[julia2406 (OP)]

Hello,

I'm a PhD student in the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths College, University of London. I'm researching various aspects of a commonly experienced sleep disorder called sleep paralysis. This is the feeling of not being able to move either as you are going to sleep or as you are waking up. It might feel as though you cannot move your arms or legs and cannot speak or cry out.

I am developing a new questionnaire to investigate sleep paralysis experiences and I need to analyse responses to an existing questionnaire before I start. I have this brief questionnaire on my webpages and I need people who have had sleep paralysis once or more to complete it.

It will take just a couple of minutes, it is anonymous and has been given full ethical approval by the departmental ethics committee. So, if you've had sleep paralysis once or more then please visit < newbielink:http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/sleep/nei.php [nonactive] >.

If you fill in the questionnaire you are given the option of opting in to have the results of the study emailed to you (this will be in a few months). If anyone is interested I can post the results on this forum as well.

Thank you very much, Julia

[DoctorBeaver]

Done. Good luck with your PhD. Mine is also in Psychology

[OldMan]

From your description I thought I'd had this once but it turned out I was just dreaming. Perhaps this is the case with other people but they just don't realise they are dreaming.

Tim

[DoctorBeaver]

OldMan - I've suffered from sleep paralysis & I can assure you it's not a dream. I've filled in Julia's questionnaire & sent her an email relating some of the effects I suffered during those bouts.
I also think the fact that so many people experience exactly the same effects precludes the dream option.

It wasn't me - a big boy did it & ran away

[neilep]

Well, my answer to the survey was very brief, I answered NO...however, spending my entire life in and out of sleep orientated institutions I am very intersted in Julias conclusions and hope that she does post the results here. If she doesn't would you mind (Tim and Eth)posting the results when you receive them ?

cheers

neil


Men are the same as women.... just inside out !!

[DoctorBeaver]

Will do, Neil

It wasn't me - a big boy did it & ran away

[julia2406 (OP)]

Hello,

Thanks to all of you who filled in my questionnaire (and for the good luck). I will certainly post the results of my study here (if that’s OK with Chris) and this will be in a few months time.

In response to Tim’s message, I totally agree with Doctorbeaver. You would know if you had experienced sleep paralysis mainly because of the bodily paralysis and partly because of the commonly experienced accompanying hallucinations which are hallucinatory (!) in nature – that is you believe them to be reality. I don’t think that dreams have this level of vividness or clarity.

Perhaps if someone did experience very vivid dreams they might be confused as to whether they had experienced SP or not but if they did not experience bodily paralysis then it wasn’t SP. It is common for humans to experience hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations (hallucinations experienced at sleep onset and upon waking up) - this is often hearing someone call your name - but again, if there is no bodily paralysis then it is not SP.

I half hope that I will experience sleep paralysis one day so that I can understand it from a subjective perspective but it does sound pretty scary so maybe not.

Thanks again, Julia

[DoctorBeaver]

Julia, are you aware of the myth of the Old Hag? It goes back to medieval times. Many people experienced the sensation of pressure on their chest while they were asleep & allegedly awoke to find an old hag sitting astride them. It's a long time since I read about it & I can't remember the whole story. But that may be an indication that SP has been around for a very long while.

It wasn't me - a big boy did it & ran away

[daveshorts]

I may have once or twice woken up and not been able to move, but I think I was aware that it was sleep paralysis so not paniced, and within a few seconds I could move anyway...

[OldMan]

I'm certainly not saying it doesn't exist or any such thing, was just voicing something that briefly crossed my mind.

What Julia said about hallucinations as mine was one of those dreams where I was convinced it was real. In it I was in the exact position I was in my bed when I woke, the only difference was there wasn't some weird evil looking guy who had just climbed through my window standing over me. Even when I did wake I found it somewhat difficult to move.

My question now is do you think I just had a dream in which I couldn't speak or move that scared the hell out of me or do you think I experienced SP?
Where does hallucination start and dream end?

Tim

[sp1982]

I'm glad I found this thread. All my life I thought only I suffered from this "thing" which is the most frightening experience ever

I had sleep paralisys very often as child - maybe weekly. in time the episodes have diminished in number but I was still experiencing it once every 6 months as a teenager

I'm 26 now and haven't had one for a long time - maybe 2 or 3 years

In all these occurences an evil presence was around me - and it was always a woman though I can't describe her figure. The feeling can be described as being burried alive and there was nothing I could do. couldn't move, couldn't speak and the most interesting thing was that I was awake - could see the room and the evil presence around me. I believe there is nothing more frightening in this world than sleep paralysis

as a teenager, even though I realized there are no ghosts, UFOs, poltergeist, etc I was still frightened while paralised as that presence was so real in the room and it wasn't a dream although it feels like one

in time I developed an escape method and become experienced in doing this: maybe someone who still suffers from sleep paralisys can apply it as well:

while paralysed try to contract and expand your butt muscles very fast - you will then be able to move other muscles untill you will be in control of your whole body and be able to "wake up"

I guess we all tried hard to escape these episodes but lately I wanted just to stay there in that state and see what happens without trying to escape........ it never happened again though...still waiting

Arun

[DrN]

I've heard of astral projection, which sounds all very supernatural, but is supposed to be projection of your mind outside your body. I guess that would mean you wouldn't be able to move your real body if your mind was kind of outside of it? i can see it wouldn't be a good thing if your body could move independently of your mind in this case, as it might not be there when you decided to go back 'home'!!

[DoctorBeaver]

Arun - I think you clenching your butt muscles worked the same way as me touching my leg. Once I'd managed to do it, all my other muscles began working too.
I also tried to stay in a couple of times to see what would happen but the buzzing in my head was so painful I had to free myself from it.
On the subject of dreams, I woke up 1 morning, got washed dressed, had breakfast & left for work only to... wake up! I'd dreamed that I'd woken up & done all those things. That was really freaky

[julia2406 (OP)]

Tim, that is a question that has perplexed me and is the focus of a few experiments in my PhD. Although I term the accompanying hallucinations 'hallucinations' I wonder whether they are truly that or more related to dream-like mentation or some other sort of mental imagery. I am conducted an experiment that tests the cognitive skill of reality  monitoring (this is the process by which we differentiate memories of events that happened in reality and memories of events that happened in our internal mind such as imaginings, dreams, etc.) and I am comparing the performance on this task between people who have experienced SP and people who haven't.

People who experience hallucinations (such as those with psychotic illnesses) typically perform less well on these tasks than people who do not hallucinate. If this is the case for people who experience SP then I think it will suggest that these are hallucinations rather than dreams.

There certainly doesn't have to be a 'presence' element to SP so I reckon what you experienced Tim sounds like SP - now go and fill in my questionnaire []

This also ties in with what I wanted to reply to what Fishytails wrote. A researcher in Canada (Al Cheyne) suggests that there are 3 typical types of hallucinatory experience that accompany SP and one of these certainly is the sense of a presence, fear, etc., the other is pressure on the chest, breathing difficulites, etc. (Old Hag phenomenon - thanks Doctorbeaver) and finally unusual body experiences such as floating, turning, flying, etc. All of these can be accompanied by visual and auditory hallucinations and I think that OBEs are often this latter type of SP experience (I'm sure lots of people who believe in the paranormal would disagree with me though).

The questionnaire that is on my website is an extension of some work that my supervisor had already done - he thinks there might be a fourth type of hallucinatory experience that often accompanies SP but he didn't gather enough data to be confident in his factor analysis. I'm doing this now and hope to confirm his fourth factor and will then build a new SP questionnaire because I don't like his!

This post is a really long post - sorry.

[OldMan]

Done! All filled out and hope it helps. Finding this all rather interesting.

Tim

[Corey Walker]

I'm 35, and I still experience SP, although not like I did around age 9- recurring weekly and even nightly, very intense, identical experiences including paralysis, abstract imagery, pain, fear, multiple malevolent, non-human presences, and spinning so fast I could hardly take it.

Due to the intensity, collection and commonality of experiences, I theorize that SP explains the alien abduction experience.

Dig deep,
CW

[chimera]

I remember reading somewhere that it's a natural phenomenon that prevents you from hurting yourself (and possibly others) in your sleep, a self-induced temporary paralysis to prevent you from really 'acting it out' during very vivid dreaming. If you suddenly wake up, you'll find it takes some time for this to pass, and feelings of anxiety can result,  far worse than the original problem, since people think they are REALLY paralysed etc. etc. which can be like a claustrophobic attack, I take it.

I'll see if I can dig up that paper.

[IAmAI]

I think I've possibly had SP on a very few occasions (2-3 times, possibly). I recall one dream where, completely unexpected and sudden, it felt like I had been hit very hard on the back of the head - as if someone had hit me with a baseball bat. At that point I couldn't see and it felt like I was floating or flying, as if from the impact (I think that was the thought in my mind). However, the flying feeling was exagerated, as if I was flying in slow motion, but I couldn't tell what was actually happening as I couldn't see. After which I recall being in my bed, but couldn't move for a period. How long for, I can't remember. It's possible that I dreamt being paralyses, considering I don't recall being fully awake at that point.

On another occasion, a strange dream, relating to what you have said, although I cannot remember if it was followed by SP. I remember becoming angry with a good friend, for a reason I can't recall. I started walking backwards and stumbled against something and fell backwards. Suddenly it felt like I was being attacked by a very fast and swift creature, as if I had fallen on it and angered it. I think I awoke at that point, but I cannot recall what followed.

[muhammet caner]

i have these experiences since i was 7 or eight. Now i am 31.yesterday i had the worst one. I felt that somebody got my shoulder and shook it to wake me up. I woke up into what you call SP. it was terrible. the worst part of this thing is going back to sleep. If you go back to sleep you find yourself in the right middle of it.
   Once I tried to stay in it and see what happens. It gets worse and worse. No one can stand it. It was so horrible that I never tried it again.
  I hope somebody find a cure for it

[DoctorBeaver]

quote:It gets worse and worse. No one can stand it

Muhammet - that point has been raised by a couple of us previously & it seems to be quite common. It's not like a dream where once you've woken you don't go back into the same dream when you resume sleeping (or, at least, rarely do you). I always found that I had to get out of bed & do something - maybe have a cup of tea - before going back to sleep. Whatever it is that causes it doesn't go away quickly when you wake. If it's a chemical it's certainly a much longer-acting 1 than most that our brain produces.

[memasa]

quote:"[...]floating, turning, flying, etc."

If I'm on the borderline of sleep and being awake, and something causes me to become fully awake, I always experience a fall back into my body.

The sense of falling is very REAL yet supernatural!

[DoctorBeaver]

memasa - that's not the same thing

[memasa]

I would have wanted to fill in the form, but I haven't had SP ever. [] On the other hand I guess I'm lucky, I've heard from my friends how horrifying it can be.

But I have had numerous "paranormal" experiences while in a dream state.

My scariest dream:

I was in a burning house. The house belonged to my mother's friend who was also the main character of my dream. I wasn't physically present in the dream but inside her mind and body, looking through her eyes. There was no escape, the house was already in full blaze! I heard her voice as she thought: "This is the end. I can't go anywhere." She died. End of dream.

Back in reality: and now the scary part starts...

Months went by and Christmas came. My mother's friend was alone in her big big house. It was Boxing Day. She lit a candle or candles and fell asleep. A fire started. It is not known if she tried to escape or not, but sadly she died -- for real.

The dream had come true! [:0]

----
Addendum: you must think I'm crazy. [?]

[memasa]

DoctorBeaver: No, it's not the same. My comment was more related to the astral projection brought up by fishytails.

And the my scariest dream is related to the questions in Julia's form.

[judyt]

Glad I found this site.  I have suffered from SP as long as I can remember and didn't really talk about it because it was too crazy to explain.  I was at a party this weekend and ran into someone who has SP and told me to google sleep paralysis.  It has been great to see I am not alone.  I have had two episodes this week and even though I now see that there is a scientific reason for it, it still does not take away the intense fear!!!  I get so fearful when I wake up from it, that I cannot even get up to go to the bathroom. I am now 35 and with SP comes such irrational fears like someone is in the closet or bathroom.  I hope to learn more from others experiences.

[Andrew K Fletcher]

Sleep paralysis

I have had this problem all of my life, experiencing it far more frequently when I was younger, as a child. The most I have had it is 3 times in a single night. Usually every week, but sometimes I could avoid it for a few weeks, even a month. As a child, it was more terrifying because, I did not know what was happening to me.

Quite a few years ago when I had it I used to panic a lot, and the more you fight it, the less chance you have of coming out of it.

Noted:

1.   Eating before going to bed, particularly the wrong types of food, I.E. Cheese, chocolate, a Chinese meal, and funnily enough, now I come to think about it, it does happen around Christmas time, when all the food is far richer than our normal diet.

2.   A recurring dream will often result in a sleep paralysis episode, so I try to avoid dreaming, or anything that will make me dream. (Hard task)

3.   On occasions, I have managed to lash out and even hurt my husband, when I have resisted the paralysis. Grabbing him and squeezing his skin very hard, causing him to jump out of bed.

4.   Watching horror movies is not a good idea for me as this exacerbates the problem by adding new dimensions to it, including the hag hallucinations and even to the point where a dark figure has been pushing its way in between my husband and myself. I have tired so hard to fight this figure and to resist it. I can even feel the bed moving and pressure on my skin as it lies in between us. But I now know that it is only the sleep paralysis, and poses no real threat, and funnily enough it has not shown itself for a long long time.

5.   I have experienced sleep paralysis, while sleeping flat, in an armchair, and in an inclined bed, with the head end elevated by six inches or fifteen cm’s as a result of my husband’s research into circulation in the nervous system. But nowhere near as frequent or as deep or as severe when sleeping on the inclined bed. In fact, I feel I have more ability to bring myself out of it on the inclined bed. I am even able to communicate with my husband, while paralysed, although my shouts for help come out as a garbled mumbling sound, yet the words sound reasonably formed to myself.

6.   I used to fight the paralysis, but to no avail. But now I understand the problem I have learned to tell myself not to panic and to relax in order to bring myself out of it, or at least to enable me to get my husband to realise I am in trouble.

7.   If the weather is unusually humid, or misty then there is a definitive increase in the frequency of episodes. It should be easy to find a correlation with weather, by analysing the number of people reporting their problem with sleep paralysis in river valley areas, coastal areas, elevated areas. East Anglia, might report less people experiencing the problems, whereas people living in a river valley area might report more cases. Certainly worth looking into! Also, different countries, like desert areas compared to tropical regions. Again my husband was looking for a correlation in multiple sclerosis in river valley areas and coastal areas and found some amazing results with a simple questionnaire asking a large group of people on his study to give a description of where they live, and if they moved out of the area, what happened to their relapsing / remitting cycles.

8.   Fortunately, my husband is a light sleeper and is able to wake me up when he hears my muffled attempts to wake him. I really feel for people living alone who experience this problem.

9.   Even talking about it or worrying about it when I was younger, and sometimes, even now, used to almost always be followed by an event. I am convinced that, I could actually cause an event by worrying or even thinking about it before I go to bed.

Sleep paralysis to me is like having your body asleep while your mind is awake, you are fully aware of everything around you, and some. If you were to ask me questions while I am experiencing the paralysis, I would remember the questions, but could not answer you during the event.

My Brother and sister experience the same problem, and one of our son’s has experienced it once only about 3 years ago, which frightened him.  He is now 23, so there might also be a hereditary problem or at least an environmental link.

I am now able to go easily several months at a time without any sleep paralysis, and when I do get it, it is far less severe than it has been since the bed was raised. I believe the inclined bed has helped a huge amount.

Hope this helps.[]

Jude

[coolgirl123]

I'm glad I found this post. I have had a few attacks of SP. It really freaks me out to such an extent that the next day my collegues/friends can say there is something wrong with me!

But lately I have been trying to fight it and i'm kind of successful a few times.

Here are some of the things I've noted about the occurence of SP

1) they happened a lot when i was studying for exams during college days -- makes me beleive its related to some mental stress
2) Happened when I used to take a day-time nap on a hot day.
3) One day I had a fight with my husband and was very stressed, i had 3 episodes of SP
4) Sometimes just before going to bed i think i may have the attack and i actually have it.
5) Sleeping alone worsens the attack or prolongs it where as if there is another person in the bed with you and you are aware of it the attacks are milder.

[Minx]

Hi everyone,

I too have just found this thread whilst 'googling' Sleep Paralysis. Its so nice talking to others with the problem as most people don't understand how frightening it can be. My father actually suffers from it too and has done since childhood, but being male doesn't like to talk about it too much in case its seen as complaining!
I remember having my first experience of SP aged about nine. I can remember waking up and not being able to move, and then wanting to shout for my parents only I found I couldn't speak either. It was probably a year before I had it again, but has become more frequent ever since. I've just turned 24 and I now have it at least once a week on average, sometimes with repeated attacks, maybe four or five times in a row. I find I have to actually get up and wake myself up properly in order to make it stop completely.

Usually I wake up but feel completely trapped, I can't move and I can't speak. Sometimes I feel really really panicked and that I can't breathe, I feel like I'm gasping for air and I'll be dead any minute. Other times I feel calmer and I just concentrate on moving my finger, I know that once I get some movement I'll be able to pull myself out of it. It feels like hard work though, I feel like I'm channelling all my energy into moving that one finger.

Sometimes I also imagine there's someone coming into the room or standing over me. I also have an intense fear of spiders and on quite a few occasions I've felt like theres hundreds of spiders crawling all over me. The lack of breath is definitely the most severe though. Lying there feeling like your gasping for air and each breath is going to be the last can be quite traumatic. My hearts actually racing when I do manage to move. I went through a phase of suffering with anxiety attacks and although these are much less frequent now, I do wonder if its possible that I'm having some sort of panic attack in my sleep?

My Dad and I also find that we're more open to an attack of SP after eating dairy products and when we're over tired. My Father believes he only gets it when lying on his back or left side, but never on his right. The only problem is he has an old injury on his right shoulder so finds it hard to sleep on that side! I myself have never nticed any connotations between the side I sleep and an attack.

Sorry to drone on, I've just never found anyone who actually knows anything about it before! If anyone has any thoughts or advice I'd be much appreciated []

[Justicar333]

Hello everyone,

This post.. I've had what I now know is HSP ever since I was a little kid.  Once a night usuaully, sometimes more back then.  Now I'm 27, still getting the attacks, sometimes one in a couple of months, someimtes multiple attacks in a night.  I nicknamed them night terrors, and no one understood what was happening.  Digging through the real night terros on Google led me to a foot note about SP earlier tonight.  Just two nights ago I had an attack, was reaching the end of my rope, finially starting to believe it was a damn ghost or something that had been following me since childhood.    

I woke up, feeling a presence, to see a black shadowy person solidifying, walking into the room, appeared to walk right through my bedroom door.  Shortly after moving into my apt that figure has been the harbinger of an attack.  I started to try to move, suddenly my head was back flat on the bed, my body immobilized, like a great weight was crushing it.  My face was tingling, felt like I had the window rolled down in the car with my head hanging out at high speed.  My ears were filled with a roaring sound, almost like white noise, but different somehow.  Utter terror, something was in the room with me, something I didn't want in here, and didn't feel it liked me either.  I fought it, using something I learned as a kid, and finially broke out.  Room was empty, but I had to turn on the tabel lamp, and the tv, and wait up for a while.  I was terrifed.  

What I used was a survival technique from childhood.  After so many years, I learned the only thing I could do, was fight.  I take the terror, fuel it to strugle, trying to move my arms or my head.  Doesn't stop them, but cuts them down to a few minutes when I can manage it.  Usually my muscles are very sore afterwards.  The really bad ones, it doesn't work.  I've had the full run, from foot steps, voices, noises, shadowy figures, indistinct floating appartions, Alwasy that presence.  Sometimes an indistinct manevelont force, more often so finite I can feel it moving in the room, sometimes feel it touching me.  Some things I"ve learned.  

1.  I have them a lot less during the day.  One of the reasons I think I have them a lot less is now I normally stay up all night.  3 nights ago I tried going to back sleeping at night, 2 nights ago, an attack.  

2.  If I feel like I'm going to have one going to sleep, usually do.  

3.  Sleeping at night, leaving on the TV at low volume seems to help keep them from happening.  

4.  Stress seems to increase the chances of an attack as well as the severity.  I'd had a big fight with my girlfriend just the night before.  

5.  Being in a new enviroment tends to bring on attacks, and sometimes the enviroment shapes the hallucinations.  In my apt it's a shadow figure, at my friends house it was his grandfathers ghost.  Sometimes it's not visible at all, just felt.  

Good to know I'm not alone with this stuff.  And really glad to know I'm not nuts, well, anymore than I am naturally.  =)

[bumskee]

ahhh, fellow SPers. Not sure if that's a good thing, but I thought I chuck in my 2 cents worth of experiences.

I have had this SP since I was 16, clearly remember my first night, out of the blue. I shared my room with my brother, and this night I had 17 of this experiences, very short but frightening enough. Since this night SP just seemed to be like a nightly thing, more than often I lost count of how times I woke from this experience and right back to it. One of the thing I realised was I just couldn't be bothered standing up and doing something else. Always tried to force myself back to sleep, even though I knew I would get a good dose of SP.

Now I am 25, not as frequent as it used to be, but still quite often enough but I do not force myself to sleep anymore. Nor do I open my eyes. I used to.. but then saw things that weren't too pleasant. Now I just have my eyes tightly shut and struggle with everything..and when I am out I go straight to the bathroom and wash my face. Watch Tv or do something for few mintues. More recently I realised how dizzy I get when I snap out of it. Even being able to move and speak, my head still spins and the sight very wrong.

I have tried, all sorts of things.. TVs were the worst ever.. simply because it worked for few nights and then when it hit me it hit me hard. The TV was moving, the sound from it was all distorted and repetitive and the whole room was glowing. I can take the dark figure sitting on top of me or rushing out of the wall but can not take the repetitive ringing/bashing/laughing sounds. That's just Big no no. so, yeah Tv experiment ended quite shortly.

I also had my sister look at how I look when I have SP, it was daytime and I was taking a nap, she was just using my computer. I felt it was the time, as I get this pulling feel through the bed before it hits me full force. So I wake up from this one, tell my sis to wake me up if I get another one. So in few moments I am back right into it. all frozen up and staring at my sister, who happens to look and simply looks away. Now at this moment, I was furiously blinking my eyes at my sister moving every muscle in my face to inform her of my state. After I snapped out of it, screamed at ther for not waking me up, after all the winking I did!! She simply replied that I was staring blank at the ceiling and thought I wasn't sleeping..

I think last four posts pretty much sums up the experience, frightening and very disturbing. Can I ask do all of you guys how long you take some time before falling into sleep? normally, I take 20mins to one hour before I fall asleep, so I spend lot of time on my bed thinking and thinking. Especially if I take a nap, that was pretty much asking for it for me. Because I would not be able to fall asleep fast enough..

Haven't had the Out of body experience yet, and I certainly hope not. That will scare the daylights out of me.

[DoctorBeaver]

quote:and this night I had 17 of this experiences

I've never had that many in 1 night - probably 3 or 4 at most. I can't say I experienced any dizziness but I was certainly in a cold sweat or suffered disorientation on more than 1 occasion.
Justicar mentioned that maybe a change of environment can trigger it. My experience is exactly the opposite. I moved from London to the country 10 years ago & I haven't had an attack since I've been here. Even when I was still in London there was only ever 1 room in my house where it happened: & that was my bedroom. I never had it if I fell asleep downstairs.
Something else has just occurred to me. I used to have a lodger & he had the bedroom I later moved into. I remember his saying 1 morning that the previous night he'd felt as if someone was sitting on his chest trying to strangle him. I knew nothing about SP at the time & assumed he'd just had a nightmare. Now I'm not so sure. Pity there's not a parapsychology forum here!

[Andrew K Fletcher]

And the clue here is your mentioning a cold sweat indicating humidity might be a factor. Certainly, London fits the river valley and low level coastal areas, and your moving to the country 10 years ago, presumably to a higher elevation, unafected by morning mist etc?

Andrew

[DoctorBeaver]

Andrew - I don't think humidity is a factor as I used to live in Uganda & never experienced it there. Besides, I used to get SP attacks all year round not just in hot weather. I now live in East Anglia: not exactly high elevation & we certainly get morning mist. I have the river Stour at the end of my garden & the house is only about 10' higher than that.

[Ricardo]

Julia ,
I clicked on the link , but was unable to access the questionaire as I'm too late or something . If you could send me a copy I'd be happy to fill out the questionaire as I suffer from SP most nights or once a week at the very least and think I will be able to give you some in depth detail .

My E-mail address is :

borgdestroyer@yahoo.com

Thank You

Such Heroic Nonsense

[Ricardo]

Julia ,
I clicked on the link , but was unable to access the questionaire as I'm too late or something . If you could send me a copy I'd be happy to fill out the questionaire as I suffer from SP most nights or once a week at the very least and think I will be able to give you some in depth detail .

My E-mail address is :

borgdestroyer@yahoo.com

Thank You

Such Heroic Nonsense

[Ricardo]

quote:Originally posted by arunescu

I'm glad I found this thread. All my life I thought only I suffered from this "thing" which is the most frightening experience ever

I had sleep paralisys very often as child - maybe weekly. in time the episodes have diminished in number but I was still experiencing it once every 6 months as a teenager

I'm 26 now and haven't had one for a long time - maybe 2 or 3 years

In all these occurences an evil presence was around me - and it was always a woman though I can't describe her figure. The feeling can be described as being burried alive and there was nothing I could do. couldn't move, couldn't speak and the most interesting thing was that I was awake - could see the room and the evil presence around me. I believe there is nothing more frightening in this world than sleep paralysis

as a teenager, even though I realized there are no ghosts, UFOs, poltergeist, etc I was still frightened while paralised as that presence was so real in the room and it wasn't a dream although it feels like one

in time I developed an escape method and become experienced in doing this: maybe someone who still suffers from sleep paralisys can apply it as well:

while paralysed try to contract and expand your butt muscles very fast - you will then be able to move other muscles untill you will be in control of your whole body and be able to "wake up"

I guess we all tried hard to escape these episodes but lately I wanted just to stay there in that state and see what happens without trying to escape........ it never happened again though...still waiting

Arun

Arun
If you want to experiment with SP , the best way to bring it on is to wake up early and go to bed late for a couple of days running . I can almost garauntee you the night after you'll get an SP . The more tired you are at bedtime the more likely an SPer is to go under (as I refer to it) .
Also don't try to force it , when in bed ,the best way to make it happen is just to think about a particular theme that interests you , but not something that will keep you awake or turn you on , like just a general fantasy and as you nod off you should get a buzzing sensation in your head ... this is the SP kicking in , just ride with it .

Failing this , try the late night routine and set your alarm up to awaken you every hour (make sure your clock is next to you so you can just turn it off , keep your eyes shut , and try not to move out of bed) until your head goes buzzy and SP-prone (it make take a few attempts or it could happen the first time).

Such Heroic Nonsense

[NakedScientist]

Julia Santomauro has written a naked science article about sleep paralysis, including a couple of case reports, for anyone that would like to read around this topic.

TNS

[Aimless22]

It is so good to read your messages. I am a new SP sufferer, no history of childhood SP experiences, i am 22 now. It started about a month ago and i had luckily dicussed it with my dolleague who occasionally suffers them before my experience.

I have 'googled' SP tonight as i had my worst experience of it last night and pretty much do not want to go to bed

My experiences are pretty similar to those listed however i got two different women over my bed last night shouting out names, they looked really normal modern people but i had never seen them before.

Ive found that like a few of you here the main trigger is having a nap when i get in from work. Bang goes falling asleep infront of Corrie!

Not that it is a really good idea, but i have found a night cap or indeed a couple can help. If i sleep with someone else in the room i find it helps, but being a Bridget Jones this can be difficult to find..."fancy a coffee back at mine and watching me try to wrestle paralysys???"

Anyhow - thanks for sharing, i might just get a better nights sleep having got this off my chest. If anyone has any remedys not drug related i would be dead interested as i have read the GP's suggest anti deppressants which i would refuse.

Take Care,
 Amy x

[Andrew K Fletcher]

Hi Amy

You could try putting blocks under the head of your bed base in order to raise the bed by six inches / 15 cm's to provide a level but tilted sleeping angle. The idea is that sleeping flat interferes / compromises the circulation in the central and peripheral nervous system. Whereas sleeping on the inclined bed with your head slightly higher than your feet, provides the stimulus from gravity that maintains the nervous system, affording a good nights sleep and significantly less nighttimes sleep problems.

You may think that the circulation in the spinal cord is well understood, and you may be surprised to learn that there is no clear explanation for the driving force behind the cerebrospinal fluid, other than it is posture related and does not rely on pressure from the heart. I asked Dr Wise Young (the Dr that initially cared for Christopher Reeve) how he believed cerebrospinal fluid circulates? I made it quite clear that I was asking about the driving force and not just the route it takes.

I had a long wait for an answer, and eventually, all I managed to squeeze out of him was the pathway in which the cerebrospinal fluid circulates. I.E. From A. to B.

Wise is a good man, and a brilliant spinal cord specialist. But he could not give even a vague explanation of the driving mechanism. Not surprising when one cannot find a clear explanation in any medical book!

So, to state that gravity may assist people with sleep paralysis, based upon an understanding that gravity can and does drive fluids in the body without the need for a pump, should not be taken lightly, and should at least be given the benefit of any doubts you may have about the efficacy of sleeping inclined as opposed to sleeping flat.

Please read Jude's post in same thread.

Andrew Fletcher

Good luck Amy.  


"The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct."
K.I.S. "Keep it simple!"

[matwitham]

I am 18 and have episodes of sleep paralysis a couple times every month. They always happen when I wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble falling back to sleep. While I am drifting in and out of sleep it usually happens. I have never felt any evil presence, although when it began about 5 months ago I would panick and feel like I was going to suffocate, I wanted to breath fast but could hardly control my breathing.

I do not Panick any more, but relax and try to wiggle a finger, after a few seconds of this my finger will move and I will jerk out of it.

Lately I have not fought sp but tried to stay in it and experiment, I camly try rolling my entire body over, it feels as though my upper half is leaving my body, but I am still stuck to my legs(this must be some type of hallucination?). While I am attempting this the strangest tingling sensation goes throughout my entire body, I have to admit I enjoy the sensation. It feels as though I must be on some type of crazy euphoric drug?  

If anyone reading this has experienced something similar I would love to hear about it. I am baffled as to why I feel like I'm on drugs?

[satans-getawaydriver]

I've recently started to experience these SP's.  I'm actually quite relieved, because i thought i had a clot or something - with the way my head started buzzing.  Then i searched the net and found out about SP - I have had it before, but that was upon waking, and i didn't experience the buzz.  Today I went for a little nap and experienced it three times.  When it happens, i hear voices and see things - I hear voices sometimes anyway, because I'm psychotic.  I saw and heard an evil old man by my bed - which was scary.  Can anyone tell me why there's always a theme of evil during these episodes? It doesn't make sense to me.  The fact i can't scream out or move is very disturbing.

The difference between genius and stupidity is genius has its limits - Guess I'm free as a bird then

[chris]

quote:Originally posted by Andrew K Fletcher

You may think that the circulation in the spinal cord is well understood, and you may be surprised to learn that there is no clear explanation for the driving force behind the cerebrospinal fluid, other than it is posture related and does not rely on pressure from the heart. I asked Dr Wise Young (the Dr that initially cared for Christopher Reeve) how he believed cerebrospinal fluid circulates? I made it quite clear that I was asking about the driving force and not just the route it takes.

I had a long wait for an answer, and eventually, all I managed to squeeze out of him was the pathway in which the cerebrospinal fluid circulates. I.E. From A. to B.

Wise is a good man, and a brilliant spinal cord specialist. But he could not give even a vague explanation of the driving mechanism. Not surprising when one cannot find a clear explanation in any medical book!

CSF flows from source to sink. CSF is formed as an ultrafiltrate of plasma in the choroid plexus within the brain's lateral, third and fourth ventricles. It flows out into the subarachnoid space surrounding the brain via the foraminae of Magendie and Luschka, making its way back into circulation by reabsorption via arachnoid granulations in the superior sagittal sinus in the falx.

Cells lining the subarachnoid space, called ependymal cells, carry hair-like projections (cilia) on their surfaces which beat rhythmically, setting up currents that sweep the CSF along, and both the pulsation of arteries running through the subarachnoid space and physical activity are also thought to assist in moving CSF. The situation is similar to the muco-ciliary escalator in the lungs whereby ciliated cells lining the airways help to sweep mucus and debris out of the lungs up towards the throat.

Chris

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx

[davidh]

im 18 and recently i have had sp at least once in every month. when i was younger it would just be every now and then. the evil presence that some people write aboute for some reason stalks me when i am actually awake through the day. i feel the exact same way as i feel during sp, the only difference being that i have controll over my body. im sure there must be some1 else out there who constantly suffers with sp and has the same scary experiances when they are awake through the day

david.h

[gumby]

Hi Julia,
 I've been suffering from sleep paralysis since I was about 10 years old. I,ve spoken with many people about this,and everyone thinks I am crazy. I have these episodes on a daily basis.The best way I have come up with to end it is to relax completely,as fear and anxiety can make it even worse. When I am relaxed enough, I jerk myself awake. It works every time for me. I hope this will help others. The main thing that I had to teach myself, is that I will wake up,everything will be normal, and,that the fear is only fear.

[simeonie]

F.E.A.R - False expectations appearing real



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[finchbeak]

This is a fascinating thread; never heard of SP before.  [Of course, when I find myself having trouble moving upon waking up, I usually remember having had a bit too much scotch the night before - certainly not the same as SP ]  I will definitely check out Julia's article.
I vaguely recall learning about a neurological mechanism whereby the somatic nervous system is more or less shut down upon falling asleep.  This makes good adaptive sense as it prevents one from moving around very much while dreaming.  Of course, the shutdown is not complete (as can be observed by watching a sleeping dog "run" in her sleep) and I seem to recall that sleepwalking is essentially caused by a failure of the brain to perform this shutdown.  
Can anybody confirm or deny or correct or expand upon this recollection of mine?

[mightypai]

Hello Everybody,
I one of the SP senior, but before today I tought to be the alone.
No one would believe me when I was a kid.
It started when I was 12, I was in my mother's bed with a broken leg, and suddenly I couldn't move a finger nor lips, not even pronounce a word. I didn't really understood what was going on, then it happened to me many other times, and I really didn't know what was going on, some time go really baaad, with all the shadowing things in the room, pressure of something or somebody on the chest, and difficulties to breath. ****, it was really scary the first times. Even if I tried to fight with all my strengths I still kept beeing frozen. It always happens when I'm almost almost asleep, when it happens.
I think it happens to people who may be more mentally weak. I actually was, or in moments when you are very very tired mentally and phisically, and now that I've grown, I am 25 years old, it happens very seldom (thank god)
1 thing that may usually help me is to pray just before sleeping, maybe it just helps me mentally, but it works sometime.
And actually I also used to pray those times I froze, seconds that seem to last soooo damn long.
Now when it happens I try to fight whatever evil presence is there or looks to be there. Of course I may be scared, but I fight with all my unger and after praying god, I think to myself (because I cannot talk) "Come and Get Me! I 'll fight you Ass....e !"
Almost Everytime I can feel it coming, (just 1 sec. or less before) and I can avoid it by moving my body, but it's not really so easy, but when I did it, it's like to push away an evil presence/feeling.
Did any of you ever felt it coming ?
Another thing: if there was somebody sleeping with me who would push me or move me I'd unfreeze.
Bad for me that most of the times I was sleeping alone
Train your mind to be peacefull and strong, it will help !

[mightypai]

Hello Julia,
I read your article, very interesting, I have a question:
Why during SP do we have these really bad bad feelings of evil spirits, presences, breaths difficulties (we feel somebody on our chest and so on) ?

[coolgirl123]

Hi

This is my second post to this topic. Just yesterday i had another episode of SP and this time it was totally different from my previous episodes.
My previous assumption that this was related to stress is not true as yesterday i was not at all stressed.
Generally during these episodes i feel there is a stranger or a strange thing next to me, but yesterday i could clearly see that it was my dad entering the room. Though it was a familiar figure, i was still scared because i know my dad is out of town and cannot be at home.

In a sense the fear during SP is a fear that you know its not true yet you are seeing it, but can anyone answer why we experience breathlessness and why we cannot utter any words or call out to a person?

My mom says she also experiences these things, could this be heriditary?

[dutchgirl]

I read about SP in many different forums. Many of you believe that there actually is no presence in your room. I don't agree with that, and I'm not the only one. I believe that there really is something in my room. I guess most people dismiss the idea that there could be demons in their bedroom. But what if you're not dreaming? You have the idea you're fully away so why can't that be true? It's not imagination for far too many people suffer from SP.
Fortunately, I don't suffer from SP anymore. The thing that helped me was praying. You might be sceptical towards this but I won't hurt trying! Believe me, demons won't touch you when you pray.
For the ones who are religious or interested in the bible, here are some comforting scriptures: Psalms 25:20 "Do guard my soul and deliver me. May I not be ashamed, for I have taken refuge in you." and Proverbs 18:10 "The name of the LORD (or Yahweh or Jehovah, depends on the translation) is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe."