Sleep Paralysis (SP)

[The Lombard]

Anyone has ever experienced them?

Here is one of my many SP episodes:

It was 11:23 PM. I was very tired from playing Basketball all day. So I went to sleep right away when I got to bed. Than I woke up sometime during the morning with the surroundings all darkened and I was unable to move, and speak. I would try to squirm/move and speak. After a few minutes I fully wake up.

It's weird. Sometimes I hear static or a pinging noise next to my ear that becomes louder or less louder randomly, and I also see shadows and a strong feeling of a evil presence(s).

It freaks me out really bad.

I get that sometimes. I get it less these days than I used to back ten years or so, so chin up - it might get less for you too.

Some people think that sleep paralysis is the strongest explanation for many Incubus and alien abduction experiences.

 

[mdwh]

I experience it occasionally. Not scary, since I've always known what they were. At worst, it's just annoying, but it can be a good way to enter a lucid dream.

I've only had it after I've been asleep. Although less common, apparentely it can happen whilst people are falling asleep (which I imagine is more freaky, since you'd be thinking you're still wide awake and haven't slept) - has anyone experienced this?

I've only once experience a "being" in the room, which was trying to strangle me. I once saw a programme about sleep paralysis, trying to claim it was spooky or possibly paranormal that everyone experiences the same thing - complete rubbish.

 

[The Yankee]

It is not a lucid dream. For example if I am dreaming about a football game, it will seem like the players are in my bedroom.

I've had that. Feels rather violating and I probably often move to cover myself up if I'm not completely covered by a blanket or sheet.

Damn complex brain....

 

[wicshade]

Anyone has ever experienced them?

Here is one of my many SP episodes:

It was 11:23 PM. I was very tired from playing Basketball all day. So I went to sleep right away when I got to bed. Than I woke up sometime during the morning with the surroundings all darkened and I was unable to move, and speak. I would try to squirm/move and speak. After a few minutes I fully wake up.

It's weird. Sometimes I hear static or a pinging noise next to my ear that becomes louder or less louder randomly, and I also see shadows and a strong feeling of a evil presence(s).

It freaks me out really bad.

after reading your op i remebered a tv show i saw one time about alien abductions, and a psycologist had linked these reports to this phenominon. It was a very interesting show and i remeber all of the people that claimed to have been abducted had an expeirence almost exactly like yours,

id beat if you googled alien abductions you would find the reports to be almost exactly like yours, i would assume that these people must have REM patterns almost exactly like yours. It would be interesting to see what you find.

 

[Bootstoots]

Last year, I once had sleep paralysis and thought my roommate was trying to kill me by pressing on my chest. I tried to tell him to stop, but all that came out was an incoherent babble that woke him (who until then had been sleeping peacefully) up. He had a number of similar hallucinations about me, usually of me hovering over his bed and staring at him ominously.

 

[Portugal]

Last year, I once had sleep paralysis and thought my roommate was trying to kill me by pressing on my chest. I tried to tell him to stop, but all that came out was an incoherent babble that woke him (who until then had been sleeping peacefully) up. He had a number of similar hallucinations about me, usually of me hovering over his bed and staring at him ominously.

LOL, that's weird, Was it the same night that you both had these hallucinations?

 

[Hygro]

Most of my out-of-body experiences happened in connection to these.


Also, I find I can always still wiggle my ankle, which after a while will wake me up. Sometimes as I'm doing it I dream I'm wiggling more than my ankle, but rarely have I ever done that.

 

[frob2900]

I had it happen to me on a bus.

I was quite ill with fever and was travelling home on the bus when I dozed off for a while and then woke up without being able to move. I could feel that I was slowly slumping out into the bus aisle and would fall out of my seat at any instant.

It took a great force of will to slowly force movement back into my legs/arms so I could sit back up into my seat.

Of course, it has happened to me while sleeping at home too. The feeling is one of total paralysis, and fighting it generally returns movement to my face first, then my fingers, and finally my legs/arms. (Importantly, the feeling is not one of being clamped down, but rather that the 'move' signals I try to send my arms/legs just don't do anything)

 

[Enkidu Warrior]

Once. Weird sensation, like all-over pins & needles.

Exactly how it feels for me. The first few times it was pretty scary. My breathing felt really restricted and although I was fully conscious I would strain with all my will to move a leg or arm with no results.

Now it's just like 'Ugh, this again'. I still haven't figured out a trick to wake my body up. It's just a waiting game. If my head's in a bad place it can be a frighteningly lonely experience - at that point in time I'm conscious but totally disconnected from the world and even my own body. If anything it's the opposite of an outer-body experience - you're totally trapped within your brain.

Doesn't happen often though.

 

[Bootstoots]

LOL, that's weird, Was it the same night that you both had these hallucinations?

Not the same night, but he had that hallucination repeatedly over the course of the year.

 

[Methos]

Anyone has ever experienced them?

Yes, I've had them happen for about ten to fifteen years now. Here's a little info on it from an article at the Standford website.

From my understanding of it there are several "experiences" a person can have. Some just get your typical can't move (me for instance), others get the pressure on the chest, and some get the feeling that there is something in the room with them. I believe there may be more, but that's all I can remember off hand. It's been a while since I researched this. Some of the causes of it happening are exhaustion and stress.

I don't recall the technical terms (maybe they're in the article), but your brain releases a chemical throughout your body that temporarily paralyzes you while your sleeping, in order to "protect" you from accidental harm. The problem is your mind wakes up prior to the dispersion of this chemical. It sucks and can be scary if you don't know what it is, or how to get rid of it.

There are several ways to remove the paralysis. Attempting to make small movements, like fingers and toes helps shake the effects. If you have a spouse, or someone who sleeps beside you, making gutteral noises works too. I'm able to make weird noises that alerts my wife, who promptly shakes me. This works great, the only problem is if I'm talking in my sleep she tends to wake me up, thinking I'm having another episode.

It is terrifying the first couple of times it happens.

Yes, it is. Some years back when I had a third shift job I started experiencing this every single day and it always happened within about twenty minutes of going to bed. For a while there I dreaded going to bed, as I knew it was going to happen.

Simply put, once you learn what it is your experiencing and what causes it, it tends not to happen as often. And when it does, it isn't as much of a problem due to your knowledge of what your experiencing. One thing I also suggest, is attempt to go back to sleep when it happens. It's hard to do, since your "paralyzed", but I've found if I can relax and try to go back to sleep, I'll often jump start a lucid dream. Some of my best lucid dreams have come about from this. The problem is it's hard to relax when your paralyzed.

Edit: Google [google]sleep paralysis[/google] and do some research on it. There's tons of information about it.

 

[happy_Alex]

Anyone has ever experienced them?

Here is one of my many SP episodes:

It was 11:23 PM. I was very tired from playing Basketball all day. So I went to sleep right away when I got to bed. Than I woke up sometime during the morning with the surroundings all darkened and I was unable to move, and speak. I would try to squirm/move and speak. After a few minutes I fully wake up.

It's weird. Sometimes I hear static or a pinging noise next to my ear that becomes louder or less louder randomly, and I also see shadows and a strong feeling of a evil presence(s).

It freaks me out really bad.

yes, I get it fairly regularly. If i nap in the afternoon on my back I will definately experience it. Sometimes it comes as a dream, usually as the devil attacking me its really scarey. When was I was a christian i thought it was kind of real. On one occassion I actually levitated and remembered kicking my leg down onto the bed below. A trick of the mind I guess.

When it happens its so hard to move anything and I really have to force myself out of it.

Methos, Good advice about the guteral noises must try that one...