Do you get sleep paralysis (wake up paralyzed; brain awake, body asleep)?

Oh my god, I used to get that all the time. It was the most terrifying thing and always happened right after a bad dream. One time I woke up and couldn't move, and I could see what was in front of me, but I couldn't see my bedside for some reason--only the wall in front of me. I swear I felt my great grandmother's presence there next to me comforting me, even though I couldn't see anything where I felt her. It was the neatest thing. I'm not religious but I'm spiritual, and that experience always sticks out to me. Anyway, sleep paralysis is terrifying and I'm glad I don't experience it anymore. *knock on wood*

 

If I stop taking my meds it can happen, I'll wake up from a dream where i'm drowning and lay there for ten or so seconds unable to breathe or move. Sometimes I'll see water; but it's not something I can stop myself from being terrified of. I'm just waking up from something terrifying and getting more terrified from being paralyzed and "air drowning".

I cope by not sleeping for as long as possible lol.

 

I've had this happen a good number of times, being in that state between waking and dreams, generally of an anxious/fearful nature, and knowing I'm (half) asleep, but unable to wake up and/or move.

I also have bad insomnia, and a lot pf anxiety...so it can take me ages to fall asleep, and then, I tend to be haunted by dreams, often of an anxious sort; the car is breaking down, my teeth are falling out, I've killed somebody or committed some or other crime, and am getting arrested, I am in a house, and certain floors are 'evil' and I must not go to them, though I do, and generally, nothing happens, but an overwhelming feeling of terror come over me and that smell of a dead mouse/animal, the smell of long closed rooms, decay. Does anyone else have smell in their dreams? It's almost always scary.

I have to sleep with a fan on, for a steady background state. We live right by the North-South Amtrak train tracks, but I've even got used to that; the train whistles are rather pleasant, soothing even. But I find other noises very jarring; the TV being on, especially noises like explosions, guns and such in movies. I can't really even watch overly violent/macho movies.

I've been diagnosed with varying degrees of what is called 'sensory processing disorder'...it's like the volume knob of my incoming senses in my brain is turned up too far, and the incoming stimuli, especially sound/touch are 'exaggerated'. And my sense of balance/nervous system coordination is also very, very skewed, and doesn't seem to match reality very well. I've always been very clumsy, always the worst kid in gym, like my body is just not wired for hitting balls, and so many other things. It just fails to respond, despite trying. I think these sensory issues also affects my sleep, though it's hard to say what would help. It's as if my senses are 'over-active'.

 

where im from, this is called "the hag". you wake up, can't move, can't breath because there is an old woman (a hag) sitting on your chest. if you can move she goes away and if you can scare her, as she is scaring you ( that is her power, the more she terrifies you the stronger she gets. sort of like she's feeding on your fear), she goes away. that's the legend as it was told to me, i used to get it all the time. especially after a near death experience as a kid. i found if i could move something, a toe, a finger anything i was ok, but then one night i couldn't move anything and i got real scared then i got mad and tried to grab her she went away and i didn't see her for years, but then she shows up every now and then and i still try to strangle her. i figure if she's trying to stop me from breathing i may as well return the favour.:lol:

 

I used to when younger. I woke up and couldn't move, then I floated away of my body and could see myself on the bed from above. I then moved unwillingly through my house or the neighborhood. I once saw my brother walking back home some blocks away, then I was sort of sucked by a street light and when I "fell" into it, it burnt with a little explosion, but I returned instantly to my body and really woke up. The next day my brother told us that a spark from the burning light almost fell on his head (knowing him, he was probably exaggerating) but I was afraid of saying anything at all.

 

That used to happen to me a bunch, but fortunately it hasn't happened recently. It was terrifying.

 

I've had this before. If I'm lucky I get to listen to beautiful music instead of encountering evil spirits.

 

I've experienced it once that I can clearly remember, and it was very frightening. I was dreaming/imagining(sensing?!) that aliens were in the room at the head of my bed, and I could hear a metallic humming noise. I was desperately trying to move and wake up, but I couldn't for a minute there. It was a terrifying dream, at least I hope it was a dream! :eek: :icon_bigg

 

Recently I've suffered from sleep paralysis and hypnogogic hallucinations as a result of benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome. Before that, it never happened in my life.

The first time it happened it scared the hell out of me, and I woke up trembling with panic and had to take meds to calm down my shakes. It was terrifying.

For me, basically what happens is that I lay awake most of the night, I finally fall asleep and then after sleeping maybe a half-hour or so, my brain wakes up, my dream deceives me and makes me think I have awakened to my room, but I can't move my body, I struggle to move my muscles but I am paralyzed, I feel like I am convulsing.


The first time it happened, I had been up all night, I fell asleep around 5 am, then I found myself in the most vivid nightmare ever, it was so loud and dark and terrifying, I remember this relentless terrible deep pounding sound and blackness, then I "woke up" and I hallucinated that there were electric shocks all around me in my room, emanating from the evil demonic humidifier running on my bedside table. The sound and sensation of electricity all around me was, well, shocking, it was earsplitting, the worst noise I've ever experienced. After struggling for the life of me against my body (it probably only lasts a few seconds, but feels like forever when you're in it), I suddenly wake up for real, like waking up out of a trance.

I only got 30 minutes of sleep that night, I was too frightened to go back to sleep.

The past week, as I've been tapering down my dosage, it happened twice. One time I thought I had woken up in my room, but my room was filled with fog and I couldn't see anything, except for an electric fan that appeared to be levitating in front of me in my room. Freaking bizarre.

But my brain really is evil, it always creates a virtual version of my real room and makes me think I've actually woken up to my room and really am paralyzed, my muscles convulsing, fearing that I'm having a seizure.

The first time it happened I really couldn't say for sure whether I did wake up and experience real hallucinations and electric shocks, or if it was all just part of the dream and sleep paralysis. At the time I thought I really did wake up and experience muscle convulsing, paralysis, and hallucinations. But after having similar experiences since then, I've concluded that it was sleep paralysis and hypnogogic hallucinations.

They've gotten less scary since my rational mind knows I've been through them before and I know I will soon wake up out of them.

But I've always had oneirophobia (fear of dreams) even before these sleep paralysis experiences, I've always been afraid to go to sleep because of the crazy dreams I will have, now fearing I will have one of these extra-horrifying experiences makes it even harder to fall asleep.

---------- Post added 21st Apr 2014 at 12:50 AM ----------

Ugh, I really hope your post didn't give my brain any ideas, I've been fortunate to not have had any "hag" sitting on me during my sleep paralysis episodes. :help:

 

I did post somewhere else on the forum about this at the beginning of the year.
I do still get this very often, and I usually let my brain go back to sleep as that's the best way to cope with it. The first few times I tried returning to sleep, I'd force myself awake as it felt like I'd die if I didn't fight it. But I'm still here so.....

If any of you are interested in finding out more about SP, nocturnal paralysis or catalepsy as it's sometimes called, I suggest you read "The Projection Of The Astral Body" by Sylvan Muldoon. He was from Wisconsin and it is a very good read, and takes away any lingering fear you may have about the experience in the future.

Even though I don't believe in god at all, there is something comforting in the subject of Astral Projection, and Muldoons' book is well worth a look.

 

Occasionally, but I don't hallucinate like that, at least not while I'm in it. At that time everything feels real, and I only have difficulty telling reality from imagination when I try to recall what happened later.
I ended up staying up half the night and that worked.

 

I have never ever had one ^.^

 

yeahh but it's very rare I thought I was just having a really really bad dream but then I realized maybe it was just that paralysis thing. This kinda sleep really is a bit dangerous cause if you'll get panic and exhausting thinking you might not gonna wake up. It's a weird feeling and scary. They said the reason behind this is because of stress/depressed. I don't know if it's true but I guess it has somehow something to do with it.

 

It has happened sometimes... Actually I tend to wake up in weird ways like that, and I now find it almost fun, as I know what's happening.
Never had hallucinations, though...

 

It's never happened to me but I feel really sorry for anyone who has/is suffering from it

 

I used to get this relatively often and it is no fun at all. Luckily I haven't had exactly 'demons' and such after me but I guess it varies what gets to you and could easily mess with any fears you might have.

By that I mean that plenty of mine tend(ed) to be really terrifying because they revolve around my huge dislike of feeling like I'm being watched.

I'm surprised nobody has yet mentioned not being able to make a sound(or so it seems). When I'm having one of these moments, it's like I have an extreme case of laryngitis and can't scream or anything really; like I'm just on the verge of losing my voice completely and my words come out as faint pants.

One that I really remember was one night back at home, back in high school. I remember (seemingly?) waking up, but I wasn't able to move and that's when I started to freak out. Next to a shelf in the corner of my (actual) room was a window that this small tree kind of blocked light from. I remember trying to calm down until I looked over to that window. Within the faint moonlight that was shining through, I could just make out what seemed to be some guy/person/thing in all black standing there, the darkness veiling most of where there face should've been(moonlight was at an angle that hit from their neck area and down). I got scared and tried to yell for someone but, as I said above, I could get next to no sound out. I tried closing my eyes for a few seconds to believe nothing was there and each time I reopened them, whomever they were seemed slightly closer. What made it even worse was that I didn't hear much of any creepy noise; it was that extremely eerie kind of quietness.

When I finally got out of it(and 'got my voice back'), I was yelling for my mom and brother constantly.

I still get this kind of thing on occasion but I've been able to lower it by a lot by what you said, by trying to make sure I am laying on my side. If I forget and end up in one, I try to calm down and 'get movement' by focusing on wiggling/moving my fingers and work my way to my hands, etc. I never found that anywhere though, originally, so it was a trial and error sort of thing. Too bad they still sometimes get the better of me because of that damn creepy 'being watched' feeling.

When I first tried to look up if there was anything about it, one of the first things I found was about 'the hag' or the witch riding your back or whatever.