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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

...to ask about your experiences of sleep paralysis?

73 replies

ThistleAmore · 21/09/2018 11:35

Just read a fascinating article which claims that around 75% of adults will experience SP at some point in their lives - I had no idea the numbers were so large!

I had a few nasty bouts when I was in my late teens and early 20s (along with chronic insomnia, depression and anxiety - yeah, that was a fun time!), but they tailed off as I grew older and I don't think I've had an episode for about two or three years.

What are your experiences?

OP posts:
Roomba · 21/09/2018 16:24

I've been experiencing this for a couple of years, every couple of months or so. Luckily I;d read about it long before it happened so it didn't panic me so much once I;d actually woken up. It's usually when I sleep on my back and I am particularly overtired. Often accompanied with the 'knowledge' that someone unknown is downstairs in the house, but that's definitely anxiety related as that bit only started after I was burgled when asleep.

I get the 'false awakening' thing too, where I 'wake up' several times in a row. I feel like finally DS started sleeping through after years of broken nights, and now I have this to deal with instead!

roundtable · 21/09/2018 16:34

It used to happen to me frequently when I was a child to adulthood. Reading this, I realise it hasn't happened to me for a while though. It happens when I lay on my back I think. When I was a child (grew up in a religious family) I thought it was a poltergeist (sp). I often feel the bed shaking too. I still often hear things as i wake up though and there's no noise.

userabcname · 21/09/2018 16:54

I have had it although used to think they were nightmares. Don't get it since having a baby - think I have to be waking from a deep sleep which I never achieve with my frequently waking son!
Anyway, I would get auditory hallucinations - usually whispering, sometimes buzzing. Also a feeling of dread and a sense someone/thing was in the room with me. I experienced the sensation of someone getting into the bed with me and pushing up against me, someone pulling my feet, seeing the "old hag" leaning on/over me. I also got this weird tingling sensation all through my body. I have also had the multiple wakings and feeling "trapped" in a dream (know I am dreaming but can't wake up and telling everyone in the dream that they are not real!).
I find it fascinating. Once I knew what it was I was never really scared of it happening but always interested in how it would manifest.

minipie · 21/09/2018 17:01

Just to clarify my earlier post - I sleep on my side, always have done, it happened while sleeping on my side.

Good to know the fingers/toes wiggling thing, I will try to remember that.

DollyWilde · 21/09/2018 17:05

I had it as a child and it used to terrify me. My parents thought it was just night terrors and I was always trying to explain it was more than that!

Stopped around the age of 10/11 but came back at 19. Looked it up - thank god for the internet! I now get it any time I fall asleep on my back, or if I go to bed very tired. Thankfully now I know what it is and I’m used to it I can generally cope when it happens, and not panic too much. Unfortunately if it does happen I have to wake up completely, as if I try to go back to sleep immediately I get stuck in a loop of it...

DollyWilde · 21/09/2018 17:09

can make myself lucid dream, sometimes these are rather x rated blush

Ditto @kittykat93 Wink

Warpdrive · 21/09/2018 17:12

I used to dream that I was in facing demons and wasn't able to say the name Jesus to scare them away. Somehow I knew that name would make them go, but the word wouldn't come out of my mouth.
That was when I was a kid. Then in my 20s I would wake up and see hundreds of spiders in the room. I wasn't asleep, I would wake and stare at them and get out of bed and still see them. Then I'd walk over to the light and they would disappear when I switched the light on.
I am a Christian and I believe in the spirit realm, angels and demons. They don't bother me now and I can say the name Jesus which overcomes everything. I know how scary things can be but I'm no longer scared.

yawning801 · 21/09/2018 17:18

It's funny you mentioned it, I had an episode last night. I was convinced that two of my ex-classmates from school were in my room with me, as well as someone who I've never actually met but know quite well. It wasn't as bad as it has been in the past but it was still terrifying. It generally happens when I'm ill (and I have some sort of virus at the moment which explains it).

Susiesoop · 21/09/2018 17:18

So funny you've posted this, I only experience this periodically but it happened this morning. For me it:

  • Started when I had a newborn (it is linked to sleep deprivation apparently)
  • So scary at first, now I'm pretty blase about it, first time had horrible hallucination with it, witch sitting on my chest. Don't hallucinate now though
  • It tends to happen if I wake up after 'main' sleep and then doze off again
  • Whooshing/loud buzzing in ears, body frozen, feels weird. Worse when I sleep on my back but occasionally will even happen on my side.
  • I can shake myself out of it but as it doesn't bother me now I usually just try to relax and it just passes
  • I have experienced lucid dreaming the odd time and it was very cool, the two things seem to be linked.
Good to know I'm not alone!
PeePeeHula · 21/09/2018 17:21

I got this last night! This time it was a man that stopped midstep and looked at me. He was standing by the for to my room.

I hate it! Even though I know what's going on it scares me silly each and every time it happens.

Susiesoop · 21/09/2018 17:28

PS if anyone is worried about the 'woo' element, it isn't at all woo- the NHS has a good article about Sleep Paralysis and the accompanying hallucinations, not pleasant but explainable and linked to REM sleep cycles. Im intrigued by mine, especially the lucid dreaming which I have quite enjoyed.

Dillydallyingthrough · 21/09/2018 17:35

I have these every few months, now I'm on strong painkillers.

Some episodes have been terrifying. In one I was looking at a dark figure walk towards me, I could feel him breathing over me, he put his hands around my throat and I could feel how cold his hands were. All the way through I was trying to scream but nothing was coming out. My DP woke me up as he said i made a loud 'primitive' type sound. After that one I only slept physically on DP during the day for about a week.

I also have them were I can hear/see flies around me or 'know' there is someone in the room.

I sleep on my back, so will try to sleep on my side and it's good to know about wriggling toes.

user1471453601 · 21/09/2018 17:36

I have lucid dreams and sleep paralysis, didn't know they were related, but it makes sense. I used to sleep walk too.

Luckily for me, my first sleep paralysis happened not long after a dear friend died. I was on holiday and when I woke with that feeling of someone sitting on my chest, my first thought was that it was my dead friend. In my head I thought " you're welcome to come with me, but please don't sit on my chest, it hurts".

Subsequent episode usually end with me thinking " for fucks sake, I've told you not to sit there, get over to your own side of the bed".

The thing that really has freaked others out is when I sleep walk and spend some time at the bedroom window waving to the ( dream) person out in the garden.

DollyWilde · 21/09/2018 17:41

user1471.. I think the connection with lucid dreams is being able to be midway between Rem sleep and waking. Not a scientist mind!

agnurse · 21/09/2018 18:37

The closest thing I ever had to it was when I came out of anesthesia (gallbladder removal). I couldn't move my arms properly. Very disconcerting.

Hubby gets it usually about once a year. One time he was sleeping with the door open and it happened. He could open his eyes but that was it. Unfortunately Biggie the cat looked in and decided that Daddy was awake so went and sat on him. (Biggie is very good about not disturbing people's sleep but will sit on them if he can see they're awake. He weighs about 15 pounds so obviously not light! He also LOVES Daddy. We joke that in the Biggie universe Daddy hung the moon.) After that Hubby started sleeping with the door closed Grin

LemonLadybird · 21/09/2018 18:51

Oh god I Hate it - usually accompanied with awful hallucinations. I vividly remember one night, SP started and in my "dream" I could see some burglars walking towards my house, they broke in and when I tried to make a call on my phone but it turned into a calculator and I couldn't dial 999! I tired to scream and I couldn't, I could hear them outside my door. It was fucking terrifying! I then recall being frozen on my bed, trying to scream or move but I couldn't. I darted my eyes left and right to try and get myself moving. It was hideous. Felt like somebody was sitting on my chest. Tried to scream and suddenly woke up properly after what felt like eternity. I couldn't sleep the rest of the night as every time I started dropping off again I could feel myself becoming paralysed. Hideous. That's the only occasion that really sticks out but all occasions have been awful!

ThatsWotSheSaid · 21/09/2018 19:01

During sleep paralysis I have had hallucinations where I have been abuducted by aliens, attacked by a male intruder or haunted by ghosts. At some point I generally realise I’m dreaming/hallucinating and try to wake up by blinking my eyes repeatedly. The fear is all consuming. I’ve often had the paralysed but no hallucinating one as well. Some may be more dreams but other times I'm completely awake. Usually happens after a night out or when I was younger a few days after I’d taken drugs.

youlethergo · 21/09/2018 19:25

Yes. I used to hear a team of male burglers downstairs. It didn't sound like a normal dream. It was like an hallucination where you can't believe that your mind can manage to conjure something like this up. So I would believe it was real for the first few times and wait in terror for them to start up the stairs.

Duchessgummybuns · 21/09/2018 19:32

I always get a tall spindly man standing over me, first he appears in the doorway, then he’s right over me and I’m trying to scream but I can’t and can’t move.

I know there’s a scientific explanation and it’s not a ghost.... i really do 😅

user838383 · 21/09/2018 19:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MorningsEleven · 21/09/2018 19:42

I have it several nights a week. The other week I came half out of it and punched DH in the face because I was still hallucinating.

Babyshark2018 · 21/09/2018 19:45

I have this but didn’t even realise it was a thing until I read this! So thanks for posting. I thought I was just weird and could never explain it.

butlerswharf · 21/09/2018 19:49

I've had this since I was a. Hold. The only thing to stop it was learning to sleep
On my stomach. But that doesn't work when pregnant or doing night feeds and accidentally falling asleep so it still happens again sometimes. I hate it.

My siblings had it as kids too and we used to get upset telling our parents that someone was getting into our rooms at night.

Tunnocks34 · 21/09/2018 19:51

I have it all the time. I wake up, and there is effectively a demon over me, grinning in my face, pinning me down. I am fully aware that is on top of me, but I can’t move, I scream but nothing comes out. Eventually if I shake my head for long enough I manage to properly jolt awake.

BakedBeans47 · 21/09/2018 19:54

I get it from time to time too. It is scary but although it seems it goes on for ages, it’s usually only a few minutes. I just try and stay calm through it now and focus on trying to move a finger and break it.

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