To be fucking terrified

[Scaredtosleep1]

Apologies, I’ve posted on here before for advice but I changed my username since then and I can’t find my old post because I don’t remember what it was. Just starting a new one as it’s been a few weeks anyway.

im having awful problems right now. I’ve never had any issues with sleeping until a few months ago and now it’s horrendous- i keep having awful nightmares. It started occasionally but now it’s almost every night. I always dream of something horrible or scary, like I’m being chased or attacked, it’s different each time but it’s really horrible vivid nightmares, then I wake up and can’t move or yell but I can see something in my room. I know I’m not really seeing something, it’s just sleep paralysis, but it’s horrific and so scary. Last night I thought I saw a big dark shadow crawling up my bed and I was terrified and couldn’t even scream or move, it was like I was locked in my body. Then I get a horrible sensation where it’s like I’m in a kaleidoscope and everything is colourful and flashy and bright, and I get the most horrific screaming in my ears. Then I wake up properly and the screaming takes half an hour or so to stop, and then I usually have the worst migraine ever after and I’m usually dripping in sweat, it’s as if I’ve had a shower and jumped straight into bed, I’m soaked from the sweats.

i still live at home, and I’ve spent the last few months on and off screaming the house down at 2 am with these night terrors, but it’s definitely happening a lot more often. My parents are obviously a bit confused and worried, and I’m terrified to go to sleep now. It’s already after 11 and I know I’ll have to fall asleep soon and I just want to cry I’m so scared about it

I’m not over tired and I’m stressed but not really stressed, I’m at university but I’m actually really enjoying it and all these problems started in the summer holidays. I’m happy with my life, my part time job and everything else

i was going to go to the gp but I can’t get an appointment because I’m in Uni everyday and it’s only phone appointments so it’s so difficult to get through, you have to phone 100+ times and all the appointments are fine

i don’t know why I’m posting or what I’m looking for, I’m just absolutely terrified to go to sleep again tonight but obviously I’ll have to, but by 2 I’ll be drenched in sweat, have a splitting migraine and have had at least 2 night mares. my parents are really supportive but I feel so alone with this and I’m actually terrified

I dont have this but my DH and his brothers have wierd sleep stuff... they swear the vivid dreams and paralysis is linked to eating cheese.

What worse is when they drink alcohol they are not paralysed and become a danger to everyone else by lashing out in their sleep.

I would try cutting out cheese and alcohol and see if it helps.

Side-sleeping fixes this for me. You should see a GP to get checked for night time epileptic seizures though, because the symptoms you describe could be either

It can also be a sign of sleep apnea might be worth a visit to gp

Just to add, it's reasonably common to have epileptic seizures only at night.

You have to tell us about the 'dark and sinister turn' now. You cant just leave us hanging.

If you believe in "fucking hell", then by default you must believe in demons too 👍🙂 Please stop insulting other posters for having a view that doesn't match your own understanding.

@Amarette I'm laughing at the thought of the OP coming back and asking advice on how get rid of a cracked neck due the the fact that they have been sleeping on an enlarged copy of thr King James Bible 2nd edition ( old and new testament of course)

OP I used to get night terrors made worse when I slept on my back. If you sleep on your side apparently you are less likely to experience sleep paralysis.

OP please prioritise your health and see a gp. Book an emergency appointment. Tell your university administrator and see if they can help in other ways but nothing at all is more important than your health. Please take care.

Posters need to stop banging on about the bible ffs. She needs to see a GP as she mentioned kaleidoscope vision.

I used to get this an awful lot. It ended around 5 years ago. When I started saying my prayers before bed, and if it ever happened again I'd say God and Jesus Christ help me, it would disappear instantly and I could move again.

I’ve never had it, but the first time I heard of it was someone describing it in a documentary (although she didn’t know what it was). She was seeing an old hag in the corner of the room who would glide closer very slowly until it was sitting on her chest.

She could always do both.

I suffered with them badly whenever I stayed at my DPs house. Sleeping with my head facing a different direction really helped. I often have them in hotel rooms and have to rotate myself.

Could also be a brain lesions if you're generally happy and not particularly stressed in your life, and you've gone from totally normal sleep to extreme night terrors and sleep paralysis overnight that just won't stop. It could be your brain trying to tell you something and I would definitely get to a doctor about it.

Interesting. I only ever have them in my own bed. I have to have the radio on sleep on a talk station or you can bet I'll have an episode. And yet if I'm staying elsewhere where a radio isn't an option, I'll be fine.

I sleep on my front.

Hypnotherapy really helped me when I had dream issues (wolves everywhere just stood staring at me & getting closer. I started catching glimpses of them in the corner of my eye when I was awake & that's when I knew it wasn't normal).

I’ve read that not sleeping on your back can help with sleep paralysis. Some people see half a tennis ball into their pj top to make it uncomfortable if they roll onto their back in the night

Sew* not see

Are you in pain before bed or during night

Blimey, what century are you speaking from?

Sorry for the delay to reply, I’m reading everything now and am grateful for the help.

i appreciate everyone’s opinions and thank you very much for all the suggestions.

I’m actually very easily frightened so I had sort of blocked out the ideas that this might be something spiritual, as if I think about that too much I’ll get myself all scared and wound up! I’m really grateful for everyone’s suggestions though and it’s fantastic that religion has helped some people through this. I’m not particularly religious so it probably won’t help in my particular case but I appreciate the advice anyway.

with the kaleidoscope vision, that’s probably not the best way to describe it but it just felt like i was in a tunnel with colours and lights and swirls. Honestly, it was actually really beautiful and I remember thinking it looked really magical (as stupid as that sounds!) I actually had an eye check up recently and they’re fine. The kaleidoscope only ever happens with the sleeping problem, never outside of that. I was awake and aware of all the colours and lights and swirls but I also still felt like I was asleep.

the screaming is horrific, it’s like someone is crouching at my ears and screaming as loudly as they can.

I usually do sleep on my side anyway as I prefer it to sleeping on my front so I’ll make sure I keep doing that

last nights dream was weird, I fell asleep and woke up only 10 minutes later with the paralysis. I didn’t see a figure in the room but I could see my bedroom and it looked like I was in a grid- there was lines everywhere like a matrix or graph paper. It was so strange- not scary but really unnerving. Then I went back to sleep and dreamt I was seeing myself sleeping which was horrible, I remember being aware and thinking how strange it was to watch myself breath, then I woke up and was too scared to go back to sleep

the night sweats and headaches have definitely got worse with all the sleeping problems. I’ve also started having moments in dreams where I can realise I’m dreaming and say what I want, which isn’t something I’ve really had before but now it’s frequent. I’ve always been a sleep Walker and talker but it was worse as a child and it’s not too bad now. I used to wake up in different rooms sometimes from walking!

I’ll keep trying to get a gp appointment but it’s so difficult, there’s no online services and it’s only on the day appointments which are gone by 8.31 and you end up 200 in the queue. I’ll keep trying though.

hypnagogic or hypnopompic hallucinations—can seem real and are often frightening.

My dd suffered from these. She was terrified as it seemed there were actual people and things happening to her. It was a viscous cycle as the more stressed she was about these frightening experiences, the more it happened. I believe it’s when just waking up. She swore that wasn’t the case, but I think her sleep was so disturbed due to being frightened, it seemed all night, but in reality she was just coming in and out of sleep all night and so happened many times during the night.

When she realised it was perfectly common to experience this, she relaxed and it happens much less frequently now.

The people who believe turning to Gods cured them, got better because they relaxed in “Gods hands”. Nothing to do with God, just the act of relaxing helps, which they did because they wanted to believe it was helping.