I had the worst sleep paralysis of my life last night

[RonaldMcDonaldTrump]

I used to experience it a lot in my twenties; Before I knew what it was, I used to think it was paranormal and that I was getting stalked by a demon😅. It was only after seeing somebody else post about it on a forum well into my 30s that I realised it was sleep paralysis. I barely get it now but my god it was terrifying last night!

I was run down yesterday with a headache and aches/pains so I'd taken a fair bit of paracetamol and lucozade through the day, not sure if that was a contributing factor..I woke up at 1.30 after it had just happened and even now 24 hours later I can remember it clearly. It was a feeling of my bed covers being slowly pulled off me, I was trying to resist and was pulling them back up, almost as if I knew what was coming. But then the most unbelievable heavy force rammed right into my stomach and pinned me down as if it was trying to push me into mattress. I remember screaming my DH's name over and over but nothing was coming out. I can't remember how long it went on for but it felt like hours, realistically it was probably only 20 seconds.

I'm now worried that because I'm thinking about it right before bed time, it is on my mind so will happen again!

Does anybody have any tips on how to mitigate the psychological effects and rationalise it so that it doesn't feel so scary?

That’s so interesting! I’ve suffered with sleep paralysis on & off all my life and also long since suspected I have ADHD.

I’ve never heard of there being a connection before.

Yep. I totally understand @Polaris777. It is a horrible and scary thing. I thought I was the only one to have experienced it until I was in my thirties!

Oh gosh that’s awful for you! It’s probably due to the your mind being active because of the lucozade and your body being exhausted because you’re poorly. Lying on my back also triggers me so lying on your tummy might help. I also make sure that my foot or whatever is touching my husband, don’t know if this helps but I’ve never had it when I’ve had contact with him in some way in bed. If you feel it coming on, try wiggling your toy, that gets me out of it too x

Everyone experiences paralysis every night. Its the body's way of keeping you from acting out your dreams. If your sleep phases are in sync (stages 1, 2, 3, 4 then REM dream sleep then repeat), you are paralyzed during REM portions of sleep. Then you go back into lighter then heavier sleep but are able to move around to help circulation. If you are overly tired or stressed, your phases get out of sync and so when you are going out of REM phase and into stage 1 sleep (the lightest phase when you are aware of what is going around you) you become aware of the paralysis. Then your brain starts to try and make sense of things and starts to incorporate the sensation into your dream, in the same way a ringing telephone can show up as an alarm or siren in your dream.

Stress management techniques, a good wind down routine including body tension release exercises, and an earlier bedtime can all help.

Try not to panic - its not nice, but its only images in your head, nothing more sinister going on.

Also a link with autism, which is why melatonin can be prescribed to autistic children in the UK.

I remember the first time I experienced this. I’d just lost a close family member and was going through some crazy emotions. I had the most intense feeling that someone was inside my wardrobe crawling out, then stood up beside my bed and grabbed my legs. I couldn’t wake myself up. When I eventually did I was so scared to move! Xx

You poor thing, I get this is I sleep on my back, ever fucking time, the hag comes and pushes my breath from me. I use a special cushion to wedge me on my side now.

I only learned what this is recently too. I first experienced it in my late teens. It’s the most awful thing - knowing I’m not awake and trying to wake myself up and call out. I always get false awakenings with it too, where I’m convinced I’ve woken myself up but then seconds later I’m back to where I started.
i don’t get is as much now I’m older, only a couple of times a year, but it happens most when I nap in the day

I experienced this a few years ago and it was terrifying I swore something with claws put me on the ceiling for minutes and I could hear it laughing at me

I have trained myself to wake up if I feel like it is taking over. Never sleep on your back

Oh I feel this. It’s awful isn’t it. Sometimes I swear I am screaming at myself to wake up but apparently I am making no noise! Poorly and sleeping on my back are my triggers. Can you put pillows or even get maternity pillow to keep you on your side? Get a nice audiobook playing or relaxation music

Yes I feel like I’m screaming but I'm not making a noise. When I come out of it I'm usually uncontrollably crying which wakes DW up.

I'm autistic so interesting to hear there may be a link!

I’m taking some comfort in not being the only one!
As previous posters I had this as a teen and thought it was paranormal and it terrified me on a regular basis. I never told anyone then discovered in my twenties that it’s sleep paralysis. I’ve never had it since. Huge sympathies to everyone who still suffers.

I have had it just once when sleeping on my back - I never usually sleep on my back and have tried not to since.

My poor dad went through a horrible phase of having them. He’d been told that thinking happy thoughts, the happiest thoughts you can think of is what made the sleep paralysis release and he swore that this is what worked for him. It worked for me too on the one occasion that I’ve had it.

Say ‘in the name of god you must leave’ in your head, you’ll wake straight up. FYI I am not religious but this worked for me and through a conversation with a colleague, who is Muslim, they also use Allah. You can shrug it off but genuinely I know how awful SP is and anything is worth a go.

I've often wondered why you never have a nice experience of sleep paralysis? Why doesn't Julie Andrews come running through your bedroom singing the sound of music? It's always demons and monsters!

An excellent question, why is Julie Andrews not the one pinning me to my bed?!

Known as the Old Hag before modern understanding of sleep paralysis.
My friend used to get them regularly but I’ve never experienced it, thankfully.

Or a nice cuddly bunnyrabbit or something!

I guess it’s a scary feeling, so you get a scary perpetrator.

Even a truly fevered brain is unlikely to imagine being pinned down by a smiling Julie Andrews, singing about kittens and snowflakes. You’d get the colonel with his whistle or something.

I have no real advice unfortunately but I seem to go through random episodes of this, especially when I'm stressed and it's so freaky.

I had a particularly horrible incidence of this a couple of months ago - I dreamt I collapsed and went into cardiac arrest at work, had CPR done on me by colleagues and put to sleep/intubated after they got me back before taking me for a scan and then to intensive care (and being sort of aware of what was happening in my dream/coma....like I could still hear what was going on around me) and the next thing I knew I was no longer dreaming...I could hear and feel my bedside fan on my face and I was breathing but it felt like something else was doing it for me (like a ventilator....in hindsight obviously my brain still telling me to breathe) but I couldn't move and I couldn't open my eyes....I had no idea if I was in my room, if I was still asleep or if I was actually going to wake up in my local hospital's ICU for god forbid whatever reason as the dream was so realistic to me.

Eventually somehow I was able to move again but I was freaked out for days afterwards by it, especially when I bumped into people that had "saved me" in my dream. I had several much less severe sleep paralysis episodes for a couple of days after it and then they just stopped suddenly again.

Routine routine routine.

Also as soon as you realise you're in it focus all your energy on moving one tiny muscle like your little finger or eyelid.

My problem is just about getting out of it and falling back over and over and over. ONCE in my life I managed to enter a lucid dreaming state from SP, it was amazing

Had it happen once about twenty five years ago and it was horrendous, I believed I was awake and someone had broken into the house and was in my room. Absolutely awful.