Sleep Paralysis

kevC · 11-22-2010, 10:54 AM

Continuing the discussion from http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=196213

Thought it could be its own thread from someone suggesting in that thread.

Has this happened to you? How often does it happen?

This first happened to me when I was just starting high school and scared the crap out of me. I "woke" up around 4 AM on a school night and couldn't move and it felt like someone was sitting on my head and I heard a little girl saying "here I come" (it sounds so cliche but it is literally what happened).

Ever since then I get it pretty often, especially if it's like a kind of sleep that doesn't follow the normal sleep pattern (after staying up very late drinking or a nap). When I was in college I would always take a nap between my early morning class and lunch and it would happen almost every time. I would think I heard my roommate come in while I was in that state, and I'd wake up for real and he never came. Weird stuff like that.

Now, it still happens to me but doesn't really scare me anymore after reading up on it. It's more of an annoyance when it does and I go "Aw not this sht again!" It scares my girlfriend more than anything because she says it sounds like I'm gasping for air.

kevC · 11-22-2010, 10:55 AM

Here's the wiki for it in case you don't know what it is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

professorjay · 11-22-2010, 11:07 AM

There was a previous thread specifically about this. I get them steadily, but in the past few months it's gone way down. Thank goodness.

Coincidentally I stumbled across this video about it a few days ago. It was kind of comforting to hear about other people going through the same thing.

EDIT: Here's the original thread: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=175802

Lil Pun · 11-22-2010, 11:12 AM

I had this happen to me once and I posted a thread about it several years ago. I had fell asleep on the floor playing video games. I awoke in the middle of the night and I could not move. It was freaky and I started to panic but I calmed down, figured I was dreaming and went back to sleep.

Rockets R' Us · 11-22-2010, 11:13 AM

Had it happen a couple times when I was very young....8-12 yrs old maybe. Stopped afterwards.

I remember I used to be awake but unable to move, and would randomly hear voices. Creepy as shiet.

SamFisher · 11-22-2010, 11:16 AM

i get it a every 2 months or so, it happens to me when my sleep patterns get disrupted (thx alcohol...) and if I sleep on my back for whatever reason.

I had an idiot friend in college who it happened to once and he was honestly convinced he was visited by aliens.

Carl Herrera · 11-22-2010, 11:19 AM

Quote:

This first happened to me when I was just starting high school and scared the crap out of me. I "woke" up around 4 AM on a school night and couldn't move and it felt like someone was sitting on my head and I heard a little girl saying "here I come" (it sounds so cliche but it is literally what happened).

In what sense?

trueroxfan · 11-22-2010, 11:28 AM

wow, that would be very creepy, can you open your eyes?

Rockets R' Us · 11-22-2010, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trueroxfan

wow, that would be very creepy, can you open your eyes?

I could.

And I used to think it was some sort of jinn/black magic/devil/evil etc because you do get a strong feeling of someone else's presence...but I dunno, I guess as time has lingered on and I'm older and don't have those instances anymore, I think I may attribute it more so to being young and having nothing but time and imagination on my mind...therefore leaving room for the mind to make unorganized associations with random things. I think now that I'm older, have goals, focuses, my mind doesn't have as much time to make these random associations anymore and has fallen into a more typical dream/allegorical format of conveying current life situations in metaphorical dreamscapes.

Rashmon · 11-22-2010, 11:39 AM

I once dreamed I ate a giant marshmallow.

When I woke up, I couldn't find my pillow.

rawool · 11-22-2010, 11:41 AM

It's only happened to me once so far. Right before I had woken up, I dreamt of a shadow coming through my window (insert bed intruder joke). It scared the crap out of me that night. I remember being really dehydrated that night. It hasn't happened since then.

gifford1967 · 11-22-2010, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamFisher

i get it a every 2 months or so, it happens to me when my sleep patterns get disrupted (thx alcohol...) and if I sleep on my back for whatever reason.

I had an idiot friend in college who it happened to once and he was honestly convinced he was visited by aliens.

We've already determined on this BBS that it's ghosts.

moose · 11-22-2010, 12:15 PM

It happened to me only once and it was sometime last year. Probably one of the most scariest feelings I have ever had. My eyes were open but I couldn't move them or any part of my body. It lasted about a 30 seconds and then I feel back asleep.

kevC · 11-22-2010, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carl Herrera

In what sense?

Haha. I was 14 at the time so I guess that would be okay??

No it was a very creepy "I'm coming" as in "I'm coming to get you"

SwoLy-D · 11-22-2010, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamFisher

i get it a every 2 months or so

What am I saying...?

I really meant "You lucky SOB."

KingCheetah · 11-22-2010, 01:33 PM

I've had some awesome experiences with sleep paralysis and lucid dreaming. I got so comfortable with SP I actually enjoyed the experience - I wish I would have it more often, but they seem to have decreased as i've aged.

Invisible Fan · 11-22-2010, 01:38 PM

I still remember this one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Invisible Fan

I had a long and continous dream where I first went to a friends party. The details became inconsequential because when the party was over I decided to "sleep" on my friend's couch. I closed my eyes and darkness surrounded me.

I began to hear some monotonous droning. As the droning became louder, my legs began to feel numb... as if they were becoming asleep. Soon, I began to understand what the droning was. They were bible verses you'd hear from a priest if as you're dying or on death row. I opened my eyes and there was a dark figure standing above me doing the chanting. I couldn't focus because my eyes saw sparks. I wanted to run. I tried to run, but I couldn't move. My legs were numb and the paralysis was spreading up my body. I tried to call for help, but it was as if mind and body were seperated. I couldn't breathe.

I began to focus my screams for help and all I could pull off was a little gasp. In my mind, I knew I could be saved if I could scream and alert my friends, but all there was was a gasp and a whimper. The presence was looking darker and darker and the numbness had almost consumed my whole body. The last thought I had was wondering if I was going to die and were I was going to be.

Then I woke up. My legs were asleep. The blanket had cut off the circulation to my legs. And I could breathe again.

ashiin · 11-22-2010, 01:52 PM

Happens to me every once in a while, I can't move and suddenly can't breathe and would try to wake myself up as fast as possible but it takes a little more than 10 seconds. It annoys me so much.

SuperHighFly · 11-22-2010, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trueroxfan

wow, that would be very creepy, can you open your eyes?

Your eyes are open or at least it feels that way.

When it happened to me, it felt like I was waking up and then I noticed a person waking along side my bed and I was trying to move but couldn't. The person walks to the foot of my bed and sudden pops up right next to my face. Even though as all this was happening in the back of my head I was thinking sleep paralysis but still freaked the crap of me.

RMGEEGEE · 11-22-2010, 03:38 PM

Scary stuff.

Happened to me last year.
I was taking a nap in the afternoon so the room was still pretty much lit, but I recall laying there trying to move. Once I realized I couldn't, I tried to say something, but I couldn't even talk.
And I know what you guys mean by the presence. I felt as though there was a dark being nearby. Eventually I just forced myself to go back to sleep.

There are religious theories and some claim people mistake their sleep paralysis experience to being abducted by aliens.