I’ve been experiencing SP since early highschool (23 now). It’s mainly when I’m waking up, but also sometimes when I’m falling asleep.

It’s most common when I wake up before when I should be getting up, and fall back asleep. I’ll become stuck and my mind is awake but I can’t move my body. I’ll try to scream to my gf next to me or move my hands to open my eyes but my gf always says she never hears or sees me move.

The most consistent way I’ve been able to get up is by counting down 3, 2, 1 then focusing all of my energy to opening my eyes. This never works on my first try but 90% of the time it works on my second try. Sometimes it takes 3/4 times but eventually works. That’s when I can feel my anxiety really start to escalate and I’ll jump up with terror when I do get up.

So ya idk why I get it or how it works but it’s definitely spooky some days.

Anyone else use this method?

Hey hey

I have sleep paralysis for many many years. Since I'm a young adult basically. I get it usually as most of you when I nap and lately a lot when I roll on my back while sleeping.

Problem is, for a year now, a lot of episodes which before were totally "asymptomatic" (meaning I'd feel nothing besides being paralysed and anxious) turned into feelings of pressure in heart, blood rushing very heavily in my veins, as if blood pressure is 200/200 and heart palpitates heavily. Today I had one of those, but upon waking up all was gone, heart was beating low (as it should) and I was just "fine"

I'm freaking out thinking I'll have a blood pressure spike and die of heart attack while sleeping!!!

You guys had anything similar?

Best!!

It first started when I was about age 19, with talking in my sleep, then movement things such as walking around, picking things up started happening around age 21-22, I even somehow called my sister's ex-fiance and was apparently telling him nonsensical things like his friend was in my bed, then stole my cat and is hiding under my bed, he said my speech was slurred and said a lot of words that aren't even real words.

another time, my mom knocked on my door while I was having a nap during the day, I got up and started talking but no words made any sense

I used to have a drug issue, and have been sober. of course, I had no recollection of any of these sleep talking/walking episodes, and everyone was accusing me of abusing drugs again, while I tried explaining it to people, no one believed me. I was so hurt, offended and disappointed - I ended up leaving home and was homeless for around 7 months, because everyone showed they had 0 faith in me.

over the years say from 23/4 to 26(current age), I started developing sleep paralysis as well, most of the time it very short lived and not a huge issue but it gradually started to last longer and induce more panic, then I moved in with my (now ex) fiancee, and she'd frequently wake me from sleep talking/walking and save me from paralysis, I ended things with her and left brazil for australia (where I'm originally from) and since being back, easily 1 in 4, maybe 1 in 5 nights I get horrific sleep paralysis

at this point, I'm awake all night, genuinely scared to sleep at night time, so I stay up and work (software engineer remotely), and sleep once the sun comes up - I still sometimes get sleep paralysis during the day but it's far less fear inducing

one key point I've noticed is I only get paralysis when I lay on my back, I know it's not sleep apnea as my fiancee can attest to the fact I never stop breathing, I've also had equipment monitoring my blood oxygen, and there's no obvious dips or de-saturation normally associated with apnea (i know this isnt a 100% guarantee that it's not apnea and I need to get a proper sleep study done, but where I live in australia there's no public/subsidized or "free" sleep study places, I'd have to go private and I don't have the money for that)

if it were as simple as only laying on my side to stop it, I would, but I have autoimmune arthropathy that's still under investigation for it to be treated accurately, laying on my side for even a little bit too long I end up in such severe pain I need to go to the hospital, I also tend to move around a lot in my sleep and naturally end up on my back as time goes on

some health background: I have lupus, which I had tests ran recently showing my markers are down, so it's likely not the cause of the arthropathy or parasomnias
diagnosed with bipolar type 1 and adhd
my father used to sleep walk and sleep talk according to my mom
sister sleep talks
I've struggled with insomnia since like 12 years old
I take loads of medications: lamotrigine, amisulpride, pregabalin, verapamil for cluster headaches and occasional migraines, low dose ritalin for adhd(10mg 2 times a day, not increasing due to mania risk), buprenorphine for my severe chronic arthroparhty w/ naproxen
and about 3 times a week I use temazepam/alprazolam to help me sleep.

I've noticed a connection between benzos and sleep talking/walking, from when my fiancee would wake me & it'd be the nights I took them, sleep paralysis happens without or with taking them, generally its less intense whilst on benzos however

there's been times where I've been on none of these meds, some of them, or different meds entirely and these parasomnias still occur, so I can't pinpoint it down to 1 medication except for maybe benzos in relation to walking/talking

alcohol is definitely something that causes all of the 3 parasomnias, luckily I don't really like alcohol, and if I am to get drunk I wait to sober up a bit before I sleep.

I'm sleep deprived, at my wits end and scared to sleep. all the CBT shit I've learned for anxiety goes out the window when I'm so terrified I'm attempting to scream for help
tried sleeping with lights on, but for some reason I can't manage to even though I can sleep during the day

anyone have steps I can take from here? is it worth spending a boat load of money on a sleep study for them to tell me "sorry, nothing we can do about it, how about do some therapy" - I've tried therapy, all fail-safes I put into place go out the window and can't think straight when it happens

the only thing that's helped was having my ex sleeping with me, to snap me out of it if I start to panic & that's also not possible now... sadly.

TL;DR I have multiple parasomnias, being sleep talking, walking and paralysis, multiple health and mental health conditions, unlikely to be apnea (tho not guaranteed), talking and walking is whatever though it has caused issues, the paralysis is keeping me from sleeping at night, only seems to happen while laying on my back IIRC
dad would sleep talk and walk as well, sister sleep talks too.

any help, suggestions or recommendations are welcome, I'll try anything at this point.

OMG, that was freaking weird! 😭 I've had sleep paralysis for two straight days now, In the first dream, he showed up and I freaked out, thinking my third eye had opened so i freaked out couldn’t move but i forced myself, i was able to move my leg. In the second dream, my body was transitioning to sleep when it suddenly appeared(same person i saw in my first dream) , singing a song to me. It kept checking if I was asleep, and I could literally feel my bed moving every time it sat down beside me, then + stood up when I opened my eyes. When it saw I wasn't sleeping despite its efforts, it stood in front of me looking mad. So I closed my eyes, aware that I was just dreaming but unable to move or open my eyes. I just chilled out, and then suddenly I was able to open my eyes again… this is the first ever SP experience i wasn’t able to move literally i just told myself to chill cause my heartbeat was raising so bad 😢 btw the guy in my dream looks like a bluish transparent guy.

Finally woke up. I was alone home, I kept falling asleep, seeing psychedelic imagery, false awakenings, feeling dizzy and drained.

My teeth were hurting so bad. I felt someone trying to put some sort of medicine in my mouth with a pipette. Heard people talking. The ceiling had new patterns etc. It was mostly scary due to the fact that it just wouldn't end. Tried to scream but nothing.

Mom arrived home and helped me by moving my body slowly.

I hate when it lasts so long. It feels like torture. At least not many creepy things happened. I have chronic fatigue and prolonged freeze response, which I think affects how long these last. Or maybe they just normally can last hours? Idk.

i want demons to sit and step on me while i cant move

I am wondering if anyone else has ever felt like they were being dragged off the bed into the walls while sleeping. I occasionally get this dream where I am lying on my bed and someone is pulling on my leg, dragging me down to the ground and into the room opposite me. I can feel everything as if it were real—the cold floor beneath me, the thump when I’m pulled off the bed, and even the sound of people talking on the phone. It feels so surreal. I usually feel claws on my face but it seems like my sleep paralysis has changed theme has this happen to you guys when your sleep paralysis theme changes?

Sometimes I’ll have a dream that is unpleasant and I am trying to walk up from it. I am somewhat aware of my surroundings and think I am moving around and yelling to walk up but when I do walk up suddenly I haven’t moved.

Last night I let my body fall asleep while staying conscious. Usually when this happens I hear loud static/rushing water, and can feel pressure in my head. Tonight was the same, but much much worse. While falling asleep I almost immediately heard ear piercing static/electric sounds. Saw dim flashing shapes and lights. And felt a pressure in my head so bad it left my ears ringing after I woke up. It was so bad I assumed it must've been what a seizure feels like.

Does anyone else have similar experiences or know if this might be a health issue?

Background:
- Experienced it very frequently between ages 13 - 21 (very vivid)
- frequency:
- sometimes 4 - 7 days a week
- other times once a month

Story:
I still to this day experience sleep paralysis although its very infrequent, and usually unremarkable; this recent experience really stood out.
It happened a couple of days ago. I had went to bed earlier than normal but woke up at some point, not sure what time. I felt myself drifting back into sleep but with that unnerving sensation some of you might be familiar with; the kind traces down your limbs before paralysis kicks in. I kept wiggling my fingers just before that until I suddenly dosed off. I knew I was in sleep paralysis because I couldnt move, my eyes were open and I was staring at the entrance of my room... It was all dimly lit, grey scale kind of tone in the room... This cloaked humanoid that was pale-white walked in and was saying something I couldn't remember in a very low voice; but I wasnt freaking out, I get the vibe it was something like 'Don't worry, worry, relax I just want to talk'... Strangely I felt calm but my mind was repeating 'wake up'. On the fourth time I said It I would wake up... But then I'd slowly feel that pull back into sleep paralysis... when I succumbed, once again that same cloaked vivid hallucinations was kneeling at my bed side, It's impossibly white face was very close... Same deep voice... Then I guess I just fell asleep because I can't recall anything after.

I just thought it was a cool story, I've seen all kinds of wild stuff but not for a long time.

I can't explain how scary experiencing sleep paralysis was! It happened few minute ago.

• My vision was moving all around and at the same time I couldn't focus anywhere and It felt like my eyelids were 50% covered. I tried seeing but the max I could see was half of my vision but the top upper part of my vision was completely black.

• Due to the vision issue, I thought it was my hair, so I tried to move around to adjust my hair and move it out of my face but I couldn't move whatsoever!!!

• I was violently shaking, or at least felt like I was shaking, I thought it was an earthquake or I was having seizure.

• Severe panic, I was screaming for help inside, I thought I was dying, I'm introvert and never ask for help but I was ready to burst into my dad's room and ask him to take me to a doctor cause I thought I was dying...

• I woke up from it and calmed down but didn't fully understand the situation, felt like a bad dream, I tried sleeping again...

• I closed my eyes and instantly got paralyzed AGAIN! I don't know if it was instant in real-life or my brain perceived it that way...

Now I'm scared to close my eyes or atrempt to sleep again. I mean the panic I felt during this is what I imagine hoe hell would be...

It's way way way worse experiencing that actually thinking about it. As soon as I woke up and calmed down somehow I realized that my experience was consistent with sleep paralysis. I've read about this and experienced it like once when I was a baby, now experiencing it again as an adult was way more scary.

Recently id say past 3 months usually when i first dose off to sleep literally like within 15 mins of falling asleep ill kinda like gain consciousness but still be asleep and in that time i cant move cant wake up and im just stuck like im frozen and I literally have to use all my power it feels like to wake myself up. With all that being said is this sleep paralysis or some other thing

Ive always had sleep problems for years. Never been able to fall asleep easy, probably from anxiety. I was on some pretty strong sleeping pills for a while but they never did anything. I used to get bad nightmares and was on some PTSD meds to help with the nightmares for a bit but again didn’t feel like they helped.

So I work in quite a unique and dangerous environment that I can’t talk about (NDA lol). I’ve worked there for about nine months and never had any problems. Recently I’ve had a lot of nightmares about the people there attacking me. The one the other day was a pretty standard nightmare where it feels like a dream. Last night I had a nightmare very different to what I’ve ever had before and I’m assuming it was sleep paralysis.

I was in a room I didn’t recognise. Doing a task I always do but I had left cutlery far away from me. I was just standing there in the corner and it was dark. The person (who I know) picked up the knife and was distraught, telling me they couldn’t handle it anymore. They ran towards me and started attacking me. I could feel it. The pain. This isn’t anything new to me though, I’ve had dreams where I can feel the pain before. It did feel more real though. The dream kind of transitioned to where I knew I needed to wake up. So I started pushing. I couldn’t move but I was using all my strength to open my eyes, still feeling the pain from before. I managed to see a little bit. I was in first person and could see my room where I was laying all dark. My cat was next to me how he always is but he was fast asleep too. I couldn’t wake him, but I knew he was sleeping. I started realising that I wasn’t completely awake. I felt trapped. It was like it took so much pushing to finally wake up. When I did wake up, I felt quite disorientated, still feeling like I was in the dream. I thought I’d open my eyes to see someone actually attacking me cause of how real the pain was. I had that thought when I was in that stuck in between part. My cat was in the same place when I fully woke up.

I don’t know what this means, if it means anything at all.

I'm Male, 35yo, 6'1, 295lbs. Today around 2:35pm I had 3 Sleep paralysis attacks back to back that prevented me from getting any rest before work. I broke free from each of the attacks before things hit the fan. I've had attacks almost all of my life, but the only difference is I always lived with family or friends whenever it happened which gave me a bit of comfort. I'm now currently living on my own and never realized how terrifying it was to deal with this by myself. I'm usually not afraid of many things, but there's something about the unknown that scares me. I'm at work and I'm exhausted from the lack of sleep. Does anyone know why this randomly happens? Am I being attacked by negative energy from people I socialize with or people from work?

Im making this post about ten minutes after. I’ve never experienced sleep paralysis before this, it never really even crossed my mind. I’m sixteen years old (f) and I’m terrified of it happening again. I couldn’t talk, scream, move, etc… I tried to scream so hard, I could feel it but nothing came out. The weirdest part is that I couldn’t see a creature or anything, but I could feel it. The weight on my was extremely heavy. If anyone has any advice on how to prevent sleep paralysis (at least just for the rest of the night, I have school) I’d be so so grateful. And is it normal to feel nauseous and dizzy after? Again, any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hi everyone,I am 34year old female feel like I am losing my mind because I still don’t understand what is happening to me. For the past month I have barely slept at night, and it’s driving me crazy. Over the last year I have experienced many different and scattered symptoms such as nausea, body pain, frequent urination, fluctuating liver enzymes, stomach pain, tightness in my thigh muscles, and shortness of breath.

I have done so many tests (blood work, CT scan, endoscopy) and all came back normal. Even nerve and muscle EMG testing of my arms and legs eight months ago was normal. For about eight months I actually felt completely fine, except for occasional nighttime palpitations and dizziness that doctors said were panic attacks.

But over the last month, my symptoms have become very strange and frightening. Almost every night, while I’m asleep, my tongue suddenly feels extremely stiff and frozen, as if I can’t move it no matter how much I try. At the same time I get severe stomach pain, a racing heartbeat, and numbness in my hands. In the beginning this only happened once or twice a week, but now it happens several times every night.

I am terrified this might be something serious like cancer or ALS. My family says I have seen enough doctors already, but I feel hopeless. The thing that scares me the most is my tongue—I keep struggling to move it and it just won’t respond, which feels unlike a typical panic attack or bad dream. I am so afraid of becoming mute or paralyzed.

Please, if anyone has experienced something similar or knows what this could be, I would be grateful for any help or advice.

I’ve been having sp for a while now and at a point it was daily. It started from a weird dream and believe it or not I was flying on a pony with rainbows anyway and there was a big circle of the pony’s similar to a carasal or however you spell it. It started going faster and faster and it gave me this crazy wind noise like when you have the windows down when you’re driving. This dream suddenly stopped and all I could see was my room but I was frozen. However, the wind sound never stopped. I didn’t see any visuals or anything just my room and the wind noise and obviously I couldn’t move. I was scared and when I finally broke out of it I was so scared to go to sleep again. Over the probably 50 times I’ve had sp, the wind noise blowing loud in my ear appeared in every single one. It wasn’t until like my 15th time where I was sleeping on my side and a face appeared infront of me and I’ve remeber felt such fear. There’s been times where I wake up from sp go back to sleep and it comes right back. I’ve had it up to 5-8 times in a single night. I’ve learned to kinda be ok with it except when I have scary hallucinations. For example, I was upnorth at my cottage and all of sudden boom sleep paralysis and some figure ran accross my room super fast, jumped onto the wall, and made a loud boom sound. I could hear my quiet whimpers and stuggles and I’ve enevr experienced something like it usually the hallucinations are still and don’t really move. Does anyone else know the sound I’m referring to with the wind, or have similar experiences to me. It’s crazy how it all started with one dream flying around in circles and hearing the wind while I’m flying, and it turned into a sound that haunts me.

Wondering cuz it's never looked like an actual person b4

Ok yes I know it sounds weird, you sleep in your closet? Why?

Well I’m an overnight worker and need to sleep during the day, and can really only sleep in pitch black, my bedroom has this huge window and a sliding barn door that lets a lot of light in to the point I sleep almost exclusively in my walk in closet on a twin mattress. Now that I’m done explaining why, I want to say that the only time I have sleep paralysis is in this closet, I’m a truck driver so whenever I sleep in the truck, not a problem, when I sleep in my bed or a hotel, it’s no problem. It’s only when I’m in here and they happen almost every other night. the dreams always confine themselves to my apartment, most of the time just floating eyes or distorted being’s or whispers happen and consciously, I tell myself to wake up or to turn on the light. Or to grab my phone to see what it is, but body is just stuck, unable to do anything other than just lay there. The reason I’m making this post is because I’ve had the flu for the past couple days and have slept about 30 of the 48 hours and every single time I’ve fallen asleep, either at the beginning or a couple minutes before I wake up, I get sleep paralysis to the point it’s very excessive.

I’ve had a sleep apnea test done on me and they didn’t find any symptoms. When I sleep elsewhere I’ve never had and issues, should I just chalk it up to my closet has a spirit or something?

Any ideas what causes my sp I get it frequently and even though I'm learning to live with it and it seems to get easier I am confused as to why I experience this so often. I'm on ot of medication I'm not sire if that impacts it at all. I've found alot of things that help which improved my life alot as I get scared to sleep but I would love to know the cause of this.

Edit: Why DO we fight with it

Hello.

I am having random sleep paralysis maybe once a month, usually when I am really really tired but I can't fall asleep and when I am finally falling asleep it just hits. I usually sense it right before it happens as I start to feel very very heavy and almost as If my body is falling into oblivion (can't describe it better than that). I don't hear any weird sounds just something like the sound of falling/pressure in the ears. And then of course, I can't move and I am trying so hard to "wake up" with all my body so I guess I am making very very small movements even though I am trying as hard as I can. The question is why I (and all of us, i guess) am trying to move when in reality, I don't want to move, I want to sleep? I always tell myself, next time I won't even try I'll just let go like what would happen? I would probably fall asleep eventually anyways, right?

I guess it's all just that weird feeling and fear that I don't really understand where it's coming from, even though I guess it's all my amygdala's fault. But why? I know some people see things and hear creepy stuff but I for example don't. So where's this fear coming from?

Do you have any idea? And is there someone who just don't fight it anymore? I heard that when you let it go you will start lucid dreaming which might be cool but I can't get over the fear 😨

Is it just me or are you guys able to control ur breathing during sp. like I’m half awake but I’m also partially dreaming and cannot move my body at all. But I can control my breathing. And I can breathe faster, breathe slower and even stop breathing. I usually try breathing faster to wake up but it rarely works. If I try to stop breathing it makes me panic and I can’t carry through with it.