Sleep Paralysis stories

[Frank Merton]

Id normally agree but she thinks she has sleep paralysis, thats something that should be looked into

Well yes see a neurologist.

[crimson089]

ugh I had to google Hypochondriac lol.

and yes, medical opinions or treatments are very costly. Even if I had complete night sleep I would still be extremely sleepy on daytime. I already saw a neurologist but not a sleep doctor and his procedure was a ct scan and there weren't any abnormal findings

[Frank Merton]

A reputable "sleep doctor" would not be able to do anything more. A disreputable one would have you coming back week after week to milk you of as much money as possible. At least that's my hard-nosed opinion.

[Skep B]

A Neurologist is going to be able to tell you whats going on with your brain more than any sleep doctor you go to, Again, talking to a decent MD should put you on the right path

Edited October 8, 2013 by SkepticalB

[crimson089]

A reputable "sleep doctor" would not be able to do anything more. A disreputable one would have you coming back week after week to milk you of as much money as possible. At least that's my hard-nosed opinion.

omg that's ridiculous, and I just lost my health card X___X

[Emeraldgemheart]

Maybe I saw this "slenderman" in one of my hypnagogic hallucinations. The guy I saw looked normal but had dark hair and a black t-shirt. He looked like Johnny Ramone of the Ramones.

Slenderman doesn't have hair... and he wears a black suit... http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=moz35&va=slender+man there you go, just something to inform you about him.

[JacquelynS]

I've never been on this type of website before. But, these stories are very interesting.

I'm posting, hoping to gather more information on what others might think on this topic.

My first SP experience was almost a year ago. My boyfriend and I had fallen asleep. Nothing irregular had happened before falling asleep. Around 3, I woke up. When I woke up, I realized I was in a bit of an uncomfortable position. And then, all of a sudden, I felt this overwhelming feeling. Like something was coming toward me. I thought for a split second that I was maybe dreaming. So I tried to move. When I tried to move and sit up, my whole body was heavy. I started panicking a little bit and shifted my eyes to my boyfriend who was still laying motionless beside me. He hadn't been woken by anything strange. As I was looking around, I felt that awful presence getting stronger. And I saw a dark shadow above my bed. My vision was shaking, almost as if I was having a seizure. My ears were filled with nothing but a vibrating/ringing noise. And then I really started panicking. I thought, if I could just wake my boyfriend up, maybe he could shake me out of this. Maybe he could see what I was seeing. I tried and tried to say his name or just something to wake him up. I couldn't even grunt! And I after what had felt like an hour(probably only a minute or so), I finally got one of my arms to fall on him and hit him hard enough to wake him up. He sat up and looked at me. Realized something was wrong as I probably looked dead still. He shook me. And yelled my name a few times. As soon as I snapped out of it, I just played there. I felt extremely drained. And then terrified to go back to sleep.

So instead, i started researching. I found two possibilities of what I thought could have happened. The first, and most logical, was "sleep paralysis". Before this experience, I had no idea things like this even happened.

The second, and probably least logical thing, is called "astral traveling" or "astral projection". I guess this is most associated with out-if-body experiences and lucid dreaming but also has a spiritual side to it. They say this type of thing happens when your spirit is visiting someone else or is somewhere else other than your body when you awake. And when you wake up, all of these things I described occur while your body is waiting for your spirit to return to your body. It is said to be dangerous because while your body is vacant of your spirit, it gives other spirits, sometimes evil spirits, a chance to step in. This is where the "demonic presences" come from while it's happening.

So, with that being said, what does anyone who has experienced anything like this think about the two?

[crimson089]

hmm I can best consider lucid dreaming as I'm pretty confident I'm just dreaming and inside my dream I'm paralyzed which happens consistently to be assumed as a coincidence. But astral travel? like that of Insidious movie? I never thought of sleep paralysis leading to astral projection? And it sounds scary to me, I wouldn't want any of it. In my case I haven't seen in my dream or experienced any of my sleep paralysis standing infront of myself. If it was true or not in your case, there should be a new thread open for discussion in this forums for astral travelling.

[Donnie Darko]

Just had one experience..scary..the creature was holding my hands together as I tried desperately to pull apart. I was struggling very much and finally called out, "Lord Jesus Hel..." before I was able to ask for help, I felt it let me go. This one was frightening because between it I kept seeing a swinging skull necklace and a skull ring. In that dream I kept putting it on and then off as if afraid of what it represented. I prayed just now, but I'm scared to fall asleep again...oy!

[shug]

So, with that being said, what does anyone who has experienced anything like this think about the two?

That's a terrifying thought but interesting.

I have definitely been convinced I've had a couple of out of body experiences but with time I've just accepted them to be hallucinations.

Nothing too major but that time I sat up (story on page 13) I was so sure that I was awake but just unable to breathe.

Then quick as a flash when I took a breath I realised I was still lying down covered with my arms by my side under the duvet.

The reason it felt so real was because when I looked over the end of my bed afterwards it was exactly as I saw when I sat up during the attack - every detail was correct.

Obviously I had seen what was in my room many times and knew where everything was and it could have just been a memory but it felt 100% real.

I was in floods of tears and had to put the lights on and play music to distract me from what I had just experienced.

I've read here that a few people relax and just go with it.

I've thought about that but I can't and won't do it because I have this overwhelming feeling that I am going to die if I don't fight it.

When I get the attacks now I no longer see or hear people in my room.

I get a nightmare that I wake up from then realise I can't move or breathe and it only lasts a few seconds before I am out of it.

Plus my husband now knows how to deal with it - he calls my name softly to wake me from the nightmare/SP attach and then cuddles me when I'm awake and upset. I probably should have told him when we first got together but i'd forgotten about it and when I had one when he was there I scared the **** out of him!

[scowl]

A Neurologist is going to be able to tell you whats going on with your brain more than any sleep doctor you go to,

My "sleep doctor" is a neurologist as are most.

He's never been able to tell me what's going on with my brain. Sleep disorders (except for obvious ones like apnea) are still a mystery to medical science.

[Skep B]

Thats not entirely true, they're known now to be a misfire of synapsees in the brain during a particular part of the REM cycle, specifically when you're generally at your lightest sleeping point.

It's not exactly perfect, but its a place to start with.

I got nothing for your doc though. Have you had anyone else look into it? like a second opinion deal?

[JacquelynS]

Lucid dreaming, to me, is a bit more of a pleasant experience. I have done my own experimenting with that. And that's more in the category of controlling your own dreams and what you are able to do in them.

With the idea of astral traveling, from what I have gathered anyway, is that it may or may not be something we can control. But more of something that happens to us all while we are sleeping. And the idea is that if you are more spiritual, you have a better means of controlling it. So for some people, praying before bed that your spirit is watched over while you sleep, etc. helps keep the spirits away. And yes, lol. Like that of the insidious movie. But a little less theatrical I think.

What I gather from this whole idea and if it is indeed real, is that what may have happened to me that night was all because I was "projecting" too far or for too long. And then I woke up and that there may have been an evil presence approaching my empty body which is what I saw and felt above my bed. Then while my spirit was coming back to my body, was when I was experiencing the vibration in my vision, the loud ringing noise, the paralysis through my entire body and not being able to make a sound. As soon as my spirit returned, everything went back to normal.

With all that being said again, I am religious, but I find it almost too much to fathom this happening. Too ghostly, and unbelievable for me. Yet, it's still something I consider and it has definitely piqued my curiosity.

Maybe I'll open up a forum on astral travel as well and see what kind of opinions and input I get.

[crimson089]

I found an Astral Projection thread already pinned at Dreams & Consciousness section:

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=219629

And also some techniques how to perform it:

http://m.wikihow.com/Perform-Astral-Projection

Sounds interesting to me, and I heard sleep paralysis will make it easier for us!

[Brian Topp]

I had a lot of seafood on saturday, I had four episodes of sleep paralysis. first was I dreaming a bout the beach, when I woke up, I thought there was a creature in my bed. in the end I forced my self back into bed. fews later I woke up and a guy stood there in the corner holding a box. I didn't yell or jump out but I had heard noises in the kitchen,. found my daughter snacking, sent her to bed and the man in the box was gone. fell a sleep woke up thinking that some one was in the room but when I turn my light on, the hunched figure turned out to be my cat scratching the floor. then I dreamt I was in line in the restraunt and the man in from told me to not look behind me. I did and woke up with a monster staring right at my face, I swatted it but my hand past through. tuened on light and it was gone.

[Frank Merton]

The idea of lucid dreaming is to redirect them when they turn scary or unpleasant. There have been a few times I've even had to wake myself up to put a stop to the nonsense. Nowadays though things are better and my dreams are all pretty well behaved. Generally they are nothing more than my strolling through some pleasant place such as a park or beach or shopping center smiling at others I pass. Sometimes I'm flying rather than strolling, but it amounts to the same thing.

[crimson089]

sigh i had another sp episode yesterday. this time the shadow forms are appearing more vivid and im starting to see its shape and figure. i was inside my room but extremely dark, im feeling something very hot and intense but strange i wasnt feeling scared nor the very fear was present. it was an entity reaching her hand to me and it was really inviting so i took her hand and i feel like im leaving my current position and we're heading somewhere forward (the last time was the shadow pulling me downwards). it was on normal speed when i realized i was holding a hand of a lady in white dress with long black hair and she has no face! i get extremely terrified i let go of her hand and i was pulled back to my current position. i was finally on the room, the darkness was gone but i cant move, the very moment i realized im having an sp episode. however when i turned right there was an average-sized dark guy wearing black hoodies is sitting right beside me WTF i even got more horrified, my heart was like tearing apart! i was hoping for someone to wake me up, i kept blinking my eye and finally woke up on my own. my grandma came to me and said she was hearing me scream. as usual, i kept it to myself,as they would only tell me i forgot my evening prayers, but i swear i did.

my mind can hardly forget these sp episodes and it serves my memory well while a dream sometimes, i can hardly remember. im sharing this on great detail so i can read back on this forum and reflect on it. i was wondering why people would have common hallucinations of shadows and demons where every person has their own unique perception of fears which could have appear more in the form of snakes, spiders, sharks, fancy clowns or fat teddy bears. sigh.... this is gettting worse and ruining my beauty sleep lol

Edited November 10, 2013 by crimson089

[Kazahel]

I had one the other day(4th of Nov)but I managed to get out of it quiet fast.

I woke up with someone getting into my bed. It was like a spirit or something and they felt familiar. It was rather scary and I was in the stage of OBE(sp), so I rolled out of body, landed on the floor on all fours and then ran around as a black shadow spirit wolf kinda thing. I was fully shifted but I had a strange almost triangle shaped head. So I was different and I felt I was somewhat controlled as if I wasnt myself. Hard to word but I was angry and more aggressive even though I knew I was dreaming/OBE. And I just remember running around for awhile.

After that though I flew around and then met with a lady who was like a guru/angel. She was telling people of their past lives and told a few to some other people around me. When I asked for mine she said she would rather not tell mine because it was bad and was better forgotten. So I flew around some more and then I flew down across a lake and let my feet almost walk across the water as I flew down to land in it around some ducks. So it was almost like I was landing like a duck. It was pretty cool.

Anyway it was a strange experience at the start and it reminded me of some of my old ones.

[hennyc123]

• I get sleep paralysis episodes all the time. I have tried many things to figure out how to control it. I have come to realize it most often happens when I'm trying to take a brief nap during the day. I also noticed it occurs mostly when I sleep on my back or stomach at night or if I have an anxiety attack shortly before bed. I don't know if anyone else on here has tried to control it from happening, but these are some suggestions.
  

When I have an attack, I don't see demons or anything like a lot of people say they have. However, when an episode does occur for me, I notice sometimes I can open my eyes without moving my body, but it feels like my eyelids are extremely heavy. Then I'll see myself getting out of the bed and walking into another room, but I can't keep my eyes open cause the light in the other room is too bright.

• 
  

When I have an episode my heart punds cause I'm scared, but slowly I am able to move my toes and fingers, then my legs (not with strength though), then my head, and then I finally completely snap out of it. Can anyone relate to this?

• 
  

[shannon08]

I've had quite a few experience with SP. I am 27 years old and the first vivid memory I have occurred about 4 years ago. Since then I have one experience every now and then. I just had a really freaky one last night so I decided to share. Here are the ones I have the best memory of up until now.

1.) I was having a dream where I was riding on a train. The only other passenger was an old woman wearing a black cloak with hood. She was sitting a few seats away from me and was hunched over and mumbling things to herself. Next thing I know I wake up in my room. I am lying on my side facing the closet which is a mirror. I can see myself lying in bed but can't see anything behind me. I can feel the presence of the same old woman lying next to me in bed. I can't move to turn and check if she is really there or not. I try calling my sister for help but I can barely get a whisper out. A few moments later I came to.

2.) I was sleeping on my stomach with my head faced down on the pillow and suddenly I felt the sensation of tiny footsteps walking on my pillow near my head. I couldn't move to see what it was. I don't have any pets so I knew it wasn't a cat or dog. When I was finally able to move I was so convinced I actually looked all around my room for an animal but found nothing.

3.) In my dream I was in my bedroom picking up things off the floor. I looked up and saw a woman in a black cloak and typical witches' hat coming into my room through the window. The hat covered her eyes but she had a white face, pointy nose, and large grin with black lisptick. The next thing I know I wake up in my room at night and the witch is on top of me grinning and strangling me. I try to struggle but can't move although it feels like the witch is lifiting me up and down. It continues for a few moments but then I came to. This is the first time I actually physically saw something in my room. The scary thing is that I actually did fall asleep with the window open that night because I was airing out a smell in my room.

4.) This is the one from last night. I was having a dream that I moved to Japan and I was to go to this woman's house to have her tell me about the town and help me get settled. She saw me coming from her window and said just a moment! and went inside. I was waiting at the door for a few minutes before she opened it. She said I'm sorry my mother is visiting me and her appearance isn't well so I had her go to my room. We sat at the table in the kitchen and began talking. I remember looking behind her for some reason but I never saw anything. Then I wake up in my room and see what looks like swirls on my ceiling. I have never heard anything during SP before but this time I heard a demonic voice say "YOU ARE GOING TO HELL." Strange because I am not religious and don't believe in hell. Anyway it really freaked me out and I had trouble going back to sleep.

[J_Anne]

The times that I experienced sleep paralysis I was obviously unable to move. I couldn't even make a noise like I know some folk are able to do. My eyes were wide open. Behind me I could see a deceased loved one. This loved one was staring at me with a frightening expression on his face, and his body was just as it was when I viewed it in the hospital hours after he had passed, which was beyond unpleasant. Right before I woke up properly and was able to get up I felt really cold and quite nauseous. I've yet to go through sleep paralysis where there's a demon-like creature on/near me. I somehow think I'd prefer that, though.

[foreverstephh]

hello there my name is stephanie and i am 18 years old i am a senior in high school and i would like to know what does it mean when your sleeping and cant move this happened to me today i couldnt move and i remember me being in a dream trying to talk and i couldnt breath or open my eyes in that moment i was dreaming of water i needed water to drink but i couldnt wake up my brain went boom boom i was able to hear it i felt so weak i forced myself to wake up and nothing until i finally prayed told god to let me wake up and i did if anyone out there has been feeling like this or this had happened to you please feel free to tell you story i would really want to know more about this

[hislab]

I have experienced this phenomenon for many years, though it is not so frequent. I get it once a month or once in a couple of months, not sure what triggers it. I always get scared when it happens and fight against it, i hardly let it last for a few seconds. My grandfather had taught me a trick to "move my toe", when it happens. So whenever i get this sensation i focus on moving my toe and finally break out of this spell.

The last time it happened was a few days back (which led me to this post), I decided to hang on... All of a sudden, I started hearing weird noises and got some kind of a vision, it was dusk and i could see a road... that's all i could venture out, I was petrified and forced myself to wake up.

One thing which has helped me avoid these sensation is a metal object, (this was a tip from my grandfather too) when i sleep with a metal object under my pillow, I don't get these feeling.

[mdenise]

I had sleep paralysis episodes in my early 20's, I would wake up and not be able to move but could see everything happening around me, I would concentrate on moving my little finger slowly and then like a "pop" I would be able to get up and was fine. I did mention it to my family doctor at the time and he told me I would grow out of this with time, he suggested a sleep clinic if I was overly concerned but I never had the time to go, anyways he was right as I entered my 30's the episodes stopped. I do remember these episodes didn't happen with night time sleep but after napping.

[il-Hares]

[quote name='EllJay' timestamp='1374501457' post='4852664'

•In Iceland folk culture sleep paralysis is generally called having a "Mara". A goblin or a succubus (since it is generally female) believed to cause nightmares (the origin of the word 'Nightmare' itself is derived from her name). Other European cultures share variants of the same folklore, calling her under different names; Proto-Germanic: maron; Old English: mære; German: Mahr; Dutch: nachtmerrie; Icelandic, Old Norse, Faroese, and Swedish: mara; Danish: mare; Norwegian: mare; Old Irish: morrigain; Bulgarian, Serbian, Polish: mora; French: cauchemar; Romanian: moroi; Czech: mura. The origin of the belief itself is much older and goes back to the reconstructed Proto Indo-European root mora-, an incubus, from the root mer- "to rub away" or "to harm".

•In Malta, folk culture attributes a sleep paralysis incident to an attack by the "Haddiela" who is the wife of the "Hares", the entity in Maltese folk culture which haunts the individual in similar ways as to those of a poltergeist. As believed in folk culture, to rid oneself of the Haddiela, one must place a piece of silverware or a knife under the pillow prior to sleep.

In Malta he Haddiela is not really regarded as the wife of the Hares, that is, there is no real connection between them, I've heard stories that mention one but not the other, but not both - ie either a house with a Hares, or people suffering Haddiela "attacks" never mention other supernatural stuff.

Also interesting as may be "Mara" translated to maltese is Wife/woman, the normal ones.