Anyone have them? I've always had them, but recently it's become pretty bad again. Anyone have any experiences to share?
Sleep paralysis/False awakenings
- Thread starter El Stormo
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Jace_Mereel
Freakame, Freakayou!
I saw this on the history channel one day, using it to explain alien abductions. Quite interesting and scared to poo out of me.
Morganna
Member
I've had it a few times in my life. It was pretty freaky, especially not being able too move, more so then the false awakening. The quick lucid dreams before I fall asleep happens way too much though. It will always give you a jolt too, if you were half asleep, your awake now!
Yeah. I've got loads of experiences with both, but I need to head off to work now, I'll post 'em later 
Hmm the closest thing to that I can remember is one time when I was a kid I asleep in on my back and woke up and looked around the room and everything was normal, but I couldn't move and there was this weird weight on my chest holding me down. Freaked me out for about 20 minutes having this invisible weight on me, but after a while I like willed myself to pull covers off and get out of bed.
But this sounds like that's what it could've been.
But this sounds like that's what it could've been.
Det Som Engang Var
Viking Bastard
I actually used to experience it quite often but somehow it went away on it's own. And I'm glad, because it was either fucking terrifying or extremely annoying.
Liverslapper
w00t
I do have this problem, and everytime it happens I go into a state of panic. Being awake but unable to move is a scary thing when you know you CAN move but can't. It really cause me to have a panic attack and when I can finally move when i try very very hard to, my heart is just pounding.
derek
Grey Eminence
Only once when I was a child. Couldn't move for an afternoon. All was well though because Star Trek I-IV were on TV.
Brooks
Eyes Wide Open
That's amazing you say that, though I haven't seen the show.
While I've only had two of these experiences (both in the same house, in the same year incidentally...), both times I really thought I was not being abducted, but being mentally and physically scanned by extra-terrestrial beings. That was honestly the thought that went through my mind during and after the experience of sleep paralysis.
I know it sounds funny and strange, but I'm not typically a believer in the paranormal--particularly the cliche or trite, such as abduction or whatnot. That being said, I really really had the mental impression of an alien presence during those attacks.
Science may be able to explain the empirical experience, or the intrinsic biological reactions that manifest it, but I'm still not entirely sure that that's all there is to say on that matter......
....and that's all I'll say on the matter......
I get them when I'm especially stressed out about certain things....
well more like a cluster of things. Happens around finals time quite frequently haha.
I can remember a few times that were especially bad. Waking up while not able to move and what seem like figures standing around you. Can't speak, can't turn your head, just your eyes.....it's pretty awful. I've had some milder ones as well, but the ones where there are distinct "figures" standing around my bed are the by far the worst. Sometimes they can last for quite a long time, too..
buhhhhhhhhhhhh
don't like em.
well more like a cluster of things. Happens around finals time quite frequently haha.
I can remember a few times that were especially bad. Waking up while not able to move and what seem like figures standing around you. Can't speak, can't turn your head, just your eyes.....it's pretty awful. I've had some milder ones as well, but the ones where there are distinct "figures" standing around my bed are the by far the worst. Sometimes they can last for quite a long time, too..
buhhhhhhhhhhhh
don't like em.
Liverslapper
w00t
I never felt like people where around or ever had any time of hallucinogen like that, I just am conscious and see everything around me and can't move! It's like I'm trying to push my body up and i try so hard until finally come out of it, then I don't wanna go back to sleep; I can't stand it.
Brooks
Eyes Wide Open
Yeah, that's basically it.
I've heard it has to do with your mental self 'waking' before your physical self. A true dialectic dilemma!
When your brain is 'awake' and wants to get some action going and your body isn't responding in turn, it sets off the security mechanism of hyper-arousal, or fight-or-flight response, and that creates the panic that characterizes sleep paralysis.
It's an intense fear. Really makes you feel alive--and dead, at the same time, eh?
I've heard it has to do with your mental self 'waking' before your physical self. A true dialectic dilemma!
When your brain is 'awake' and wants to get some action going and your body isn't responding in turn, it sets off the security mechanism of hyper-arousal, or fight-or-flight response, and that creates the panic that characterizes sleep paralysis.
It's an intense fear. Really makes you feel alive--and dead, at the same time, eh?
Brooks
Eyes Wide Open
Freaky shit. Who knows what you can be meta-exposed to when essential physical functions aren't 'tuned' to basic optimal experience.
There are many layers to this reality. Warrel knows that.
Liverslapper
w00t
Cat5Messiah
Violator of Sheep
It happened to me twice when I lived in Maryland. The first time was accompanied by a vision of a sorceress, as cheesy as that sounds. Even though it had never happened to me before, I felt it coming on and decided not to fight it. Yeah I felt weighted down, couldn't move, could barely breathe, had a very loud hum going on in my ears, and this vision I had was in black & white, but inverted. Didn't last long though.
The second time it happened, I didn't let it, it just happened. This time I didn't see anything, and everything else was the same except that in addition to the loud hum in my ears, I also heard a man shouting violently. I fought it off and then it came right back! I fought it off again and it didn't come back. That was over three years ago and it's never happened to me since.
The second time it happened, I didn't let it, it just happened. This time I didn't see anything, and everything else was the same except that in addition to the loud hum in my ears, I also heard a man shouting violently. I fought it off and then it came right back! I fought it off again and it didn't come back. That was over three years ago and it's never happened to me since.
Sleep paralysis is also called "Old Hag Syndrom" for that reason: because someone who suffers sleep paralysis has the feeling that there's an old witch sitting on his chest preventing him from moving.
Sleep paralysis is actually the cause of your brain not activating certain functions when they should be activated. When you go to sleep, your brain shuts off your muscle response, so that you won't move in your sleep, to prevent you from awakening, or injuring yourself by moving while dreaming. However, when your consciousness wakes up, sometimes the brain forgets to turn on muscle response again. The result is a mind awake/body asleep state very similar to trance, but far less benign.
This state is always accompanied by a feeling of dread or fear. I remember every time I had sleep paralysis, it felt like something was coming up the stairs, or opening the door, or even right there in the room with me. Note that I use 'something' rather than 'someone'. It's not the fear of a burglar or thief you feel, it's the terror of something not of this world. I have no idea how or why the brain sends such fearful input, but the fact is, and most sleep paralysis sufferers can attest, the terror you feel, coupled with the paralysis, is one of the most terrifying things a person can feel.
I've had loads of sleep paralysis 'attacks', and by now I realize what's going on when I wake up and can't move. But even when I tell myself, "It's only sleep paralysis!", there's still that awful feeling. Last time was a few days ago, and my girlfriend was sleeping next to me. I tried to make sound, get her to wake me up, but all I could manage was a feeble wheeze, even though I tried frantically.
Sleep paralysis, by the way, usually happens to people who are tired and have sleeping problems, but try to sleep anyway, so they have this drifting-in-and-out kind of sleep.
Any of you ever had false awakenings? They're even creepier, in a way. Basically, you wake up, get out of bed, get dressed, do everything you normally do, but something feels wrong. You can't pinpoint what it is, but something's just not right.
Last time I had it, I got up, took a shower, got dressed, did everything I always do when I wake up, but when I opened the curtains, the street was totally empty. There were no cars, no people, just dead asphalt and empty buildings. That was pretty creepy. The time before, same thing happened, only then it was night, and when I opened the curtain, I saw a bright stripe of fire on the horizon and I knew that the bombs were falling.
You always wake up for real afterwards, but it takes a few hours to actually convince yourself that this is the real world. They're not like nightmares, because false awakeningq actually let you live through each moment consciously and rationally. Freaky.
Liverslapper
w00t
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