I hate when I get it. Because usually when I do it's when I'm thinking there's a ghost or a demon about to attack.
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· 10 years ago
I had very similar episodes x_x either it was a demonic creature or it would be myself suffocating me x_x terrifying.... between this and night terrors sleeping has always been simply horrid
I'm not sure. I usually get it when I've woken up in the middle of the night and then go back to sleep. It happens halfway between being awake and being asleep.
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· 10 years ago
I'm a light sleeper myself but I want to say it happens when your in a deep sleep. From my experience it's always happened after a good nights rest where my body is waking up slowly and naturally (without an alarm clock). I feel like at some point during the wake up process I open my eyes because when I finally do gain conciousness everything is exactly the same. I've had them since childhood and they're horrible, though I've never experienced seeing a monster or demon. For me it's always been random, normal looking people who either lay on me (sometimes the long way so that we are facing eachother which is the worst!), cover my nose and mouth with their hands, smother me with pillow, press down on my chest or neck with their forearms or just straight up choke me out. Most recently it was a female jogger dressed in all white strangling me. Scary stuff, and they've gotten worse/more intense (though less frequent) with age :(
Woah. That sounds like some creepy ass shit. I apparently thought it was something else than that. What I was talking about was my eyes being closed and thinking of like a ghost or something coming to attack me and I would try to open my eyes or move my arms but I couldn't because it felt like I was paralyzed. Nothing like that..
(Same guest)Ok im sorry that you have to go through that.:( But yea ive never really hear of it so thank yous for informing me. :)
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· 10 years ago
Nah, you hit the nail right on the head with your explanation. I completely related! We all just experience it differently but the outcome is always the same. You basically feel like your awake and can't move while it's happening but it's pretty much just a really really really vivid dream where the setting is always you in bed and the story is always something trying to hurt you. I'm sorry that its happened to you, especially since you seem to be seeing ghosts and stuff. I feel I'm lucky in a sense because I've always envisioned normal people when it happens. Can't imagine what it'd be like if I envisioned freaking Chucky coming at me with a pillow or something. It's traumatizing enough as is :(
I get sleep paralysis too, and thankfully not very often. I don't dream someones on top of me, but that my room is filling with water and I'm tied to the bed. It's so damn real, I can feel the water flow all around me and cover my body and face. I hold my breath as the water continues to rise to the ceiling, struggling hoplessly against my ropes. It's so fucking cold and I can feel the ropes digging into my wrists and ankles. I usually wake up gasping for air because I was really holding my breath. And no, I don't get them because I peed the bed or get tangled in my blankets. They're just nightmares that happen and I hate them.
Sleep paralysis sounds simply dreadful. But do you get a foxy vampire nurse every time there's a sleep paralysis moment? Because, you know, that would be all kinds of awful. If you need me I'll be in my bunk.
I've only ever had it once, and spent part of my night having a staring contest with a girl hanging off my wall, laughing maniacally as all her skin flaked off D:
And no you don't have to be a light sleeper. It's something to do with when you wake up. As you sleep through the night you'll drift between levels of sleep. If you happen to wake up during REM sleep you're more likely to experience it.
This sounds absolutely awful and terrifying and I am so glad that it does not happen to me. I have respect for everyone who suffers from this and I hope you all can find peace and relief from it at some point soon.
This is terrible. After seeing the comments I had no idea you actually saw people holding you down... I would probably be scared of going to sleep for the rest of my life
Sleep paralysis has to do with a deficiency in melatonin, a necessary chemical for normal, healthy sleep. When your melatonin is too low a baser part of your brain is more susceptible to waking up. In REM your body naturally releases a chemical to keep your body paralyzed so you do not act out your dreams (which sleepwalkers tend to have lower levels of). When the baser part of your brain wakes up during REM the first thing it wants to do is move your body, kind of like it's checking to make sure everything is ok before going back to sleep. When the body is unable to respond to the impulses telling it to move the brain interprets this as danger, causing the fight or flight impulse to release adrenaline. Remember though, your higher functions are still sleeping with the rest of your brain, so you are aware of what is going on but unable to rationalize with any kind of logic, much like when nonsense happens in a dream and you just roll with it. (Continued in post 2)
(Sorry, I know this is long) Without the ability to rationalize what is actually happening, your brain interprets the surge of adrenaline as response to a real and immediate threat to your life and actually creates something to be afraid of. Many who suffer from sleep paralysis report having a demon hold them down. When it happens to me for some reason I am convinced that someone is actively trying to cut my head off. Regardless of the hallucination, the one constant in sleep paralysis is the all-consuming terror. Fortunately, there are some treatments that have yeilded results in at least controlling the paralysis. First is melatonin supplements for less severe cases, and for the more severe, behavioral therapy. The best way to avoid episodes is to check your sleep hygiene, go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, and exercise. (Side note, if you can calm yourself down enough to slip back into sleep, an almost impossible feat, you will slip right into a lucid dream)
Wow. That is insane! I've never experienced this and I truly hope I never do. You people that do experience this you all have my true respect because this must be awful!
Thanks for all that info! Seriously mad respect for you guys who deal with that on a regular, you're heroes. It's only happened to me once or maybe twice (not even sure if it's the exact same thing that happened to me) and it's absolutely terrifying, I didn't go back to sleep the whole rest of the night after I finally woke up.
Don't worry, chickiecat, the rest of your brain will wake up if you are in any actual danger. Only a very few of the most extreme cases have ever resulted in fatalities and those were due to heart attacks caused by panic, and even then that was only after years and years of constsnt episodes which weakened the heart.
Sorry if I sound insensitive, but that would make a really good book; one eye that sees reality, and one that doesn't, but you're not sure which is which
I've had that happen couple of times, oh god its horrible. I feel like someone sitting on my lungs suffocating me but I can't move at all. Its like you feel everything but you can't move.
Maybe i'm wrong , but I think it can't happen if you sleep on your belly , because the only time it happened to me was also one of the only time I slept on my back . (Sorry for my english)
Your English is better than a lot of people who's first language is English. So there's that. Secondly, I hate sleeping on my stomach. I find it uncomfortable.
I've actually seen it happen to my dad. It was several years ago, so I didn't know what sleep paralysis was but it was really scary to see; I thought something was really wrong with him. He explained what it was to me but I never really realized how terrifying it must be.
Majority of my family on my moms side have had it. My mom said it was like there was a heavy weight on her chest and she couldn't scream even though she was sharing a bed with her mother and cousin. My grandma said that someone choked her. I am glad never to experience it but I used to sleepwalk and sleep-talk. I don't do it much but every once in a while. I'd like to try lucid dreaming but I'm afraid it might happen to me.
And no you don't have to be a light sleeper. It's something to do with when you wake up. As you sleep through the night you'll drift between levels of sleep. If you happen to wake up during REM sleep you're more likely to experience it.
No thanks.. Someone else can have my turn.