Horrifying Dreams?

[Rottieluver45]

Hey I think I'm suffering from a sleep disorder called Sleep Paralysis. Anyone else experience this, and can give me some advice on how to fix it? I'm really not enjoying it...

So about 2 weeks ago I was taking a nap with one of the girls I'm a nanny for and I felt like I couldn't really drift off to sleep, so I started thinking. As I was thinking I need time to relax because my life is so busy right now, I started to hear this really loud static- like noise. The best way to describe this noise is when you yawn, you can't really hear much because of some sort of noise in your ear (well at least for me... ) and that's what i was hearing. I opened my eyes and saw just a dark figure, shaped like a teenage girl coming toward me. Yeah, I was scared out of my mind! I tried to get up-I couldn't move! No movement was happening whatsoever. So I tried to scream, and not a sound was made. I looked back at the figure again and she was closer so I tried standing again, but instead the upper half of my body was floating upwards, and I thought 'Woah! This isn't right!!' so I layed back down and as my head hit the pillow I found myself staring into Hammy's eyes, but they were COMPLETELY blank, like he was dead. And I looked back up at the figure and she was very close this time, but still just filled in black. Then I felt Hammy touch my foot and I knew I could move again. It was the most terrifying experience I've had. Needless to say I grabbed the baby and Hammy and ran out of the room!


Then yesterday, also laying down to take a nap, this time in my mom's REALLY comfy bed I was half asleep-or so I thought- and I heard the noise again except a BILLION times louder! I opened my eyes and looked behind me and sure enough, there was the girl I had dreamt of before except she was attacking me making it a little hard to breathe. I tried to move and yet again, I couldn't!! I tried to wake up, because this time I knew what was happening, and I couldn't do it!! I tried to scream but when I did, I heard the girl's scream. I floated up again a little, then layed back down, only to find the girl attacking my face, I can still see her face quite clearly, I'm actually kinda scared right now...but anyways it felt as though she were no further than an inch from my face. The only reason I was able to wake up is because my sister came home and slammed the door, and called my name. I seriously opened my eyes thinking she had heard my screaming and she was there to help me.

Has anyone experienced dreams like these?

[Pam]

My son used to have episodes of sleep paralysis. I actually didn't believe him at first until I realized it is a real condition. It must be awful. I don't know if you can grow out of it, but he hasn't mentioned a problem with this for years now.

[Pawsitive Thinking]

Have a look here - it might be helpful

http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P.html

sounds terrifying - hope you get it sorted out soon

[Rachel]

I experience something I refer to as *night terriors*, which isn't an apt description because they mostly occur if I would be taking a nap in the afternoon or when I first fall asleep in the evening.

There are absolutely no dreams involved but I wake up suddenly as if my heart had stopped. I don't know who I am or where or what point in time it is (like I could be 20 or 40 or older than I am) for maybe 10 seconds and there is such a rush of adrenalin that is actually painful. Terror is the only way to describe it. It is obviously a sleep disorder but I have never heard of anyone else describing what I experience.

[anna_66]

My mom and I both suffer from the same thing. It is truly scary and feels SO real.
I've woken up many times laying on my back and can't move my head to see what's happening. Not a good feeling.

I find I have them more often when I worried, upset or having some sort of problem.
I really don't really have any idea on how to "fix" it but I hope you quit having them.

[Alysser]

I don't suffer from Sleep Paralysis but I know a great deal about it. Reason being, I read a magazine avidly called "Weird New Jersey". It is about creepy places, ghosts, etc. in the state of New Jersey, which I live in. Anyway, people send in stories of seeing ghosts while they are sleeping late at night in their bedrooms. They get the sensation of not being able to move and all that, basically what you described. The writers always mention sleep Paralysis to them. You definitely sound like you have the this disorder. You've got all the symptoms. There isn't a cure really for it, as far as I've researched unless it is VERY severe. I hope you can deal with this soon, I NEVER want to experience that, it sounds horrible.

[critter crazy]

WOW!!! I had no Idea there was a name for that!! I have suffered from this for numerous years! Holy crap!! Everytime I tried to explain to hubby after having this happen, he would just look at me like I was nuts, cause he had No idea what I was talking about.

I know one thing, for me, stress has alot to do with it. If I am dealing with tons of stress, it happens alot more often. I hate it!! It is the worst feeling in the freaking world!

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

It has happened to me several times. I wake up, want to move or speak, but nothing happens. It is like being awake in my dream --> I thing I am awake, but it is only in my dream; I hate this!!
When I was 21, I had a car accident. There was ice on the road, which made my car sli and then drive into a big tree; The car was total loss, but I didn't have a scratch.


Then I started I to have accidents in my dreams too: my brakes didn't work, or I was driving right towards a big tree. Horrible!

But that is over now

[Rottieluver45]

Wow! It's alot more common than I thought it was!

I have been stressing lately, trying to find a job and making a decision of whether to move out, and I've been working my tail off..

Thanks guys!! I'll try and calm it down a bit..I just hope I don't have another experience.

[Lizzie]

A few years after I married, my husband had one of those. I woke up to really weird sounds, very small and almost squeaky, like a tiny animal in distress. I thought my husband was having a bad dream but he looked strange, very still, so I shook his shoulder. He lurched up with a great gasp asking loudly why I hadn't helped him sooner, he'd been shouting and shouting for me. I told him what I'd heard and he grabbed me and thanked me over and over. He's not an emotional person so I knew he'd gone through a truly terrifying experience. It only happened once and I believe it was stress related. He was in his second year of medical school, trying to finish his D.Phil. dissertation at the same time and his father had recently died of lung cancer.

I have something like what Rachel experiences and I loathe it. It will go away for years and then come back for many months, sometimes years, and there is nothing I can do about it except try not to stress about it. I've found that the more I'm involved in many projects, the less likely I am to have them. Mine always start with a "dream" that I'm not breathing and I'm about to die, I have only seconds to wake up and start breathing again or I will be gone, I can actually feel myself leaving this world. I've tried to examine what is really going on and I think I actually overbreathe so when I wake up - or rather hurl myself up from the bed in a total panic, I exhale deeply and that seems to help. I'm still full of adrenaline, can barely stand, heart hammering fit to jump out of my chest, trembling all over. When they were very bad, years ago, I would find myself in the middle of the room because I'd leapt out of bed in such a panic.

Sleep is something we should be able to enjoy and embrace, the time of our day when we can refresh ourselves, so it's a torment when you actually dread falling asleep.

[cassiesmom]

I've had very detailed, vivid dreams every night since shortly after I began taking antidepressants (specifically Prozac and more recently Effexor-XR).

[Grace]

Are you on any new medications, specifically anti-depressants? I was on Elavil, a Tricyclic antidepressant, many years ago. It caused me to have night terrors. They got so bad, I threw the pills in the toilet. The dreams then went away.

[Rachel]

I have something like what Rachel experiences and I loathe it. It will go away for years and then come back for many months, sometimes years, and there is nothing I can do about it except try not to stress about it. I've found that the more I'm involved in many projects, the less likely I am to have them. Mine always start with a "dream" that I'm not breathing and I'm about to die, I have only seconds to wake up and start breathing again or I will be gone, I can actually feel myself leaving this world. I've tried to examine what is really going on and I think I actually overbreathe so when I wake up - or rather hurl myself up from the bed in a total panic, I exhale deeply and that seems to help. I'm still full of adrenaline, can barely stand, heart hammering fit to jump out of my chest, trembling all over. When they were very bad, years ago, I would find myself in the middle of the room because I'd leapt out of bed in such a panic.

Yup, that describes what I experience quite well....the feeling of actually dying part...the subsequent heart hammering. I usually scream out *help me* and I too leap out of bed.

[Lizzie]

I've never met anyone who has had the same experience, that's reassuring. I always find myself saying "Please. Please" as though I am pleading not to die. I mentioned it to a doctor years ago and she was totally flumoxed.

[Rachel]

I've never met anyone who has had the same experience, that's reassuring. I always find myself saying "Please. Please" as though I am pleading not to die. I mentioned it to a doctor years ago and she was totally flumoxed.

Yes, I know. It was a comfort to know at least one other person who could understand. Maybe we should name our condition *nights of the living dead*. As bad as it is, I'm not sure I'm will to trade for the sleep paralysis thing though. That sounds just awful too.