Sleep Paralysis

[precious007]

What do you guys know about sleep paralysis ...

Have you had it ? :-)

Scientist/Psychologists say it's a normal thing to happen in any individual...

It's damn terrifying.... I don't want anyone to laugh about this.... so I will explain how it happened later in the thread

(this was the second time I had it, and seemingly since I began using snus)

[lxskllr]

I had that once in my early 20s. I woke up, and couldn't move or anything. I was watching my girlfriend make dinner, but I couldn't even speak. It felt like something was pushing down on my chest. I was hoping it was a ghost, as my apartment was very old, but it never happened again :^(

[precious007]

I had that once in my early 20s. I woke up, and couldn't move or anything. I was watching my girlfriend make dinner, but I couldn't even speak. It felt like something was pushing down on my chest. I was hoping it was a ghost, as my apartment was very old, but it never happened again :^(

Jesus Christ :-)

It happened one hour earlier or so... it took me like 30 minutes to realize what was happening....

The first time I had this .... wasn't as bad as this time..... I actuatually was hallucinating and couldn't move....

I was in my bedroom.....

and my brother was in the room, a friend, my mom ... and one of my neighbours staying on my bed.... lol (I was hallucinating.... lol there was no one in the house)

and was all paralyzed and my neighbour was tryiing to wake me up ..... it lasted around 10 minutes (at least that's what I think)

[internope]

Jesus Christ :-)

It happened one hour earlier or so... it took me like 30 minutes to realize what was happening....

The first time I had this .... wasn't as bad as this time..... I actuatually was hallucinating and couldn't move....

I was in my bedroom.....

and my brother was in the room, a friend, my mom ... and one of my neighbours staying on my bed.... lol (I was hallucinating.... lol there was no one in the house)

and was all paralyzed and my neighbour was tryiing to wake me up ..... it lasted around 10 minutes (at least that's what I think)

I have had similar and I believe it to be a dream/nightmare while half awake where I have some limited awareness of my state and my surroundings and I am struggling to fully awaken. Sometimes I take tryptophan (an amino acid) or 5-hyroxy-tryptophan to help me get to sleep and it will trigger that kind of thing.

[texastorm]

Back when I was 25 years old I had a night where I heard someone come in the front door, walk through the house, and then come stand at the foot of the bed staring at me. I was laying at an odd angle but I could make out their silhouette against the moonlight in the window. I could not move, it was all I could do to breath. Then after a time period that seemed like hours but was probably a second or so the person walked back out and out the front door. After I heard the door shut I came fully wake, and could move. Needless to say I didn't sleep a wink for a couple nights after that. It was freaky. I dont know what brought on the hallucination, but I dont want another thanks!

[precious007]

I kinda' believe in spirits.... not a superstitious guy anymore.... but since there is spiritualism, spiritual life... there have to be spirits around us..... :-)

I too live in an apartment that's been sold twice until I bought it.......

[Snusdog]

I had that once in my early 20s. I woke up, and couldn't move or anything. I was watching my girlfriend make dinner, but I couldn't even speak. It felt like something was pushing down on my chest. I was hoping it was a ghost, as my apartment was very old, but it never happened again :^(

Lx...........seriously in the south they call that being Hagged or Ridden.............the notion is tied up with old voodoo practices where the spirit of a hag (or witch) will leave her body and torment her victim by riding them...............in other cases it is a ghost or spirit that haunts or rides the victim (the two versions are related.........the witch is either imitating the ghost or wielding it).

I think it is funny that we think we have explained with science what our grandparents saw as spiritual...............as if understanding a thing's effect on the body/mind is all there is..................it would be like denying that art exists because we know how the light reflecting off the canvass effects the retina of the eyes. Yes there is a physiological aspect to our encounters but that does not mean that what we encounter is merely physiological.

[WickedKitchen]

what kind of dip have you been using?????

Seriously though...that sounds none too fun. I haven't had anything like that or at least nothing that wasn't intentionally induced. Curious to hear more.

[lxskllr]

I think it is funny that we think we have explained with science what our grandparents saw as spiritual...............as if understanding a thing's effect on the body/mind is all there is..................it would be like denying that art exists because we know how the light reflecting off the canvass effects the retina of the eyes. Yes there is a physiological aspect to our encounters but that does not mean that what we encounter is merely physiological.

I think there's more to the world than we know. Take ghosts for instance. I'm very skeptical of their existence, but at the same time open to it. They don't even have to be dead people. What if it were an alternate universe? You could be glimpsing another realm through a dirty window. Energy and matter are the same thing in different forms. We don't even know what's in the ocean, much less all the possible ways energy and matter can change, and interact :^)

In general, I'm a believer of long standing legends. I figure they got their start in some kind of reality. That reality might not exist anymore, but did at one time.

[sgreger1]

I think there's more to the world than we know. Take ghosts for instance. I'm very skeptical of their existence, but at the same time open to it. They don't even have to be dead people. What if it were an alternate universe? You could be glimpsing another realm through a dirty window. Energy and matter are the same thing in different forms. We don't even know what's in the ocean, much less all the possible ways energy and matter can change, and interact :^)

In general, I'm a believer of long standing legends. I figure they got their start in some kind of reality. That reality might not exist anymore, but did at one time.

That's how I look at it too. Ghosts, UFO's etc, I think there is eough "reports" of them to where I can feel confident in being open to the idea, but am not convinced any of it really exists yet. But your right, long standing legends probably have some grain of truth to them. I see religion in the same way, it appears that the bible has some historical accounts in it, but it's hard to tell what really happened and what didn't.


And you make an important point about science, that we don't really know what else is out there, we don't know in what other ways can energy interact, etc. All we know is what we can measure on earth, and what we can guess about the universe based on our observations on earth. This leaves a blaring gap between what we actually know and what is likely out there. I think it is unreasonable to assume everything happens the same as it does close to earth. We have seen that gravity and energy react in different ways based on different variables such as their speed and location, proximity to other systems etc. Physics itself may be different in other places, or may include components to it that do not apply to here on earth. And perhaps not all life is carbon based, perhaps evolution took a different path at one point, and some of these anamolies we observe are really something else. I mean they still havn't adequately explained ball lightning as far as I can tell, maybe its really something cool?




EDIT: Sleep paralysis. Had it a bunch, really creepy. Also had sleep apnea. When I was younger I used to get it a lot. Stoped after I turned about 19 for some reason. It was crazy, I thought I was having siezures sometimes. If it was a witch riding me than she was definately fat.

[Roo]

I'm affected by sleep paralysis fairly regularly. Sometimes it happens several nights in a row, and sometimes several times in a night. It makes one feel extremely claustorphobic and uncomfortable at first, but by now I have grown used to it. Many scientists explain it as a malfunction of the brain signals that render you immobile when you are having active dreams, the mechanism that prevents you from flailing about and smacking your wife when you are dreaming about running, jumping, drowning, whatever. They say sleep paralysis is the result of this mechanism not "turning off" once you are fully awake. Many people who experience this report a strong feeling that someone or something, seen or unseen, is in the room with them. Some people say these episodes even account for alien abduction stories. I'm not one to judge all that.

I do know that the worst and one of the first episodes I had, I also felt strongly that someone was in my apartment, and I jumped out of bed and was running all over the apartment with my sword trying to find the bastard, only to find that I woke up and then ran around the house with my sword trying to find the bastard, only to find that I woke up again, on and on. Dreams within dreams that felt extremely vivid, and once I finally woke up for real I couldn't move a muscle except my eyes (as is always the case). That night sucked lol, but it was also pretty great in it's own way. I love experiencing the sheer terror that my imagination can induce.

Anyway yeah sleep paralysis is a bitch. If it keeps happening you'll just have to get used to it, and be patient when you wake up and can't move an inch. Just remember that you'll be able to move in a about a minute, and don't try to scream either, you'll just scare the piss out of whoever is in bed with you when your muscles and vocal cords finally "wake up" at the same time and suddenly you're screaming and thrashing about like a caged animal. Good luck.

[Hanske]

Yep, I've had it once. I sat in my car, and I could hear everyone talking and I remember the views, but I couldn't move.

[SnusoMatic]

ive had them and still do from time time. i believe sometimes its something medical and sometimes its something else. i can only speak for myself but i have went to sleep with snus in and had them. it don't happen every time and as a matter of fact it don't happen very often. it does happen enough with the snus that i am as sure as i can be that snus can make mine happen. the increase due to snus only happens if i fall asleep with snus in. if i was new to snus maybe it would happen more with normal snus use. if it seems connected to the snus to you then i would lay off the snus around bedtime and see if it helps.

ive had them so many times that they don't make me panic any more. it is not a good feeling but i can shake it off now. i don't remember the first time it ever happened to me but i was young. it's a real thing, for sure.

[precious007]

what kind of dip have you been using?????

Seriously though...that sounds none too fun. I haven't had anything like that or at least nothing that wasn't intentionally induced. Curious to hear more.

I had too much grizzly mint this morning, lol

[Wrath]

I had this happen a few times. The first time I had it it was definitely the worst. I fell asleep with a see-through blanket over my face and I had a dream that eventually led to me seeing my dead great grandparents in ghost form in their wedding attire. When I "awoke" I looked through my blanket at my bedroom door and sure enough, here comes my dead great grandparents hovering straight towards me. As they got close, I too felt a heavy pressure on my chest (very common symptom of sleep paralysis). I could look all around my room but do nothing. I couldn't scream, I couldn't move. Eventually I broke free and jumped out of bed with the blanket flying halfway across the room and I sort of stumbled around in a panic.

When this happened I knew nothing of this so called sleep paralysis so I started heavily researching it. From what I gathered, it can happen to anyone, at any given time. It commonly happens during a change in sleep schedules or even just from ongoing sleep deprivation. The paralysis part happens because we are still aware of our surroundings while we drift into/come out of REM sleep. Oftentimes we have vivid hallucinations that mix with our environment. Personally, although it can be a terrifying experience, it's one worth having. It's such a strange feeling.