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Original poster

Just had sleep paralysis

58 replies

Cheetahssitonfajitas · 08/02/2019 12:38

...For the first time. Very weird experience. Dh gets it all the time so I knee what it was whilst it was happening, which made it less scary. That'll teach me to take a cheeky nap while DS is at school! I thought I could hear DH and DS crashing about downstairs, was wondering why DS was home, figured I should get up, heard dH come into the bedroom and tried to acknowledge him, but was stuck fast. Eventually forced my hands to move then could move my head and eyes but the room was empty, as was the rest of the house. Odd, odd, odd. Went back to sleep but felt the same thing happening again so have given up now.

OP posts:
EstrellaDamn · 08/02/2019 21:23

Creepy thing about DH's sleep paralysis.

He got it all the time, once or twice a week, until we moved house. Then never again.

Made me wonder if it was sleep paralysis after all...

EstrellaDamn · 08/02/2019 21:24

@TheSheepofWallSt that is horrific Sad

I travel for work often and have a real fear of someone coming into the room.

Whisky2014 · 08/02/2019 21:26

Isnt this just a dream?!

OrangeJuiceandLemon · 08/02/2019 21:37

@Whisky2014 definitely not. I dream loads.

Sleep paralysis is exactly what it says. You're paralysed asleep. It's odd and horrible. In real time.

So I dream I'm at school with my neighbours dog. Differing locations, people, places, meanings...

In sleep paralysis I cannot move away from imminent danger.

DonkeyAtemyHomework · 08/02/2019 21:40

Was it DTs?

DonkeyAtemyHomework · 08/02/2019 21:41
Whisky2014 · 08/02/2019 21:42

But thats common like stressy dreams. You cant run, punch etc but its still a dream?

ChoccyBiccyTastic · 08/02/2019 21:51

I think I've had this once, years ago. I had a tummy bug and put it down to having a fever. I kind of woke up but couldn't move or open my eyes, and I could hear my own voice in my head, saying, 'Don't wake up. Never wake up. You never need to wake up again.' I was so freaked out, I wrenched my body into a sitting position, but it took real concentration and effort. Does that sound like it?

Original poster
Cheetahssitonfajitas · 08/02/2019 21:58

Yes Choccy, does sound like it.
@Whisky2014 def not dreaming. I went from dreaming to awake but just couldn't move or speak when I tried. I was aware of the position I was lying in, what I was wearing, the duvet over me etc, I could feel these things but couldn't move a muscle. I had to focus really hard on moving a finger for about 5 or 6 seconds, then when I could the rest quickly followed. I've never experienced the feeling of paralysis before and it's deeply freaky. Your body is paralysed in REM so you don't act out your dreams. This is where your brain wakes up before your body does. Sleepwalking is the same but opposite way round. The hallucinations are not like a dream - they are a layer on top of the reality.

OP posts:
Original poster
Cheetahssitonfajitas · 08/02/2019 21:59

@Whisky2014
www.nhs.uk/conditions/sleep-paralysis/

OP posts:
EyeOfTheTigger · 08/02/2019 22:04

I used to get this many years ago when my DH used to work permanent nights. I'd "wake" thinking there was someone in the bedroom but was unable to move a muscle. I'd be straining to move a finger or an arm and eventually I would move but I guess that was because I'd forced myself fully awake. It was very unsettling. I used to think this is what was meant when people used the term "frozen with fear".

Drogosnextwife · 08/02/2019 22:09

Do used to get this a lot when younger, right up until he moved in with me. He used to dream the Freddy crugar was standing in his doorway and was there to kill him or that he had been shot in the head. He said he couldn't move at all and after he had been shot his whole body wpuld feel completely numb. It stopped when he moved in here, now he hates sleeping without me. After he moved in he still worked I a job where he would do a 24 hour shift and sleep over and it would occasionally happen then.

Drogosnextwife · 08/02/2019 22:10

God so many typos Blush

thedishonthecoffeetable · 08/02/2019 22:11

I always feel like there is someone in the room and I need to scream but nothing comes out even though I am screaming my head off and under all this I vaguely know I'm dreaming it, horrible

TheNoodlesIncident · 08/02/2019 22:12

I had this once as a teenager.

I had been asleep (on my back as it turned out) and dreaming about the place I worked in. I woke suddenly because I could feel my pillow moving - it was being pulled out backwards towards the headboard. When I opened my eyes I could see a figure hovering above me; it was like a silhouette in reverse, so white inside with a black outline that blurred out into space. It didn't seem friendly and I tried to scream (it didn't surprise me that I couldn't as I'd been forbidden to scream from a young child and just can't now) as I was so terrified. But my throat felt locked. It seemed to go on for ages but I imagine it was only a few seconds in reality.

As soon as I could move, I leapt out of bed like a greyhound on speed and dived into my sister's room, where I spent the rest of the night. Deeply, deeply unpleasant experience, I'm really relieved I've never had owt like it since. Although I guess I would at least know what it was.

The awful thing was when I went back into my room the pillow was still grooved with fingermarks

PinkBuffalo · 08/02/2019 22:15

I have had this so many times and like PPs have said it is not dreaming!
Mine is always I suddenly wake up from sleep but cannot move at all. I can barely breathe because of the "man" lying on top of me. It is VERY scary. Sometimes I can't even open my eyes and it always feels threatening. It eventually passes but leaves me jittery for a few nights after.
I live alone, so suddenly thinking there's a man on top of me in the night is terrifying. I don't know why my brain tells me it's a man, but it always is Sad
Hope you're ok tonight OP Flowers

WTBE · 08/02/2019 22:15

Oh God I hate this. I find I suffer them more if I'm feeling anxious or over tired.

The worst for me is when I feel like something evil is behind me and I'm trying my hardest to open my eyes and turn round! Does anyone else try count to say 5 to try and fully wake?

BooseysMom · 08/02/2019 22:21

@twattymctwatterson... you said you've seen a dark figure sitting by your bed. When I was a kid I used to have this too. I called it "nasty Jesus"! Don't know why. It was a dark stone statue figure just sat there not moving. And even more terrifying was the times when I was wide awake in bed and something like a black hole would come towards me from the opposite wall. It would move fast towards me then suddenly disappear. And I remember feeling my chest was like hard coconut. I would scream for help and my mum or dad would come in and I remember seeing them and not being able to move. I thought at the time it was all very real and I was terrified to go to sleep. It happened most nights. I needed help of some sort but it was the 70s and no one cared back then. Looking back I think they were night terrors but are they the same thing as sleep paralysis? I know I was awake when they happened. I've never thought it could have been sleep paralysis until reading this. Terrifying though whatever it was.

themailfail · 08/02/2019 22:23

I used to get this a lot and it would happen a few times each night. Always the same; i feel like I'm spinning and then being stabbed repeatedly by a hag floating above me. It felt like half of my brain was awake and the other half still asleep. I eventually managed to train my hand to hit my thigh to wake the rest of my brain up. If I hadn't have done that, I would have really struggled to get any sleep. If you start getting it regularly, I would really recommend trying to force your hand to move and then over time hit your thigh.

origamiunicorn · 08/02/2019 22:26

I used to have it constantly as a teen and then it stopped in my 20s but recently since I've hit my 30s it's come back. The only problem is I now get the type where I could SWEAR some one is in the room with me it's frightening even though I know it's not real.

elQuintoConyo · 08/02/2019 22:29

incubus and succubus Wikipedia link. You can find it in folklore all around the world.

Still creepy, though!

I get it a lot. Stress, sleeping on my back, having a siesta where I sleep too long and too deeply. I've thwacked poor DH a few times, kicked the dog off the bed Blush

dustarr73 · 08/02/2019 22:39

Mine was an old hag back when i lived in a very haunted house.I do think it was linked.

My son gets it a lot so i told him try and move a finger and bring yourself out of it.

OneWildNightWithJBJ · 08/02/2019 22:45

I used to get this when I was younger. Often felt like there was a woman on top of me (not sure why I thought it was female as I couldn't see a face or anything really). I tried screaming but nothing would come out and I couldn't move a muscle.

Hasn't happened for quite a while now, thankfully.

ChestOfFields · 08/02/2019 22:48

I used to get this quite a lot with dark sinister figures standing around me in a circle closing in on me. I'd have to force myself to wake up as I knew they'd take my breath away if they reached me.

A more terrifying one was about a year ago when I 'woke' to find 2 men at my bedroom door, getting closer to the bed.
I woke myself up screaming and kicking them away, everything got kicked off my bedside table! It was so real though.

Figmentofimagination · 08/02/2019 22:52

I have this often, I wondered what it was called. Like others it happens when I am led on my back, usually when DH has left for work very early or I go for a nap. Actually happened today when I had a nap (thank you DS for waking up extra early today!), I thought 2 men had broken into my house and were raiding it whilst me and DS slept, they had also stolen everything out of the shed and were coming up the stairs.
Whenever it happens I dream people are breaking in, are in my room watching over me, are stealing my car. I want to scream and get out of bed but I can't do anything. It takes me ages to wake up, sometimes I think I have woken up only to realise I have just moved onto a different dream/ repeated the same thing.

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