[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?