Anyone else suffer from sleep paralysis?

I've been having incidents since I was real young, about 10 years old. The first time it happened I was real sick laying on the couch, when I began to dose off. Something on the tv caught my attention and I remember trying to sit up and realized I could not move. I then began trying to yell for my parents but nothing came out. I could feel my chest and limbs on fire straining for a breath or some kind of movement..nothing. I'm not sure how long it lasted but I finally belted out a cry, "mom!". Seconds later mom came running to me asking what the fit was all about. I told her I was stuck on the couch and couldn't even breath. She smiled and giggled at my terrified description of what happened and forced the thermometer in my mouth...I had a temp of 104 as I recall. Worried my brain was fried, off to the hospital we went.
Since then I have periodically had these incidents. Sometimes it will happen over several nights leaving me terrified to even try to sleep and other times it will happen one night and that's it.
Last night it happened again, I think this is the 3rd time in a couple years. I'm laying there and this time I was asleep. I remember dreaming and best I can explain is I came out of the dream and could see the room lit by the moon light. There was a flash of light and I tried to get up to look out the window and could not move. I anxiously began to wheeze and woke my wife next to me. She shook me and I came out of it. I lay there until I finally drifted off again only to have some very vivid dream.
I've been to the doc for this and they have a good explanation of how this happens but they just want to drug me. I wish it wouldn't happen anymore.
Anyone else here suffer from this and how have you dealt with it? Lee

Have had it a handful of times... like your awake , but cant move.. Never really suffered from it all the time tho. Just on occasion probably when I was tired and restless. odd thing to have happen though.

Odd and terrifying. Doc says my sleep sequence is out of whack but how does that explain it happening when I'm deep in a dream?

Yes, every night from the age of 16 through the age of 23.
Now, about once or twice a month. Mine came along with a recurrent waking nightmare...not fun. Inexplicably, it stopped the very day we moved to a new house.

Huh. You ever talk to the doc slydogx? I didn't go into full detail in my original post in fear of sounding like a nut job but I can link a few reoccurring nightmares to mine. One is a man I've never met standing in the front room of the house I grew up in. When I encounter him I try to call for my parents and can't seem to make a noise throwing me into the awake sleep mode. It's funny to me that I still try to call for my parents in this dream...I'm a 38 year old man now. Mom has been gone for years now..
The other nightmare related to this is I awake to find myself looking down at me sleeping in bed. Everything seems comfortable until I seem to realize what's happening, then it's like I watch myself struggle until I wake. Both terrify me to the point of tears.

Sounds like when the aliens abduct people for experiments.
Another name is "night terrors"

Its terrifying even more I am sure when you wake from a deep sleep. I have infrequent panic attacks that most often hit in the middle of the night waking me while I am asleep. One thing that makes them more likely to happen for me is a lack of sleep in previous nights. I know what they are now and have dealt with enough of them to know they will pass, but it still scares the (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) out of a guy.

Boco you're freaking me out. I have read a few things about "other" believed causes. Aliens, sucubus and incubus come to mind. I really try to be logical but the striking resemblance the these accounts is chilling. If it is aliens I hope they will fix my back while they are messing with me. Lol

Sleep paralysis has been scaring people for a very long time. People used to think that demons called incubus and succubus would climb on you when you slept. Later on people thought that witches, called night hags, would sit on your chest and hold you down. Now may people think aliens immobilize you and experiment on you. I have only had sleep paralysis happen a few times. It is not pleasant.

Keith

NEyotetrapper, the doc brought stress, lack of sleep, anxiety and a few other potential causes to my attention. Being a mostly rational person, I'd like to agree but can't find a cause for those issues. My life is good for the most part..

KeithC, I have researched and read about that stuff. I really think the brain is an amazing machine and is capable of many things we may never understand. This sleep paralysis dream nightmare thing is likely to be one of them. I just wish I could find an answer and make it stop.

Sounds Like An "O.O.B.E". Also Known As An "Out Of Body Experience" Which Is Also Called "Astral Projection".

If You Have Ever Dreamed You Have Left Your Physical Body As An Esoteric Soul And Had The Feeling And Experience That You Were Flying, It Might Not Have Been A Dream.

I Had These Experiences When I Was Very Sick As A Young Boy. Google The Above Terms In "Quotes" For More Information.

I Have Also Activated These Experiences On Purpose In The Early 1980's, but Not Again In The Years Since

Sounds Like Just What is Going On With You. Check It Out. I Am Being Dead Serious.

https://www.wikihow.com/Perform-Astral-Projection

walleyed

From what I have read about sleep paralysis, a person who experiences it is not fully awake when it occurs. They are somewhere in between asleep and awake.
The fact that you can be shaken to snap you out of it indicates to me that you are not fully awake when it happens.
Your vivid dreams of paralysis while asleep are just creeping into your almost awake state.
All I can suggest is for you to try to convince your half-asleep self that you are having a bad dream, because this is exactly what is happening.
Sometimes, as I am falling asleep, I go into a deep thought period and it begins to get weird and unsettling and I sort of wake up and
tell myself to disregard the stupid notion which my overactive, mostly asleep imagination came up with.
Do you also have narcolepsy?

If you smoke too much hash and drink whiskey at the same time,you can experience that kind of stuff.

I Have No Doubt You Are Speaking From Your Own Vivid Experiences While Under Intoxicated Impairment.

w

Walleyed, that reminds me of my grandma. She was very loving and nurturing. She knew I had this sleep issue when I was young and she'd tell me to imagine myself flying over my favorite place. She'd say just feel light and let the wind take you off to sleep. I still do this sometimes when I can't clear my mind at night. I always end up over a dark ocean at night and can see the clouds lit by the moon below me. Never thought of it as what you said...maybe grandma knows something.
I will look into your recommendations. I'm always open to research.

52carl, I don't have narcolepsy that I know of. However I have been known to talk in my sleep. A friend recommended I go do a sleep study.
Boco, no hash or whiskey. lol I can see how that could have an impact though. To be honest as an adult when it got real bad I would drink to sleep. I found it would help. But I can't handle hang overs.

Check It Out.

https://www.wikihow.com/Perform-Astral-Projection

w

Yep, we used to refer to it as "astro-planing" back in the seventies.

Walleyed ,put down the windowpane.

BOCO, When Astral Projecting You Can Pass Right Through Window Panes Without An Opening.

Your Ability To Astral Project May Be Damaged From Years Of Alcohol & Drug Abuse, And Loud

Headbanger Music !!

It sounds like "no harm, no foul"; I'd just roll with it.

Walleyed,I'm Irish,whiskey is like mothers milk to me.Good for the constitution.

Irish As Well But Don't Partake Due To My Diabetic Condition.

After reading about astral projection. I think I could be having other "dreams" where I suppose this could be happening. I often dream about being in different houses. Mostly places I've spent a lot of time, others I've never seen before. In some of these dreams I'm just dinking around and others I'm around people and seem to have massive anxiety for various reasons.

Waggler, I'd love to just role with it but the expirience seems to provoke a fear response in me and I freak out.

Hope you work it out Wylee,maybe doc can get you something to help you sleep more soundly?.

Boco, I was prescribed some sleep meds and it just seemed to make things worse. More intense dreams, waking up in a fit.

Possibly Gaining An Understanding About What Might Be Going On, Might Help You Weather These Experiences

Without Having Heightened Fear Or Anxiety.

Perhaps A Having Healthy Curiousity Towards These Incidents Will Allow You To Assess Them From An

Objective Standpoint.

I Hope You Can Gain A Better Understanding Of Your Situation.

Good Luck With This.

walleyed

Hi Wylee, sorry for the late response.
I only just saw a doctor about it last year (I'm 44 now) because I was always a bit embarrassed about it. I had mentioned it during sleep apnea testing (I have sleep apnea) and he said the 2 issues often go hand in hand.
My nightmare was similar to yours... involved a shadowy figure at the foot of the bed, and you could just feel the evil intent flowing out of it.
Here is a link to a documentary about it that I watched years ago (on Halloween no less)... turns out we are not alone with our nightmare

The Entity Documentary

Good luck with it, it took me years to be OK with it.

I should qualify that I don't believe there is ANY supernatural component to this (although it was terrifying at the time).
The biggest issue would be that you always felt like crap the next day from the adrenaline dump due to the fight/flight reaction triggered by the dream. Also, it was exhausting trying to struggle with all your might to reach up and turn on a light LOL.

I wish I knew what caused it to stop for me, because I'd just tell you so you don't have to deal with it like I did. All I know is that the day after I moved into a new house the paralysis and the nightmare stopped like somebody flipped a switch.

I close my eyes and I'm back by the ocean
My hair feels wet
I'm on the brink of a lifelong ambition
Whatever dream comes next
I'm the seat of a hearse and guess who's driving?


I can see myself running
But I'm standing still
I can hear myself screaming
But there's no sound
When I wake up crying life brings me down



I'm at a house, all the windows are broken
It's where I once used to live
I must be losing all my undercover
Dreaming always the same

Thanks guys for all the input. I don't feel so alone in it now. Understanding or at least having some explanation for it is comforting. We'll see how things go from here, if it's gonn be a few days of it or just this once for now.
C Hartman, holy crap I never knew. Must have heard that song a hundred times.

BTW
Been there and done that . Rarely happens any more and hasn't for a long time .However I started taking one med recently that can cause it and did for me at first. I guess I got used to it as a child so even though it is not a pleasant experience now it also doesn't completely freak me out .

Wylee, I get them quite often. Used to scare the heck out of me. Lucid dreams, night terrors, whatever you want to call them. The bonus is, you KNOW you're dreaming, and you can actually THINK, and reason to a certain extent. Now when I get them I think "yeah, I'm dreaming, and I can control this!" So I always just pretend that I'm flying, and having a heck of a good time.

I look forward to them now - it's the only time that I can actually fly and do whatever I want!

I hope I get one tonight!

Swedeole, If I could get to that point I'd be happy. I don't know why it terrifies me so bad...maybe the fear of paralysis? Not all of these dreams are so bad. How I explained my grandma would help me sleep was a comforting experience but I still felt somewhat out of control and no sense of being able to manipulate the situation. After walleyeds advice of looking into astral projection, I found all kinds of information. So much that I'd like to say it's some kind of phenomenon. Many folks experiencing the same sort of thing. All this info kinda makes me want to go have a conversation with a native elder or shaman sort. I've got some other questions for those types too..seems us modern folks have lost touch with the "spiritual" realm.
Unrelated but I've got what they call the "simian" line on both hands and supposedly folks with this "mark" may have a special connection with the ethers and the spirits. I once worked in a philipino owned and run print shop. I was pretty much the minority there. Every day we would stop for an hour for lunch and it was like a pot luck. The mother of the owner was always handy with the serving spoon and while dishing me up she caught a glimpse of my hands. All at once she changed her normally happy attitude toward me telling me "you stay away from me". I really didn't understand at the time and confused I asked a co worker what her issue was. She kind of giggled and told me the mother thought my soul would take over her body and not let her pass on. It seems the mother had been taught folks with hands like mine are capable of some pretty scary stuff lol. After that I politely steered clear of her but often found her spying on me at my press...keeping tabs I guess.

Wylee - That can be an indication of Narcolepsy and very dangerous. You quit literally can wake up dead. In the meantime, you can be suffering severe systemic damages. Send me a PM to discuss further. Best wishes.

My question is do you use any meds over the counter type like Tylenol ?

I've had it happen several times - mostly when I was younger. It never scared me. Once I realized I was paralyzed, I knew what was happening. Your body releases a chemical when you sleep that helps prevent you from acting out your dreams. If you wake up with enough of that chemical still in your system you can feel paralyzed when you wake up. I always found it more fascinating than scary.

Anyways, the thing that worked for me was that when I became lucid enough to decide I really wanted to move, if I would start moving my tongue, that would sort of break the paralysis and I would then be able to move my limbs. Worked every time.

WOW out of body experience. maybe your soul travels at night from the body. Kinda spooky but have heard of it before.

Have had it happened during my high school years, would not be able to move or get up in the morning. Tried talking to get peoples' attention but they would just hear a mumbling noise.

I have taken Tylenol randomly for back pain. I suppose mostly at night. Never thought to link something like that to this condition though.
Well another night and I'm still here. Nothing to speak of not even a dream. I didn't sleep well though..maybe a few hours. I can't seem to get my last incident off my mind...seems when I would dwell on it, it would happen again.

That fool, I have informed my wife to wake me if I'm making noise. She asked "what if you're having a good dream?" I say I haven't had any dreams for a loong time that I'd be upset if it were interrupted.