I experienced something like this just this morning. I was dreaming of being prepped for an operation, with Angelina Jolie as my nurse, and I could barely move as she stuck needles into me. Not that I wanted to.

Oh yay, another sleep paralysis thread. Do we get to share stories about how sleep scares the beejesus out of us again?

I bought this was already commonly accepted.

I get SP periodically, usually when I'm really stressed about something. I've seen ghosts, witches, and grim reapers floating around my bed during SP. it's freaky, but ever since I found out what It was I've been able to ride through it and just enjoy the visuals without fear.

but it is more frequent in two groups - students and psychiatric patients

Great, I'm a headcase. I suspected as much though.

timswar: I bought this was already commonly accepted.

I get SP periodically, usually when I'm really stressed about something. I've seen ghosts, witches, and grim reapers floating around my bed during SP. it's freaky, but ever since I found out what It was I've been able to ride through it and just enjoy the visuals without fear.

I always have aliens. Little pricks.

I thought the trials had to do with land acquisition of greedy neighbors and townsfolk.

timswar: I bought this was already commonly accepted.

I get SP periodically, usually when I'm really stressed about something. I've seen ghosts, witches, and grim reapers floating around my bed during SP. it's freaky, but ever since I found out what It was I've been able to ride through it and just enjoy the visuals without fear.

Wish I were so lucky. With me, it's one of two things: either my mind starts sounding alarm bells and screaming "HOLY SHIAT IT'S FOR REAL THIS TIME!! THAT'S A FARKING DEMON MONSTER THING RIGHT THERE AT THE EDGE OF THE BED!!!" and I get freaked the fark out; or I know I'm still sleeping and, in trying to wake myself up, I make all sorts of crazy moaning sounds--the girlfriend says it either sounds like I'm doing a bad ghost imitation, or jerking off.

I've only had this happen to be a couple of times and it only happens when I read about it or someone talks about it.....frickin' weird man.

I do not suffer from this ailment, so I will sit here and laugh at those who do. Until it befalls me, then I'll buy those pads for my bed that little kids use so they don't get pee on the mattress.

I've experienced this before. I haven't seen anything weird, but I was convinced that there was something truely evil and horrifying lurking where I couldn't see. One time I thought something was pushing on my chest. Then I realized it was my own hands that I couldn't move.

Oh sleep paralysis, the fun we've had together. Some nights I sleep on my back to try and provoke an episode or two. My hallucinations are mostly auditory and usually start out innocently enough. Sometimes my subconscious even plays music, which can be pretty cool. After a few minutes though my mind wanders to darker places and the shrieking starts and I feel like I'm being choked by unseen hands. Then I usually just wake up and roll over on my side to get some decent sleep.

This happened to me a handful of times before college, and always scared the crap out of me. Then I read about it, and now I kind of look forward to them. Had less than ten in my life, though.

PacManDreaming: Peki: Oh yay, another sleep paralysis thread. Do we get to share stories about how sleep scares the beejesus out of us again?

It doesn't scare me anymore. Now, it just pisses me off because I can't wake up move.

This.

Or it could be the fact that the Salem wheat fields were infected with Ergot.

Was home for college when I had one of these, years ago. Woke up with this intense feeling of dread like I wasn't alone. Went to sit up and couldn't move, felt like something was pushing my chest down. It passed in a few minutes but I was freaked for days, actually spent about 15 minutes after it was over crying like a little biatch.

timswar: I bought this was already commonly accepted.

I get SP periodically, usually when I'm really stressed about something. I've seen ghosts, witches, and grim reapers floating around my bed during SP. it's freaky, but ever since I found out what It was I've been able to ride through it and just enjoy the visuals without fear.

Yeah, but a lot of people have either not heard of it (reporters mostly, it would seem) or deny that it applies to THEIR case of abduction/ghost sightings.

Rapmaster2000: but it is more frequent in two groups - students and psychiatric patients

Great, I'm a headcase. I suspected as much though.

timswar: I bought this was already commonly accepted.

I get SP periodically, usually when I'm really stressed about something. I've seen ghosts, witches, and grim reapers floating around my bed during SP. it's freaky, but ever since I found out what It was I've been able to ride through it and just enjoy the visuals without fear.

I always have aliens. Little pricks.

I got a flock of sparrows once. They were going nuts and an invisible demon was laughing.

Hmm.... for me it is an uncanny feeling of dread and fear that there is a stranger in my apartment. i roll over to reach my knives but can't quite reach them as an unseen force keeps me from rolling over completely and they are just out of my reach. And then my brain feels like it's having a very painful muscle cramp.

Sometimes, when I recognize what is going on, I give into it and start to lucid dream. It's fun then because I like controlling my dreams.

I have this, it's horrible. I'll take a nap and when I wake up I feel like I'm suffocating. I've had it twice in the last week. It's so scary to feel so helpless until I can roll myself over and get moving. Does anyone know if there is any cure or anything for this? WebMD doesn't say too much, unfortunately.

Reminds me that the Halloween ghost stories thread is comings soon. The breakdown there seems generally to be 40% sleep paralysis; 20% ooops-I-scared-myself-because-it-is-dark-outside; 15% copy-pasting from some Shadowlands; 10% re-spun urban legend; 5% pure fiction; and 5% genuinely unexplainable true story of pure spookiness.

My favorite is the one about the guy who decides against pulling over in the desert only to see the potential ambushers come out of hiding in the rear-view.

/skeptic
//Loves a good scary story
///skeptic because I've read too many scary stories/bigfoot reports/Time-Life books as a kid

I think there's actually a few separate things here which are all similar and all involve sleep, but aren't quite the same:

1. Waking up completely but your body can't move (traditional sleep paralysis)
2. Becoming conscious in the a dream (MILD lucid dream)
3. Falling asleep while remaining conscious (WILD lucid dream)

Thing is, all of them involve being asleep, being aware of your body, but not being able to move it. Seems odd that we don't teach our children about these things, since they happen to everyone from time to time and can freak you out if you don't know what's going on.

The Dogs of War: I have this, it's horrible. I'll take a nap and when I wake up I feel like I'm suffocating. I've had it twice in the last week. It's so scary to feel so helpless until I can roll myself over and get moving. Does anyone know if there is any cure or anything for this? WebMD doesn't say too much, unfortunately.

Not really a "cure," but if you remain calm your lungs should keep breathing normally. If they don't, you need to visit a doctor ASAP.

atomsmoosher: Reminds me that the Halloween ghost stories thread is comings soon. The breakdown there seems generally to be 40% sleep paralysis; 20% ooops-I-scared-myself-because-it-is-dark-outside; 15% copy-pasting from some Shadowlands; 10% re-spun urban legend; 5% pure fiction; and 5% genuinely unexplainable true story of pure spookiness.

My favorite is the one about the guy who decides against pulling over in the desert only to see the potential ambushers come out of hiding in the rear-view.

/skeptic
//Loves a good scary story
///skeptic because I've read too many scary stories/bigfoot reports/Time-Life books as a kid


Started to read your post, and immediately thought of that story. Definitely my favorite creepy-pasta. That, and, the one about the guy who takes refuge in a cabin one night, and wonders why someone put up a bunch of paintings of dark faces, and the next morning he realizes they weren't paintings, but windows.

I lucid dream all the farking time. I hate it. I see things moving around my bedroom, and it's like an overlay on reality. Sometimes it's people, sometimes it's like the furniture and bookshelves are self-re-arranging. When I was a kid, my doll collections would 'talk' and move around the shelving.

My husband says I'll have conversations with him which I don't recall or will occasionally incorporate him into my dream and freak out when he tries to say goodbye in the mornings.

I've had this a few times and it always freaks me out. I never see anything, it's usually me coming out of a dream but unable to move. I distinctly remember right before waking up feeling the presence of something near me or trying to get me and my mind postulates aliens all the time.

The last one I remembered was driving up a local road and being blinded by some lights in the sky/or another driver to the point where I crashed and fell out of the passenger door and was laying sideways on my face then realizing that sensation and desperately trying to getup or move and not being able to and having the distinct thought that something is paralyzing me and coming for me, But at the same time part of me recognizes this most likely a dream and I should try to wake up, and I do, and the image changes from the dream to eventually being awake but in the same position, laying down on my side, as I was in the dream. It's farking creepy.

Other times i get the feeling and know I need to move and getup, but I can't and I get angrier trying to make myself move until I'm fully awake. Definitely an interesting experience.

ConConHead: I lucid dream all the farking time. I hate it. I see things moving around my bedroom, and it's like an overlay on reality. Sometimes it's people, sometimes it's like the furniture and bookshelves are self-re-arranging. When I was a kid, my doll collections would 'talk' and move around the shelving.

Sounds pretty awful, but on the plus side you could probably supplement your income participating in sleep research.

ok, so it wasn't sheep paralysis. Which made sense to me.
carrry on.

ConConHead: I lucid dream all the farking time. I hate it. I see things moving around my bedroom, and it's like an overlay on reality. Sometimes it's people, sometimes it's like the furniture and bookshelves are self-re-arranging. When I was a kid, my doll collections would 'talk' and move around the shelving.

My husband says I'll have conversations with him which I don't recall or will occasionally incorporate him into my dream and freak out when he tries to say goodbye in the mornings.

As a guy, I didn't have dolls but I must say if that ever happened to me I would immediately need new sheets. We would have gone beyond "washing them".

MrEricSir: The Dogs of War: I have this, it's horrible. I'll take a nap and when I wake up I feel like I'm suffocating. I've had it twice in the last week. It's so scary to feel so helpless until I can roll myself over and get moving. Does anyone know if there is any cure or anything for this? WebMD doesn't say too much, unfortunately.

Not really a "cure," but if you remain calm your lungs should keep breathing normally. If they don't, you need to visit a doctor ASAP.

I try to keep calm, but no matter what it feels like I'm suffocating. I can move my eyes around and I'm mentally awake, but my body feels like it's under 1,000 pounds of rock. It is rather frightening. I'm going to have to get it looked at sometime.

CalvinMorallis:


Started to read your post, and immediately thought of that story. Definitely my favorite creepy-pasta. That, and, the one about the guy who takes refuge in a cabin one night, and wonders why someone put up a bunch of paintings of dark faces, and the next morning he realizes they weren't paintings, but windows.

Oh, definitely.

Along the same lines, another stupid pleasure is the Anything Ghost podcast. Its a bunch of listener-submitted ghost stories and urban legends read (someone ineptly) by this guy who also writes and records the creepy musical accompaniment. Its great while raking leaves...when I'm not listening to SGU...

I've had one where I felt and saw a hunched up little white demon sitting on my chest. And one where I was just barely able to move my head and eyes to the left enough to see a baby with it's face missing.

I also had one where my Dad came in the room and said something to me, even though he was at work. Obviously the most frightening one of all.

They were all weird experiences but I never attributed them to magic or aliens.

meat0918: I though succubi were explanations for wet dreams.


That's a good point. I've often heard the female demon aspect of succubi in ghost stories--ghostly woman sneaks onto the bed but gets all demony--but you never hear about the orgasm. Maybe they were too embarrassed or the phenomenon was mixed up over the years--combining wet dreams (which happen to most every dude) with sleep paralysis...not to mention the fact that society used to frown upon non-baby-making orgasms, in general.

I had ONE, just ONE wet dream when I was 12, but I was sleeping on my stomach at the time and it hurt, dammit.

The Dogs of War: I have this, it's horrible. I'll take a nap and when I wake up I feel like I'm suffocating. I've had it twice in the last week. It's so scary to feel so helpless until I can roll myself over and get moving. Does anyone know if there is any cure or anything for this? WebMD doesn't say too much, unfortunately.

Trazadone helps. I have it happen 2-3 times a week. After awhile you just have to learn to get use to it and not panic.

But you'll still panic, just hopefully not every time.

For those that haven't had the pleasure, and are even the tiniest bit claustrophobic, I describe it as the absolutely smallest space you can be trapped in.

I might have mild experience with sleep paralysis, but I always seem to be able to snap myself out of it by putting all of my attention and energy into wiggling the toes on one of my feet. Once I can get my toes to move, I can pull myself out of the experience.

/Try it

Alphakronik: Or it could be the fact that the Salem wheat fields were infected with Ergot.

Rye

puppetmaster745: Alphakronik: Or it could be the fact that the Salem wheat fields were infected with Ergot.

Rye

I don't know.

The Dogs of War: MrEricSir: The Dogs of War: I have this, it's horrible. I'll take a nap and when I wake up I feel like I'm suffocating. I've had it twice in the last week. It's so scary to feel so helpless until I can roll myself over and get moving. Does anyone know if there is any cure or anything for this? WebMD doesn't say too much, unfortunately.

Not really a "cure," but if you remain calm your lungs should keep breathing normally. If they don't, you need to visit a doctor ASAP.

I try to keep calm, but no matter what it feels like I'm suffocating. I can move my eyes around and I'm mentally awake, but my body feels like it's under 1,000 pounds of rock. It is rather frightening. I'm going to have to get it looked at sometime.

This is how it happens to me. I feel like I can't move except for the tiniest finger motion or leg spasm. My only hope is to try to breathe harder and harder to wake up or try to roll over and fall off of something. It is not ideal, but at least you know you can breathe.

The Dogs of War: I have this, it's horrible. I'll take a nap and when I wake up I feel like I'm suffocating. I've had it twice in the last week. It's so scary to feel so helpless until I can roll myself over and get moving. Does anyone know if there is any cure or anything for this? WebMD doesn't say too much, unfortunately.

You might talk to your doctor if a CPAP might help with this. Basically, that's a breather you wear while you sleep, keeps your throat open. They're meant to prevent oxygen deprivation caused by snoring, so I don't really know if they'll help with sleep paralysis (hence asking a doctor, not just some moron with a GED in law.)

They're expensive, though. (Mine cost my insurance $2500, me $400 in co-pay.) Hopefully you have insurance that you're allowed to... you know... actually use for matters of health.

Well this is an interesting thread.

Apparently the ratio of "Farkers with sleep paralysis" to "Farkers who are furries" is about 20:1.

Never would have guessed that.

Elliott Smith Reference: Oh sleep paralysis, the fun we've had together. Some nights I sleep on my back to try and provoke an episode or two. My hallucinations are mostly auditory and usually start out innocently enough. Sometimes my subconscious even plays music, which can be pretty cool. After a few minutes though my mind wanders to darker places and the shrieking starts and I feel like I'm being choked by unseen hands. Then I usually just wake up and roll over on my side to get some decent sleep.

Yeah, that's all well and good unless you always talk in your sleep and have the neighbors continually calling the cops.

I occasionally experience the traditional sleep paralysis - waking up, able to breathe and move my eyes, but can't talk or move anything else. It's happened to me enough where I know that if I just close my eyes, I'll fully wake up in a few minutes and be able to move. I do sometimes experience lucid dreaming, and when I was a kid, I experienced auditory hallucinations upon waking up from a dream. Usually involved hearing people downstairs in my house or someone trying to kidnap me. Recently, I experienced lucid dreaming while I was falling asleep - I was lying in bed watching tv, and as I was drifting off, my eyes were still open, the room changed colors, and the tv and dresser it's on tipped onto their sides. I actually kinda enjoyed that one.

/neither a student nor psychiatric patient
//maybe I should be the latter?

I've had three episodes of sleep paralysis. The first time scared the shiat out of me, simply because I couldn't move. After I figured out what had happened, I learned to "ride the roller coaster" and rather enjoyed my next two experiences (although they were equally as scary).

Looking forward to another one. Instead, I've had two instances of exploding head syndrome. :/

only happened to me once in college during finals... took a nap and woke up to hundreds of tiny imps that had tied me down and were cutting off my arms and legs.

Back with my paralysis, I don't have hallucinations like everyone else is mentioning. Every couple of nights, though, I do have very realistic dreams (usually involving spiders or snakes). I will wake up 30 minutes (no more, no less) after falling asleep, and I will 'see' spiders on my bed or see a snake slithering down my side. It's realistic enough that I have to get out of bed and leave the room for a few minutes so I can calm myself down. Sleep has become something that I dread. :(

Great article from Science News on the subject.

Several hundred years ago, the English referred to nighttime sensations of chest pressure from witches or other supernatural beings as the "mare," from the Anglo-Saxon merran, meaning to crush. The term eventually morphed into nightmare: "the crusher who comes in the night."

tales of Succubi? Well I hope you didn't give it tree-fiddy!