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Sleep paralysis - my experience

What causes that "start" when sometimes you are falling asleep and feel as though you fell off a pavement, or took a misstep?

Is this to do with autonomic reaction to stopped breathing -- sleep apnea?
 
I have had sleep disturbances going back to childhood, where I frequently sleep walkes, the last episode I rememebr was when I was eleven, and it was a dream fugue state that I could recall when I awokee.

Throughout much of my twenties and thirties I had frequent night terror, where I would awake and stare at a dark corner and be inconsolable and unresponsive. We lived on a busy street and at times I would awake in a dream state because of the noise of the street, suauly people talking, these would be weird hypogogic experiences, with bizzare content.
The most extreme case I have had of this half dream half awake case came later when I saw a spirit door in my room, I aroused in a dream state and there was this glowing door in my room.

Since I have had treatment for depression, left an abusive marriage, I no longer have night terrors. I am considering getting an evaluation for sleep apnoea.
 
Here's the part I don't understand. I cannot remember having any episodes like you folks have described, so I'm just talking out of my hat.

Sleep is a weird thing. Even if you don't have any obvious episodes of sleep paralysis, it's clear that falling asleep is a funny thing, dreams are odd, you wake up during the night for short periods, your body doesn't move even if you're dreaming of moving, people sleep talk and sleep walk, and so forth. So why would anyone except young children interpret sleep paralysis in a paranormal way? Isn't it clearly just an extension of the normal oddities of sleep? Why the jump to supernatural explanations?

~~ Paul
 
So far, I've only had one instance of sleep paralysis. I was in my junior year of college and I had woken up from a nightmare/night terror (Can't remember what it was about) and I felt the sensation of a weight on my chest. I didn't see anything that looked like an alien or demon or whatever. There was no way anyone or anything could have been in the room with me; I was in a rather small dorm room by myself with the door locked and the windows covered by heavy wire screens. I just layed there waiting for anything to happen (if it's an alien, I figured it had to shift its position at some point). After a while, I finally mustered up the courage to move my arms and yes, nothing was actually on my chest.
 
The Mighty Thor said:
What causes that "start" when sometimes you are falling asleep and feel as though you fell off a pavement, or took a misstep?

Is this to do with autonomic reaction to stopped breathing -- sleep apnea?
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I get these once a week or so. I consider them to be the opposite of sleep paralysis in that instead of being unable to move while awake I end up moving while asleep. What I've found is that sometimes while falling asleep, I'm thinking about moving around like walking or cooking. Then, for some reason, in my dream/thoughts I need to move quickly. This is translated by my half asleep brain as a real need to move which is sent to my body which moves in the way I was dreaming about. Feeling my body move when prior to this I was still causes a start and wakes me up.
 
Interesting.
Something weird happens to me on quite a regular basis when I wake up, often in the middle of the night. It's happened every few months ever since I can remember.

I have a dream in which my body is falling in a horizontal position and I'm facing upwards towards the sky, or sometimes I feel I'm sliding backwards down a steep hill. I then wake up feeling myself 'land' flatout on the bed facing up towards the ceiling. I feel as if I'm being spinned around on a turntable facing upwards towards the ceiling and I see all different flashing colours and if I don't immediately close my eyes and roll over onto my stomach and press my face down ino the pillow I feel very nauseous and usually vomit everywhere.

Is there a term for what I've just described ?
 
jambo372 said:
Interesting.
Something weird happens to me on quite a regular basis when I wake up, often in the middle of the night. It's happened every few months ever since I can remember.

I have a dream in which my body is falling in a horizontal position and I'm facing upwards towards the sky, or sometimes I feel I'm sliding backwards down a steep hill. I then wake up feeling myself 'land' flatout on the bed facing up towards the ceiling. I feel as if I'm being spinned around on a turntable facing upwards towards the ceiling and I see all different flashing colours and if I don't immediately close my eyes and roll over onto my stomach and press my face down ino the pillow I feel very nauseous and usually vomit everywhere.

Is there a term for what I've just described ?
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I get that when I drink some times
 
jambo372 said:
Is there a term for what I've just described ?
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"Weird".

The syptoms sound similar to migraine. But I've never quite heard of anything quite like this, I must admit.
 
jambo372 said:
Interesting.
Something weird happens to me on quite a regular basis when I wake up, often in the middle of the night. It's happened every few months ever since I can remember.

I have a dream in which my body is falling in a horizontal position and I'm facing upwards towards the sky, or sometimes I feel I'm sliding backwards down a steep hill. I then wake up feeling myself 'land' flatout on the bed facing up towards the ceiling. I feel as if I'm being spinned around on a turntable facing upwards towards the ceiling and I see all different flashing colours and if I don't immediately close my eyes and roll over onto my stomach and press my face down ino the pillow I feel very nauseous and usually vomit everywhere.

Is there a term for what I've just described ?
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Migrane or epilepsy. Or some problem with your inner ear. The fact that you throw up means you should probably ask your doctor about this.
 
I seem to be the only one here whose sleep paralysis experience was more of an succubus experience than an Old Hag, and more pleasant than frightening. Does that mean there's something deeply freudian wrong with me?

Edited: "incubus" -> "succubus"
 
There have been threads on this here before.

My experiences seem typical:- Disturbed sleep patterns (dozing after a work shift for example), wake up unable to move, sensation of a "presence", or of a weight pressing on me. Extreme fear. It all fades after a couple of minutes and I wake fully and can move normally.

First time was very, very frightening. Subsequent events much less so, because I recognise the phenomenon. (The fact that stroke victims describe similar paralysis is of course worrying as I get older, but stroke does not seem to have the associated sensation of presence or suffocation-the "unknown force" OB describes).
I suspect that force, or presence, is one's self- a normally integrated system which is operating as separate processes in this case. I think the phenomenon may give us a window into such matters as personality, consciousness and schizophrenia.

Jambo's experience sounds quite different to me. Frankly, it reminds me of "the whirlies", which we have all had on lying down after taking too much alcohol- an inner ear / balance problem. Assuming alcohol or drugs are not implicated, I would suggest that if it gets worse or more frequent, a doctor should be consulted.

Any growth spurts in the last year or two, Jambo? Remember teenaged nervous systems are often changing at an incredible rate to cope with body growth. It can have wierd effects. You literally change from day to day. Great fun. Once was fine, thanks.
 
Only on one occasion that it happened had I been drinking.

Can you get migraine without the headache ?

Don't think it's anything to do with age - it's happened every few months for my whole life.

If it had something to do with my inner ear why would it happen only once every few months ? Same with epilepsy - I've known epileptics and it looks nothing like it.
 
jambo372 said:
Interesting.
Something weird happens to me on quite a regular basis when I wake up, often in the middle of the night. It's happened every few months ever since I can remember.

I have a dream in which my body is falling in a horizontal position and I'm facing upwards towards the sky, or sometimes I feel I'm sliding backwards down a steep hill. I then wake up feeling myself 'land' flatout on the bed facing up towards the ceiling. I feel as if I'm being spinned around on a turntable facing upwards towards the ceiling and I see all different flashing colours and if I don't immediately close my eyes and roll over onto my stomach and press my face down ino the pillow I feel very nauseous and usually vomit everywhere.

Is there a term for what I've just described ?
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This is really disturbing, jambo. Have you ever told ANYONE about this -- even your parents? I suffer from migraine and you can get the flashing lights (the aura) and nausea without the headache. But I don't think you would get these without the headache ALL the time, although I may be wrong.

No matter what, something very unusual is going on, and you really must see your GP and describe these symptoms to him. If he says it IS migraine, the good news is that they have pills that can virtually eradicate the attacks.

There's been a lot of banter here, and you say you don't like us -- that's fine. But with all the visual problems you are having, you really need to see a proper doctor. He/she WILL listen to you. If you feel you might get flustered --

WRITE THE SYMPTONS DOWN ON A BIT OF PAPER and read from it when the doc asks what's wrong.

Forget about all the "hole in the eye" stuff. What have you got to lose by having a checkup? Why suffer these uncomfortable attacks, when here might be an easy remedy?
 
Originally posted by Paul C. Anagnostopoulos Sleep is a weird thing. Even if you don't have any obvious episodes of sleep paralysis, it's clear that falling asleep is a funny thing, dreams are odd, you wake up during the night for short periods, your body doesn't move even if you're dreaming of moving, people sleep talk and sleep walk, and so forth. So why would anyone except young children interpret sleep paralysis in a paranormal way? Isn't it clearly just an extension of the normal oddities of sleep? Why the jump to supernatural explanations?
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For some (myself included) the terror and hallucinations involved feel, for lack of a better term, paranormal.

It's like the brain turns its fear setting into overdrive. It's a very real emotion and the only visable cause seems to be this hallucination of this fairy/angel/demon/alien/whatever you are seeing...

I could not believe that it -wasn't- an alien abduction until someone showed me just how such a hallucination could occur and provoke such an emotion, and experienced it myself to prove - to myself - that it was indeed a hallucination.
 
Some seizures can result in nausea, dizziness, even uncontrolable vomiting, and warnings or indicators can include things like a smell that isn't there or seeing flashing colors. And the inner ear can go nuts if you drink too much, spend too much time moving around, or just plain get dehydrated. Lots of things can give you that whirling feeling you describe, I don't know them all, it's not my area of expertise.

However, it's hard to tell from what you describe, and you may be imbellishing for all I know. Just because it happened while you were asleep does not necessarily mean it was sleep triggered. I really suggest you pay attention to your symptoms if it happens again, and tell a doctor (and be honest). A doctor is more able to treat your problem than a bunch of posters on the internet, and I take it you don't want to vomit uncontrolably every few months. Even if there is nothing wrong with you, there is really no harm in seeing a professional.
 
I've had just the one sleep paralysis event, when I was a student. I had been given to reading a pile of ghost and paranormal stories that had been left in the basement of the house we had moved into. Although I was moderately sceptical at the time, they were vivid enough to give me unpleasant dreams. One morning, I awoke before dawn, convinced that a vampire, or something supernatural was coming into my room. I thought I was still asleep, so I had to awake, to warn the others, or make my own escape, or something.

Yet I couldn't move. I had no feeling of something grabbing hold of me or smothering me, yet I knew I had to get up and move, I simply had to. It felt like I was yelling inside my head to force my legs to move. After a short while, the sensation passed entirely and I was fully awake. No-one else in the house commented that they had heard anything that morning, so I suppose the yelling had been entirely inside my head.

It is curious that there is often a 'supernatural' element to these sleep paralysis events.
 
Hi there! My first post! This thread is so interesting...

I have been lurking here for a while - it's such a great forum - this discussion made me really want to join in.

I have the experience someone else described - I think I HAVE woken up and started the day. It is so vivid, get dressed, brush teeth etc, go downstairs... then I'm back in bed trying to wake up... get dressed, brush teeth ect.

The whole cycle can repeat as many as about ten times. It is accompanied by a feeling of increasing desperation because I know I am in the loop. Very frightening. I find that I have to concentrate and make my hands or feet move to physically jerk myself out of the dream. I guess it is sleep paralysis. I am an insomniac writer so bad sleep patterns do not help.

Jambo - I think what you described is very likely to be migraine - with an occular content. I agree you should get this checked by your doctor - why suffer if you don't have to? - I would also go to an opthalmic optician. Do you see flashing lights which look like neon strips?

Good to be here!
DeVega
 
Re: Hi there! My first post! This thread is so interesting...

DeVega said:
I have been lurking here for a while - it's such a great forum - this discussion made me really want to join in.

I have the experience someone else described - I think I HAVE woken up and started the day. It is so vivid, get dressed, brush teeth etc, go downstairs... then I'm back in bed trying to wake up... get dressed, brush teeth ect.

The whole cycle can repeat as many as about ten times. It is accompanied by a feeling of increasing desperation because I know I am in the loop. Very frightening. I find that I have to concentrate and make my hands or feet move to physically jerk myself out of the dream. I guess it is sleep paralysis. I am an insomniac writer so bad sleep patterns do not help.

Jambo - I think what you described is very likely to be migraine - with an occular content. I agree you should get this checked by your doctor - why suffer if you don't have to? - I would also go to an opthalmic optician. Do you see flashing lights which look like neon strips?

Good to be here!
DeVega
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Welcome DeVega. Glad you came out of the lurker's closet.

That loop is really weird and it seems that quite a lot of people have had it. Does the good old advice to "pinch yourself hard in the dream" break the cycle quickly?
 
I always used to get sleep-paralyzed on airplanes. I had to fly from Baltimore to Cincinnati every Monday morning at 5AM. I'd fall asleep before the plane even took off, but I'd go into sleep paralysis around the time when the plane was preparing to land. I remember hearing the pilot telling us we were preparing to land, and I was scared as hell that I wouldn't be able to wake up and get off the plane.

This happened to me just about every week on the plane...but other than that, I can only remember having sleep paralysis once or twice in my own bed.
 
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