff too!!

would you care to expand on the autism part of that.
i would be interested to hear about the effects it has on autistic children.
it's off topic, so could you pm me, please?

ST*

nm wrote:

I used to get this when I was younger and used to take E frequently, I put it down to low serotonin in the days following a weekend of MDMA... horrible, one of the main reasons I quit all that lark.

Low serotonin is the mild way of putting it tbh. It damages the cells that release the neurotransmitter (serotonin). PET scans show that the damage can still be seen up to 7yrs on the brain from what I remember.

'E' would mimic the effect that paralysis or panic attack would have on you, with regard to increased heart rate.



Just something else to throw in there:

wrote:

Panic attacks, PTSD, and other mental disorders may indirectly promote sleep paralysis by disrupting the sleep cycle and yanking people out of REM sleep during the night, he adds. Other factors that disturb sleep, such as jet lag and shift work, have also been linked to sleep paralysis

Oh, and while I'm at it, I found the pic I was talking about earlier. It is kinda dark, but you get the idea.

The Nightmare, 1781, Henry Fuseli.

nobodythere

Happens to a friend of mine, scares the hell outta her. It happened to her once as she was falling asleep, had just finished a text which said 1:20. It felt like it lasted about an hour to her but when she snapped out of it it was 1:28

Zillah

Zillah's quick guide to sleep paralysis:

- When dreaming your body paralyses the skeletal muscles so you won't writhe around and hurt yourself by acting out the dreams.
- When sleeping you dream. A dream essentially amounts to your brain generating internal perceptions, it simulates visual, auditory, scent and tactile input.
- Sleep paralysis occurs when something interupts the correct functions and your brain gets trapped half way between awake and sleeping/dreaming.
- The net result is paralysis and hallucinations, as your brain keeps making dreams and doesn't deactivate the paralysis despite the fact that you're mostly awake.
- Cultural context is important when considering the natures of the hallucinations. You are likely to see anything you might see in a dream, in the context of the paralysis. So Christians from the 1500's saw horrible demons sitting on their chests, more modern people might see aliens or ghosts.

I had sleep paralysis once, luckily I knew what was going on. I was quite calm, I couldn't move, I could see my bedroom, but I could hear my dream in the background. Jerked out of it in a minute or so.

littlebug

This used to happen to me a fair bit back 10 years ago when I had an office job by day and was working in a bar at night. Every night I would get to sleep at 3 or 4 am and get 3 or 4 hours sleep before getting up for work again. I went through a phase where every morning the sleep paralysis thing happened. Some mornings not only would I not be able to move but I wouldn't know who or even what I was! My mind would be completely blank. Thankfully it only ever lasted a few minutes and it stopped once I gave up the bar job. I put it down to sheer physical exhaustion. My mind knew I had to wake up but my body just wasn't able to.

P

Unearthly

haha this happened to me once a few years ago. I couldn't move my legs, but there were aliens around

Think it lasted about a minute

LeNNoX

Seems more common than I thought, good to hear other stories about this.

It’s happened to me loads of times over the years and it has always been scary with the feeling that somebody /ghost /thing is in my bedroom pulling at my legs or poking me. I can usually see my girlfriend next to me in bed sleeping and always try to shout out for her to wake me up. But it always comes out as a murmur, I try to grab /push her but can’t move my arms… I either wake myself up somehow or my girlfriend finally hears me & wakes me up.
It’s really scary when it’s happening, freaks me out big time.
Happens to me when I’m really stressed about something, so I try to not let that happen….

Lennox

I want it to happen again.I find the experience quite interesting.

Tazzle

I've gotten it alot, though on one particular occasion it felt as the OP said like it was lasting hours. I'd gotten it before so I knew what was wrong when I woke, then I started trying to crawl out of bed, but I only managed to limply fall onto the floor. I was trapped or felt that way anyway, in bed clothes and couldn't move. I started hearing thumping on the stairs outside my door and flashing lights. I was then back on my bed, again paralysed. By the time I managed 'free myself' I was again back paralysed. Anyway this kept repeating itself infinitum with various different scenarios. Until after what appeared hours I snapped out of it slowly for real. I was so confused I didn't believe I was awake for a good while.

This might explain why the poster believed it lasted so long? *shrug* It was a pretty horrible experience. It felt like some kind of science fiction time warp. In reality I don't think it lasted more than a few minutes.

aphex™

I had it happen to me during the day- on the couch!

I think I had been studying late for a few nights for exams and when I got home in the afternoon I fell asleep on the couch. Some noise in the road outside woke me up. I was still asleep basically but my eyes were open and I couldn't move at all. I could see the room fine as it was a very sunny day.

I wasn't scared and thought to myself - aah this is what sleep paralysis is like.. cool

Took a good few mins to get moving again- it was like I had to wake up a 2nd time.

If it happened at night- it would most likely freak you out.

magpie

This happens to me the whole time and its very disconcerting. I don't get a lot of sleep through work and other commitments so it may be caused by that, but I frequently 'wake up' only to find I can't move or make any sounds, eventually I can make a sort of gurgle and then gradually my functions come back to me. The other night I woke up with the pillow over my face in this state, which was not fun. Any suggestions on how to stop it from happening?

Zillah

Get a full night's sleep, every night. Only real solution. SP is associated with bad sleeping habits.

Sleep on your side. SP is also associated with lying on your back. 90% of cases occur when the persons is sleeping like that.

GrumPy

Iv'e gotten this a good few times, scary stuff