sleep paralysis and hallucinations

I started suffering with Sleep paralysis (SP) when about 16.

the first time i awakened while sleeping face down of the pillow. i was sure i had been struck by some paralysis while sleeping and since i could not move anything except fingers, toes and the jaw i believed that i was going to die slowly suffocated. really a terrifying feeling. breathing hard and doing a desperate attempt to move i finally managed to regain motility.

the episode of SP repeated many times since that , and new phenomena added with time.

later i experienced a vivid hallucination after awakening from a daytime nap of a few minutes. I awakened seeing CATS WALKING ON THE BOOKSHELVES, i raised myself sitting on the bed and the cats finally disappeared. i was _totally_ awake by that time.

the next step was multiple false awakenings with hearing hallucinations in the middle of the night , in form of an increasing buzz that turned into a loud scream, along with sensations of evil presences and sheer terror.
what is a false awakening? well, you think you can move but you cant. you think you are switching the night light on but in fact you are doing nothing. the thing repeats multiple times in a crescendo of fear.
I believed those were dreams but sooo real.
later i discovered that they are common manifestations coming together with SP and that are *not* dreams, cause you're awake. while taking a neurological check for my hands (loss of sensibility) i started talking with the doc about this issue and he told me i wasnt the only one suffering with this, it was sleep paralysis and still largely mysterious. on the net there are resources about this issue like this one.

this morning I faced the most amazing thing : awakening with paralysis and vivid open-eyes hallucinations of oddly white dressed guys (remember clockwork orange? the same but with no hats) and while those hallucinatory idiots were cavorting before my bed a SHARPLY SEVERED, WHITE-DRESSED FOREARM FLOATING IN FRONT OF MY FACE appeared, fist closed with the small finger protruded (what the heck means this ? - i wondered). This was utterly scary . GO AWAY !!! i screamed at the guys , and i was totally awake by then, and those things slowly obeyed disappearing in a "white noise" effect (i saw the shape of the things filled with with noise), which turned terror into laugh - i had finally understood it was only a new form my usual SP.

This was really scary, though not as scary as the false awakening occurrence.

ANYONE OF YOU FRIENDS SUFFERS WITH THIS ??

oh, btw i never did acid or other drugs except the occasional pot, but in the past, and however this shit started happening WAY before my first toke.

love and peace, particularly at nighttime.

 

I have experienced many similar events, though it seems you are a little more aware in that state than I. These, to me, are the closest and clearest i've been to "proving through experience" many ideas i like to hold on to. i will post more later, but right now i have to go eat at "The Tomato" before they close it down. Those bastards.

 

i had almost the same type of experience when i was experimenting with lucid dreaming and astral projection. i would "wake up" a few times before i actualy woke up. i would think i was awake, then something would appear or happen to prove otherwise. kinda confuseing. i've learned to controll this state, learn from it, and even enjoy it on occation. once you know it doesnt exist in the physical relm, you know you're not tied to the physical realm and can do shit in your dreams you only imagine in "real life". the paralisis can be fixed by focusing on an extremity (pinkey finger for example) and "feeling" the rest of your body from there. you said you can move your fingers. focus on the sensation of moving your finger, then work your way up your arm, and from your toes up your legs. or you can leave your body there and go explore for a while. mind over "mind". if you do not fear, you can controll your enviornment.
there's allot to learn in the other realm.
but who knows, the doctors told me i'm crazy.
i think they're the ones who are nuts.
reality is allot more than what science can prove is "real".
you have been chosen, or chose, to see more than some. take advantage of the oppertunity.


enjoy your travels, inner space explorer

 

yes, in the years i've learned how to emerge quickly from paralysis, I do just about what you suggest, in brief I try and move frantically all I can move while I breath hard and fast . Now i am able to get rid of the block in less than one minute. Quite curiously, I suffer with a light form of carpal tunnel syndrome, which makes me lose sensitivity in the fingers when I wake up, so not only I am paralysed , but some of the parts I can move are numb and insensible. At least the doctor recommended me not to stop playing guitar :guitar: since exercise slows the progress of the illness. Together with my old disc hernia, and the modest brainwave anomaly discovered by the EEG I took because of SP, it seems that all my woes come from the nerves. I know, I'm wrecked.
:nopity:

I'll try to follow your suggestion... if you cant defeat'em, make friends with them !

p.s. yes, I'm so fond of animated gifs :drummer:.

 

yes, it gets much more interesting when you don't try to snap out of it. as i began to accept the fear that accompanies these experiences, i also began to have "etheric projection" experiences. this also included extreme synesthesia-as i experienced everything as a vibration that racked my being with intensity. these were so intense that it would take me quite a while to figure out that what i was looking at was a ceiling fan. to truly "see" a ceiling fan is far more a spiritual feeling than you may think. these experiences are actually semi-rare and erratic for me, and seem to come when my body is cleansed, or when i'm going through or need a major change in my life. i suppose if i were able to go into these experiences constantly, i would probably develop an addictive attitude towards them. i have only actually had one sp experience that i would consider hallucinagenic. i was using calea zachatachichi (SP?) for a few nights in a row. i awoke paralyzed, with the usual feeling that something was in the room-only this time i actually saw this something. it was an intensely blue dodo bird (a blue i've only seen in dreams) trying to scurry up the side of my bed. it was moving in the same glichy way you see ghosts moving in horror movies. it got up onto my bed and proceeded to burrow into the right side of my throat. for months afterwards, i would feel a very real feeling in that area that was similar to bugs crawling on my skin, except on the inside. oddly enough, i've been having dreams all my life about being attacked and bitten in that very same spot (always terrifying dreams), including a dream with a coyote of the same color who attacked me telling me it was wrong to kill for comfort (this dream followed a day when i killed a bunch of nats because i was in a bad mood and they wouldn't stop landing all over me.). don't know what sort of significance that part of my throat may have in my life, but i believe these experiences were very consistent and meaningful. if anything, sp's alot more interesting than the day to day.

 

maybe with time i've lost the silver key (he he).
You made me remember when I was about 15-16 and an avid Lovecraft reader , and I actually managed to fall asleep and explore in dreams , which attempt sometimes succeeded , with an intro of hypnagogic hallucinations. I also suffered of no SP... but it started shortly after. If I am not wrong this was easier to achieve during spring-early summer, dont know why. Maybe the ludicrous approach could help me in coping with this annoyance (yes, or else im babbling ravings) . Forgive my morbid curiosity : I've read you use Calea zacatechichi so I made a short google-driven web inquiry and now know something about it. Did it give you benefits of any sort ?

 

for me, it enhances dream awareness/power. if you aren't aware in your dreams already, it may do nothing at all. for me, it took about three days for anything worth noting to happen-the dodo bird experience. under my mom's advisement, I would make tea out of half of my dose, and smoke the rest. i must warn you: it is not a pleasant taste at all. flavor the tea and get used to the smoke and you'll be fine.

 

i would suggest you do not use this if you don't want a higher quantity and intensity of the experiences you have already mentioned. it's much better to come to these things when you feel you really want to.

 

it was just plain curiosity from my side. I've learned something.

 

mine began when i was somewhere between 4 and 5. and faided away almost completely when i was arround 11 or 12.

and one time there was a rather odd incident that went with it. but only that once that i know of.

=^^=
.../\...

 

maybe related to somnambulism ? of course if you dont mind talking about it.

 

I've had sleep paralysis since I was a child. It IS explainable, it is more common in people who have unusual neurolgical systems. People with epilepsy, migraine, Tourette's Syndrome, even Genius level IQ.

The explaination (per my research and info from my neurologist, who specializes in Sleep Anomolies, parasomnias and migraines) is that, simply, "half" the brain is actually engaged in REM sleep, while "half" the brain is actually awake. You are paralyzed, because that is what happens in REM, but the part of your brain which is awake can cause your eyes to be open, and you are conscious, with sleep "halucinations" placed ON your consciousness.

The funny thing is, I have also had paranormal experiences, ghosts ect. And, even as a child, I knew these were different than Sleep Paralysis. I can get references, but Sleep Paralysis is NOT paranormal, it is just the brain acting a little differently than normal. My SP is almost gone, due to one of the drugs I take to control migraine. If it were paranormal, a medication wouldn't stop it.

 

and in fact my EEG found some not-better-explained-by-the-docs anomaly...

true, true! some kind of mental OSD, it looks like ! just like that. with various degrees of awareness in my case, some times i am VERY aware, like the last time, and the "hallucinations" disappear melting over reality.

that's agreed.

 

paranormal is a funny word. i guess how you feel about SP depends on your philosophy about dreams. some see what goes on in our brains while we are sleeping, and think that the entire experience has been explained. we could look at what goes on in our brains while we are awake, and still know nothing about what our experiences actually are. everything and nothing are normal, so i won't use that word. however, if you believe your dreams are real, SP can be very spiritual. to me, all that those findings mean is that SP is a blending of two planes, which is already how i felt about the experience.

 

this morning it happened again, I was conscious and willing to move my arm , and I had just the feeling I was ACTUALLY MOVING MY ARM but I saw that I was making no movement at all.
I found this very amusing . I suppose it's a little bit like when people lose an arm or a leg, but they still dont know and believe their arm/leg is still there and itching. I had a look around to see if there was something weird to gawk at and tell:saucer:, but with no result other than getting totally awake (and moving at last) .

 

jager, when you are in REM sleep (which is where your brain is during a SP episode) a chemical is sent out to paralyse your intentional controlled muscles (meaning your conscious movement, not your heart, lungs, digestive system ect, which is on a different system of control) So, often you feel like you are moving, and you are very still. I have thought I was walking down the hall, and was still IN my bed during these episodes.

Weird stuff. I always ask if people hear their name being called during SP, because it is so common. Even my neuro, who says nearly everyone has the occasional SP episode, (usually while under stress or sleep deprivation) says he's had it happen to him 2 or 3 times, always with someone calling his name. Said it freaked him right out, and he knew exactly what it was.

It is also known as the "Hag Phenomenon" or the "Succubus" as people who had this happen to them many years ago, with the chest pressure and often sexual arousal during SP, thought a "Witch" was getting to them.

 

A very good article on Sleep Paralysis from the BBC.
Read it if you are interested in this phemomenom.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A6092471

 

I heard about it . some guy explained me the purpose, as he explained, it was preventing "our ancestors to fall from the trees" . his ones for sure

It's very detailed . I found even more than I wanted to know, particularly the sudden death syndrome-sleep paralysis thing
im such a dork

 

this happens to me all the time, but its a syptom of my narcolepsy.

it got really bad for awhile there & ive been having to see a neurologist. anywho the neurologist has given me some tips that have really helped. first of all, if you go to sleep with any sort of light in the room, thats kind of what triggers it. i had to put tin foil over my windows so i can sleep when i want without having to worry about entering a hypnogogic state.

its not dangerous at all, well maybe if you were face down like you said, that may be dangerous. but its more scary than dangerous. and if youre hallucinating & cant move, when someone speaks to you or touches you, you snap out of it pretty quick. now that i know what it is it doesnt bother me that much. it can get annoying though. last time it happend to me i had this thick blanket over me, and i remember being really hot & sweating but i couldnt move enough to get the blanket off me. it was horrible. i have also come to find out that the more you try to fight it the more intense it gets.

 

youre exactly right!! that is exactly what i was told, about the REM sleep, when your bodies asleep and your mind is only half asleep.

i definetly think that because of my neurological condition i am more sensitive to paranormal activity. this sounds crazy but i think its true. my mother & i both have it, and we have both had some crazy experiences. the funny thing is we really are no-bullshit type of people. i really do beleive it though.