Just had sleep paralysis

[Cheetahssitonfajitas]

...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.

If The appearance of the dark figures or ‘hags’ are universal you can see where folk in olden times got the ideas of evil spirits/witches/etc from. It’s quite interesting that so many people experience the same thing.

Sounds weird but I've been able to go from sleep paralysis in its usual form to being able to control it. So while I'm still paralysed I can make myself move within the dream at will, but I'm in a halfway state of consciousness. I know exactly what's going on and can also bring myself out of it if necessary. Over years, mind. Still it's bloody odd.

I reckon a lot of people that think they have woken up to see a ghost have actually had sleep paralysis, but it's not so well known about. My sister was convinced she had seen a ghost (hag on her chest, screaming at her and crushing her) for years until she learned about it. Thankfully I knew what it was, even whilst in it, from DH. He tries to scream to me but doesn't make a sound or move a muscle, and when he wakes up and asks if he made a sound I feel very guilty, like I should know somehow!

@novasglowx is that like lucid dreaming?

Whenever it happens I dream people are breaking in

^ This! Once I was in the house on my own and was lying on my side, suddenly I couldn't move, I thought there was a burglar in the house, I even could feel him walking up behind me. The worst bit was I could feel cold metal on my skin and thought, shit, it's a knife. This is it. Then suddenly I moved and it all disappeared.

I could feel the metal though as if it were real. The brain is fascinating. Scary, but fascinating

I've had this since at least 4yrs old (because we moved when I was 5 and remember my old bedroom from an episode) the last time it happened I knew what had happened so I shouted 'wake up' but I couldn't talk properly so all I heard was a low pitched groan. Horrible.

@Cheetahssitonfajitas I think so. Or a minor super power

I used to get it regularly but it’s been a few years now. Thankfully never had any visual experiences but I used to sense someone come into the room and feel the bed shaking.

What I found useful was to remind myself “it’s just sleep paralysis, it will be over soon” and focus on just trying to wiggle one toe. Once I’d got one toe moving, it broke the spell