Sleep Paralysis

[Last of the Fraggles]

Happy to report that I have had no further instances of this since. I think I have maybe had half a dozen of these in my life. First one I remember was just exactly 'paralysis' and seemed to last for quite a while. I woke up in bed, seemingly fully conscious but unable to move any of my limbs. Freaked me out at the time.

Other ones have probably been more similar to the one described above but think this is the first time I have had sound. I was really exhausted after having been up at 4am to catch a flight and had been running around all day followed by a couple of beers before bed. Assume this mix is what triggered it.

Another weird one I get quite frequently is dreaming that I woke up. Sometimes I will catch it quite quickly and wake up properly after a few seconds, other times I will go about my business, get ready for work, have breakfast and whatever else...only to snap back to reality, wake up and have to do it all again! Damn annoying!!

 

[steph]

My first experience was the worst. I was 8, maybe 9 years-old, sleeping on the pull-out couch that was my bed at my dad's place. I woke up, laying on my stomach with bony hands holding down my shoulders and tiny knees in the small of my back. My face was half-way into the pillow, it was somewhat suffocating. The thing on my back was breathing close to my exposed ear, a raspy sound that sometimes was almost words. After what seemed like hours of this, I manged to pry one eye open. Just above the arm of the couch was a face on the wall that was grimacing and laughing. I freaked, fainted and woke up the next morning, still in the same position with stiff aching muscles.

Years later, I was sleeping and my husband-to-be crawled into bed with me and snugged against my back, throwing a heavy arm over me that was a bit uncomfortable, but it was so nice having him there. Until I realized through my dream state that he was in Chicago and that whatever was in bed with me wasn't him. I struggled to wake up, to move, to protect myself and there was a horrible space of time where I couldn't. Finally, I managed to snap out of it, rolled out of bed, hit the floor and woke up. There was no one there.

This statement is really not so much describing sleep paralysis but many other things. Sounds like it is very possible you could be experiencing "night terrors" I get them myself as well. It feels so real like you are really going to die if you don't get away. You can feel every cut, every punch, slap, kick stab. There are many people who experience this but only remember a few because thier mind "blocks" it out. Kind of like with a traumatic experience from your childhood that your mind won't allow you to remember. I have personally found that after I wake up from a nightmare a cup of chamomile tea will relax me enough that I won't focus on it, and eventually it will fade from memory.

Now there is the slight possibility that the first instance may have been some form of paranormal encounter. I have heard of things like this, but if it hasn't happened since then, especially at your dads house then it was more then likely just a night terror

 

[bookitty]

This statement is really not so much describing sleep paralysis but many other things. Sounds like it is very possible you could be experiencing "night terrors" I get them myself as well. It feels so real like you are really going to die if you don't get away. You can feel every cut, every punch, slap, kick stab. There are many people who experience this but only remember a few because thier mind "blocks" it out. Kind of like with a traumatic experience from your childhood that your mind won't allow you to remember. I have personally found that after I wake up from a nightmare a cup of chamomile tea will relax me enough that I won't focus on it, and eventually it will fade from memory.

Now there is the slight possibility that the first instance may have been some form of paranormal encounter. I have heard of things like this, but if it hasn't happened since then, especially at your dads house then it was more then likely just a night terror

It could be a combination. In all cases (there are more) there is a sense of a presence that causes me to wake up (or feel as if I have woken up) but I can't move. The length of time in which I struggle to get any part of my body to obey while I am panicked always seems to be very long. There is usually a point at which I feel fully awake, aware that I have been dreaming, still unable to move but with only residual fear or panic. That state doesn't last as long.

In some cases I am never able to move and somehow fall back to sleep, remembering the dream in the morning. I've wondered if those were dreams of sleep paralysis, and the feeling of waking up unable to move didn't actually happen.

Every time I have managed to get fully awake, there has been no actual threat. Which pretty much rules out the idea of a paranormal cause.

 

[steph]

It could be a combination. In all cases (there are more) there is a sense of a presence that causes me to wake up (or feel as if I have woken up) but I can't move. The length of time in which I struggle to get any part of my body to obey while I am panicked always seems to be very long. There is usually a point at which I feel fully awake, aware that I have been dreaming, still unable to move but with only residual fear or panic. That state doesn't last as long.

In some cases I am never able to move and somehow fall back to sleep, remembering the dream in the morning. I've wondered if those were dreams of sleep paralysis, and the feeling of waking up unable to move didn't actually happen.

Every time I have managed to get fully awake, there has been no actual threat. Which pretty much rules out the idea of a paranormal cause.

Oh ok so you were saying that the face was a picture on the wall?

From what i have read there are many links between sleep paralysis and night terrors, but you may still want to have them checked out. Getting rid of the night terrors may solve the sleep paralysis

 

[bookitty]

Oh ok so you were saying that the face was a picture on the wall?

From what i have read there are many links between sleep paralysis and night terrors, but you may still want to have them checked out. Getting rid of the night terrors may solve the sleep paralysis

From what I can remember, the face was the reflection from the porch-light coming in through a round window but blocked by branches. As the branches moved, my fear and pareidolia created the image of an animated face.

I would but they go hand-in-hand with the much more pleasant lucid dreaming which includes flying, talking to deceased friends and family, complex zombie movies and the very realistic sensation of being one of my cats.

 

[steph]

ohok that makes more sense then, I thought you meant you saw something standing over you or something like that.

I can understand that. I guess it really depends on how often you have the nightmares. If it's not often then I can see why you aren't desparate for help. Personally I have been to point where I was terrified to go to sleep at night at times because I was scared I would have another dream and wake up screaming again. I am not sure if i am making much sense here I keep losing my train of thought (trying to get ready for work, argueing with boyfriend etc...lol)

 

[slingblade]

Now there is the slight possibility that the first instance may have been some form of paranormal encounter. \

Pretty sure there's no possibility of that, however slight, whatsoever.

 

[Frying Dutchmen]

My wife has episodes of it, fortunately only at times of high stress. The last time was after her mother died. She has "something" come over and sit on her, preventing her from moving. She understands what it is and is not bothered by it.

Frying Dutchman, entities from a parallel dimension? Please tell me you're joking.

I am joking hence the devil's advocate clause(sic) but there are people that truly think sleep Paralysis is linked to entities from a parallel dimension.

 

[steph]

Pretty sure there's no possibility of that, however slight, whatsoever.

That is more a matter of opinion and what you believe. In this case no, I admit I misread what she was saying. However I personally believe something to that matter is possible

 

[steph]

I am joking hence the devil's advocate clause(sic) but there are people that truly think sleep Paralysis is linked to entities from a parallel dimension.

There are many people who believe that you can travel through dimensions in thier sleep so I see where there could be a link

 

[Tacita]

I have experienced this so often throughout my life that even before I knew what it was, I got used to it and it doesn't scare me anymore. Either I fall back asleep or I don't.

It is a bit disconcerting to feel someone sit on the bed behind you while you can't move, but I almost immediately realize that no one would be doing that (the dog would cause a ruckus, for one thing) so I'm still "dreaming".

I'm also pretty darn good at lucid dreaming, and can't drown or fall, ever, because I can breathe under and fly (or at least jump from great heights and land on my feet). It's just a rule of my dreams. Sometimes if I think about something really hard while falling asleep, I can dream about it. Those don't always go the way I want, though.

 

[Soapy Sam]

There's an old saying that if you die in a dream, you will never awake.
The usual response is "How could we possibly know that?"

Well we can know that- and it's not true. I know because I get killed in nightmares with near-monotonous regularity. It's very confusing, as I know I'm dead, feel the fear, feel (what feels like) real pain- but then I'm still there afterwards.
My dreaming mind, over the years, has developed a stoic boredom. I wait to wake. Sometimes, if it's really bad, I scream myself awake. (This makes you really popular in a shared room).
Brains are wierd, but minds are wierder.

ETA- As for sleep paralysis- apart from being convinced it's the source of nearly every classic ghost experience, I now find it quite relaxing when I experience it. Once you know what it is, you just wait it out. Damn scary first time though.

 

[Iconoclast08]

That is more a matter of opinion and what you believe. In this case no, I admit I misread what she was saying. However I personally believe something to that matter is possible

Well, I don't doubt that some of these experiences are terrifying and seem very real at the time of the experience, but opinions and feelings about the nature of them (i.e., "paranormal" attributions, dimension travel, etc.) don't necessarily correspond to reality. Believe what you will, but it's not a bad idea to take the most parsimonious explanation (e.g., sleep disorder/neurobiological mishap) over a more convoluted woo one (e.g., disembodied, time-traveling beasties).

 

[Soapy Sam]

My theory about the sense of presence is that the presence is real.
Where do we normally sense a presence? In our own mind.
I suspect there's a neural switchover that normally marks the change of state from asleep to awake (I know this is simplifying hugely).
I suspect PixyMisa's notion that many neural processes have a degree of consciousness is correct.
We all have some conscious awareness in dreams and nearly none when asleep but not dreaming. We all have conscious awareness when awake.

What if the presence our awakening mind is aware of is actually a bleedover of the consciousness of our dreaming brain? Damn right it would feel like an alien and scary presence. And in all the tens of thousands of near-identical stories from varied times and cultures- where else but the mind do scary presences come from? The airs above the ground? I think not. This is a neural switching failure.

What has always intrigued me about my first SP experience was that the presence I "sensed" had gone. What I found spooky was that it had been there all the time , but I hadn't known. If what I sensed was the last cycle of a process shutting down or losing it's access to my consciousness, it would feel exactly like that- a monster leaving.

 

[steph]

Well, I don't doubt that some of these experiences are terrifying and seem very real at the time of the experience, but opinions and feelings about the nature of them (i.e., "paranormal" attributions, dimension travel, etc.) don't necessarily correspond to reality. Believe what you will, but it's not a bad idea to take the most parsimonious explanation (e.g., sleep disorder/neurobiological mishap) over a more convoluted woo one (e.g., disembodied, time-traveling beasties).

I was referring to have a nightmare then waking to a disoriented/demonic face and the feeling of someone holding you down. I have heard of such stories and believe that they could be possible, but it had nothing to do with the sleep paralysis subject. Like i said before, I simply misread what she wrote.

 

[Tacita]

There's an old saying that if you die in a dream, you will never awake. The usual response is "How could we possibly know that?"

Well we can know that- and it's not true. I know because I get killed in nightmares with near-monotonous regularity. It's very confusing, as I know I'm dead, feel the fear, feel (what feels like) real pain- but then I'm still there afterwards.
My dreaming mind, over the years, has developed a stoic boredom. I wait to wake. Sometimes, if it's really bad, I scream myself awake. (This makes you really popular in a shared room).
Brains are wierd, but minds are wierder.

ETA- As for sleep paralysis- apart from being convinced it's the source of nearly every classic ghost experience, I now find it quite relaxing when I experience it. Once you know what it is, you just wait it out. Damn scary first time though.

This is refuted by me also. I was decapitated in a dream and then looked at my decapitated self in a mirror. Basically I turned and looked at a body, myself, in a mirror, with a graphically detailed sever spot (spinal cord, jagged skin, red meat and all), despite not having a head to see my reflection.

Nowadays I mostly don't fear death in dreams because I mostly know I won't die. It's sort of like how I can always land on my feet or breathe underwater. It's being learned, somehow, in my head, and one dream eventually I just won't worry about it.

I wait out sleep paralysis / hypnagogic hallucinations too. They fade fast when you recognize them.

 

[Tacita]

I was referring to have a nightmare then waking to a disoriented/demonic face and the feeling of someone holding you down. I have heard of such stories and believe that they could be possible, but it had nothing to do with the sleep paralysis subject. Like i said before, I simply misread what she wrote.

Steph, in those cases you're still technically dreaming. It's a hypnagogic hallucination. It can occur with sleep paralysis: you "awaken" but feel paralyzed, and are still in something of a dream state, and see images that aren't there. It is because you are still technically asleep and are dreaming the images but your body hasn't woken up enough to be de-paralyzed and the images appear in your real life (though you're dreaming).

Yeah it's that weird. But explainable. It's happened to me countless times; enough for me to just literally say "eff it" and ignore it. It rarely happens to me now.

 

[Soapy Sam]

I question the value of the distinction between "asleep" and "awake". I think there's an area in between where various neural and bodily processes are shutting down or starting up. Sometimes these get out of synch and the whole array of hypnogogic / hypnapompic experience occurs.

When awake, I have no ability to visualise. I close my eyes, I see purple phosphenes that fade to black. When asleep I dream in glorious 3-d technicolor. I've never had a visual hallucination during sleep paralysis. But I've had aural ones. I hear doors close and open, footsteps, voices. That leads me to think I'm awake at that point, not asleep. But I can't move, which is a characteristic of being asleep.

The point is that I'm in a mixed state- and that's where the confusion arises. I expect the degree of overlap of those states varies for each person, each time.

 

[Modified]

My theory about the sense of presence is that the presence is real.
Where do we normally sense a presence? In our own mind.

In the one case of sleep paralysis where I had a sense of presence, it was caused by a guy shouting on TV. I dreamed/hallucinated it to be a guy shouting and banging on my front door (and wearing welders goggles, for some reason).

 

[Soapy Sam]

So how do you know it was the man on TV? I think you're right that we take in real sensory data and scramble the interpretation, but I don't think that explains the" sense of presence" people so often describe in SP. That seems to be a purely internal sensation- though you may have grafted the external shouting onto it.
In my case, while I heard a door close - and later open, in an empty house, I made no inner association between that hallucination and the sense of presence. There was also measurable time between experiencing all three.

While everyone's experience of SP varies in detail, I'm intrigued by the amazing similarities. We are clearly dealing with real neural mechanisms here; phantoms in the brain.