Anyone else ever experience Sleep Paralysis?

[lindrusso]

It finally has a name and it is real! :)

Back in college, I used to occasionally have these weird dreams in the mornings. I would swear I was awake, that someone had come into my room and was talking to me. When I tried to turn around and respond to them, I would find that I could not move or speak. They were not nightmare-like, but it was very disconcerting and spooky. Eventually I'd really wake up, but sometimes it would take a while.

DH always thought I was just plain weird. I don't know of anyone else who has ever had the same thing happen to them. They didn't happen very often, so I just ignored it. Then today something in the paper mentioned different sleep disorders, so I did some research.

I finally have a name for it and I now know I'm not the only one. :)

I am posting this partly out of curiousity - has anyone else ever experienced this? I am also posting just in case this has happened to anyone else and they, like me, never knew what it was.

Fortunately I do not have the terrors or feelings of an evil presence that are apparently common with this. Some people report a feeling of impending death! :eek: Thank goodness - my hallucinations were always auditory - I could hear someone moving around in my room or talking to me and it was always something pretty normal - like my son coming into my room needing something.

I guess mine must have been related to sleep deprivation and/or stress - I have only had this happen a few times since being out of college (they happened much more frequently then).

Here's an interesting article from ABC: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/sleepparalysis990411.html

And here's some info I found:

Sleep Paralysis - the Basics

What You Need To Know Sleep Paralysis

"When I get it, I wake up and I can't move, I feel like I am paralyzed...Then I feel evil presences in the room, every time I have it, it always scary"
DAISYROSE58

Sleep Paralysis is a natural bodily function that causes us to be paralyzed during sleep. It prevents us hurting ourselves or others during dreams. It's when it follows us into the waking state that it becomes a disorder.


SLEEP PARALYSIS
SYMPTOMS


***Inability to move the trunk or limbs This can occur at sleep onset or upon awakening.

***Hallucinations These can be visual (You think you see something,)or Auditory (You think you hear things.) In some cases, the sense of smell is also involved.

***Feeling of pressure Like someone sitting on you or holding you down.

***Fear Even outright terror may be involved.

***Occasional sensations of being Out of Your Body (OBE.)Floating or flying through the air. Feeling disconnected from your body.

CAUSES

***Stress and anxiety

***Narcolepsy.

***Sleeping on the back.

***Puberty.

***Bipolar Disorder.

***Depression.

METHODS OF DIAGNOSIS

*Personal Experience

*Observation by roommates

*Sleep Study


AVOIDANCE


*Talk to your doctor. He may be able to prescribe something to help.

*Keep on a regular schedule. go to bed, get up and eat meals at regular times.

*Get some exercise. Even a short walk earlier in the day can help.
Avoid sleep deprivation.

*Alleviate the stress in your life.

*Know you are not alone.

*Relax. You are not dying or going insane. As far as is known, sleep paralysis is not harmful.

*Read David Hufford's book. "The Terror that Comes in the Night" can help you understand this strange disorder.

FINDING RELIEF

*When you realize you are having an attack: Will yourself to move a finger or make a sound.

*Scream. If it doesn't wake you, it will at least alert others to your distress.

*Go with the flow. If all else fails, relax and It will soon pass.


Anyway, it has been very interesting to find out I'm not totally weird! Though DH would probably disagree. :p :D

Alysha

[Kayaksoup]

This has happened to me. I was really sick once when it happened and that was the strongest one ever, but I have had it happen several time. I usually get the scary evil presence feeling too. The worst one, when I was sick, was terrifying....

[DmOrtega]

I have always been a very "active sleeper". Walking and talking is not unusual for me. I often am aware that I am dreaming, called lucid dreaming. There have been times that I had felt the frozen state without the fear part. I just figured they were part of the package. They never lasted more than seconds but it was weird not being able to move. It would take, what seemed like, a tremendous amount of effort to get moving. I have also tried to break my dream cycle in order to wake up, if I am having a bad dream and have noticed a frozen type of feeling. I really don't know if this is the same or not but it is similar. BTW I really like dreaming because my dreams are very creative. :p

[JHaris]

Had this happen to me about36 years ago. I had been sleeping on my stomach, opened my eyes and saw DH sleeping next to me, his back to me. I couldn't move or talk. All I thought at the time was that I had had a stroke and I couldn't let anyone know that something was wrong. I was terrified. I really struggled to move and then I could. I must admit I stayed awake for the rest of the night. I was fine after that and all was OK. It only happened once, but I sure remember the scene. Glad to hear it is a real occurrence and not my imagination.

Joan

[funnybone]

Originally posted by lindrusso

***Hallucinations These can be visual (You think you see something,)



I'm not sure that I have had a "paralyzed" feeling, but this one applies to me sometimes. It's a strange feeling that happens several times a year. I have this feeling like someone is in the room and I tend to hide under the covers. I have terrible eye sight, so at night everything is a shadow to me. DH thinks I am weird, and I just can't explain what it is.

There are also times that I "play out" my dreams. Once I thought there was a leak in the ceiling above the bed, so in the middle of the night, I was standing on the bed, reaching for the ceiling and looking for the leak. :o :rolleyes: Also, when my kids were babies, I used to dream that they were at the foot of my bed, rolling off, and I would reach for them in my sleep.

Like I said, DH thinks I am weird.

[DmOrtega]

Originally posted by funnybone


I'm not sure that I have had a "paralyzed" feeling, but this one applies to me sometimes. It's a strange feeling that happens several times a year. I have this feeling like someone is in the room and I tend to hide under the covers. I have terrible eye sight, so at night everything is a shadow to me. DH thinks I am weird, and I just can't explain what it is.

There are also times that I "play out" my dreams. Once I thought there was a leak in the ceiling above the bed, so in the middle of the night, I was standing on the bed, reaching for the ceiling and looking for the leak. :o :rolleyes: Also, when my kids were babies, I used to dream that they were at the foot of my bed, rolling off, and I would reach for them in my sleep.

Like I said, DH thinks I am weird.

This is "normal" for me. I go through spurts replaying the same events like thinking I've got an electrical outlet next to the bed that has a direct line into the family room, where my dh is listening to me. When I think about it, I wonder why would he want to listen to me sleep? Beside there isn't an outlet anywhere close by me. :rolleyes: Then I go back to sleep. As far as reaching for things, it's all part of what I call active sleeping.

[lindrusso]

The paralyzed feeling is what bothers me most. It takes a tremendous amount of effort (or at least it feels this way) for me to get myself out of this state. I try and try to move to talk to whoever I think is in the room, but I just can't.

Erika - are you awake when you feel like someone is in the room? This sleep paralysis feels like you're awake, it's very real, but you're really still asleep (or half sleeping, I guess). You just don't fully realize it until you're all the way awake.

Interesting! I sent DH the information on this and he says "well, at least now we have something to call your freakish dreams". Yep, anything that is not the supposed "norm" is "freakish" to him! :rolleyes: :)

[funnybone]

Originally posted by lindrusso
Erika - are you awake when you feel like someone is in the room? This sleep paralysis feels like you're awake, it's very real, but you're really still asleep (or half sleeping, I guess). You just don't fully realize it until you're all the way awake.


Well, I guess I am sleeping and then it awakens me. I really can't say, as I am working from memory here. I can't say I feel paralyzed though. I guess I have to pay more attention to it the next time it happens. Watch it never happen now (which wouldn't be a bad thing. :rolleyes: :D ).

[Claudia S]

I had one very vivid and terrifying "out of body" sleep experience when I was in college. I remember the sensation of floating above my body, but it was dark, I can't remember if I could actually see my body, and I couldn't breathe. I remember panicking, thinking, if I don't get back in my body and breathe, I'm going to die. I tried, and tried, and somehow concentrated hard enough, and I was back in my body, breathing again. I woke up, and recall not wanting to fall asleep for several nights afterwards so as to not experience that kind of terror again.

At the time I had this dream, I was taking a transcendental pysch class, so I attributed my weird experience to some of the unusual things I had to do for this class (I had my auras read :rolleyes: ).

Claudia

[lindrusso]

Wow, Claudia - that sounds very scary. And it sounds exactly like what they describe in the two articles I posted. I take it you have never had it happen again? If so, thank goodness, right?! :eek:

The mind is a complex beast! :)

[Luiza]

Yes, this happens to me every so often. Sometimes I have to struggle really hard to move/wake up, and that's the scariest part for me. The feeling of horror and powerlessness is very hard to shake off. After I manage to wake up I get out of the bed, go into the living room, put the lights on and do something soothing for a while so I can convince myself I'm not trapped in a dream. Although, when this happens it doesn't feel like a dream at all; on the contrary, it feels very real and immediate.

On a funny note, a few times I had one of these "real" dreams in which I was interacting with the characters of the book I was reading before going to bed, in their world and dealing with their problems. I haven't been able to finish those books when that happened. And your DH thinks you're weird, Alysha? You can imagine what my DH said when I woke up during the night really distressed and told him that "I had a gryphon breeding problem." He has't let me forget that yet. :o :p

[badunnin]

Yep yep and yep. And reading the causes, I see where mine comes from. I've never had the terror feeling, though.

[Claudia S]

Alysha, just the one time! I have had sleep hallucinations, but they've only occurred when I've run an unusually high temp. (these are truly unpleasant!).

Claudia

[Beth H]

***Hallucinations These can be visual (You think you see something,)or Auditory (You think you hear things.) In some cases, the sense of smell is also involved.

I have sleep hallucinations and also the feeling of fear/terror. Mine come and go in cycles, and I think they are (in my case - of course this is a self-diagnosis) directly related to stress. My DH doesn't know quite what to make of them - I sometimes wake up saying things that don't make sense or even yelling/screaming. I don't really remember the dreams afterward and usually fall right back to sleep. I did some Internet research, and it indicated that dreams like this often happen within the first hour of falling asleep, before you are in a deep sleep.

I also sleep on my back - interesting that can be a cause. I don't think I have depression or am bi-polar, and I certainly am beyond puberty! :)

[Kristilyn1]

These are also symptoms of narcolepsy. There was an "ask the doctor" type thing about this in my local paper. Go to a doctor if you have these symptoms.

Kristi

[jmarie]

All I thought at the time was that I had had a stroke and I couldn't let anyone know that something was wrong.

It was so frightening. As I awkoe more and more I finally came out of it, but I was shaken because I had no idea what it was. I was actually afraid to go to sleep, for a couple of nights...I fought sleep, but then would finally drift off. My husband tried to tell me it was a bad dream. But it was sure neough real for me!
Joyce

[lindrusso]

Originally posted by Kristilyn1
These are also symptoms of narcolepsy. There was an "ask the doctor" type thing about this in my local paper. Go to a doctor if you have these symptoms.
Kristi

That's the article that spurred me to do some research!

From what I have read, it can be symptoms of narcolepsy, but there are many other symptoms as well - such as extreme daytime sleepiness.

Apparently these episodes of paralysis and hallucinations are nothing to worry about if they don't happen very often and are not accompanied by any other symptoms.

Here's what I found on narcolepsy:

The two primary symptoms of narcolepsy are excessive daytime sleepiness and cataplexy. People with narcolepsy are unable to resist falling asleep and do so regardless of the number of hours slept the previous night. The excessive daytime sleepiness experienced by people with narcolepsy has been described as being like trying to stay awake after going 72 hours without sleep. Frequently, people with narcolepsy fall asleep at inappropriate times, for example while eating or in the middle of a conversation.

Cataplexy is the sudden loss of strength in voluntary muscles triggered by emotions such as laughter, excitement, or anger, and occurs when the normal bodily processes that usually occur during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep intrude into wakefulness. The cataplectic attack, which can last from several seconds to several minutes, can range from partial muscle weakness, often in the face or neck, to a complete loss of muscle control in the arms and legs. (Movies illustrating a cataplectic attack can be reviewed at http://www-med.stanford.edu/school/Psychiatry/narcolepsy.)

Several other symptoms commonly occur with narcolepsy:

Sleep attacks are defined as short, irresistible episodes of sleep during the day. People with narcolepsy may experience short 10-20 minutes of sleep from which they awaken feeling refreshed, but the intense feelings of sleepiness return within 1-2 hours.

· Sleep paralysis is the inability to move while going to sleep or waking up.

· Hypnagogic /hynopompic hallucinations (when falling asleep or waking up, respectively) are intense visual or auditory experiences at the beginning or end of a sleep period that are hard to distinguish from reality, and are sometimes terrifying. Both sleep paralysis and hypnagogic/hypnopompic hallucinations are also associated with the intrusion of REM sleep physiology into wakefulness.

· Disturbed nighttime sleep is manifested as tossing and turning in bed, leg jerking, nightmares, and frequent awakenings

[Shirley Panek]

This happens to me as well. I normally feel some sort of fear or terror. I often have very vivid dreams, and sometimes terrible nightmares. In some of these nightmares I want to scream, but no sound comes out, I fight and fight to scream, and eventually find myself coming out of the dream but still cannot scream louder than a whisper or move. It is very frightening.

[bluestocking]

I too have experienced sleep paralysis-quite infrequently, but enough times to be memorable. It's extraordinary how real the whole situation feels. That deep fear is like nothing I've experienced awake. Sometimes there does seem to be a presence, but always the inability to move and fear is there. WHen I wake up I'm so full of adrenaline that it takes a very long time to go back to sleep. Not pleasant at all!!!

[jmarie]

Disturbed nighttime sleep is manifested as tossing and turning in bed, leg jerking, nightmares, and frequent awakenings

WOW! This is me. They did a sleep study on me. I never got into a deep enough sleep to find out if I had sleep apnea, and who could afford two of those tests? They found out that I have what is called Restless Leg Syndrome. The Dr. prescribed Quinine, but after I took it for awhile, when I would stretch, as my muscles were unstretching, I would have a lot of discomfort.

I quit the quinine until that went away, then started back on it....a few days later, the same thing. My Dr. said he had NEVER heard of such a thing, but prescribed something else. I sleep a LOT better now. Still wake up tired, but sleep better.
J!

[1MegMeg]

Alysha,

I have had episodes of sleep paralysis my whole life. I finally found out what it was in college, before that I just thought I was weird. :rolleyes: My paralysis is just like yours - I'll be in a semi-awake lucid dream state and I have auditory and visual hallucinations that someone is in my room. It's never a scary or frightening dream, but that someone is there.

[Susann]

Alysha, thanks for posting this. This has happened to me since I was a kid. I feel like I am awake and like someone is in the room-kinda like danger is imminent. But I feel frozen and unable to scream. Although it hasn't happened in a few years, I do remember trying to will my body to move so I can snap out of it. It is really a frightening feeling.Anyways, at least I know I am not losing my mind!! :)

[christinew]

Happened to me once 15 years ago! I tried to turn my head while it was happening and move my limbs and couldn't but as I tried to move I heard crunching noises. Weird.

[Missi]

Originally posted by Shirley Panek
This happens to me as well. I normally feel some sort of fear or terror. I often have very vivid dreams, and sometimes terrible nightmares. In some of these nightmares I want to scream, but no sound comes out, I fight and fight to scream, and eventually find myself coming out of the dream but still cannot scream louder than a whisper or move. It is very frightening.

This is exactly what I have experienced. I am usually shaken up for awhile even after waking up and getting out of bed. Truly terrifying.

[HUNGRY!]

This happens to me too. The most vivid ones are when I am sick. Once a couple of years ago I was sick and sleeping on my living room couch and I thought my front door opened and a white tiger came in! I also sometimes think that someone has come into my house. Its always been people since then though, not tigers.

[gltrgrl1]

I've had a dream like this before. Here's my dream-

I wake up and hear footsteps in the next room (DH was at work and I was home alone) I remember seeing a shadow and not being able to move. I tried very hard to move but I was completely paralyzed. I couldn't even make a sound. I felt a presence too. I wasn't evil though, it was more alien.
When I woke up, immediately after this happened, I went out and checked the house. The doors were still locked and everything was undisturbed. Very weird!!!

[pschambers]

Alysha,
Thanks for the info. I have had this happen once when I was a child, sensed/seen a man in my room and I could not move or talk and I was sure I was awake. I remember worrying that "he" had got my parents and sisters and hurt them. Weird.

Just a few months ago I had a very strange experience. I dreamed I was dying and I was telling my family that I loved them. I actually saw white light and felt like I was out of my body. When I awoke and opened my eyes, it felt like something rushing into my body and I felt warmth spread everywhere. It really spooked me!

Thanks for sharing everyone.

Patti

[vbak]

Yes, I have had this happen many times, and it is truly frightening. Ieven had one of the symptoms described as someone sitting on my mid section.

Vicky