Sleeping Paralysis Anyone?
 

The thread on "panic attacks" made me think about this fucked up problem that I used to get.

I used to get this where you sort of "semi" wake up from a light sleep or nap and cant move. You try as hard as you can to move but cant. You know you arent quite awake ywt so you try to snap out of this sleep. Then finally, YOU WAKE UP.

Its really fuckin wierd. I havent had this happen to me in years but is it ever freaky when it happens.

Anyone ever have this?

never even heard of it before.....

My sister says it happens to her all the time. Happened to me once. Terrible feeling.

It only lasts a few seconds but its weird as hell. I havent had this happen in at least 10 years. I never knew what it was until I seen a thing on TV about a while ago. I just thought I was some freak that had a one of a kind problem...I guess not

YEAH MAN!! I have that fucking a lot lately!

Never heard anybody talk about it before and figured
it would be because of my nicotine shortage after 12 hours
of sleep or something.

But it's REALLY fucking scary sometimes.. like you are paralyzed.
You are really trying hard just to move your feet or something.
But it doesnt work. Then you panic. But that doesnt help you.

I never wake up afterwards i just go back to normal
sleep and remember it the moment i wake up for real.

Ex-fuckin-actly!

sounds freaky..... so is it a dream about not being able to move? Or is it actual paralysis?

actual paralysis

I heard of that... Wouldnt it be weird if that what a coma is like?

You can hear & feel, but cant react. Imagine hearing your family saying "Damn, he is never gonna wake up - just pull the plug doc."


The Dawg

it always happens to me when i am sleeping alone.

Never have it with a girl over or something.

I always wonder what would happen if i had one of
those 'attacks' and somebody would try to wake me up.

Cause im not 100% sure if it's just a 'dream stage' or
that i'm actually conscious.

The time frame doesnt make much sense as well:
it feel like a couple of minutes when i think back
but it could be a few seconds or an hour.

But it feels so fucking real.

Damn Pete.. thanks! Im not alone!

my ex-gf used to have them. she'd be so freaked out after - it was tough for her to fall asleep at night sometimes, cause she'd be thinking about it.

man..... that's kinda scary thinking that a coma might be like that... and not being able to wake the fuck up.... yikes! :(

I remember the first time i had it i thought i died or something.

It's not that your body doesnt respond: it's that you
CANT initiate your body to respond.

If your arm was paralyized you would still be able
to make your brain TRY to move it but it just wouldnt.

In that coma stage of sleep you cant even do that.
It's like you mind is seperated from your body.

All you can think is "TRY to move my ....." but you
just CANT do it.

That's some scary shit...


ever see the alfred hitchcock where the guy is paralyzed at the side of the road and eventually they just bury him becasue they can't detect life.....ugggh sleep well:winkwink:

the metallica video 'one' comes to mind.

I've had those quite a bit, just never knew what to call it. Yeah it's the worst especially when like you're sleeping on your arm or something. Normally you'd wake up for a sec to move your arm to regain blood flow, but it's like you're fully aware of what's happening and can't do a damn thing about it. Sometimes I can fight my way to wake up, sometimes I try to fall back asleep to get over it. Is there a medical term for this?

This may sound crazy, but this dude I knew a long time ago was into eastern religion, astral projection, tulpas and all that shit. He told me one's spirit travels outside the body at night when you're asleep and goes around town, around the world, or wherever (sometimes creating deja vu when you really go there in person) and it's connected to your body by some cord. Sometimes you regain consciousness before your spirit reenters and have to wait for the spirit to return to the body before you can function.

Believe it or not: that does make sense to me.

my girlfried has them almost every night lately.

i think they are about not having the time to do what you really want.

Yeah that's happened to me a few times.. It can be scary but, after a few times you know what's going on.. I just told my brain to go back to sleep.. It's like your mind's eye wakes up before the rest of your body does.. It's a bizarre state of mind your in..lol..

Happened to me twice and my dad has it all the time.

Sure feels like the end is coming.

i wake up and can't move my arms sometimes.. then they get all tingly and finally i can move them again.. kinda scary cuz design work without arms would be difficult i would imagine.. does this count?

ya its called a "Witch riding your back"

all you have to do is place a pair of shoes under the bed..

guarantee to cure that problem

Not true. I had this happen to me last week, and my wife has a dozen pairs of shoes under the bed. :winkwink:

Do you sleep on your stomach with your arms under the pillow? Sounds like your circulation is being cut off while you're sleeping, and the tingling is the blood flowing through again. Like when your foot falls asleep and you can't walk on it. Pins and needles. I hate that feeling. :mad:

It's actually quite simple.. They did some tests on cats and it was quite funny to watch. It's some kind of mode your brain puts itself in that prevents you from moving while you're dreaming.. You know for instance when you're deaming that you're running, your legs would normally run. But because of this mode, they don't move. Sometimes you can wake up but remain in that mode, that's why you can't move at all even if you try; your brain is still in this 'non-move' mode.

The tests they did with cats was to stimulate some part of their brain that was actually disabling this 'mode', and you'd see the cat jump everywhere while it was dreaming. It's some kind of disease also for humans, some people can't get into this 'mode' and will live their dreams. Don't know what's the name of this either...

i know something more scary..... sleepwalking, yet being aware of what your doing......just not able to control it.... i used to have that happen to me when i was a kid. What i did while up and about was not my controll. MY dreams we're also acted out during this. Example: I would get up, walk to window, and talk to my grandma about my uncle being outside on the roof..... and him being on the roof was part of the deram I was having. But i had no way of snapping out of it.

Another time, I got up, took a shit, but i wasent controlling myself, i was sleep-shitting yet fully aware of it. It is the most eerie feeling. I have had many episodes such as this when iw as young. I'm so glad it doesnt happen anymore.

Could be related to a disorder called Sleep Apnea:

http://www.sleepapnea.org/

Don't fuck around and see your doctor.

Yep. I did in the past man.
Its like you wake up - and try to move, but your body wont. You even have a feeling (or more tan a feeling) you don't control your breathing. I went to all kind of tests, electric shots through the body to test electric shit in my body, talked to doctors etc..
They didn't know shit about it.
I finally assumed it was a stress issue. Thats my best bet till today.
Telling you man - its REALLY freaky. You realize you are awake but try to move your hand or leg and NOTHING! it wont budge. No matter how hard you try. Untill finally you manage to pull yourself out of some sort of grip that "thing" had over you. It makes you affraid of going back to sleep cause many times it catches you right when you fall asleep again.
Didnt have it lately (though Im pretty stressed these days)

No man.
In my case atleast I was able to move my eyes (even blink I think)

It was less melodramatic for me. I didnt feel I died or anytihing BUT it was indeed a VERY SCARY feeling.
I felt I must try to snap out and start breathing because I thought its dangerous and something is VERY wrong.
I had a feeling I would die if I dont take control and start breathing and moving. Thats what is so scary about it.
I also remember hearing something like a very loud scream in my head and a pressure in my ears.
One night I decided to let it take control over me instead of fighting it. It was a hard descision because I didn't know if its a smart move - but I did it anyway.
It appeared to "pass" over/through me. I didn't die (atleast I think/hope I didnt)

Pete: Thx for this thread. Nice to see something with high relevancy (to me) on GFY.

Naw, I dont think thats it...

Exactly!
Dont know of any medical term man. I wish there was, because we humans like to define and "know" things by their name - but also because maybe I could "treat" it.

Its funny how we (assuming we have more or less the same thing) define it differently, with different words but in the "sense".
Its like you wake up before your body.
My main fear was that my brain "wanted" to wake up because of a good reason - and I had to do what he wanted cause maybe he knew what he was doing and I better do it or some bad shit will happen. That was the source of the scare for me. I felt I had to - and I couldn't. That's nightmare stuff ppl!.

Interesting theory. Where did you hear/see/read about this? Can you link any usefull information?
Im not sure its that - cause its mostly the other way around - like you cant get out of this mode - not it. I mean - how can you then explain how we turn around all the time while sleeping?

Sleep paralysis is an interesting phenomenon. It all has to do with a chemical that stops you from running in your dreams, etc., as someone says. However, more often than not, I believe it is actually only a dream. I gather that the few times that it really happens create quite an impression, leading to the dreams. I know that I get the dream version all of the time, but don't realize until I wake up. (Slight differences, like things missing from the room.)

I heard an interesting explanation of the phenomenon of Alien Abduction that was explained due to sleep paralysis. When you have dreams, your subconscious fills in details to explain things, make the dream into a story, and one of those stories (now that we have all heard of alien abduction) is little green men and so forth. Before them, it was probably vampires that filled the role.

This has happened to me once a year for as long as I can remember. Still to this day it freaks me out as it happens. It's nice to know other people go through the same thing.

It is definitely freaky... Though it actually happens to me so much that I have gotten used to it. Not a month goes by where it doesn't happen to me, and often its a couple of nights a week.

I've had it where I wake up and my arm won't move. Lasts about 10 seconds.

Freaky, but I always assumed this was caused from sleeping in a weird way that cut off the normal flow of blood.

It's the Dream World.


If you can enjoy it consider yourself lucky.



you bitches shut the fuck up. you know nothing. poopheads.

Damn, this way more common than I thought. Its amazing what people are afraid to talk about.

don't talk about it. you'll get the typical treatment.

It used to happen to me quite often, but only if I took a nap sometime during the day before going to bed. If I didn't take a nap, it wouldn't happen.. strange..

When it did happen.. couldn't move, couldn't yell out..

I'd usually just stop fighting it, then try to jerk real quick and that usually worked....

--------------
about sleep paralysis?


Some people with disrupted sleep schedules or circadian rhythm disturbances experience sleep paralysis
A study found that 35% of subjects with isolated sleep paralysis also reported a history of wake panic attacks unrelated to the experience of paralysis
Sixteen percent of these persons with isolated sleep paralysis met the criteria for panic disorder
How can I stop the sleep paralysis?

In severe cases, where episodes take place at least once a week for 6 months, medication may be used.

You may be able to minimize the episodes by following good sleep hygiene:


getting enough sleep
reduce stress
exercise regularly (but not too close to bedtime)
keep a regular sleep schedule


More on sleep paralysis

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...uccubi&spell=1



I'm watching you all

Nope. No dreams. Not in my case atleast.

Yep - getting to think of it - I remember trying to make a sound after realizing I cant move, calling out for help but couldnt. Only thing I got with was a shallow low moaning voice nothing clear.
Man - its terrible thing now that I recall the details. stirs some dark shit in my head! :(

I experience something similar from time to time, half awake, but not really, and my neck is like stuck to the side and it's like it's paralyzed, but as soon as I snap into consciousness everything is fine. Pretty weird, but i've always thought it's maybe just from lying in the same position too long, almost like cramping, but no pain.

People that keep posting about it's a dream or whatever must have never really experienced it. You are AWAKE, and fully aware of yourself. You know what position your body is in. Sometimes your eyes can blink barely and I've tried to even talk or moan but barely can make a whisper. But everything that's going on in your mind cannot be processed by the body. You think it, you just can't DO it.

This is something I go through a lot, in two different ways. I simply resent the implication that I am making this up, or haven't had sleep paralysis. Not that it matters, but I don't like to be told I'm not telling the truth.

You are aware, I hope, that is is not only possible, but quite common, to dream that you are awake. Sleep paralysis is, for the most part, exactly this. Of course you feel awake, and can see details-- that is the nature of the dream. It took me years to realize this, but eventually I caught on that the details I was seeing in the dream weren't actually the same as the ones I saw when I awoke.

Believe what you will.

Hey isnt sleep paralysis the explaination that some gives for those who claim they have seen or been abducted by aliens...? Did one of you ever hallucinated during that...?

p.s. the closest thing to sleep paralysis I got is when you just wake up but for around 5 sec. you have trouble opening your eyes....! but nothing thraumatising there...

I'm not calling you a liar about what happened to you. I'm just saying that when I experience this and what others are describing here, it's nowhere close to a dream and not some subconscious thing. Panic from a bad dream and panic from this are totally different beasts. When I'm sleeping on my arm when this happens, I KNOW I'm on my arm and need to move it but can't. Sometimes you can try to twitch enough and finally move it, sometimes you can't.