Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!
Sleep Paralysis: Awake But Still Asleep
Biology 202
2000 First Web Report
On Serendip
Sleep Paralysis: Awake But Still Asleep
Hiro Takahashi
A person may wake up and find himself unable to move or speak as if he is frozen. He also may hear footsteps, see a ghost-like creature, or feel someone sitting on his chest. Throughout the history, people considered this phenomenon as work done by evil spirits. However, the modern science can explain the terrifying event as a Sleep Paralysis.
A Sleep Paralysis is possibly a hereditary disorder in which one experiences very frightening seconds or minutes of total body paralysis with little respiration and eye movements (1). A victim in this state feels awake, but he cannot move or speak (2). In addition to the immobility, the common symptoms include feeling choked or suffocated, hearing strange noises like footsteps and voices, seeing beings or dark shadows, and feeling an existance of someone in the room (1). Although these symptoms often direct the victims to believe in ghosts, mistransmission of neural signals in the brain causes Sleep Paralysis. When a person sleeps, his brain sends signals to inhibit any muscle contraction (3). If he comes into consciousness before the brain sends signals to activate muscle contraction, he cannot move his body, and consequently, become "paralyzed"(2).
In order to understand how a body becomes paralyzed while the person is awake, it is necessary to understand sleep cycles. In a mammalian sleep, the brain activity undergoes two different states called non-REM (NREM) sleep and REM sleep, which differ very much from wakefulness (3). NREM and REM sleep alternate cyclically through the night; in human, about 80 minutes of NREM sleep starts a night of sleep, about 10 minutes of REM sleep follows, and this 90 minute cycle is repeated about 3 to 6 times during the night (3). During NREM sleep, a body produces few movement, but the body has capability of tossing about in bed and producing some other motor events, such as sleepwalking and sleeptalking (3). The cardiac-muscle contraction and breathing occur at a uniform rate, and the eyes move slowly (2). During REM sleep, on the other hand, heart rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure vary (3). The eyes move rapidly because most dreaming takes place in this period, and the sleeper probably "look" at the moving objects in a dream (2).
The brain's control over muscles during REM sleep points out that in this period, a body is normally in the state of total paralysis, called a "nonreciprocal flaccid paralysis" (3). Probably to prevent a person from "acting out" a dream, the brain sends signals to inhibit any muscle contractions (2). Although some peripheral muscles, such as the muscles of the fingers and face, still twitch, the large skeletal muscles become relaxed, or "paralyzed" as a result (3). Some evidence supports that the motor paralysis of REM sleep protect against the acting out of one's dreams. A patient who suffers from rare syndrome called REM Sleep Behavior Disorder lacks the normal nonreciprocal flaccid paralysis, and he acts out violent dreams during REM sleep, often with injurious consequences (4). For example, a 60-year-old surgeon dreamt that he was attacked "by criminals, terrorists, and monsters who always tried to kill [him]" and fighting against them in the nightmare, he was actually punching and kicking his wife who slept in the same bed (4).
A nonreciprocal flaccid paralysis during REM sleep is accomplished actively by postsynaptic inhibition of motorneurons (3). Although the exact process of motor inhibition is not clear, some neurotransmitters and hormones are known to generate the many components of REM sleep. Aministering physostigmine, an inhibitor of the catabolic enzyme, increases the concentration of acetylcholine within the neurons in the pons, making it possible to artificially generate and start REM sleep in the middle of NREM sleep (3). Carbachol, the cholinergic agonist, produces a period of REM sleep in cat when directly injected into the pontine tegmentum (3). The hormone melatonin, a "master hormone" (5) that mainly controls circadian rhythms, also seems to play an important role in enhancing the REM state; the level of melatonin secretion by the pineal gland reaches its lowest during REM sleep (5). Such neurotransmitters and hormones probably activate or inhibit the activity of second messengers, which then activate or inhibit the third messengers, and so on till the last messenger inhibit the synaptic transmission or cause hyperpolarization of the motorneurons. And if, for some reason, the nervous or endocrine system continues to release the neural inhibitors, a person may experience Sleep Paralysis as he enters awakefully into or awakens directly from REM period (2).
While the modern neuroscience can describe the state of Sleep Paralysis as some errors of the neural transmission in the brain during REM sleep, a person who has seen or heard ghost-like figures/voices may easily believe that eveil spirits fully controlled his entire body. However, the images or noises, which the victim believes that he has seen or heard, are most likely hallucinations; and hallucinations, too, can result from the brain activity. In the 1960's, the Canadian neurologist W. Penfield introduced that electrical stimulation of the temporal lobe can cause the auditory hallucinations in the wake state (5). The buzzing or ringing sounds in the ears and other auditory hallucinations are closely associated with the activity of the auditory cortex and involves the temporal lobe (5). During the early period of sleep paralysis, the activity of the temporal lobe increases significantly, sometimes inducing hallucinatory sense (5). Similarly, the visual cortex generates internal visual stimuli, causing the victim to "see" terrifying figures during the paralysis (5).
How an episode of Sleep Paralysis induces visual or auditory hallucinations is still not clear, but it seems to have a significant relationship with anxiety (5). For anxiety is a neurocognitive event closely related to both psychological and physical processes, the extreme anxiety or panic may cause the release of several different signal molecules that trigger all kinds of physical events (5). A person experiencing Sleep Paralysis feels mortal fear or extreme panic, and hence, the brain generates and releases internal visual or auditory stimuli, producing hallucinations.
Also, hallucinations during Sleep Paralysis may happen, for one keeps dreaming even after some parts of his brain wakes up directly from REM sleep. Since the nervous and endocrine systems continue to release the neural inhibitors which sustain the paralysis, it may be possible that those systems keep releasing the neural activators that stimulate dreaming. Thus, a person continues to "see" the images and "hear" the noises produced in the dream that he has just had in REM sleep from which he has awaken.
Understanding more neural concepts of Sleep Paralysis, some researchers now hypothesize that a very rare condition called Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome (SUNDS) may closely relate to Sleep Paralysis (1). Upon the death, a SUNDS victim produces no body movement even though he experiences a myocardial infarction and strong breathing difficulties and should straggle in agony (5). The death may be caused by the extreme muscle atonia during Sleep Paralysis, which is so severe that even the cardiac muscles and the diaghragm paralyze (5).
Until I started researching on this subject, I have believed that the total paralysis of a body is due to an evil taking absolute control over the body. However, the interactions between neurons in the brain can explain this seemingly mysterious phenomenon in a scientific way. Although the explanation is not complete yet, for there are many unclear processes about Sleep Paralysis, the current hypothesis appears to reject the possibility of ghosts on this matter. Of course, it is impossible to completely disprove the existence of "spirits", "minds", or "God" affecting one's behavior. Nevertheless, like Sleep Paralysis and SUNDS, many or the mysterious conditions and behaviors which are only explained in supernatural terms probably result from brain.
WWW Sources
1)The Evil's of Sleep Paralysis
4)REM Sleep Behavior Disorder: A Neurologic Dissociative Sleep Disorder
5)Recurrent Isolated Sleep Paralysis
Comments made prior to 2007
I have been trying to figure out what was going on in my sleep untill i read this.Now i am happy to know what my body was expeiencing. It's quite scary your first couple experiences of sleep paralysis but now i'm gonna stay calm when it is happening to me and try to get my own understanding of the experience ... Jeremy, 21 March 2006
I have had sleep paralyisis at least once per month for the last 8 years. I am 29 as of this writing. I just had the experience about 1 hour ago and thus has caused me to do reasearch about it on the net. I noticed that many Dr.'s contribute this to anxiety, stress and other factors. My question is ... why is there always an evil presence in that concious yet body is still asleep phase? Today I heard a loud static sound, and opened my eyes to a spider crawling all over my arm. When I prayed to God, or said His name (Jehovah) the spider would start to disappear. I finally went thru my mental prayer when I awoke. This leads me to believe that it is more of a spiritual occurence, because I never have positive images while in this paralized state. I know there are many things in which our ancestors thought it was demonic rather than scientific, only to find there was a scientific explanation. However, I think this is different and cannot be simply written off as "scientific". There is not enough proof to show that it is scientific.
About a month ago I had another episode of sleep paralysis and I saw a small presence in the room with me. It was dark, and I could not see it's face (I am getting chills typing about it right now). My question is, why is there always an evil presence not only associated with my episodes, but so many others I have read about? ... Abel, 24 August 2006
i was thinking it is evil who do that during night but now i find out why. I am suffering from sleep paralyze possibly every nigh spicily when i have dinar ... Salah Nasser, 28 January 2007
I used to have this sleeping disorder when I was a child. It has come back once or twice with adulthood, but otherwise, it is in the past. I used to, with great effort, move my hand to my face and pull an eye open, which would wake me up, but sometimes the struggle was too much and I would go on into a deeper sleep.
Since the brain can do this to me, can it also cause me to get migraines just as I am about to wake up?
It seems, as I have discovered, if I get less than 4 hours sleep a night, I do not get migraines. If I get 6 hours or more, it's about a 90% chance I will wake with a migraine. Later in the day, I get an hour or two nap and that is the routine as it works. Doctors just sort of treat the migraine and don't get into the sleep thing I have. I take MaxAult for the migraines when they do get me.
I woke one time, and just as I woke, I felt this white-hot needle going into my head... bingo. A migraine in 5 seconds. That is how they can occur. I wake with them otherwise. I figure it my brain doing things it shouldn't. I have a clean bill of health otherwise.
Thanks for your time. Have a good day ... Jay, 11 February 2007
I have a question, and hope someone out there has an answer, it has been months and I have thus far failed to find one. Has there ever been a record of anyone receiving the effects of sleep paralysis without having been asleep? The reason I ask this, is a while ago, having not slept in a few hours, I was sitting at my computer, and it seemed to have happened to me. Within seconds I was too tired to hold up my own head, and my breathing got very difficult. Then I began to feel a sort of dizziness as my limbs lost feeling, and dropped to my side. after this, the dizziness turned to near blindness. I could see, but nothing would focus, and everything I tried to look at seemed to dart around like a mosquito. By this time I had no feeling in my entire body, could move nothing without quite a bit of concentration, and I could barely breath. My mother heard me try and make out some kind of cry for help, and found me there spilled into my computer chair. She rolled me to my bed, and poured me into it. Within about 10-15 minutes I had regained everything I once had, but my sea legs did not ware off for another ten or so minutes. I went to the emergency soon after. I had an E.K.G. and a C.A.T. scan, with no results, and I piss less in a week then the amount of blood they took that night. After basically telling me I was lying, the doctor told me that my symptoms did not fit anything at all. What I do know, is I have been researching the issue ever since, and can only base my problem on Sleep Paralysis. All the symptoms match. And again, my question....Has there ever been a record of someone under the effects of sleep paralysis without ever having gone to sleep? I hope you can shed some sort of light on this subject, as it,...well, it freaked me the hell out, and no one has been able to answer me! Thank you for your time ... Mitchel Henderson, 7 December 2007
I used get this "evil paralysed me" feeling when i was paralysed and usually saw a ghost. i tried to shout or move but no sound escaped my mouth and couldn't move at all. it happened again yesterday and was almost convinced that ghosts/evil spirits were getting the better of me. But, me being a practical and logical guy, erjected this theory and started researching on this phenomenon. I came across this research paper on Sleep Paralysis. This greatly helped me in alleviating my fears. And next time i "see" a ghost during sleep paralyses, ill just laugh at it ;-) Thanks for the research ... Siddarth, 10 December 2007
Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities
Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities has 50 remote-ready activities, which work for either your classroom or remote teaching.
About Student Papers
| This paper reflects the research and thoughts of a student at the time the paper was written for a course at Bryn Mawr College. Like other materials on Serendip, it is not intended to be "authoritative" but rather to help others further develop their own explorations. Web links were active as of the time the paper was posted but are not updated. |
What's New? Subscribe to Serendip Studio
A Random Walk
New Topics
-
5 weeks 11 hours ago
-
How do food molecules reach our muscles? – Structure and Function of Organ Systems, Organs and Cells5 weeks 1 day ago
-
5 weeks 1 day ago
-
5 weeks 1 day ago
-
5 weeks 1 day ago
Comments
Scared!!
omg is so crazy... s.p. bein happening to me for a long time i always thought it was related with ghost and being possessed until last night that it was soooo scary i just new i had to look it up and find out something about it am glad to know am not the only one. it started with when i open my eyes n couldnt moved.. i try to tap ma husband who was laying next to me and he gat up and left then i managed to move (in my dreams) and i started crawling up the stairs n seen my sister who gat scared when she seen me and ran. Then i seen my dad as i started floating and he was trowing holly water on me then i was just floating around and couldnt touch the ground i finally managed to moved, woked up screaming my heart was beating so fast i thought i was going to die.. it happen like 10 mins after i felt to sleep i was so scared.. am even afraid to go to sleep thinkin is going to happen.. i think that breathing in and out and counting simultaneously helps one in relaxing and waking up.. You are not alone!!!! people really dont know anything i tried to chared what was happening and they just laugh like am making it up but to me is so real cause it happens in my room on my bed and i think am so awake my heart is beating fast, am trying hard to move but nothing. i see figures around and on me is so real but unreal at the same time..
Demon Spirit
Thank god, my prayer are answered after I found this website. I've been searching for it.
I spent the same frightened symptoms from age 17 to 30 then it stops after my aunt caught me to put bible next to my bed and pray in my head when the last incident took place, miracle the prayer works. The demon have not bother me since. I'm 46 1/2 now. I still have the bible book next to my bed for 16 1/2 years. I keep my prayer in my mind at all time.
Seeing things
My name is Amber Price and I am 27 years old. I have been having nights where I would feel like I was awake but couldn't move and felt like someone was holding me down and I was trying to yell but I couldn't and it was so awful, I had only told my brother and husband and they probably thought I was crazy as for I did. I wanted to tell a doctor but they would probably think I was nuts. But I got tired of not knowing what was going on with me because it happens so often. The last time it happened It was worse than ever I saw A shadow man standing over me and I felt like he was grabbing me and pulling my spirit from my body and I was gasping for air and thought I couldn't breath, Finally I was able to shake off the feeling and then my heart rate was really high I almost past out and I had to go to the hospital and they checked my blood and my heart rate was at a stroke level and my blood showed something had happened to my heart. I am still in the process of being diagnosed. But I was so happy to find out it could be sleep paralysis because then I knew I was not crazy.
Sincerely
Amber Price
somthing very starnge
I had something happen o me about a year ago which is something similar to you
I was sleeping and I get up not sure whether I was dreaming or did it really happen? I wake and my room is freezing to the point where I can see my breath so I try to walk over to the window thinking someone has left it open and the moment I try to get up I hear a voice in my ear evil sounding saying No!!!!! I cant move and cant breath its like someone is choking me I try everything shouting for help but no words come out. I try to move but something has got a hold of me and is forcing me back into my bed and is stopping me breathing. In the end I start praying OH please god help you are my one and only savour and so on… eventually I awake or am released. Since then I have had two episodes of wear I am in dream mode but have to force my self to wake or jolt my self to wake up and the thoughts are that if I don’t wake up I never will. I woke up yesterday with my heart racing I could see my heart fibrillating I went to docs yesterday and he is sending me to have an ECG done tomorrow…will let you know of out come
I first started experiencing
I first started experiencing sleep paralysis about 4-5 years ago. When I first started experiencing sleep paralysis, I often hallucinated. This sounds silly, but my hallucinations were always of a rapist entering my room, trying to get me, he a was a huge scary man, and a few other times, I heard voices trying to talk to me in a very mean evil way, but when I heard voices, it would sound like they were whispering really loud into my ear. This is when my sleep paralysis really freaked me out. When I first started getting occurances of sleep paralysis, I would get them anywhere from 1-3 times a week. I saw a doctor frequently, and updated him on what was going on. He ended up advising me to see a narcissist, who advised me to get a sleep study done. I ended up going to upenn, but unfortunately, I did not experience an episode of paralysis that night. When you get a sleep study done, they hook you up to machines for the night, but they wake you up very early the next morning so that you are tired enough to perform a series of naps all throughout the day. Although they could not prove anything from my overnight sleep study because I didn't experience paralysis, they were able to determine an interesting fact from my series of naps. From what I remember, he said that when we sleep we go through 4 stages of sleep, and the cycle repetively continues throughout the night. My study showed that there are instances in which I go from stage 1 skip stages 2 and 3, and go right to stage 4 of sleep. I don't know if that really answers anything, because I have no idea why that even happens. Continuing on, I also got an eeg done, however, i never fell asleep, so again, nothing was even discovered. After my studies, i met with the narcissist again, who told me that if it gets worse, i could see a doctor to be put on medication which could possibly help me out. I decided not to get medication, and see what would happen within the next few weeks. After time went by, I was no longer hearing voices or hallucinting while I had episodes, so sleep paralysis became easier to cope with. When I would get it, I would lay there, panic for a moment, and then realize that panicing won't do me any good, so I would close my eyes, take deep breathes, and eventually snap out of it. As time when on, I felt that my episodes didn't happen very often anymore...but they never completely went away(exp. at least 3 times a month). Once school started up again, I noticed I was experience them more and more, but again, they would last 2 minutes at most and I would be okay. My paralysis continued on, and the worse was 5 times a week and the least was 3 times a month, but at this point they were still short and easy to cope with, I guess I eventually got used to them, which is kind of sad to say. As time progressed up until the past 3-4 months, maybe more, I have been experiencing paralysis anywhere from 1-5 times a week, however, I do notice that my episodes are worsening. When I experience paralysis, I have been finding it hard to breathe, feeling as if there is pressure on my chest, my episodes which used to last a minute, now feel that they last 5 minutes. I don't know why,but I fear that I will not wake up from current episodes of paralysis, and fear that I may die, but hopefully it is just a feeling caused by the fact that I find it hard to breathe and because they seem to last much longer. There are times where I feel like I am shaking, and my eyelids are fluttering,which also creeps me out. I want to know what is going on from the outside perspective looking down..on me. During paralysis I can't move anything, my mouth always feels like it is clenched tightly, if I try hard enough I can slightly move my tongue, and open my eyes, but that is all. I avoid sleeping on my back and still have episodes while sleeping on my stomach or on my side. I have a busy schedule, so there are days that I take a cat nap here or there, and have noticed that my worst episodes are during those naps, and not during my bedtime. When I take naps, there are times that I know I need to be up by a certain time, and it's funny because I take notice to the fact that paralysis also occurs more frequent when I know I need to be up. I don't think it is just me, but I do believe that it may be the fact that I know I need to be up, but my body doesn't listen. If anyone has any comments or can relate, please please write me. I don't want to deal with these episodes anymore,and what is even worse is the fact that when they happen, you have to wait, which feels like an eternity, until you can come out of it. I'm about to start setting my alarm for every 5 minutes so that it can wake me from them just in case I'm having one, because loud noise seems to be the only possible fix not including waiting, which I pray to God, that these don't get worse.(Sorry if this may not be the best written blog, but I wrote quickly and just wrote what came to mind, hope it's still interesting and not confusing).
Me Too
You have just described everything that has been happening to me for years. I just woke up from a nap and went straight to the computer to do some research on this. I've tryed telling family members about this problem but they dont seem to understand. I had no idea that there were others with the same problem. I've often wanted to setup a video camera and tape myself sleeping to see what is going on with me. my body does shake but im still aware of my surroundings. I wish there was a cure for this because its absolutley terrifying. Do you ever feel that your floating around the room? Im scared that one of these times Im not going to beable to yell for help when I really need it. I dont want to die this way, thats for sure.
sleep paralysis
Hi. I have been reading this blog and felt that your situation best matches mine. I have been experiencing this since I was in my teens. At times I have them 5 times a week and at other times I have them once a month. I went to the dr about 10 years ago (I am 30 now) and had an eeg. It did not show anything. They wanted to do a sleep test but at that time I was only having them about once a month so I felt that chances were that they wouldn't see anything. The main thing that I noticed is that you said that once you felt like you were shaking during an episode. This has happened to me quite often while in sleep paralysis and I started to have feelings while I am awake that I get sooo tired suddenly that I have to lay down and I feel as though I cannot move at all. then what follows can be anywhere from my eyes twitching all the way to full convulsions. I never lose awareness of what is going on, but I can not move voluntarily. I told the dr about this (10 years ago) and he said that it sounded like "simple partial seizures". He wanted me to go on a week long sleep study to diagnose but as I mentioned before, I was only having episodes once a month. The dr said that since I had such a stong "aura" (extreme weakness,feeling of overwhelming calmness) that I would probably be safe without meds...unless they became dangerous. It sounds like you may have had a seizure while you where in sleep paralysis. I never went back to the dr and my current physician does not know about any of this because I am afraid that she will think I am crazy. I have a couple of other things happen during sleep that I want to ask you about. 1.Have you ever felt like you had finally awakened and were sitting up in bed, but then realized that you were not awake after all and that you were still lying down. This happens to me repeatedly. I fight to "wake up" or move and feel as though I have rolled over, sat up, yelled out, ect, but then I realize that I am still lying on my back and am still unable to move! this can happen over and over and is extremely scary because I can't figure out what is real and what is not. 2. during your regular dreams, do you often know that you are dreaming. Most of the time that I am dreaming, I know that I am dreaming and can manipulate the dreams to act out as I want them to. I thought this was normal until I talked to my husband and he said that he has never known that he was dreaming. The only times that I have dreams and am unaware that I am dreaming is during a nightmare (demonic type crazy dreams). I just figure that this all part of the same thing. I hope this was not too long. Please respond. Thankds
Experiencing SP
Hi, i read your story and i am 18 yrs old and have being experiencing SP since i was 11 yrs old.Until today i didn't know it was SP. I decided to research because just today i experienced it again and it was horrible.Not being able to move,talk and feeling anxiety and thinking your not going to get out of it.What i can tell you is that what we are all experiencing is not ok. The best thing you and all of us can do when we experience this is pray to god. Every time this happens to me i pray and i get out of it faster.I feel there is not a scientific reason for all of this and that it is something evil.We shouldn't let this happen to us. We shoulld fight it and not get use to it. We can't get use to something that hurts our lives and takes away our peace.
It is the most terrifying thing I've ever endured!
I've had these experiences for 10 years now and on most ocassions I know when it's going to happen. I feel like theres someone in the room watching me, like an evil presence .. when it's time for bed I think to my self "please don't let it happen to me tonight.I cudddle as close to my husband as I possibly can he gets frusterated with me but I just want to be close to him.. I ask him if I fall asleep before he does, to wake me up if I look like I'm struggeling. My eyes get so heavy then I'm there in that terrifying situation. My head is always turned away from this evil presence and I can feel it moving closer to me.. breathing.. I try to scream to my husband to wake me up but Nothing comes out of my mouth.. I feel as though I can't breath and I try so hard to wake my self up I can feel my eyes fluttering but I just cant open them. whatever this evil presence is I'm so terrified I can not bring myself to look at it. usually near the end of it all it will grab my legs and pull me off the end of my bed. I wake up and im still in my origional sleeping position.. and my body is vibing and shaking.. my eyes still feel heavy my ears are ringing and buzzing so loud .I try to struggle to stay awake but I'm not always so lucky and it pulls me back into it . Sometimes as I'm slipping back in or out I hear a big bang like a shotgun going off beside me..I often wake up and if I'm able to keep my eyes open I have an anxiety attack from all the stress of it.... Does anyone know if there is a cure for this?
S.P
I feel like I can relate to yours the most because in the dream or whatever, I feel like I'm possessed and it moves me, makes me stand up, walk, do things that I'm not controlling. Has it happened anywhere outside your house? Because these only occurred to me when i slept in a certain room....
sleep
thank you thank you, I have the same thing happen to me and it only happens in a specific room in the house.. the last time i even had to leave the house at 2am and slept at my moms but to my surprise it happened to me there too like it followed me or something
so much of your post is
so much of your post is exactly whats happening to me,im so frightened and i also am afraid to fall asleep before my husband.I believe im shouting of him to help and have nipped him,i thought it was so real i actually checked him for marks.Its so scary cos i cant breath and when i wake my mouth is so dry.last night was the worst i ended up sat on the bottom of my bed looking at my husband and i sleeping,then woke back in bed, i was so freaked out.i really wish there was a cure as i hate going to sleep
Long time Paralysis..
Well, my episodes has been happening to me ever since I was about 11 years old. The paralysis happens maybe once or twice a week. I remember when I was younger, I was sleeping with my mom and dad, when all of a sudden I seen a really huge snake crawling up my leg! I let out a really loud scream, and my father was like "what's wrong with you"? I just kept on saying "there's a snake in the room, its going to get me"!! My dad just said to me "what snake"? And I jst ignored him, and went to bed. Over the years I have experienced countless of episodes. I remember one episode, when I just moved to Pennsylvania, my luggage was on the floor, still unpacked. I was about to awaken when I realized there was a head coming out of the luggage! It was the most scariest episode I have ever experienced in me life!! I really began to think something was wrong with me, until I look this up online and came to the conclusion that I may have sleep paralysis.
I was started to get reallly freaked out...
I'm 16, and during the past couple of moths i've had two clear sleep paralysis cases. The first time, my heart was racing, and I could only move my eyes. I felt as if there was a creature above and behind me (I was sleeping on my right side), and I heard sort of like really soft fog horns. I just knew there was something on top of me... I tried moving my arm, but I was completely paralyzed. I must have been minutes but it felt like hours, until suddenly I was able to move.
The second time I felt someONE was on top of me. I don't know why, but I just knew it. Again, I couldn't move anything but my eyes, but I tried to move my arm, I couldn't. I felt as if that someone was running her (I don;t know why I think it was a woman) hand over my sheets, and I could hear the sheets crinkle.
I can honestly say I have never been more afraid in my life., both times I thought I was gonna die...
As if that wasn't enough, this ultra-religious teacher at my school fed me the evil spirits crap one day when I asked him, and he told me it was because wither my parents of grandparents had opened a "gate" to evil spirits. I asked both, and my grandmother told me she played on a Ouija board alot when she was young (and told me some very fucked up stories as a bonus).
I was REALLY freaked out until I read this... i'm so relived to hear i'm not alone, but most of all that there is a reasonable explanation that does not involve getting possessed for it...
I am 49 and started with very
I am 49 and started with very rare bouts of S.P. at the age of about 14. The incident terrified me and when trying to explain to others what had happened, no one seemed to understand and just brushed it off as a nightmare. The experience stuck in my mind for a few years until it happened again at the age of about 18. The bouts of S.P. have gotten more and more frequent over the years, once every two years, then every year, twice/three times a year, every month, then every week until the present day where I now experience them two to four times a night.
Even though I know in my mind what is happening it is still a frightening experience. Although I'm 'used to them' when thinking about them in the day, I can never shrug them off each time they occur. However, it is only the actual paralysis that frightens me, I never get the 'spirits' or 'ghosts' etc. that others have mentioned though after reading about them on here, who knows what will happen tonight. Has anyone ever found a cure?
THE MOST TERRIFYING THING EVER!!
I am also 16, the last few days i started experiencing this "sleep paralysis" i feel very revealed to know im not being controlled by evil spirits.
it first started a few days ago i was in deep sleep and nice dream i beleive..only to turn over and see a horrifying monster with bleeding eyes sitting in my chair stareing at me!
i tryed sooo hard to jump out and run while crying for help but i was stuck in place i couldn't move at all and the monster/zombie like figure disappeared
i felt asif i had a heart attack!
the whole day i spent telling everyone about what happend
my mother says maybe its sleep paralysis but i could also be because she's a psychic(knowing the future)
i said to myself what ever it was i realllyy didnt wan to go back to sleep
but as we all know...i did..but it didnt happen agn...untill
i was let at home by my self the next day(yesterday)
i started feeling reallly sleep out of no were suddenly as if i was druged...and boom!
my bed starts shaking, the exorcist type face appears andi start to pray firmly and confidently and the more i pray the hard the bed shook untill wutever it was couldnt stand gods name(Jehovah)
i woke up and ran into my mother.father room forgetting im home alone
but everythings calm its a bright and sunny day so i say "im going out for a walk"
i get dressed but i cant open the door!!!!!
the handle is hot and the windows disappear
i cry out for god hoping tht he hears me
and...he does!!
i hear a vocie that says "belive in me and fear no more"
suddenly..i live out my day with a smile but yet wondering if spirits are trying to control me...
so later that night when my parents get back i ask for a bible and open it to the page that talks about no fearing spirits and nothings stronger than the blood of Jehovah
and put it on my counter then do some research.. and now im here....im hoping that it dont happen again...but if it does...im prepared with a bible as my sword
sleep paralysis
about a month ago i was at home wit my dad talking, for no reason he looked at me and said "do you know that this house is haunted?" i looked at him and said "no way i will beleive it when i see it!" my dad said " there is a ghost in the house! a little girl iv seen her before years ago" anyways after he telling me that i was stil not convinced that there really was a ghost at home.
That same night when i went to bed a few hours into my sleep i felt some one crawling onto my bed from the pillow down i could even feel the pillow and bed sinking in where the hands were going, what seemed to be a little girl got my hand as she was sat beside me, as soon as i felt this i opened my eyes and was wide awake there was a girl sitting by my waist with her back towards me! with no control over my body and couldnt breath is seemed like i was being strangled, obviously i was freeked out and scince i could not talk all i could do is asking nicely told the girl to please go and she would not move, after that i was even more freaked out scince she wouldnt move that i started squeezing her hand so that she would get off i was surprised i could move my hand that she was holding because the rest of my body was totally paralized!! in return i found it harder to breath and suddenly everything went!!
i couldn`t believe the experience i had just had and called my dad in the middle of the night to tell him i believed him about the ghost at home lol
a few night ago i had the same experience but without any sightings of any ghost just some wierd sounds in my head!! freeky shit!!
basically i think that it there is a presence of spirit or somthing with you your body goes paralised so that you dont move dont know sounds stupid but thats what i think.
Sleep paralysis..someone please give me answers!
I have been having these episodes for a few months now. I have been so scared that I make my husband stay up and watch me but he winds up falling asleep. At first my body gets tingly, then I cant move for what seems like a few minutes. I have told my family and friends for months I feel like something is taken over me when this happens, its just a feeling. I believe in god and I am definately not a believer of ghosts. I thought at first I was having seizures because it does run in my family but I went to the ER. The Dr looked at me like I was nuts and told me I had a headache. Ever since then I have been scared to tell any doctor.Its to the point where I dont want to go to sleep cause it scares the shit out of me. Sometimes I feel like Im awake and looking at myself. My kids I can hear them talking and then sometimes my two year old will sleep with us and it feels like she is talking. Who knows I could be dreaming. I do have a lot of stress, four kids and i am a 28 year old female. Is there anything anyone can suggest to make it stop. I dont like the feeling. it takes a lot out of me. Like I said I could still be asleep but it feels like i am aware of things that are going on. I never seen creatures or ghosts. sometimes i feel like there is someone else there and i even wake my husband up crying. It tends to happen early in the am or if i take a nap rarely in the afternoon. I take xanex for anxiety and high blood pressure meds. I thought maybe that was a side affect until i read there are other people like me! HELP anyone! any answer will help!
TURN ON THR RADIO
I thought I was going crazy, and the only one going through thi. what made me search this topic was because i was watching a bunch of Lifetime channel movies online and one that I was watching called "nightmares" was about the same thing in this discussion "sleep paralysis". I too have had the occasional sleep paralysis thingy happen to me, And the same experiences happen to me as described by all of you . I find that Turning on a radio to distract me helps me to fall asleep with no problem at all. so every night when I sense that I may experience (due to anxiety or stress, restlessnes), i have my iphone tuned into AOL radio and I listen to CNN. Talk/news (or some music genre) radio is good to listen, this is no joke. It really works for me.
Hello, Jennifer. You are
Hello, Jennifer.
You are definitely not alone. I have had many experiences with this. However, thank God, I have never seen any images. Just last night I had an episode. It was really strange this time because I kind of felt a presence in the room before I fell asleep. I even thought I heard light sounds in the room. I quickly dismissed it. It was around 1:15 or 1:20 in the morning. I have had this to happen many times so I was able to tell that it was about to happen. It feels as if you are drifting into a deep deep sleep as if you will never awake. So deep that you almost stop breathing. Usually when this happens if feels as though someone is holding my entire body down. This time there was something or someone holding on to my left leg at the foot of my bed. I could not move or speak. I just kept praying and calling on the name of Jesus and finally was able to break out of it. After one episode, I am usually free from these episodes for the night. However, last night it was contiuous. I thought that it was because I was sleeping on my back but this went on even after I changed sleeping positions. I was so exhausted but I was scared to go back to sleep because everytime I dozed off it would happen again. I even woke up screaming but I do not remember seeing anything but I was terrified and my heart was racing. This went on until 5:55 this morning. This was the worst experience with it that I have ever had. In my opinion, I do not think this can be explained scientifically.
Sleep Paralysis
I have been having this happening to me for a few months now and it has been very scary.I told my family I think Im being possesed. I dont know why because I dont really see evil things it just seems like I can see myself still alseep and sometimes when my daughter sleeps with me I feel like I hear her talk to me. I feel like I know whats going on but I cant move. It does only happen when I am either sleeping at night and then wake up or just starting to get up in the morning. I thought it happened when i was awake on my couch but I could of dozed off during that time. All this time I have been terrified thinking I am going to die and Im scared to tell a doctor because I dont want them to think Im nuts. I went to the emergency room cause I thought I was having eizures (epilepsy runs in my family) and the doctor discharged me with a headache! I was so upset.
It starts out with my whole body going tingly then I cant move for like a minute or two, it seems like forever. and I keep telling myself to wake up and I cant.
ok..
because this has been happening to me all of my life.. i've developed some sort of system and i usually can wake myself. on a good night 3-4 times will do it. but times like today.. i took me about 10 tries to actually waked up. i think i sort of trick my body.. i relax all my muscles for about 5 seconds while trying to clear my mind as much as possible.. the i jump as hard as i can. now that almost never works on the first time. in fact i don't remeber it ever happening on the first time. i don't know if this would work for you.. but its just a little food for though... i see it leaves you feeling how it leave me feeling so ... i hope we all can figure something out to get over or stop this from happening because I HATE HATE HATE IT!!! god bless
. .IT SP TIME. .
just experienced it a c0uple 0f minutes ag0. i saw/hallucinated the ghost animati0n sh0wn in the game i played yesterday which is 'DARKEST FEAR NIGHTMARE' .haha. ,i kn0w it was it s0 i let it be. while i was still in sp state i remembered my c0nversati0n with my clasmate b0ut it and it made me smile. at least i d0nt believe in s0me 'gh0st' thingy that drags y0u deeper t0 y0ur sleep. thanks t0 the auth0r at least n0w i kn0w what is it called. .
sleep paralysis
oh i'm so glad i am not alone, i was beginning to think i was going mad,, i have had quite a few attacks over a period ov about five years, first time it happened i was scared out ov my wits,i was convinced my back garden was on fire,and i couldnt get up to save my 2 boys in the next room,,i could hear people shouting me to get out the house,most ov my attacks though r that some one is breaking in and coming up my stairs and i cant reach my phone for help, my last attack was lastnight, and i know someone was in my room i even saw my door move open,i couldnt breath at one point and felt some one sit on my bed,,they say sleep paraylsis only lasts minutes but when it happens it seems like its longer,least i know now i am not mad!!! x
So called "Sleep Paralysis"
I am from India & I do not believe in ghosts/god/spirit etc...
To me this experience has been 10-12 times in my life(may be some I am unable to recall), but the only doubt I have is that why do these sounds & figures appear ALWAYS as ghosts/strange noises/paws on the bed walking towards you/ slim brown old hand like of an alien on your chest or back pressing etc.... & they vanish....
Recently I have experienced it 5-6 times in last 3 months.. Now, another thing which is surprising is that whenever I start praying( taking gods name) it stops immediately...
Also I can control it, like for example today when I experienced it, I wanted it to happen one more time & I could control it.. It happened again...
But today's experience was not a good one.. The sound & the image was like as if that image/alien was having a sexual experience with me because of the sounds it made.. I got really annoyed & pushed my self up..
Kinda fun, just try relaxing and observe the craziness!
This has happened once or twice in my life, but I knew what it was the second it started because I knew I hadn't gotten much sleep lately, plus i was taking nap in the afternoon (prime time for sleep disturbances since daylight screws with my sleep).
Anyways, i was having a dream and the dream got a little weird(don't want to go into detail here), but i decided it was time to wake up. I opened my eyes and saw my room as usual, but in reality i was still asleep! my brain was projecting a prediction of what I should be seeing when i usually wake, but it wasn't really there!(in hindsight this makes sense because the room created by my brain had a window on my left, but there's no window there in real life! Oops nice try brain!). Next I moved my arms up in front of me in a motion to get out of bed and i saw what i thought were arms on both sides of my visual field, but realized they weren't really there! They were still behind my head!(the position they were in before when I went to sleep). I only got this hint because i felt a few pulses from behind my head that didn't match what i thought i saw.
It was obvious at this point I was in sleep paralysis. Time to explore it! So my body is still basically numb, but i calmly notice my lower brain starts trying to reconnect with my arms when i try to move them. It was like the movie Kill Bill when Uma Thurman says "Wiggle your big toe!".
The response did not happen so instantaneously as it normally does when most people wake up. There was a battle between two teams: there was the blue team consisting of the inhibitory(as Hiro Takahashi said above) signals that numb your body so you can't act out during dreams, and the red team consisting of the "wake the hell up!" signals i was sending.
This resulted in the craziest experience of my life, and my higher brain was just watching the whole thing unfold as an interested spectator:
I could feel the sensation of reconnection caused by the parts of my brain related to my arms and hands. it was like a tug-of-war back and forth, a branching effect that would split out, then contract back in, in an irregular timing, like a wave washing in and out down my arms. the inhibitory team started to lose the battle, pushed back, edging nearer to my hands, creeping closer to the end of the line at my fingertips. (This is sort of like when you get pins-and-needles feeling in your leg or arm because you cut off circulation, but that's just the nerves not working, with pins-and-needles sensation your brain works fine.)
With sleep paralysis you're having problems getting different players in the brain to work in synchronicity, to overcome the self-inhibitory mechanisms of the brain and flick the normal switch that usually only takes a split second when you wake up. It felt like the processes were happening in slow motion, like my brain was physically growing out its nerves into space, branching out down the length my arms, extending to tips of my fingers.
Eventually all the processes of the lower brain got back online and i was awake and felt normal nerve response.
This has got to be one of the best ways to experience for yourself the truth of how the brain works. There a lot of systems underlying your daily life that you take for granted because they work seamlessly together. Its amazing they work as well as they do! Our higher brain has no idea!
It's damn scary, and I have it probably once per month....
Here is a twist on my version. I will be trying to open my eyes to wake up, and then everything is exactly upside down. It is like the part of me that processes signals from my eye to my brain is not working (normally images in your eyes are coming in upside down, and your brain makes the adjustment to right side up). When I finally force myself out of the "scary state", the room is exactly as I saw it to the last detail, but right side up. I really think I managed to open my eyes during the scary state, but the part of my brain that processes sight signals was not yet awake.
After many years of having this, I have yet to find a way to make it "enjoyable".....laying there unable to move trying to scream, pinch, shake, or otherwise force myself awake.... Maybe next time I'll try to have some fun with it and see what happens.
i am so happy
that i am not the only one that goes through this.. it is one of the most scariest things i expierience, much like all of your symptoms but a little more.. also i've been going through this for as long as i can remember. sometimes someone or something is trying to kill me and alot of times i just am aware that i am woke but cannot move and that alone creeps me ALL THE WAY OUTTT!! for some reason this is actually the first time i looked it up. i believe sometimes what i eat before bed effects it alot(like sweets).. also if i am extremely tired before going to bed(really really really tired) it will happen then. I am 19 years old now and having been dealing with this my whole life.. now that i have some closure maybe i can try to just let it happen, relax and give into it so that i can slow my heart rate down and just sleep...
My boyfriend has had sp for years now...
The first few years my boyfriend and I were together he would never have them when I was with him. He told me about waking up and seeing like a black shadow coming towards him, then coming into him, and then he can't move or speak. Other times he would speak of a demon-like face just floating above him. Recently though, the image he sees now is a little boy in the corner of his bed, and this is when he freezes. He says everytime he has to try with all his might to get up out of bed. At first I was obviously skeptical until I recently saw him experiencing sp. I woke up with him muttering words but as if he was scared. I couldn't understood what he was saying, so i though he was just having a bad dream or something. I started shaking him, and he then opened his eyes and looked straight into mine. Then suddenly his eyes rolled back and he started shaking. I was so scared but i just kept shaking him really hard till his eyes opened again. I kept telling him to talk or say something so i knew he was awake. He was like yea, it just happened. This just happened a few weeks ago..I and became concerned and began looking it up on-line. Its weird how there's no real sound research as to why this occurs, or how. He still believe that its ghosts, or something. I don't want him nor I to go through that again.. he gets it at least twice a week. I'm worried that this really might be a spirit.. or that it might harm him in some way. I've read that it could actually paralyze the cardiac muscles!! I'm really thankful for this site it really helped me learn alot about this condition. thanks
Another Plane that I believe exists.
I have this place that I can "feel inside of me" when I'm awake. I can feel it right now, thinking about it. It is a dark place that I see in my dreams where a lot of different scenarios occur and sometimes they repeat themselves. I have seen some sort of planetary destruction, not sure if its the Earth or not, (shown to me by "those who stand next to me") and a feeling of impending doom. I believe I am brought to these places mentally. I am not a mental patient nor do I take any medications. I do not drink, do drugs, or even smoke cigarettes. There have been NUMEROUS times I have had dream paralysis, and my body starts floating, as I can open my eyes and am fully awake. I fight it to "un-paralyze" myself, but sometimes I just let it go and float and let "them" take me to wherever. I have had sexual intercourse with women I have fantasized about, but it seems when I do, whoever it is with, it seems as there is some "being" morphing into this person so I can have an orgasm and produce sperm and enjoy my experience. I feel so wanted and feel like "they" want my sperm. I have on a few occasions while coming out of these situations, seen some sort of ancient writing, hieroglyphics mixed with digital characters on my ceiling pulsating and flashing at what seems like a million beats per second. There is this common place I always go to that seems to be some kind of tiered hotel complex but it is always dark so I can't make out where I am. I run in and out of the rooms of this place and I only remember seeing round pillars on the outside every few feet holding up the different floors of the tiered building. I have never seen any "aliens" but there is something that brings me to this place. It feels way too real when I'm there to just disregard it as a dream. Is there any way I can be put under or hypnotized to share this more vividly and figure out what is going on?
how can so many people experience this horrible feeling!!!
I used to live alone when I began to have that horrible experience while sleep. Some kind of dwarf sat on my back (i like to sleep face down) making strange sounds until I say a pray (in my head invoking virgin Mary, Jesus and all the saints related to my catholic faith ;P) so this "entity" can let me go and I can finally move and open my eyes. It was totally scary to go bed every night knowing that once again that situation will repeat again, and again and again!!. I didn't knew that it was called sleep paralysis but since i got a cat and later on a dog that sleep with me that horrible dwarf never came back again, they are my angel guardians.
Is what im experiencing S.p
I have had experiences like this multiple times. Including one i had an hour ago which led to me finding this site. The first time this happend to me was about three months ago I felt like I was awake But I couldnt move my whole body. What I mostly remember is a dark shadow floating above me almost like it was holding me down. when i finally was able to move and it stopped i just tried to shrug it off by telling myself it was a nightmare. the next time was about a couple weeks ago it was just like the one i had about an hour ago. these two times i didnt see anything but i could hear my cat and stuff basicly i was completely awake i just couldnt move my body or open my eyes. and both times after i finally got my eyes open they felt so tierd and heavy i would fall right back into it. once i get into S.P its so freaking hard to get out even when i am awake and able to move. My whole body feels tierd, worn out and its a challenge just getting out of bed. basicly i just wanted to share my experience and see if i could get any advice on how to avoid it because its such a scarey thing and its nice to know im not the only one experiencing it.
S.P.
I've experienced the same thing, you know, about half an hour ago before me writing these lines. I had this earlier. I would wake up and my eyes wouldn't open, my body wouldn't respond to my commands to move. And after it was over, when I finally started to move and blink I'd feel groggy, very tired. I really wonder what it is. I thought I passed out in sleep because of problems with my blood sugar (I need to do medical exams to see if I really have problems with it though). I've never passed out in a state of consciousness during the day, thank God, so I don't really know what it's like to pass out and then to come around, but I thought I'd attribute my waking experience to that. I wonder if it is possible to, like, faint or black out in sleep. What we can be sure about is that it is sleep paralysis, as we cannot move or open our eyes after waking up, but I would like to know if the underlying cause is different from the one described above, which refers to neural disorders, and seems benign. Can there be a cause that requires medical attention? One that may be serious. Thanks to everyone who answers.
S.P.
Im glad to see im not crazy and alone. I hve been reading some of these stories and alot are like mine except i dont see things or have people jumping on my back. I cant move and i feel like im concious! I dont know what to do. Im scared to go to sleep.i ask my husband to stay awake all night and watch me to see if i call out for him becuse I feel like i do and he winds up falling asleep. I do have a lot of stress and doctors today just want to write scripts and say have a nice day. If i told my doctor this he would probably put me in the nut house!
Wow... So glad I now know what these are.
I have been having these episodes since my nieve was born in 1998... also the year my grandfather died. at first they were only like 1ce a year to every six months. They have been like that for ten years. but starting may of 09 they started to get more frequent. like 1ce a month. but the last month they have been getting more frequent. I have a seizure disorde, and I have not had one in almost ten years, But these episodes, my mom and I called they silent seizures because we thought that they were a type of seizure. Boy am I relieved that it isn't. I have had an episode of sp the last 2 mornings. I was scared to go to sleep last night because I didn't want to go through another one today. With these I halucinate everytime. I always see people I know just talking to me and passing through the house.. These scare the crap outa me... Just glad to hear that they are what thwey are and not seizures that I thought they were all these years
Sleep Paralysis
I believe this happened to me a few months ago. I've never had sleep paralysis before, and my first (and only that I remember) happened at the age of 27. My wife was out of town, and I went to sleep around my usual time. It was still dark when I woke up, but I couldn't move, only my eyes were open. I saw a light coming from the corner of the room (there isn't a light there), and it started flashing all sorts of colors really fast. I tried to sit up but I couldn't, it felt like I was being held down by something invisible. I tried to talk, I couldn't, then I tried yelling because it was scaring me. I couldn't see what time it was, but it felt like I was there for several minutes. Soon after I prayed, the flashing light stopped, and I was able to move and talk. It really freaked me out.
JP of Washington
i experiece the same thing but mine is very different
I though i was the only one here experiencing the same thing, i hear things, i see things. I also saw a black shadow though it was death, maybe it was. when i saw this things it sacred me half the death, i had to cover myself with a blanket, after a few sec, i looked and it was right their in front of me looking but i didn't see a face. The next day i was told that they found my twin brother, didn't know what to think, i was so scared. I lost my twin brother, i knew it was death letting me know that my close family member was leaving us. When i hear things or see things while im about to sleep, things happen after wards, i lose a family member not only a family member but others as well. It doesn't happen all the time and not every night, only when it's time. But they scare me so much, i'm even scared to fall asleep at night, every night. I had this going on since i was a little girl. Saw a little doll running and walking around the place in and out of my room. A few years later i lost my older brother, Jr. My mother i lost her sine i was 5yrs old, before she died i experience a scary thing ever. It was like a monster like, full of mud or something but it came after me, i remember trying to hind from it. I manged to run into my Aunties place and it was gone. Was only 5 that time. See my experiences are different, very different, i lose someone i care about so much, others are people i know. i always wondered why me, i'll pray to god to take it away, don't want it anymore. i'm always afraid to sleep even thou im 30 now. I think i just have to get used to it, wish someone out their can help me with this problem, even my dreams tell me something and than a few days later they happen, it's always something bad. i don't like that at all, i want it gone. Is this a disorder i have or is it something else?
I had one last night. Sucks
I had one last night. Sucks ass, the buzz was really loud in my head, and I couldn't move, but I only have one every some years.
Your one of the lucky one
I believe that the fewer you have, the better, just last night I experienced 5 episodes. Once I was one the couch so tired from my 4 episodes the night before I was watching TV when I knew I was slipping into the "horible state" normally the only thing I can do is breath heavy and if I concentrate really hard I can move my head. For some reason last night I was able to do more, I was trying to cry out to my husband whom was sitting beside me I could feel him looking at me and i was wondering why he hadn't saved me. That is when I stated concitrating real hard and i was able to move my mouth and make a sound I was trying to say up as in "sit me up" I noticed that he wasn't responded so I kept trying to say up. My husband started tapping my face and moving me around. When that didn't work I started to move my finger to point up. Finally my husband was able to see what i needed and sat me up, I was so thrilled all I could do was hug him and smile, he was my night in shinning armour. After I was awake I asked him if i was even moving or if any sound was coming out and to my amazment he said yes. It is so bad I am not able to go to bed by myself anymore, I know now I can alert My husband to save me and I don't have to be stuck for 10 minutes or more at a time. I was told this could be happening to me because of an insufficiant amount of sleep, the Ironic thing is that the episodes are the reason why I am so tired I guess that is what you call a catch 22. I am going to try to get some sleep now I hope I don't get stuck again today.
wth??
I just had an episode of S.P. about 20 minutes ago. During this episode I heard dogs barking and saw a black coat floating at the end of my bed. Sometimes I know when an episode will occur before I go to sleep. As I'm closing my eyes I hear a buzzing sound and that's when I know I will go into S.P. so whenever I hear this noise I quicly try to open my eyes and keep myself awake, but sometimes I'm too tired to keep myself awake and next thing you know I'm laying in my bed paralized with someone at the end of my bed watching me. Is it weird that I can tell when I will go into S.P. before I fall asleep or does this happen to anyone else as well??
Not weird at all. It has
Not weird at all. It has happened to me so much. I can always tell its going to happen. Happened to me last night but the whole night was weird right b4 I fell alseep.
this happens to me all the
this happens to me all the time.. i always try and force myself to open my eyes but it usually doesnt work..and i just constantly tell myself (while in that state) that its okay and it will go away very shortly. I get it often..I started getting them when I was 8 and I'm 23 now. hate it :(
S.P.
DUDE I HAVE THE SAME EXPERIENCES, WOW READING YOUR EXPERIENCE RELATES TO MINE WHAT HAPPENS WITH ME IS IF I SHUT MY EYES I FEEL A SENSATION THROUGH OUT MY WHOLE BODY WHEN I GO INTO S.P. SO I WILL QUICKLY MOVE SIT UP OR TAKE A QUICK WALK SO THAT I WOULD NOT GO INTO S.P.
I TELL YOU I NEVER THOUGHT PEOPLE HAD THIS I KIND OF THOUGHT IT WAS WEIRD. ANY WAY ONE THAT I EXPERIENCED WAS I WAS LAYING ON MY BACK AND SAW THE DRESSER OPEN AND A BASKETBALL CAME OUT FLOATING THEN STARTED DRIBBLING ON ITS OWN BUT IN SLOW MOTION I WAS ABOUT 8 THEN. IVE BEEN EXPERIENCING THIS S.P. FOR AS LONG AS I COULD REMEMBER I HAVENT HAD THEM LATLEY BUT I FIND MY SELF CONTROLING THE SITUATUION. I WAS TERIFIED WHEN I GREW UP GETTING THIS I DID NOT WANT TO SLEEP MY EXPERIENCES WHERE SCARY CONFUSSING ODD AND SOMETIMES SPIRITUAL.
Ada 29 from connecticut.
reply to sleep paraylsis
happens to me too, i can resist it, you get a very distinct feeling don't you, so you know when to snap yourself out of it, but, doesn't it make you curious, are you intrigued by it? i am, sometimes i play with it, bounce in and out of it, not going too deep
I just had an episode of
I just had an episode of Sleep Paralysis about 45 minutes ago, and i kept trying to wake up but i had a person or thing wrapped around me wich wouldnt let me up.
i was struggling to get up but then i would dose off in a deep sleep, this happened three times in a row. How can i get some help for this?
Yazid Sbrugnera
August,7 2009
I kno it going 2 happen
I kno it going 2 happen sometimes befor i sleep sometimes when im in a dream its crazy.
sp when NOT sleeping!
ok i think my experience is a little different than most. I have had these episodes since i was about 13 or 14. It always happens right before i am about to fall asleep. I dont know how to explain the feeling other than waves of pressure bearing down on me, along with a loud whirring noise in my ears. I can open my eyes, and move my head, but the rest of my body is paralyzed. While all these waves of pressure are coming over me, theres this blackness that is trying to....get me, pull me down to..somewhere. Sometimes i get so scared that i immediatle fight it, and am able to jump out of bed. One time i just went with it. That was a mistake. the pressure became unbearable, and i could no longer see anything except blackness. Then i hear a woman screaming, along with two men shouting. My vision comes back and i can see a woman and two men standing on a cliff. the woman is covered in blood, and the men are beating her. all i can hear is the screaming. then i see the woman get thrown off the cliff by one of the men. I somehow "woke up" and ran out of my bed. i stayed awake for a good half hour, out of sheer terror, then decided to try to go back to sleep. As soon as i laid down in my bed, as soon as my head touched the pillow, the whirring noise and the pressure started again. i sat up immediately, scared shitless! this continued 3 more times that night until i finally decided to stay up until the rest of my family woke up.
I have had sleep paralysis
I have had sleep paralysis twice the night before last and once last night. I always get the buzzing in my ears and it gets worse every time. I´m not a deep sleeper so i don´t have dreams too often, but i get nighmares when i do dream about 30% of the time. I´m not really afraid of anything and I haven´t had a hallucinatation out of the 8 or 9 times I´ve had SP so I´m not really too upset. But I read on the internet that if you get more sleep and don´t miss too much sleep then you are unlikely to get sleep paralysis. If you still aren´t sure go search the web, you´ll find a lot.
More and more common!
Alright so I just woke up from a longer episode of S.P. and although it was longer than the last ones I've had (I've had two others in the past year) it wasn't that scary. Also, before I hallucinated things moving (Like my bed spread or the images on my pajamas) but tonight I hallucinated a part of my dream to actually be in my room. I was dreaming about being in a house and having to watch all these babies and I was getting really mad because every other kid kept telling me there were more babies to take care of...about the time I awoke to being paralyzied I imagined a small girl hiding on the other side of my night stand and I could only see her through my picture frames (I'm literally getting sick actually typing this) So as part of the hallucination, I kept falling in and out of sleep then I realized I was awake and tried to get up. I couldn't move my arms or legs so I realize that I'm having an episode, all the while I'm still talking to this little girl, telling her, "I cant watch the babies" (part of my dream) I noticed the tv was on and tried to make sure I could remember what was playing. I fell back asleep after a few minutes of not being able to move (never happened before, I usually get up and shake it off..after 30 seconds or so) So when I woke back up I realized what time it was, then a few moments later REMEMBERED I had the episode. I almost forgot about it!!!
Now, before I fell asleep I had a HORRRIBLE headache and decided to lay down. About ten minutes later I had one of those dreams where you instantly wake up, (like you fall off a cliff or crash your bike) well, instead of that I dreamed that I saw a spider on my bed and it had wings and flew towards me. So I jumped up and woke up. I'm no expert but I think it was a sign that I was going to have another S.P. episode.
It feels good to write about what exactly happened because it is kind of embarrassing to talk about with friends and family who have no idea what it feels like!
HEARTBEAT ALSO STOPS
Well i also used to hav dis s.p. 2day only i got one. but in ma case it ws a bit different. i dint see any images and dint hear any sound. but i wsnot able to breathe properly nd coincidently my roomate ws there and he was observing me. after it gets over my friend said dat for more dan 30 seconds my heart was not beating and he was almost goin to call d doctor as well as my parents...........i m goin to d doctor 2day only......jst want 2 say dat plz dont take it lightly and concern ur doctors......bcoz its horrible to hear dat my heart was not beating for more dan 30 seconds.