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by Chopsy the Diver on June 3rd, 2007

Chopsy the Diver

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Has anyone experienced sleep paralysis? I had it once & freaked me out for ages.

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Answers. 29 helpful answers below.

  • by yup. on August 14th, 2007

    yup.

    there was a time in my life (about 3 or 4 years ago) when i was working graveyard 7 days a week. after about 4 or 5 months of doing that, i began to experience sleep paralysis after taking naps in the day and it just kept getting worse. the fear of it happening turned me into quite the insomniac. now that i do mostly freelance work, i only experience it when i'm incredibly swamped with work.

    so, the first few times i had to deal with it, i would wake up being unable to move and claustrophobia would kick in and it'd take about 10-15 seconds of concentrating hard trying to get a toe or a finger to move before i'd suddenly snap out of it. the more i had it, the harder it would be to snap out of it. there was a point where it was so hard for me to snap out of it, that when i finally did, i'd be incredibly worn out and sweaty and fall right back asleep just to have to go through the process all over again. not fun.

    before long i'd also start to hallucinate while it was happening. for instance, i'd see someone standing next to me and i'd be trying to get their attention to shake me or something so i could snap out of it. the worst one was fairly recently, when there seemed to be a creature of some sorts staring at me, and as i tried to move it would make like it was going to attack me. so not only was i unable to move, but i was afraid to. that was pretty damn terrible.

    it rarely happens these days, but when it does it's as bad as it ever was. i feel rather prone to sleeping problems as i've been having them all my life, but sleep paralysis is by far the worst. actually, i haven't been able to stay asleep for more than 4 hours at a time for the last few weeks, but at least i'm not experiencing sleep paralysis. i hope someone read all that.

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  • by KevinW42 on August 14th, 2007

    KevinW42

    Yes, I randomly woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't move, I fell asleep, woke up again, started shivering and couldn't get warm for no apparent reason, and eventually went back to sleep.

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  • by devil is back on August 14th, 2007

    devil is back

    Every Monday morning, it's terrible!

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  • by e-shroom on June 3rd, 2007

    e-shroom

    I get this thing where I'm almost asleep when my body goes paralysed and my brain wakes up. I can see everything around but can't move or breathe. As I've got older I've been able to make a bit of sound so in recent years my girlfriend has been able to shake me out of it. Which I am very grateful for. It's like the shake wakes the body up. Otherwise my body snaps out of it when on the verge of falling unconscious from lack of oxygen. I haven't had it in a while thank goodness, but I can deal with it now as I've had it so many times. The weirdest thing is I can see everything, my girlfriends arms reaching over to get me out of it, the cat walking out of the room, everything, but my girlfriend is convinced my eyes are closed when I get it.

    Is this the sort of thing you are talking about? I've never met anyone that gets it before.

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  • by atreadia on June 3rd, 2007

    atreadia

    Yep, I have had that happen among other freaky things while sleeping... Like waking up on the I-70 and having no clue how I got in the car in the first place, or why I am driving when I was sleeping.

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  • by chocolate monster has left the building on October 28th, 2007

    chocolate monster has left the building

    Yes I've had it a few times and its terrifying. Thankfully I have not had it for a few years but I understand it can be associated with stress. Last time I had it my grandfather had just passed away so the stress theory washes with me.
    The sensations I had in previous episodes were of some dark unseen force sat on my chest trying to push me deeper down into the bed. Other times have been of some dark unseen force pulling me out from my duvet and dragging me up the bedroom wall. I can hear myself trying to scream but I'm not making a sound and I am unable to move. Once after an episode I had woken up and I was convinced I could see the outline of an angel on the bedroom wall and I kept asking my husband if he could see it too.
    I was unable to talk about these episodes for a while until one evening I was staying at a friends house and I felt that I had been ripped out of the bed. I woke up and was stood unharmed in the middle of the room. It really freaked me out to the point I was considering going to see a priest (im not at all religious) A week or so later my friend brought me a magazine article all about sleep paralysis. Things started to make sense and although now it is still a terrifying thing when it happens, I am no longer freaked out by it. I keep the magazine article in a drawer by my bed so that whenever I am disturbed by sleep paralysis I can read it through and calm down. I hope this will help anybody else who has also experienced this

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  • by wonderer on September 6th, 2007

    wonderer

    Yes it is possible. There isn't anything to really be afraid of from what I've read. You can either - fall back asleep (usually pretty easy to do in that situation), or what I've found that works is to focus on one area of the body, e.g. a foot or hand, and then count to 3 and suddenly try to move it. That has snapped me out of it. But then I usually go back to sleep anyway ;)

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  • by Nellie Wise Gamgee on August 14th, 2007

    Nellie Wise Gamgee

    Yes especially when I was a teenager.

    here is a wiki link:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

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  • by We miss our girl! on August 14th, 2007

    We miss our girl!

    I've woken up a couple times and have not been able to move, and my whole body had a weird tingly feeling. Scared the hell out of me, I was quite sure it was that ghost in the house holding me down or something! I've heard also that it's when you were having an out of body experience and woke up before your whatever got back into your body. Whatever it is, I'd prefer it not ever happen again!

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  • by ... on August 13th, 2007

    ...

    here's a link http://sleepdisorders.about.com/cs/hallucinations/a/terrorparalysis.htm
    .
    Here's a previous AB post: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/313095

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  • by KyraLou was gone but now shes back on June 4th, 2007

    KyraLou was gone but now shes back

    I havent had that happen. It sounds scary.

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  • by underdog on June 4th, 2007

    underdog

    REM is supposed to be a state where you cannot move cause your body is paralised. I wander in what state you are when you are sleepwalking...

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  • by Bartman on April 17th, 2008

    Bartman

    Yes, I frequently do. Even last night, I had a very bad one. I had to wake myself by screaming. After that, I was scared to go to sleep in fear of it happening again. Its so freakishly scary. When it happens, I know I shouldn't be scared. If I try to ignore it, it gets intense.

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  • by Fiddle Playing Creole Bastard on March 29th, 2008

    Fiddle Playing Creole Bastard

    Yeah, I actually did this morning. I was dreaming that I was in a plane crash with my family and we had to find our way to a local tourism district which mysteriously vanished on this weird highway... needless to say, but I forced myself to wake up. I was paralyzed for what felt like ten or so minutes before my body finally caught up with my mind.

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  • by rodacious on November 18th, 2007

    rodacious

    used to happen to me quite a bit, i would ask my mom and she said it was because my spirit was out wandering around when i woke up and it would take time for it to get back in my body. i also used to be able to see myself while i was sleeping, some how i was able to see my body from the upper conner of my room. what was even more crazy was i could swtch back and forth and be in the corner watching or be in the bed, unabel to wake and know that i was watching me........... crazy huh

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  • by Jewel on October 28th, 2007

    Jewel

    Yes. It is so frightening.

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  • by Drastic on October 28th, 2007

    Drastic

    Yes, I used to have them regularly. I haven't had that many lately though, which is good because I really don't like them!

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  • by Firebrand on October 28th, 2007

    Firebrand

    Yes on quite a few occasions . It was worse when I had a back injury and was flat on my back in hospital, Then when it happened I used to feel absolute panic because I thought that the neck nerves had been severed by the jagged bones,which was causing the total paralysis

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  • by Nikka Yuko on October 28th, 2007

    Nikka Yuko

    My boyfriend has it so if he is ever bedridden or needs extra rest, I have to move him around in his sleep so he doesn't wake up with serious paralysis and I have to make sure that his lungs don't become paralyzed in his sleep.

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  • by pantsy on September 6th, 2007

    pantsy

    I have..I've been having it since I was 15 and Im 20 now. I even had to go have a sleep study done because of it. It wont show up on the study but I have an appt. to get on some kind of medication for it.

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  • by devil is back on August 20th, 2007

    devil is back

    ....error...

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  • by Nyssa_Firefly on July 28th, 2010

    Nyssa_Firefly

    I am a chronic suffer of s/p. It is a genetic sleep disorder which tends to run in families. 60% of people suffer it at least once in their lives, and of that 60%, some odd 5% suffer chronically (genetics, scientifically). I am not a science minded person, though, more metaphysical than anything... but here's a run-down...

    Sleep Paralysis; Sensory hallucination (body buzzing, bed shaking), auditory hallucinations (ears ringing), visual hallucination (seeing figures or entities in the room). it is scientifically said that it is an occurrence in which your R.E.M kicks in before you fall asleep... and in a normal sleep cycle, when you go into R.E.M. after you fall asleep, your body paralyzes to prevent you from acting out your dream (sleep walking). Except in s/p you go into that stage before you fall asleep. It is terrifying to say the least... and even after I snap out of it, the evil feeling presence lingers there. I personally feel that it is either demonic or it is a negative energy surrounding the area. It feels like an eternity when I am trying to pull out of it. I have even been able to astral-project (against my will) during the episodes (out of body experience) but I am too scared to astral-project when those episodes occur. I would much rather astral-project on my own by meditation.

    I really hope you don't have to go through that again. I wouldn't wish this chronic s/p disorder on my worst enemy.

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  • by Bartman on November 18th, 2007

    Bartman

    Just had it last night and been having them all my life. I never understood this as a kid and usually woke up screaming but I have learnt about it in last 2-3 years.

    It happens to me at night when I try to force myself to sleep. In other words, try to sleep when I'm not sleepy.

    I usually wake up in middle of the night trembling and shaking and unable to speak or move. It used to freak me out before but now I just live with it. I'm no longer terrified and I'm usually in my bed having the paralysis but fully conscience of what is going on. I'm no longer scared but it sure as hell is annoying.

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  • by Ankhorite on March 29th, 2008

    Ankhorite

    Yes, about six times in my long life, and yes, it was straight-out terrifying.

    I understand that this is an instinct that primates developed so they wouldn't fall out of trees while moving in their dreams, but YIKES. It's very scary when you wake up and still cannot move for a little while. Feels like forever, doesn't it?

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  • by Jadey - Vive la difference on October 19th, 2009

    Jadey - Vive la difference

    A few times - although since I had absolutely no idea about sleep paralysis at the time, it led me to believe in ghosts. I then found out about sleep paralysis and so I am back to not believing.

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  • by anitram on October 19th, 2009

    anitram

    Ive had a period in my life when I experienced them everyday straight for months. At first it was super scary, the first sign I would know is if my bed light didn't turn on. It's like I would flip the switch and when it wouldn't come on I'd be like FUCK!!!!!!! NOT AGAIN! LOL I got used to it though and wondered what the demonic creature would come up with next.

    Ive read that this has nothing to do with demons but in my case it is pretty clear, since everytime this happens there is this naked pale chick with long black hair covering her boobs. It's always her, but sometimes it is another person: this really white (pale) fat man. Anyways she had talked to me a few times in ghostly mumbles, one time I fell asleep watching tv and I woke up to find her lying right beside me on her side looking at me and talking strange shit.

    On other occasions when I broke out of the paralysis she would follow me wherever I went. One time she drove me to jump off my friends balcony. She usually sweeps her hair on my back and pushes me down. One time she pushed me down so far and hard that my cheek started to cut into the wire of the bed and there was blood everywhere.

    Now this was my most memorable one, and if there is anyone who wants to stop having these night terrors or at least decrease them, do this: Tell them "you're going to kill them, call them cowards for paralysing you, and tell them to f*** off!" No joke it worked for me lol.

    Here is the story.

    I fell asleep on my bed on my back and then I woke up. I started walking out of my room and passed by my fridge. I opened the freezer and two guinea pigs were playing hide and seek in there (it seemed normal to me at the time when this happened lol) Everything seemed normal but the lighting was very dark and hazy. Anyways, so I started to walk into the living room where we have a pull out bed. As I passed I noticed that all of our shoes weren't in the right positions. They were shelved in the kitchen. I don't know, but at that point I just knew that this was a night terror and she was somewhere there! So I pretended that I didn't know anything and procceeded quickly to go to sleep on the sofa bed and just as Im about to, I get paralysed! I just stiff up and fall flat on my back on the bed. I close my eyes and pray to God. I was pissed off more than scared at the fact that this is the 100th billion time I'm having these dreams! So the I feel my legs slowly rising, she is lifting them and I had enough. I open my eyes and shout: "F*** YOU YOU STUPID B****! GO SOMEWHERE ELSE YOU COWARD!" and just kept on ranting and ranting on. When I finished she just gave me a creepy confused look on her face. She stared at me blankly and slowly dropped my legs, moved back and dissolved.

    After that experience I haven't encountered her again, but others did show up occasionally.

    If you try what I did it'll probably work. Just open you're eyes and shout at them! (at first your mouth will be paralysed but even if you sound stupid with mumbles it doesn't matter because they will get the hint. And if you really can't talk then just stare at them and think what you want to say. Hope this helped lol :)

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  • by Irisibis on July 17th, 2009

    Irisibis

    That was my experience, it just happened the once and it scared me to death, it was in the days before the internet and I was only 12 so I had no idea what had happened.

    I woke up and couldn't move anything, though I was able to open my eyes. Gradually I could move the rest of my body, arms first and legs last. It took a few minutes though.

    I wouldn't want it to happen again, but at least if it did I'd know what was happening this time.

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  • by Anonymous on March 16th, 2009

    Anonymous

    it happened to me, not while i wasnt sleeping, but while I was praying, was lying face down praying, when a cat jumped on me( dont own a cat) and walked over me, I tried to turn around, i couldnt, couldnt lift my arms and couldnt breathe, the cat stood still partially on my neck and partially on my back, and it felt as if things, alot of things, went into me, through my back, at a quick pace, when that stopped, I could breathe and move and the cat was gone, but I didnt feel it jump off

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  • by mirror I rorrim on July 25th, 2010

    mirror I rorrim

    yeah a lot when i was little

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