Sleep Paralysis

[Jary08]

Hi all. Ive never thought about posting on this site about SP but i was on another forum and someone brought it up and so i thought i would ask about it here.

Ive had this on several occasions and although its not severe i would like some advice on how to help prevent it. It terrifies me every time and when it happens im afraid to sleep for a few days incase it happens again. When ive had it in the past i dream of something horrific and i force myself awake or just wake up but still sleepy so as soon as i close my eyes im back in the dream and then it becomes lucid because im then aware im dreaming. But the last major nightmare/attack i had i actually hallucinated when i woke. i saw a goblin of some sorts on my bed when i opened my eyes. Im worried it could start to get worse now and there are times where i wake up and im ok but as soon as i close my eyes again my body shuts down in an instant and so i have to force myself out of it...and anyone who gets it will know its an awful feeling trying to do something your body does not want to do yet.

So any advice really and who else gets it?

[Jary08]

Thanks guys..its good to know theres others who have had the same scary experiences.


I remember reading that your body does become paralysed in unconsiousness before...in like stage 4 of REM sleep.

Even tho i know its all psychological it still scares the cr** out of me...maybe its because i am spiritual and what i see convinces me more that theres other worlds we do not know about....mainly tho its the fact i cannot move that gets me in a panic...even the goblin wasnt as scay as the paralysis.....in fact he was cute compared to that awful feeling lol

[scarlet37]

I have SP too. It is very scary when it first starts happening especially when you have the Vivid Dreams ( hallucinations) along with it. I have Narcolepsy so this is pretty common for me.

Like MJ said -  SP is related to REM sleep - normally during REM your body is paralyzed but sometimes the switches get mixed up and your brain is awake but body still in REM state.

I've learned to just let it ride and like MJ i recite the lords prayer in my head over and over and before i know it i've fallen asleep again.

Things that increase my SP are stress, stress, and more stress!!!! So if i've had a really bad day i try to unwind by reading a book, writing in my journal, even exercise helps. Anything to unwind my mind.

[MJIthewriter]

Like my mom said, I used to get it and be really frightened of it.  But at some point I started looking up on the internet, found out about sleep paralysis and read up whatever articles I could find.

The ones I found most reassuring where the articles that had a scientific/medical base and left out the supernatural element.  Also I learned the parlysis part is natural when the body gets into REM mode. What isn't quite natural is that you are awake durring that REM stage. That's why you may get hallucinations in that time.  Your body is trying to dream, but the difference is being awake.  Though terrifying, it's only a dream and the stuff is not real. Somehow that took a lot of the fear out of it for me.  When I get episodes I don't have the same feeling of terror I had.  Rather I get bothered because I find the vibrating sensations uncomfortable and I can't get any sleep. It will happen in rapid succession and sometimes I feel like I may not be breathing right.

As far as prevention goes I've found not forcing myself to sleep if I don't feel tired, changes in sleep routine can trigger it, and stress.  Another thing I notice is I'll hear just a slight difference in sound as I am drifting off to sleep. it's hard to describe, but if I notice that, I can be somewhat sure I will have an episode that night.  In that case if it doesn happen I wake up fully, stay awake for about 15 minutes or so before trying to sleep again.  It seems the waking up completely and getting out of bed is important. Otherwise the body seems to keep trying to jump into REM mode.

[Mjthewritermom]

I have lived with night terrors off & on for many years.  I used to think I would die from fright eventually.  At this point in my life I have set it aside because there were no answers.  I was given a diagnose of PSTD near 10 years ago.  The psychologist thought that I had suffered trauma from abuse.  That seemed to be as good of an answer as any.  At one point I thought it was demonic.  All I knew is that it seemed so real and I would keep the lights on.  I had the sleep paralysis also where I was trying to move but could not and trying to say, "Help" but the words would not come out.  It was frightening.  I would often recite the Lord's prayer.  

My daughter though has also had the paralysis in her sleep, so not sure if it is PSTD associated alone as she did not have the abusive childhood I did.  This probably doesn't answer anything for you, but hopefully knowing you are not alone will help to some degree.