r/Sleepparalysis

I can move when I am paralyze.

For example
If I am lying on my back hands next to me. I can move my hand on my body step by step. First move it closer to my body, then move in of edge of my body and then move it to middle of my body. I can also help, by push my whole body to left to help my hand to move closer to my body.

Last night I had dream that monster go against me and I cant move. When I woke up I had this weird feeling, this feeling always mean I will be paralyze in like 2s.
So I spend 1s to realize this and another one to move my hand to the switch of my lamp to turn it on. Unfortunately when my hand got there I got paralyzed. I tried to move my fingers to push the switch, but I cant move my thumb under the switch. So I tried to push switch to my bed and still could not do it.
By some luck I moved my thumb under the switch and move fingers together to turn on my lamp.
Imminently when the lamp was on I was no longer paralyzed.

Is it still paralysis, if I can do stuff like that?

Hello.

Ive had sleep paralysis for about 6 years now, but I rarely ever have hallucinations and if I do, I'm usually pretty good at keeping my cool. As long as I can wiggle my fingers and toes, I can wake myself up.

However, my most recent experience was the worst it has ever been. I was having a dream that wasn't scary in the slightest, so once I "awoke" I thought to myself "oh maybe ill hallucinate disney world since that's what I dreamed about" . Wrong.

Suddenly I felt my blankets tighten around me (never happened before). Then, I heard creepy screeching from what I guessed was a gargoyle sitting next to my ear and I immediately freaked out. I successfully wiggled my fingers and toes but it didn't do anything. I then tried to take a deep breath and felt like I couldn't breathe.

It's usually never like this. I have never felt difficulty breathing, blankets tightening, or a hallucinations that scary. As far as I know I've only hallucinated twice and the entire time I was able to stay calm.

I should note my mental health and stress have been the worst they've ever been recently, so I guess i shouldn't be surprised.

Can anyone tell me itll get better? I don't want this to become a problem later on.

Are there any other strategies to get through it other than wiggling fingers and toes?

I’m curious whether anyone else notices a connection between stress levels and sleep paralysis. For me, it seems like episodes may happen more often when my sleep schedule is off or I’ve been under a lot of pressure. Has anyone else noticed a similar pattern, or does stress not seem to make a difference for you?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had what I’ve said are sleep paralysis episodes, but lately I’m not sure if they’re panic attacks, or maybe panic attacks that happen as a result of sleep paralysis episodes?

Lately it’s been brutal and I dread trying to sleep, as I’ve been experiencing as many as 4-5 in a row. Every time I try to go to sleep, I awaken about 30 minutes later with a sense of panic that manifests as tightening in my chest and is usually accompanied by fearful and irrational thoughts that I’m dying or that I’ve forgotten a cat locked in a basement somewhere (always in my mom’s childhood home), or, very strangely, that I have unwanted breast implants (I know-WTF, my brain is wild)?

I feel as if my heart is beating out of my chest. I sometimes have the ability to wake myself out of it and sit up and turn on the light to orient myself, but other times I fall right back asleep and have another one 30 mins later, and this happens for several hours. I sometimes recall feeling paralyzed but other times I think I wake out of it with the panic attack as a result of the paralysis that I don’t remember. Sometimes it’s so torturous that I just won’t try to sleep again that night 😞

In the past I did have visuals, like that the smoke detector was a malevolent entity, but now more often they’re just imagined sensations, like that there is something standing on me.

Does anyone else experience them this way? Does what I’m describing sound like classic SP, or that they’re combined with panic attacks? Trying a new med this week and hoping it’s helpful. Unfortunately for me they’re genetic, as my mom and brother have them

Hey everyone I’m not on Reddit a lot and obviously it’s my first time on this subreddit.
20 minutes ago now, I had my first incident of something like sleep paralysis, and wanted to write it down and maybe get a few opinions on what just happened to me before I completely forget about it.

So I had just gotten off my phone and laid on my back with my arm above my head, I didn’t feel like I had fell asleep since I could still audibly hear my podcast, but at some point I lost the sound of it, and heard footsteps running up to my bed. Then, my “girlfriend” with a somewhat different voice climbed up on top of me and was talking some weird gibberish or broken English. She didn’t say much. But I felt like it wasn’t real since I am currently 6 hours away from her. Starting right when she got close to me she started blowing/whistling In my left hand side ear. Over and over. I laid there for a while before trying to check if it was real. It took maybe 3 minutes but I finally lifted my arm and touched her with my fingers, confirming or what I thought was confirming she was real. For a few more minutes she kept doing whatever she was doing to my ear, making a sharp screeching noise every few seconds in my head. I finally got enough strength and flipped her over onto her back and was on top of her. I could feel her neck on my lips and I have never felt such a real sensation before, it felt more real than the actual real world lol. The last thing she said to me was something in broken English, I only made out a few words “when you… get…” it was a longer sentence, maybe 8-9 words. But that’s all I heard.

This was one of the rare times when I try to sleep in my back, I think I’m gonna stay a side sleeper from now on.
Let me know if you guys have any thoughts! Thanks!

EDIT: forgot to add. 30 min ish have now passed and I can still hear/feel the sensation of the whistling in my ear, starting to turn into a headache.

I woke up around 7am and rolled over so I was facing the wall, which was very close. It was all I could see and my eyes were open when suddenly my entire body froze up. It felt less like numb paralysis and more like someone made all my muscles freeze in place. I couldn't even move my eyes. As I stared at the wall I felt a vibrating in my skull and buzzing sound and I felt like I was in danger. On the wall were geometric shapes flowing and morphing, in a sort of chromatic pale rainbow colour. The geometric shapes felt very significant at the time but when I snapped out of it I couldn't explain why.

This is the only time I've had sleep paralysis and I've struggled to find accounts mentioning geometric shapes, does anyone have a similar experience?

there will be times where i will wake up into sleep paralysis, eventually be able to force myself out of the paralysis out of fear, and then after i’ve forced myself to snap out of it, i will still be unable to move much at all. during all of this, i will experience VERY intense fatigue. like to the point i still can’t move or wake myself up enough to even move into a different position.

eventually i will be dragged back into sleep, and then sleep paralysis will IMMEDIATELY happen again. so again i will try to wiggle myself awake (even though i’m not actually moving, just TRYING to move), i will again be extremely fatigued (almost like i’m drugged it’s so bad), i’ll then be unable to move enough to ACTUALLY wake up, fall asleep, and finally fall into a sleep paralysis. this is how the cycle starts. it happens exactly this way, every time.

different hallucinations every time.

this process will happen multiple times until an outside force (person, my dog, a loud noise, or getting enough sleep until i can wake up) causes me to snap back to awake.

the symptoms i experience happen while i’m in waking: the extreme fatigue, the paralysis, the fear, they all happen within maybe 30 seconds or less? i just am kind of stuck in a cycle of sleep paralysis because i CANNOT move even when it’s over, and i cannot wake myself up. i will be too exhausted to move or keep my eyes open.

does anyone else experience this?? it’s terrifying when it happens because i have no control. it doesn’t happen that often luckily, but have been having it happen more in the last couple years than i ever have before.

anyways… please let me know if y’all experience this and if you maybe have an explanation for it?

So i’m trying to sleep and it’s around 5:20 AM and for whatever reason my head will do these trippy things and i don’t know if i just got a case of exploding head syndrome but whenever i’m half awake and drifting in and out of sleep my head or ears will make these weird fucking sounds or trick me or like make it think i’m hearing shit or going into a different reality or some shit.

my brain kept making dream scenarios and thinking of random shit and one of them was for whatever reason i was thinking about going in and out of the matrix and i had seen a bit of that movie like a day or two ago, so it was in the mind but i don’t even know how the fuck to describe it other than my head felt it was advancing or warping out of reality while i was sleeping and all i heard was distorted warping and like whistling like howling wind but sounded high tech.

i kept thinking, since i was half awake that it was a goofy thought like maybe i’m phasing into the matrix and my head then fucking did this weird sound like twice it happened. okay and then i was awake for a bit and tried going back to sleep and was thinking next about a reddit thread i don’t know if it’s one i saw or when that’s made up of people calling the cops for ridiculous reasons, and my brain was visualizing and hearing someone saying their response of a lady calling the cops for a very stupid reason basically and was laying on my side and all of a sudden felt trapped and like there was nothing i could do about it and IT SOUNDED LIKE SOMEONE HAD INTRUDED MY ROOM AND WAS ABOVE MY HEAD GOING “HUH HUH HUH HUH” like they were laughing at me right above my fucking ear canal but it was the most overbearing distorted sound, it sounded like a laugh or like someone agreeing in a very obnoxious way like they’re bullshitting you going “uh huh, uh huh” as in a keep going i think your story is lame kind of way ?

i swear it sounded like a bouncing ball too or like a really weird bass kick drop of a song, i’ve had shit like this happen before but i’m not making this up this just happened like ten minutes ago probably. i’ve had spookier shit happen and this has gone on as a very rare occurence but i had something very fucking scary happen years ago and this pretty much just about matched that. i swear it sounded like someone was in my fucking room i get chills typing this and sounded like they were mocking me doing a fake laugh. it was a distorted like bouncing ball sound but at the same time sounded like a guy laughing obnoxiously. like HUH. HUH HUH. HUH. with pauses in between and also for other scary thoughts.

i guess i just wanted to hear if anyone has had a similar experience hearing something a lot like this ? i’m aware this wasn’t anything visual and i didn’t feel paralyzed, that’s never happened thankfully.

it was more so that i was frozen in fear hearing what i thought was a fucking intruder maniacally mocking me in my ear. it was the strangest fucking thing and i had something downright demonic happen but this was years ago. i mean it was fucked… just wanted to see if anyone relates in any way

Ok so bare with me, this is just curiosity.

In July of 2024 I began experiencing pretty severe sleep paralysis, multiple times a week, lasting hours on end (waking myself up from the episode, checking time, then falling back into it repeatedly.) I would hear voices, see figures, and feel paralyzed (common themes were that my house was being broken into or on fire while in sleep paralysis).

February of 2025 I had an acute psychotic episode. I began having delusions that lasted about a week, and auditory hallucinations/hearing voices that lasted a long time before being stabilized on my 3rd medication. I can still hear voices when my meds wear off. I’ve also experienced sleep paralysis while in the psychotic episode. I’m not schizophrenic— I have MDD w/ psychotic features. Anyways,

My psych prescribed prazocin for the sleep paralysis and it works really well for the most part.
I guess the general question is, while I doubt the sleep paralysis and psychosis are directly correlated (other than by maybe stress), has anyone else had this happen to them?

TIA

Need to vent.. I’ve been trying to find other ppl that get SP to these extreme degrees. I get SP regularly (ESPECIALLY when I take naps) overall though, I’ll seem to wane in and out of phases where I’ll have a high frequency of episodes followed by a few weeks of nothing at all. When I say high frequency im talking at least once per day. The the majority of why I label these episodes as severe, however, isn’t from the frequency. When I wake up into the paralysis, after a minute or two of INTENSE focus, im able to temporarily break out of it (im talking half a second of movement) before I lock back up again.

This can cause some issues bc when im able to break free for a moment, I’ll jolt upwards to try to sit up before immediately locking back up. This causes my body to lock up while in motion … so I’ll fall back into an extremely uncomfortable position hence making me more anxious. There’s been times I’ve started to stand up, before locking back up and my head, legs, and the rest of me going limp and falling to the floor. (luckily something intense like falling on the floor will end the episode)

THIS BRINGS ME TO LAST WEEK. it was VERY slow at work all day so i was sitting in the break room watching dumb reels on my phone. I started to doze off and next thing I know im in SP. long story short, i did the thing where i temporarily broke free for a second and then locked back up. Unfortunately i was sitting in a chair, so when I locked up I was still sitting but my torso was in forward motion. This ended with me literally rocking forward head-first into the ground. I SMACKED my head into the floor and then the SP episode ended. THANK FUCKING GD no one was in the room to see that bc tons of ppl don’t even know what SP is , im SURE they probably woulda sent me over to get a UA / my labs done lmao

Anyone have SP this severe?

Im curious to hear what’s causes this phenomenon, as well as other people’s experiences.

Felt a heavy weight on top of me last night, around 1:30-2:00am. apart from that, felt someone grabbing onto my throat. I thought it was my wife for a second. For context I sometimes sleep with a blanket over me so in theory if it was my wife I wouldn’t be able to see her until I pull the blanket off of me. I tried to speak, my mind was telling me the words to say but the words were not speaking into existence. Terrifying to say the least.

Does sleep paralysis have a paranormal phenomenon behind it? Or is there true scientific research behind it?.

Had a super busy and long day and decided to take a afternoon nap with my girlfriend. I was asleep for around an hour, I remember waking up and moving my headphones that were on the bed, I rolled over, facing my girlfriend now. I closed my eyes and fell back asleep. Soon after my eyes were open, I couldn't move, I could see my hand, I was trying desperately to move it to nudge my girlfriend. I couldn't. Tried to speak. I couldn't. It actually did scare me a little, although I have been fascinated with lucid dreaming for a while. Even though I haven't been able to do it. Overall 7/10 experience for the first time. (I love ranking things 💀) M27

so i heard that people all across the world experience the same sleep paralysis figures but ive never heard someone have the same experience as me. basically some years ago i was taking a nap during the day with my shades open so my room was sunny idk if this matters but anyway in the span of maybe 30 minutes i had the sleep paralysis like 5 or 6 times the first couple times i would sense my mom at the door but when i would snap out of it she wouldn't be there and then one i was turned facing the wall and it sounded like someone came in (i figured my mom or sister) and layed in the bed next to me (when i woke out of it no one was there) but the last time which is the time i decided im getting up and not taking a nap because it was a never ending loop of sleep paralysis and because i was so creeped out by what i just saw.. was the only time i ever saw a figure during sleep paralysis. so i was still facing the wall and someone was standing on the side of the bed (i cant remember if i saw them walk up to me and stop or they just appeared) BUT THIS IS THE PART WHERE I NEED TO KNOW IF SOMEONE EXPERIENCED SOMETHING SIMILIAR
the figure was a light greyish skinned elderly woman she was NAKED (saggy boobs and all) and her body was covered in holes. i literally dont know how to describe them they didnt look like wounds inside them was just dark and they ranged in sizes and they werent perfect circles either. i mostly remember them being on her old wrinkly butt it was so close my face that whole experience was just so eerie

also i dont think i saw her face or i cant remember

this reminds of a tiktok about how the monster in a movie just turns out to be an old naked lady because it's written by men so it makes me feel kinda bad

also sorry this is so long

I never believed sleep paralysis was anything paranormal. I’d experienced it a couple of times before, and even though it was terrifying, I always understood what was happening. This time was different. I had fallen asleep on the couch because I was watching TV late at night, and sometime around 2 in the morning I suddenly woke up. I could hear the TV still playing, but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even blink. At first, I wasn’t scared because I thought, *Okay, it’s sleep paralysis. Just wait it out.* Then I noticed something strange. The TV was playing a show I had never seen before. I could hear people talking, but the voices sounded muffled, almost like they were coming from another room. I tried moving my fingers, but nothing happened. Then I heard the front door open. I immediately panicked because I knew I was home alone. I listened as someone slowly walked into the house. The footsteps came closer and closer until they stopped right beside the couch. I couldn’t turn my head, but I could see the edge of someone’s legs in my peripheral vision. They were standing completely still. I kept telling myself it was a hallucination. Then the person slowly leaned down toward me. I couldn't see their face, but I could feel them staring directly into my eyes. I waited for the usual pressure on my chest or some terrifying whisper, but instead they just stood there for what felt like minutes. Then something happened that still bothers me. My phone was sitting on the coffee table about two feet away, and suddenly the screen lit up. I could see the reflection of the person standing over me in the phone screen. Except the reflection wasn't looking at me. It was looking directly at the phone. Then the phone screen went black. A few seconds later, the figure disappeared. I suddenly regained control of my body and sat straight up. The TV was off. The front door was still locked. My phone was exactly where I left it. I checked the time, and it was 2:17 a.m. I eventually convinced myself that everything I saw was just a sleep paralysis hallucination. But the next morning, I checked my phone because I wanted to see if maybe I'd accidentally received a notification during the night. There was one new notification. It was from my phone's camera app. Somehow, the camera had been opened at 2:16 a.m. There was one picture saved in my gallery. It was completely black except for the faint outline of the couch. I deleted it immediately. I still don't know if it was just my brain messing with me, or if I really woke up for a few seconds and saw something that wasn't supposed to be there. I just know I haven't slept on that couch since.

Yep, like the title says lol I’ve been diagnosed with a brain tumor in my pituitary gland and I’ve now been admitted to the ICU for care. Prior to this I was at my parents house but my condition was worsening and started having insomnia. Couldn’t sleep and when I could I would stay asleep for an hour before something woke me up, a nightmare or anxiety would wake me and it would lead to vomiting.

That’s when I eventually was admitted to the ICU. Since being in the ICU sleeping has gotten progressively harder with only getting 2-5 hours a night but one hour at a time. The last two nights were the worse. I’ll outline below. The sleep paralysis always pops up as I’m falling asleep. I’ve learned that it’s cause the mind stay active but the body false asleep. Been reading stories on here to learn more but would love to hear what people have to say!

Night 1: probably the best night. Slept on and off for 5 hours, awoken by nightmares or wanting to get out of the dream but only something jarring or scary could wake me up. And it eventually did.

Night 2: I’m getting exhausted as this point and have gotten maybe 3-4 hours at best on and off. Same things are happening. There was this one incident where I was on a bike somewhere on a street and someone passes by me and each out to grab it but I guess I fall and that causes me to jolt awake irl.

Night 3: probably the worst night. I got two hours if that, last night and had the same dark dreams where I was stuck in this room with people and they were lounging and doing things but I wanted to leave and there wasn’t a way out. I guess I eventually found one but that led to me waking up and I think the anxiety and fear is driving me away from sleeping altogether. I’m getting visions during the day in peripheral of dark figures now.

Therapy: during a therapy session today via zoom I was laying in the hospital bed and I guess fell asleep. But the sleep paralysis kicks in as soon as I try and fall asleep and I feel like I’m up in my hospital bed messing with my bed, the IVs, my iPad was disconnecting to the call so I tried to get it to connect and fumbled around with so much stuff and eventually I think I stumbled on or off the bed and jolted me awake in real life, perfectly at the end of my session.

All of that is to say, it’s been pretty scary to experience this for the first time but reading some other people’s experiences there’s always worse.

Maybe also something worth nothing is that since Monday, it’s Thursday now, I’ve been taken off my 20mg of Lexapro and part of me thinks that this could potentially be a withdrawal symptom. If it is, has anyone experienced it? Any advice?

Wondering if anyone has gone through something similar with insomnia and sleep paralysis!! And your thoughts about the above. And again if you have any advice on how to get more sleep and such. Would be super grateful. All the hospital can give me now is low doses of melatonin because of my charts.

Lots of love.

Pues hoy hace como 2 horas me fuí a dormir deprimido porque había tenido una discusión con mi pareja, entonces al dormir me encontré con unas criaturas un poco singulares por así decirlo, tenían ojos negros pequeños, y eran completamente blancos, pero con un detallé aterrador... Se parecían a mis familiares más cercanos... Hasta ese momento en el sueño me encontré con mi hermano y madre que no eran como esas criaturas blancas, solo eran ellos, normales, como siempre, mi madre me dijo que, qué había pasado y que xq estaba así, pero al querer decirle no pude, las palabras no salían, después de eso trate de despertar del sueño xq era completamente consiente de que eso era un sueño al despertar y ver mi cuarto no podía moverme ni gritar ni nadar, solo podía ver alrededor después de un gran esfuerzo logré mover una de mis extremidades y seguidamente el resto, luego creí que ya todo había pasado, y volví a dormir pero... Me encontré de nuevo con esas criaturas y estaba hablando con mi tía que supuestamente era normal y de la nada se convirtió en una de esas criaturas, y atrás apareció un tal shh que lucía de color blanco con espirales en vez de ojos, me gritaron que no fuera con el pero al tocarlo desperté de inmediato, al buscarlo en internet td eso solo me arrojaba que era una respuesta al estrés y que ya se había compartido mucho esas descripciones sin embargo me aterra volver a dormir, no se si a alguno le haya pasado algo similar y si me puedan recomendar algo para que no me vuelva a ocurrir una parálisis así de fea

I'm really scared. I used have episodes where i try to wake up but i fall into it and it goes repeating. But this lasts only few seconds but last time when i had a episode I don't know why i unconsciously stopped the fight to wakeup and suddenly stopped my breathing. This lasted mins now had another episode where i really thaught i might not wakeup and i was chocking myself.

Love y'all

I literally have no proper idea what happened to me this morning.

I woke up but couldn't move. Ny eyes were shut tight too. But I heard someone whisper don't stare there or something. Later I felt someone move their face in front of my face and staring at me. I was so scared. I tried yelling but no sound came out neither couldn't turn my face away. Later when I checked with mom she told she was on a phone call standing near my bed and she did saw my mouth twitching.

I knew I wasn't asleep because I heard mom speaking about the situation at apartment with our caretaker while all of this was happening.

Idk if it's sleep paralysis since the stories I read mostly about it involves a monster or something. But yeah I am still super scared.