Sleep Paralysis?

[RUgreek]

Anyone else suffer from Old Hag? I learned about this a long time ago but didn't know my disorder had a name until 2 years ago when I stumbled across some websites. Finally I realized that I wasn't going crazy and this problem was real. But anyway, does anyone else experience this and have they found ways to reduce its effects?

Here are some info. for the curious non-believers

[Dionysus]

Yeah, I have them once and a while. I wake up and cannot move. I've heard that some people hullicinate during sleep paralysis too. Freaky Freaky.

[_Opi_]

That is scary. Years ago, my sister complained about this same problem. She said that it felt like someone was sitting on her chest..and I swear, in her own words she said that it felt like something was sitting on her chest. I thought it was a one-time occurance thing. I guess not!


So how do/did you guys deal with this problem?

[RUgreek]

After a while, I recognized that "it" was happening and just accepted that I couldn't move until it was over. The worst part is trying to force yourself to move and you can't. I just lay there hoping something will wake my muscles. If I wake up and don't force myself to move around, I could fall back to sleep and get stuck in the paralysis, so I keep myself from sleeping after an episode.

The hallucinations don't always happen to me, but I swear I see people and hear voices when there is nobody there. I try to force myself to fall out of bed (rock back and forth) and usually the fall can wake me up. I mean, I'm cool with escaping the paralysis after all this time, but I wanted to know if there was a way to stop them or reduce them from occurring. Yea, it happened recently so this is why I'm asking all of a sudden

[Coramoor]

I can't say it's a common occurence, but I have had this before.

I distinctly remember the last time it happened b/c it was probably one of the most frightening momements of my life. I was unable to move or make a sound, and I felt the 'malevolent' presence. If I could just turn my head a little bit I would have been able to 'see' it standing outlined in my doorway. In my perefrial vision it seemed something was there, but I couldn't move my head at all and couldn't make a sound.

Horrible experience.

[FHwku]

Go Ask Alice (Columbia University's online Health Q & A) question and answer on Sleep Paralysis:
Click Hizzy

this is the first i've ever heard of it, and it's kind of interesting.

i read that first info link that RUgreek posted. there were pictures of witches and a karate alien on it, so i didn't take it too seriously.

and a link from there to U of Waterloo (heh, UofLoo) and read some of the abstracts, most by j.a. cheyne. those seem fairly boring, yet informative.

and Dr. Jorge Conesa theorizes that populations that have lived in geologically active areas of the Pacific Ocean, the so-called "Ring of Fire", would report incidences of SP more frequently. i guess, suggesting a correlation between SP and geomagnetic effects, among other things. ring of fire!

[SSS1365]

This has never happened to me, but I imagine I would be terrified if it did. I could definitely see myself hallucinating and imagining that there was something there. Although I believe there is a perfectly scientific explanation for this, I can understand why it is scary for those who experience it.

I think the first link that FHwku posted is very helpful in explaining it without emphasizing the supernatural explanations too much.

[norcalchick]

This happened to me a couple of times. I can't remember all of them, only one.

When I lived on campus, I was sleeping on the couch in our apartment cause my roomate needed the room. I remember kind of waking up but not being able to move or open my eyes or talk. I was laying on my side though. I was starting to freak out cause I could hear to of my apartment mates in the kitchen, but I couldn't wake up. I was wishing htat they would shake me or something, but they didn't. So I just tried to make myself go back to sleep.

Wait, I do remember a few times when I'd be lying on my back sleeping ina bed, and I wasn't able to open my eyes or move.

I don't remember anything about feeling any "presence" or like something sitting on my chest.

[dzandiloo]

I have experienced this since I was a kid...not so much since I hit my 30's, but it's still just as freaky as it was when I was little and thought something had literally seized my soul. I find it happens more often when I nap, rather than regular night-sleep.

I stumbled over the name Sleep Paralysis a few years ago, and since then, it has been so much easier to deal with-knowing that I am not alone in having the experience.

Even though it sucks to be "aware," yet unable to move or speak, I can think to myself "this will be over in a minute...you are sleeping, and there is nothing there..." it definitely helps to stay calm...sort of manipulating it like a lucid dream really makes it less freaky. I think that may be why I don't have as many episodes as I used to.

Another good explanation is here:
http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/paralysis.html

[RUgreek]

Originally posted by BobbyTheDon
the best way is to not sleep on your back. sleep on your stomach.

You know, I don't ever remember this happening to me when I sleep on my side or stomach. Whenever I'm in bed with a woman, I figured it was because I wasn't alone or something like that kept it from happening. I usually sleep on my back because I wake up with a neck cramp if I sleep on my stomach. Oh well, I've lived with it for this long, perhaps it will go away on its own.

As for the chest pressure, it's not that I see a demon or anything, but it just feels like a heavy weight "pushing" on me making it difficult to breathe fully. It doesn't happen every time, but when it does I recognize that I'm not dying and just try to get mad and fight the problem until I can wake up. I know the site says they last for a few minutes, but trust me, it feels like forever when it happens to you.

Originally posted by BobbyTheDon
NO FUCK THIS SHIT MAN. I just read that website, and I started fucking bawling right now man. I swear I cannot handle this stuff. this is all too real for me. there are not alot of things in the world that make me cry, but this is one of them. and right now it seems as if my eyeballs are like a fucking water faucet.

If this stuff does not happen to you guys, be thankful it doesnt. This happens to me so much, and I always end up crying. This stuff is so fucking scary you don't understand.

I am a believer that it is a demon that tries to take your soul. Why i am not sure. And why are demons trying to take my soul...? well i can only offer you my reasoning but you may think i am crazy.

Fuck sleep paralysis. It's no fucking sleep paralysis for me! It's the CHOKING GHOST...or what the Japanese call kanashibari.

I found this online just now, and it sounds eerily similar to my experiences. It wasn't just a man's voice and breathing, though. I'd hear the occasional cackle of an old woman:

Hawaii is a land with a rich history, and with a history comes spirits that still roam. Many of them are violent and cause harm to humans who stand in their way.

I grew up in Honolulu in an apartment complex across the street from an old Hawaiian church. In my apartment, I (along with my mom) would experience eerie sensations while we slept. It didn't matter what time of day we slept, whatever it was, that "thing" prevented us from screaming, opening our eyes, mouths, etc. I'd know that I was awake, and as I tried to rise, a spirit literally "choked" me.

Neither or my mother nor I could explain why those things happened. I noticed that I was more prone to the chokings when I would lie on my back. I could totally feel the spirit's presence...it would get on top me. While I never did think that my life was in danger, on one occasion I did hear a man's voice and feel breathing against my ear.

I took this experience to the church across the street. The church had been there since missionary colonization(although it survived many fires and facelifts) and I had a feeling that some of the kupuna (elders) would know more about the land that my apartment was built on. It turns out that that area was the site of a heavy bubonic plague epidemic in the mid-1800s. To control the plague authorities intentionally set fire to the homes and also to the church without notifying the occupants. Thousands of Hawaiians perished in the fire, but the plague was controlled. Needless to say, this area covers 3 blocks of land, and each of the apartments that sit on that land experience hauntings.

The Japanese call it "The Kanashibari"...I call it the choking ghost. We don't live there anymore...but I have a feeling that there are more of those out there.

Thankfully my house does not have any spirits (to my knowledge), but I still keep Hawaiian salt on my nightstand for protection just in case!

[Peaches-n-Cream]

That sounds scary. My legs jerk sometimes, and it's annoying, but it's not scary.

[AKA_Monet]

I was going to go into cicardian rhythm and sleep disorders... But it was not "molecular" enough for me... This was before there was the discovery of the "molecular clocks"...

Now as far as the spiritual stuff that's going on, hey, I am not one to argue with the Spirits...

And there are several questions I pose to those of you that do suffer this disabling and frightful disease--you do not have to answer all the questions:

1) When do you all eat your last meal of the day?

2) Is imbibing alcohol involved?

3) Are there any pre-existing heart conditions that run in your family?

4) When you are sleep, are you told you snore, snort, etc.

5) How "colorful" are your dreams and can you control them?

6) Do you require the use of a Chemical or physical "sleep aid" in order to sleep or when you cannot sleep?

7) Do you physically exercise at least a minimum 30 minutes for 3 days a week? Is it cardiovascular exercise or weight training or both?

8) Do you consume a lot of fried foods or a lot of sodium containing foods?

9) Do you go to bed angry, restless or stressful (stressed out) and are able to sleep?

And last but not least:

10) Other than implementing Spirit guides and protectors (Feng Shui, First Nation Shaman practices, Afrikan holistic health, etc.) what other things can you do to reduce sleep paralysis? Because I professionally do not buy the brain disconnect theory...

[RUgreek]

Originally posted by AKA_Monet
1) When do you all eat your last meal of the day?
2) Is imbibing alcohol involved?
3) Are there any pre-existing heart conditions that run in your family?
4) When you are sleep, are you told you snore, snort, etc.
5) How "colorful" are your dreams and can you control them?
6) Do you require the use of a Chemical or physical "sleep aid" in order to sleep or when you cannot sleep?
7) Do you physically exercise at least a minimum 30 minutes for 3 days a week? Is it cardiovascular exercise or weight training or both?
8) Do you consume a lot of fried foods or a lot of sodium containing foods?
9) Do you go to bed angry, restless or stressful (stressed out) and are able to sleep?
10) Other than implementing Spirit guides and protectors, what other things can you do to reduce sleep paralysis? Because I professionally do not buy the brain disconnect theory...

1) My eating habits are determined by when I have time to eat. Also I do not have a normal appetite, so missing a meal is not uncommon because I forget, but my last one can be late at night, even right before I go to sleep.

2)(Had to look up imbibing, thanks No, alcohol is not a factor for me because this happens on days when I haven't had a drink the night before.

3)No heart conditions that I'm aware of, parents and grandparents don't have any record of such.

4)Thankfully I do not snore and hopefully never will for the sake of my bed companions

5)"Colorful" they are, vivid and very real to me. After I wake up I can have memory relapses of them. However, when SP kicks in, I can't tell if it's dream or not until I wake up.

6)I do not take any medication at all. Never tried a tranquilizer or sleeping aid, but I have used caffeine pills (hate coffee) on occasion.

7)While I'm an active person by nature, I do not exercise that often. Haven't really been to the gym in a few years.

8)I stay away from fast food and avoid a lot of fried foods if possible. As for sodium, I'm guilty of a sushi fetish so the high content of sodium in soy sauce does exist in my diet.

9)Yes, to all of the that list. I'm always stressing about something, but falling alseep is never a problem.

10)Don't know, looking for helpful info. in this area...


RUgreek

[lifesaver]

I dont suffer from SP, but on occasion (probably 4 times a year) I will get what I describe as 'Night Terrors'. I'll be almost asleep and will get this feeling that if I fall asleep, I wont ever wake up. Like I am not sure if I am going to sleep or dying. I'll keep trying to wake myself up to stop the fear, but eventually I just fall asleep after 3 or 4 cycles of drifting to sleep almost then waking up all scared. It can be very scary. I can only describe the feeling as sheer terror. But I can move. Often I'll jerk myself fully awake. Then that scares me too. lol

I dont associate it with spirits or ghosts. I just think that our brains are incredibly complex and we have only begun to understand a small % of how it works.