Have you ever experienced sleep paralysis?

Darkedge34

Darkedge34

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis
I have once. It was terrifying, I was in my bed awake but unable to move, I was surrounded by blurry figures. It passed after about a minute and I went back to sleep.

The strange thing is that I actually enjoyed the feeling and hope it happens again.
 
Often. Some weeks are worse than others. It almost always happens when I'm on my back.
 
God damn horrible. Thought I was going to die the first time it happened.
 
uh, i slept on my arm for too long and it fell completely asleep (haha... pun...). then i wasnt able to move it for a few seconds until the blood went back to it.

closest to sleep paralysis i've been.
 
I remember waking up in the middle of the night when I was about 12 years old and being unable to move. It's scared the crap out of me. :(
 
Ive only had a completely dead arm, like it wasnt there and I could throw it against the wall and not feel anything, and then eventually I feel the blood rushing into it and I get the pins-and-needles.
 
ĐynastҰ said:
Ive only had a completely dead arm, like it wasnt there and I could throw it against the wall and not feel anything, and then eventually I feel the blood rushing into it and I get the pins-and-needles.
Click to expand...

This happens to me almost every night. I'm talking about so numb it's like not even having an arm. As for sleep paralysis, I've never experienced it.
 
Yeah you just roll onto your arm and you get pins-and-needles like any other time, except you dont move and eventually the blood circulation just stops and your arm goes dead.

That cant be good in the long run surely?
 
I've had it a few times.

For me there's never been any sense of panic or anything, it was just like I was fully awake and aware of what was going on around me. I could hear the birds singing and the neighbours kids playing outside - I just couldn't open my eyes or move my arms/legs no matter how hard I tried. At best I could get my right arm to sort of jerk upwards a bit. Wouldn't last longer than a minute, and I'd wake up properly a few hours later. Only ever happened when I slept on my back as well.
 
It's funny when these sleeping/dreaming disorders come up that almost everyone seems to have them.

This and lucid dreaming. Is it "cool" to have them or something?
 
I get dead arms every night. I usually make a game out of it. "MOVE MY HANDS WHILE I CAN'T FEEL THEM!"

I've only won once.
 
Quite a few times, it's horrible.

StardogChampion said:
It's funny when these sleeping/dreaming disorders come up that almost everyone seems to have them.

This and lucid dreaming. Is it "cool" to have them or something?
Click to expand...


Uhm... no? I don't particularly enjoy it myself..
 
StardogChampion said:
It's funny when these sleeping/dreaming disorders come up that almost everyone seems to have them.

This and lucid dreaming. Is it "cool" to have them or something?
Click to expand...

I don't know. Let me ask you though, is it "cool" to have a personality disorder?

OT: I've had this often, but never where I saw figures, just that I couldn't move. But I usually have this lying face down, unable to breath (or that's how it feels at least) and unable to move, so that's pretty terrifying.
 
No and it sounds pretty freaky. Hope it never does happen to be honest but if it does I'll know what it is and I'll come tell you when it does.
 
I had it happen once when I was a kid and it felt like an adult was sitting on my chest and it was hard to breath. Also I saw hallucinations like my door handle spinning and weird shapes around my room. Basically it was one of my most terrifying experiences in my life and no one was there to comfort me. I got released and told my parents but they didn't do anything.
 
Sometimes I wake up with a numb arm that I can't even lift up. It takes a couple minutes to wear off and I just go back to sleep.
 
Dude I get this all the time. There's another term for it though, not just "Sleep Paralysis". They say not to leave things like pulsating lights or sounds (like a TV) on when you are trying to sleep because this can interrupt the process of your brain entering sleep.

It's ****ing scary for whoever gets it. I usually have it every couple of nights, but it's like being in limbo between being awake and asleep. You can totally see and comprehend the actual world around you, but you're completely unable to speak/move/wake yourself up. I've seen a hand come out from above the backboard of my bed, close into a fist, then vanish as I was trying to gasp for air because of the excitement (its paralyzed my breathing as well).

The worst was my weird little girl experience. Really weird. I was, once again, like half-asleep when I heard a distinct child's voice. She said in a really creepy tone, "I can see you, but you can't see me". Astonished by the voice, I persisted to get up, but was unable to move. I tried to yell at the voice, but strangely my mouth would seem to move but no voice would come out, and I was unable to breath. I fought through the paralyzing feeling and was able to turn my head towards the voice, and there it was... an almost blue aura of a little girl in the far corner of my room. Then she giggled and vanished. As soon as she left, my muscle control came back, and because of the hypertension I was in, I sprung right off the side of the bed.

Edit: That term I was looking for was "Lucid Dreaming".
 
StardogChampion said:
It's funny when these sleeping/dreaming disorders come up that almost everyone seems to have them.
Click to expand...

I think that's a misconception - I bet people are more likely to post in a thread only if they have experienced it. So you only ever see a long list of 'me too' posts.
 
I have experienced this several times, each of them slightly more horrifying than the last.
There's usually one of these threads every year (I think there was one earlier this year I'm sure) so I've probably posted about it before.

'First'* time it happened was about 2 years ago after a night of drinking, I was sort of semi conscious but unable to move. It was basically like having a nightmare, but being aware that you're in bed unable to move, it's not so much the fact that I heard loads of strange voices and sounds and shit it's more to do with the fact that you feel completely powerless and absolutely shit scared. There were a couple of people posting saying that they can't breathe. I too felt like that at the time, however I think you do breathe fine during these occurences and it's merely an illusion that you think you are unable to breathe properly if you are experiencing extreme terror/anxietey/fear etc
Such thoughts can escalate especially when you feel that you aren't really in control of what's unfolding around you, every time it has happened I actually felt like I was in real danger.

Thankfully it has not happened in some time now.





* - I used to experience it as a young child too, however I dont remember much of it. In fact I forgot about the whole thing until it happened recently in my life.






Edit: The wikipedia article is rather interesting and makes logical sense when it comes to sufficiently explaining the experience.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis
 
I actually have had a dream where a wave or comprehension and realization came over me and I knew that I was in a dream. I kept trying to wake myself up, but then the people in my dream kept pulling me back to semi-consciousness. As I struggled and fought to snap out of this extremely horrifying dream, the figures around me became blurry and dark. I woke up, felt warm, and shockingly realized that I pissed myself in my sleep.
 
Chronic sleep deprivation is a known cause apparently.... No wonder Ive had such experiences. (Mostly during my mostly sleepless episodes)


/has been awake for approx 42 hours


D:
 
I've had it once. I woke up and wanted to get up but couldn't. It was a very strange feeling but only lasted for a few seconds. Any longer and I probably would've started panicking a lot more.
 
HobbesHax said:
Dude I get this all the time. There's another term for it though, not just "Sleep Paralysis". They say not to leave things like pulsating lights or sounds (like a TV) on when you are trying to sleep because this can interrupt the process of your brain entering sleep.

It's ****ing scary for whoever gets it. I usually have it every couple of nights, but it's like being in limbo between being awake and asleep. You can totally see and comprehend the actual world around you, but you're completely unable to speak/move/wake yourself up. I've seen a hand come out from above the backboard of my bed, close into a fist, then vanish as I was trying to gasp for air because of the excitement (its paralyzed my breathing as well).

The worst was my weird little girl experience. Really weird. I was, once again, like half-asleep when I heard a distinct child's voice. She said in a really creepy tone, "I can see you, but you can't see me". Astonished by the voice, I persisted to get up, but was unable to move. I tried to yell at the voice, but strangely my mouth would seem to move but no voice would come out, and I was unable to breath. I fought through the paralyzing feeling and was able to turn my head towards the voice, and there it was... an almost blue aura of a little girl in the far corner of my room. Then she giggled and vanished. As soon as she left, my muscle control came back, and because of the hypertension I was in, I sprung right off the side of the bed.

Edit: That term I was looking for was "Lucid Dreaming".
Click to expand...

yours sounds like the worst but another time i can remember doing a certain very illegal substance and seeing nothing but skeletons and skulls around my head screaming at me. also after have a very good trip, the next day was terrible at work because people looked like monsters and ever since then things have looked worse to me. especially dead trees and dilapidated buildings....just very ugly looking.
 
It used to happen to me alot, and over time I developed a way of waking my self out of it. I'd simply force my self to turn my body over and I'd snap out of it. Sometimes I'd wake up on my back other times I'd wake up actually in the process of rolling over onto my side.

This sucked when I was about 12 or so and I had a bunk bed. I slept on the top bunk and had a particularly bad case of sleep paralysis hit me and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't roll over onto my side to wake myself up. I finally decided to give it one last huge push and I ended up waking up in mid air as I flew off the top bunk. Good times.
 
Robert- said:
Sometimes I wake up with a numb arm that I can't even lift up. It takes a couple minutes to wear off and I just go back to sleep.
Click to expand...

thats usually because you sleep on your stomach and your arms aren't getting any oxygen. happens to me at least once a month and for a long time it used to happen much more than that. what you should do is raise your arms and try wiggling your fingers, then work towards the wrists, then try rubbing your upper arms. shaking the arms helps a little too. but i got scared this one time when they're weren't moving for like 3 minutes i thought i lost the use of them
 
I self induce sleep paralysis a lot, here's how to do it:

Lie completely still in a comfortable position with your eyes closed. Eventually you will begin to feel uncomfortable and you'll want to move some part of your body. don't.
by moving your body you are telling your mind that you are still awake, and you will not become paralyzed. (you become paralyzed every time you go to sleep). If you lie there long enough your body will start to become tingly and probably sore, and you will start to feel numb all over.
this is because your mind thinks your body is asleep and paralyzes it to prevent movement during dreaming.
 
Yes is happends to me often. I'm only 15, so I'm unsure if it's bad or not. It's pretty scare at times because when I can't move, I begin to panic and finally wake up... it's really weird. I am frozen for a 15 seconds and finally wake up, and fall asleep again and it happends again.
 
About once a month I'll have a nightmare that on waking up from, I can't move my body and sometimes I can't open my eyes.

It is terrible terrible terrible.
 
Vectyr said:
I self induce sleep paralysis a lot, here's how to do it:

Lie completely still in a comfortable position with your eyes closed. Eventually you will begin to feel uncomfortable and you'll want to move some part of your body. don't.
by moving your body you are telling your mind that you are still awake, and you will not become paralyzed. (you become paralyzed every time you go to sleep). If you lie there long enough your body will start to become tingly and probably sore, and you will start to feel numb all over.
this is because your mind thinks your body is asleep and paralyzes it to prevent movement during dreaming.
Click to expand...

if i even try this the voices in my head will begin to scream face first at me. i do not want that to happen again
 
No I have never experienced any such thing.
Didn't even know about it.
 
Never had sleep paralysis, but I did once think that I was possessed, because I was talking giberish as I was waking up
 
Dude

D:

That is weird.The only strange sleep phenomena i had was when i was sleeping in my bed and i could feel my legs moving but they actually were not.It was quite weird
 
I couldn't move I was so tired last night and tried jerking myself out of bed until I accidentally flung myself over the edge. My mom came in the room laughing when she saw me on the floor.
 
TollBooth Willie said:
I couldn't move I was so tiredlast night and tried jerking myself out of bed until I accidentally flung myself over the edge.My mom came in the room laughing when she saw me on the floor.
Click to expand...
: O

Sleep paralysis has always sounded shit scary but interesting...
i don't want to experience it, but when i do, i hope i remember that its just the sleep paralysis and not some weird voodoo shit.


-dodo
 
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