Sleep Paralysis

Damn formatting.

Once or twice.

Can you see around you? Maybe a calming poster on the ceiling may help.

''Hang in there kitty''

:-P

Nah, my eyes are always closed. I don't get the night-terror type stuff other people do though. Just a horrible panicky feeling. HATE!

I've had it happen to me once. It kind of freaked me out but was kind of cool at the same time. It didn't last for too long though.

I recall reading somewhere that you're more likely to have an incidence of this if you fall asleep on your back.

I get it more-or-less every night. It's closely associated with narcolepsy, which I've got too...the paralysis is actually OK compared with the hypnagogic hallucinations, which can be a little freaky...and the catalepsy, which is at the very least extremely annoying. Fact for the day: the Inuit word for ''sleep paralysis'' is apparently ''uqamaitineq''. That'd make a good band name.

I heard that the Inuit people actually have something in the vicinity of 72 words for sleep paralysis, each describing a slightly different form of sleep paralysis

theneworphan - you are thinking of snow.

moo - Yeah I have had this once- it lasted for only a second if that. I remember thinking it was strangely comforting, or at least some kind of pleasant.

I think he was joking, tramdriver.

i've had a few experiences similar to that, in kind of half wake/sleep states. sometimes i'm aware of external aural stimuli (usually podcasts) as it bleeds into and influences my dream. kinda weird but fun

anne - I think I was joking as well, but perhaps am an idiot. Seems a brain fade -off to bed.

i get this when i sleep in new places. i never used to happen to me until i started traveling alot and waking up in many new unfamiliar places. i remember being in a hostel in oslo and waking up late in the night, something was wrong, i didnt even realise it was that i couldnt move my body but after about 30 seconds i started to panic and have a anxiety attack. that was hella scary.

This happens to me once every few weeks/months if I'm lucky (it happened to me two nights ago and I don't recall it happening for th last 10 weeks or so), and it is always terrifying. I hate it.

What's shitting me most lately though is how often I am waking in the middle of the night and having no idea where I am. This is happening 2-5 times a week, and it's been taking me at least a minute to work it out. Needless to say, this minute or so at the time feels like forever.

do you see your surroundings and wonder where you are? would it be better sleeping blindfolded?

I don't see how that would help...

fool yourself into thinking it's still just a dream. i don't know. i just remember it happening to me once or twice and i thought i saw my room and i felt all weird. seeing and the panic could be totally unrelated. i need more experiments to find out.

You lucky people who find it relaxing. I'm like Tigers - it terrifies the hell outta me. I get panicky every time, even though I know what it is and that it'll do away.

I've heard that it's more likely to happen sleeping on one's back. I can't fall asleep on my back though I do recall it happening a few times when I ''wake up'' on my back, normally after snoozing for a bit. I hate this shit.

and that it'll do away.

go away. Not do away.

what about a hammock? you can't roll around freely on those. replace the fear of paralysis with the fear of falling!

I dunno, it's weird. The surrounds don't matter, logic doesn't matter. I know it's gonna go away, but a common part of it is terror and panic. People get really vivid hallucinations and evil shit. Just the paralysis itself leaves me completely terrified. I'm scared to go back to sleep afterwards.

For a while I didn't know if I was just dreaming it or if it was really happening. Luckily Wiki was there to clarify. Yeah!

I used to get this a lot in summer. I never knew the name of it but was describing it to a Hindu woman at work. She asked if I slept without a top sheet or a shirt. As it was summer, the answer was yes. She said it was bad spirits becoming jealous of me as I had a body and they were trying to steal it. She suggested that I sleep with a sheet covering me. It sounded far fetched but since I started, it hasn't happened again

i feel for the bad spirits. poor things.

i've had this for about 10 years. comes and goes. sometimes weird shit happens like astralplaning, other times i find it hard to breathe and it's very scary. it almost always happens when i have a nap during the day.

I experience this occasionally. It's shithouse.

Bloody spirits trying to steal my earthly body.

Well at least now I know who to blame. Damn the spirits!

hope it doesn't happen to you tonight moo-core! i've been having scary nightmares lately, there's nothing worse than that scared to go back to sleep feeling.. sweet dreams :)

Some interesting Metafilter discussion here.

happened to me last night, scared the shit out of mrs goalattack with growling and ''oooh'' ing in my sleep.

woke up screaming again last night. . glad my neighbours were away.

I had a weird occurence of what I assume was this. I used to have weird ghosty kind of things happen at my childhood house. One more I woke up to a knock on the door and all this children's laughter. I couldn't move or yell out but I could hear heaps of whispers. I managed to force myself to roll off the bed and as I hit the floor all the sounds dissapeared. Do you still remain in some kind of dream state while it is happening.

BRAINZZZZZ

that sound spooky

That sounds really creepy.
Yeah, i think you do remain in some kind of semi-asleep state.

Seriously. Fuck this shit.

This used to only happen to me once or twice a year, but quite severely- for longer stretches of time. Total paralysis. It's hard to convince myself that I wasn't dead or dying, to be honest. But lately it's been happening EVERY night.
I've always been a strange sleeper (strange streams/habits/etc) but if this pattern continues its going to be a real bother. Anyone had any luck with preventing sleep paralysis?

it's a total mystery to me, but try regulate sleep patterns and don't nap in the day

Hypnagogia is beautiful. Never experienced sleep paralysis, but it doesn't sound that good. It'd be nice to have it just once. I love the visual and sound hallucinations so much. There was a period of a couple weeks where I was deliberately getting in to that state every night.

I love it because at least a part of me is deeply asleep. I used to be a great sleeper but in the past six years it's started to get lighter and lighter and I can wake up at the merest trigger. So when I get sleep paralysis I'm happy. I can often get back to sleep if it's during the night without having to get up. And if it's in the morning I can just enjoy the sensations of deep sleep and relaxation.
Napping makes no difference to me.

I experienced two kinds of sleep paralysis. One is relaxing and kind of soothing, the other is deeply frightening. I don't know which kind you are referring to, sister.