sleep paralysis

[TheLimit]

Has anyone had this?  Its right before you fall asleep or right when you wake up, you can't move, speak or do anything!  It is really scary, I'm 17 female and have had this a few times.  I'm afraid of them but my boyfriend thinks im just dreaming.  Had anyone had this, tell me your experiences.

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hello.

Your symptoms are those of Sleep Paralysis.

The sleep consists of grossly two phases, the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) phase and the Non-REM phase. It is a natural phenomenon to be paralysed in the REM phase.

What happens in the sleep paralysis is that while arousal system has brought you out of the REM phase, your body still is paralysed. This is the short phase of time when one gets dreams of being paralysed. Some people see themselves lying on the railway track with the train approaching, but can't move a muscle. There are experiences of being paralyzed while one can see and hear the surrounding.

This is definitely not something made up by your mind. It has a scientific basis to it.

There are all the chances that you will grow out of it. Just identify if you have any stresses currently.

You can also take medicines for it if it is too disturbing.

Regards

[Beakaldo]

Hey,

I used to get them when I was 21-24 but they stopped.  I saw all sorts that scared the life out of me, but then it just stopped.
I found that wearing a sleep mask stopped me seeing things, not sure how it works!
The strange thing was that I would have a different 'experience' in different houses.  My own theory is that there is a trigger in our brains that causes us to tune into something that we aren't meant to or don't understand.  Of course on here you will be told its just the mind making it up but having experienced it I am not convinced.
Now I get non paralysis hallucinations just at the point of falling asleep and I often find myself talking to someone but I can never remember who when I properly wake up.
Don't worry about it though, you are not alone, there are millions who suffer with it.  You just need to accept that you won't come to any harm and try and relax during the episode.  Hopefully then you will just drift off into a proper sleep.

[mrcholmondlywarner]

hi

yes i have had this for quite a while.

i am lucky it only happens a few times a year. always on my back and always just before my normal wake-up time.

i can see but not hear and i am unable to breathe.  i have kind of gotten used to it. sometimes i can wake/start breathing by concentrating hard on exhaling. which leads me to believe that it is connected in my case to the sleep apnea which i have also had for quite a while.

i thought that my experience was pretty bad though looking through this and other forums there seem to be many more severe variants

MCW