Have you ever experienced Sleep Paralysis?

[ChristineR]

A couple of years ago someone asked about sleep paralysis on a different bulletin board and I was surprised to learn that I was the only one (other than the frightened person who started the thread) who had much experience with it. I hadn't though that the typical person has had thousands of episodes (as have I) but I was surprised at how rare it was.

 

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

I have to confirm that. The only sleep paralysis I have ever had is not wanting to get out of bed in the morning. At least, as far as I can remember.

 

[JoeEllison]

I've had it quite a few times. No biggie.

 

[IMST]

I used to get it all the time as a kid, but that stopped completely for probably 15+ years until this week, when I had it once (surprise). It never really freaked me out, nor did I have the waking dreams I've heard descibed with it.

 

[Elizabeth I]

I have had it happen exactly once and it was scary. Like all the nightmares in the world when you try to yell and nothing comes out. Didn't like it. Nope. Uh-uh.

 

[apathoid]

A couple of years ago someone asked about sleep paralysis on a different bulletin board and I was surprised to learn that I was the only one (other than the frightened person who started the thread) who had much experience with it. I hadn't though that the typical person has had thousands of episodes (as have I) but I was surprised at how rare it was.

I haven't had as many episodes as you, possibly hundreds - but not thousands. So I guess I'm one of the rare regular "sufferers" of the condition. As sleeping disorders go, it's a good one to have as it's quite harmless, IMO. It can be disturbing the first few times, but for veterans - an episode is really a non-event. I'm just glad I'm not a sufferer of sleepwalking or night terrors. I actually find SP experiences to be pleasureable and will often to to trigger an episode on purpose.

Of everyone I've ever asked about it, only one or two people vaguely remember something like I described.

 

[ChristineR]

I used to find them very scary, but eventually I taught myself to realize that if I was flying I was asleep. Then for a long time I found myself saying I'm not flying. I'm gliding. Eventually I learned that if my toes were even an inch off the ground I was still asleep.

 

[Horatius]

I had one event a few years back when I was staying at my brother's place. I did have a dream that my brother was wrestling with me, which was "why I couldn't move" (he had me pinned), but it wasn't scary, just very weird, as I'm sure I could take my brother in a fair fight . Once I finally woke up properly, I knew what had happened from reading about it on sites like this one.

 

[parrotslave]

It was terrifying the first time it happened.

A television documentary on sleep clued me into what I had experienced and now when it happens I just relax until it passes.

 

[Ryokan]

I've had it twice, no maybe about it. It was accompanied by terrible hallucinations, and were, without a doubt, the most frightening thing I've ever experienced. The episodes were just two or three days apart, and I didn't sleep much for weeks afterwards. Even now, almost two years later, just thinking about it totally creeps me out.

 

[timebomb]

I experienced sleep paralysis on many occasions when I was a young man in my early twenties. Then, I was in the army and I'm quite sure how sleep paralysis comes about. For me at least, it's the feeling of insecurity that triggers it. My barracks then was largely unoccupied and besides me, there were only 2 other soldiers. The nights used to be warm so I often re-positioned my bed by pulling it into the middle of the barrack, directly under the ceiling fan. And every time I did that, I would wake up in the middle of the night in a frozen state. I didn't hallucinate though but I often heard loud noises, like there were many people running around. I do believe the fact that my bed wasn't against a wall (like it normally should) was the factor that triggered my sleep-paralysis. Without a back-up, so to speak, my sub-conscious mind must have felt very unsafe.

Over here in Singapore, sleep-paralysis is known as "being pressed by a ghost". But no, I didn't see any ghosts.

 

[Ryokan]

Over here in Singapore, sleep-paralysis is known as "being pressed by a ghost". But no, I didn't see any ghosts.

The usual hallucination is that of something horrible lying on top of you, so I can understand that name for it.

 

[tuc0]

I actually had to look up what it means. Never had it, and it sounds like something I don't want to experience. Well... maybe once just so that I know what the cool people are talking about.

 

[timebomb]

The usual hallucination is that of something horrible lying on top of you, so I can understand that name for it.

Besides that, the feeling of insecurity often comes about when one sleeps in an unfamiliar place. Here in Singapore, I know many friends and relatives who have experienced sleep paralysis and invariably, they got it when they were sleeping in a hotel, a hospital or over at a friend's house. So it's kind of natural that they will assume it's got something to do with ghosts. After all, if your own house is haunted, you would probably know about it but not when it's someone else's.

Many years ago, I remember having a discussion about sleep-paralysis with some friends. And one of them said that when sleep-paralysis strikes, you won't be able to move one little finger. The others were incredulous. "How can it be" they asked, "that you can't even move your little pinkie?" They turned to me for the answer but although I've experienced it many times, it had never occurred to me before then to find out if I could move my little finger. I only knew my whole body would be completely frozen and it would take a while for the feeling to pass.

A few days after having that conversation, I had an attack of sleep-paralysis. And even in my frozen state then, I recalled what my friends said. So I tried. And you know what? My friend was right. You won't be able to move your little finger at all, not even a tiny twitch.

 

[Beady]

Once, it was cockroaches crawling all over me although, given where I lived at the time, it could have been for real. Mostly, I lie there knowing what's going on and trying mightily to wake myself up.

 

[Arthur ASCII]

It's only happened to me once, fortunately. Not a pleasant experience at all. The worst aspect, for me, was the feeling that I wasn't breathing and I eventually came out of it screaming (scaring the wife quite badly in the process).

Almost as scary was the first time my seven year old daughter woke with night terrors. She's had them around once a month on average since then, but the terrified behaviour coupled with the look on her face still hurts me every time I see it. She never remembers a thing about it after the event though, which has to be a good thing.

Arthur

 

[sophia8]

I haven't had as many episodes as you, possibly hundreds - but not thousands. So I guess I'm one of the rare regular "sufferers" of the condition. As sleeping disorders go, it's a good one to have as it's quite harmless, IMO. It can be disturbing the first few times, but for veterans - an episode is really a non-event. I'm just glad I'm not a sufferer of sleepwalking or night terrors. I actually find SP experiences to be pleasureable and will often to to trigger an episode on purpose.

I'm much the same - I've had hundreds of them, although they seemed to stop around five or six years ago.
They started when I was around 14 and were frighteningly intense - a couple of times I had the impression that some invisible (male) being was actually lying on top of me and raping me; other times, I'd see giant spiders running down the walls, hear people talking in nonsense languages, that sort of stuff. Luckily, I went to the library and read through the medical books until I found a description and explanation. It was extremely reassuring to know that it was a harmless condition that quite a lot of people experienced, and not something paranormal or diabolic; I actually got to enjoying them to some degree.
It's so obvious that sleep paralysis is the cause of UFO abduction stories, ghosts and the like;I wish the condition was much more widely known about.

 

[Big Les]

I also got them in my late teens/early twenties, and haven't had them for nearly five years (I'm 28). Timebomb's assessment that insecurity plays a large part tallies with my experience - my worst episode was actually a combined sleep paralysis/night terror/lucid dream wherein I woke up trying to scream and unable to move, with a sensed presence just out of sight, and then again later on with a giant non-existent hole in the ceiling with something seething within.

I had just moved into a temporary rented flat hundreds of miles from home, to start my first career job.

 

[u04tl2]

I've had sleep paralysis quite a few times. Common for all times is that I felt as someone was in the room, (I've even woken up and asked my next door neighbour if he just went in to my room). Most recently I had it a couple of days ago. Again felt as if someone was in the room although when I woke up the house was empty. Not a very nice experience, felt close to a nightmare.

 

[ChristineR]

Hey, look at all the brand new posters who are interested in sleep paralysis! Welcome timebomb, tuc0, Arthur_ASCII and u04tl2!

I concur with the idea that it got better as I got older. But a large part of this may just be that I developed the intellectual maturity to recognize it and realize that it isn't a huge problem. It's very scary when it's happening, but after it's over if you understand what it was you feel better.

Most of the hallucinations are a result of the disconnect between what you are doing and what you think you are doing. That is, you just told your body to get up and run, and then you realize that you're still lying on the bed and then your guts decide to rumble just then...not fun.