r/Sleepparalysis

To start this off, I woke up at 4am yesterday morning or idk this morning having a hypomanic episode, and because of that I couldn’t fall back asleep. So once the sun rose and I woke myself up for a bit, I decided to go back to sleep try to get my hours back. I’ve had sleep paralysis many times before, I’d say like 10 times. And thankfully, I haven’t had it in a little while, but - I’ve been getting more symptoms of it starting up again. I can tell because I can tell when I’m drifting off into it but I can catch myself because I’m used to it. Although, because I was so freaking exhausted, I could pass out in 5 minutes max, while regular sleep takes me like 15 minutes to fall asleep. So because of that, I pretty much don’t have any time to shut my brain off. And sleep paralysis happens when you’re stuck between sleeping and being awake. So while I was trying to nap, I got sleep paralysis twice and had to keep fighting it from coming back. People say the best way you get out of sleep paralysis is to relax and you can just slip into a lucid dream. But I DONT want that, I just want to sleep, damnit the reason I starting getting sleep paralysis is because I started trying to lucid dream months ago, I didn’t know this would happen. So what I do, is I just start breathing really fast to get me out of it and it’s tricky but it works. And now the reason why I’m making this post is because I’d like to know, does anyone have any tips on what to do? I’ve tried forcing myself up and doing jumping jacks so I don’t stay in that state. But I’m so tired it doesn’t work, I feel like shit and I’m so scared right now, it’s 2am and already being prone to hallucinations, I’m having the worst hallucinations. I was seeing spiders, black figures for a split second, faces, and I’m even having physical hallucinations if that’s possible. Like it feels like my body is throbbing but it’s not. I hope anybody can respond soon, I’m desperate. Thank you

So today I had multiple episodes of sleep paralysis during a nap. I don't think I get the classic hallucinations that everyone talks about (shadow people, someone standing in the room, etc.),I'd completely freak out if I did.

What I do remember is this really weird loud sensation in my head. The best way I can describe it is like a really loud elevator going down, or some kind of constant rumbling/vibration. It would last for 2-3 min and id manage to open my eyes again for a moment only to be snapped into another ep of SP..I realised what I was going through but was too exhausted to actually get up

The other weird thing is that I also felt like I could still "see" my room. It wasn't like I was fully awake, but it wasn't a normal dream either. I can't tell if it was a dream or i was hallucinating my room during the sleep paralysis episode.. Also, does it leave you feeling extremely exhausted?

Does anyone else experience sleep paralysis like this?

Hello, I just wanted to share my own experience and wanted to know if other people were like me😭

A lot of people get sleep paralysis while they are waking up but I’m getting them while I’m about to sleep. Like this morning for example, I wanted to sleep a bit and the moment I closed my eyes I was immediately paralyzed, and when I managed to get out of it, I just went back to sleep again a few minutes later and then I got paralyzed again😭🙏 I even felt something touching directly my heart, like it was pounding quickly and the creature was just holding it.

Does anyone knows how to stop it or just explain me why whenever I want to go to sleep I’m immediately paralyzed?

Okay so I literally just woke up from one, does anyone also have like fast and short sleep paralysis that just keeps happening. When I try to sleep I get sp, I know how to get myself out of it pretty fast, but it’s so exhausting and then literally 2 minutes later I get it again. Once it happened 5 times in the morning. It’s so exhausting but the loud sounds and the headaches I get in sp is my biggest reason to get out of it asap. Does anyone know how to stop it?

One day when I was young—I was 14—I was at summer camp. One night I woke up and saw a figure sitting on my bed—a woman, I think. She was watching me, but she looked monstrous. I finally turned over, and she was gone.

Was this sleep paralysis? Or was it a psychotic vision, since I’ve been diagnosed with psychosis?

Pata hai aaj kya hua.... Aaj nahi don din pehle.... I dont believe in paranormal things... But I always see images... Like weird images in the night 2-3 times it has happened before.. There is this issue.. I have heard many people face it.. When they have a nap and are about to wake up.. They feel like a force is holding them down.. In short physically you want to wake up and mentally you are still asleep... It feels like a force holding you down.. Now.. 2 days ago something similar happened while i was taking an afternoon nap but there was an add on... Everytime when this happens i get visions of myself getting up, trying to do what i would actually do when i wake up, Trying to throw things in the direction of people around me to make them realise that iam being held down. All the visions in first person view so they are scary.. This time the things near me seemed to float in air in the vision that I had . The chair in front of me seemed like its moving like a talking face.. I cant share it with my mom she would panic.. I am pretty sure it was that problem... But it was intrigued why the add on... Because a couple of days ago i felt a snap on my elbow when i was sleeping facing the wall in the night.. But again it keeps happening.. I think i make it up in my mind.

Hey all i want to know whether this is just a sleep paralysis or if the room is haunted. I was sleeping in upstairs in a room my house has two floors. The whole floor is empty. That night I had a dream where I was sleeping in the same room like the way I was sleeping and there is a single cot opposite to the sofa I was sleeping on i could see a black figure sleeping on it I got scared and tried to turn and wake up but the black thing just crawled on top of me and didn't let me turn or wake up so I just stayed there did nothing and I woke up mornin. This is the first time I'm getting a dream like this. I wasn't intoxicated or wasn't stressed that night too. Am i delusional or was it a spiritual presence? Any ideas??

 I just had a bad episode of sleep paralysis. I usually get auditory and tactile hallucinations. Usually, it's audio distortion. I'm not sure how to describe it. It's like brain fog?.  A lot of the time, I hear whispering or an ancient language that I can't understand, and it's always very loud, or other times it's just screaming or calling for help 

 You know, like when your foot is asleep, and there's a numbing feeling I get that on my body, but it's usually in a specific area on my side, and it's really uncomfortable and very hard to ignore. Sometimes, it feels like I'm either about to fall off my bed or I'm floating in space

 I never see visual hallucinations because I always keep my eyes closed, and the one time I did open my eyes, there was a 2D shadow demon that was stretching infinitely into my ceiling, and beside it, underneath my desk, was this really fat, deformed dog

Any tips on how to calm down during these episodes would be greatly appreciated

I don't know if this is actual SP but its the closest thing I can think of and it doesn't feel like a dream. I've had this for about 1.5-2 years and it's really scary, about once a week I have someone in my room. I wake up and just know that someone is there, either a burglars face in my window/room, someone just entering my room and standing in a corner or someone lying next to me (often people I know). I tend to be completely terrified and can't move when this happens. I also sometimes sleep walk and do weird stuff, so often when I feel like someone is in my room I wake up walking around with my torch on checking if someone's there, although I'm always to afraid when the burglar is there. I have an okay sleep schedule and don't drink a lot of caffeine. Is there anything I can do about this?

Hello. Ive been having sleep paralysis back to back for an entire week. I cant sleep and when I do its because tiredness caught up to me but, Ive been finding myself stuck in my bed unable to move. Ive seen figures, But not always? I woke up to a shadowy figure standing over my bed but I couldn’t look above his collarbone. Today, I was just stuck in bed and I couldn’t see anyone or anything but I could hear things. I just couldn’t move. I avoid sleeping on my back because usually thats what happens when I do which forced me to become a belly sleeper but Ive been rolling over lately and then I get sleep paralysis again. Its really scary and its starting to drive me crazy and its making me paranoid. Is there any way people stop these? Or at least make them less frequent? I just want to sleep, Its currently 5:40AM and I cant sleep because of this bs.

I’ve never had it i kinda wonder how it feels and what are the stuff that happens after like you get scared or trauma from that?

I'm 17, and for the last 4–5 months I've been experiencing something that feels like sleep paralysis, although I'm not sure if that's actually what it is.

It happens around 3–4 times a month. Also it happens much more often when I try to sleep during the day than at night.

When it happens, I feel like I'm half awake, but I can't move my body at all. My whole body feels really heavy, and I get this suffocating feeling. I have to try really hard to move even a single finger. Once I manage to do that, I slowly regain control of the rest of my body

The strange part is that it can happen multiple times in a row. Even if I get out of it once, it comes back again unless I fully wake up. Sometimes it happens 3–4 times before I can finally wake up properly.

I've never seen any shadow figures or entities during these episodes, at least not that I can remember.

Does this sound like sleep paralysis, or has anyone experienced something similar?

Before i start i have to mention that I'm diagnosed with ADHD making this quite a lot easier for me.

When you go to bed close your eyes and imagine yourself in a scary situation, i find it easier to pull it of if there's a scary fellow there.

Wait until your mind visualises it for you, and after that is done it's basically the waiting game.

(This is based of of one test i've conducted And i'm not 100% sure it works)

When I get sleep paralysis, it never lasts long. The feeling of not being able to move isn’t unpleasant, just freaky in a trippy way. It’s the noises I hear that get me, deafening static, I once heard throat singing, I also sometimes hear whispers in a language I don’t know or multiple whispers at once that clash with each other. It’s wild. I never really talk to anyone about this and am not sure if it’s common.

Also the noises get more intense the more I try to fight lying still, if that makes sense.

ever since ive had sleep paralysis like 8 years since, I never really tried giving in and when I did, I lasted a few minutes until feeling super uncomfortable therefore choosing to wake up. I always raw-dogged it and kept sleeping / awaking until I finally slept. the way I wake up, unfortunately tiring, is by jerking my head, which is too too tiring. I can't open my eyes, which would be cooler. but has anyone else been able to slowly or very slowly move your body, if you try hard enough? ive done it before and went as far as to the door. it was really cool. all with my eyes shut too.

I have random episodes but more often than not I can tell when I’m going to get sleep paralysis. It’s pretty much every time I’m going to sleep the night over a hangover (so the night after drinking). I have this exhaustion feeling and I know that when I fall asleep it will result in paralysis but there’s literally nothing I can do to prevent it. Earlier today I was stuck in a 15 minute cycle (I know bc I put YouTube videos on when I get it bc it makes me feel calmer and I fell asleep at 1 min and finally shook the loop enough to wake up 15 mins in). It’s such hell. I just want to sleep

I was laying in bed, trying to fall asleep, but as I was drifting off, I tried to move my body and sleep on my side and I realized I couldn't, then I tried to move my arm and head and realized that I couldn't even move anything. when I knew I couldn't move anything, I felt a ringing in my head and for some reason my instincts told me I was in extreme danger as I couldn't see what's happening in my room. after that I just told myself to stay calm, don't panic and I could move again afterwards. it was like my body fell asleep with my eyes open. ofc I didn't get a wink of sleep after that cause my heart was pounding.

the entire experience happened in 15 seconds, maybe a bit longer. is this what sleep paralysis is like?

NOTE: I’m not looking to self-diagnose or be diagnosed by someone online. I’m just curious right now and will pursue this with a mental health professional if I feel the need to.

For the longest time, I thought that sleep paralysis required some form of panic or hallucinations. I recently looked into sleep paralysis, as I have been experiencing something similar most days of my life, but without the panic or hallucinations. I realized that the key part of sleep paralysis is, well, the inability to move or speak before falling asleep or right before waking.

My personal experience so far hasn’t involved any hallucination, visual or auditory. I’m typically very relaxed, despite being completely frozen and aware of the fact. I often have dreams about just being in my bed, similar to sleep paralysis, but without being in that in-between state. I have also been able to lucid dream since I was about 8, which I suspect may be part of the reason that I am able to stay so calm. I typically just lie there and wait until I either fall asleep or get bored enough that I’ll focus really hard on being awake until I wake up. Also, as previously mentioned, this period of time where I’m frozen before sleep/right before I wake up has been pretty common most of my life, so I haven’t really thought twice about it until now

I also suspect that from the ages of 4 to 10, I did experience both visual and auditory hallucinations with this. I’m not completely sure that I did have them, as it has been a while since I was that age and am mostly relying on my mother’s memory of what I’d tell her.

I’m not seeking treatment right now, as this is not causing me any distress and I don’t necessarily feel exhausted every day, so it doesn’t affect my sleep much. I just wanted to know if anyone else thinks this might be sleep paralysis or if someone has had a similar experience.

Fell asleep at my gfs house she was beside me and i woke up on my stomach, felt a weight on my back and couldn’t move, kept hearing “you’re gonna die” in a whisper over and over again until i could snap myself out of it.

Does anyone else get sleep paralysis frequently? Lately it has been happening almost every night and even when I nap. I have dealt with sp since I was a child, but lately it has been more frequently.

I deal with the loud buzzing/electrical feeling in my head as well, and when i finally break free of sp and the buzzing I feel groggy and just out of sorts for a long while. I also wish I could just go back to sleep after but usually I close my eyes and the buzzing starts again and I start to sleep back into sp.

I know my rem sleep is terrible, I see it on my fitbit. I also take snri med that gives me extreme vivid dreams and impacts rem sleep.

I am just looking for people that can relate, as I have health anxiety and am thinking the worst ex. Brain tumors etc. I did have a clear head ct 6 months ago.