Horrifying Dreams?

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! :eek:


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!! :eek: 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?

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

WOW!!! I had no Idea there was a name for that!! I have suffered from this for numerous years! Holy crap!! :eek: 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.:rolleyes:

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!

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 :)

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.

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.

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

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.

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Originally Posted by Lizzie

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.

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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.

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.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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*. :p 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.

oh my gosh thats horrible!

I've heard of sleep paralasys before but..ahhh scary!

Hope you find a way around it, or something.

*shudder* sounds horrific!

Rottieluver45, I am so sorry to hear you are experiencing such dreams. I hope you find a way of overcoming them.

Rachel and Lizzie, I was surprised to see your posts, I have experienced the same thing. It started many years ago when I would wake up from naps (I stopped napping due to panic and the feeling I had stopped breathing and was truly going to die), but in the past few years it has started happening at night. I have found that it is when I am involved in more things that it does happen (the opposite of Lizzie), and assumed that it was just a panic attack. It is interesting to hear that others have experienced the same thing, and that we are not alone in this.

I know the feeling of having night terrors. I've woken up sobbing before (hard to explain to the SO might I add). One question for you though your not using a nicotine patch right now are you? I've had many patients that have complained of intense nightmares if they keep them on over night. It's actually one of the known side-effects. Just a thought.

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Originally Posted by Sparklecoon

I know the feeling of having night terrors. I've woken up sobbing before (hard to explain to the SO might I add). One question for you though your not using a nicotine patch right now are you? I've had many patients that have complained of intense nightmares if they keep them on over night. It's actually one of the known side-effects. Just a thought.

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Nope, no nicotine here! :) I haven't had another experience-so far so good!!! :D I really think it's due to stress, and my unusual sleeping patterns....or at least I hope so. I'm trying to sleep better and stress less, we'll see how it turns out!

How odd that we're all talking about the supernatural, dreams, angels, etc.

I just posted this thread about something kind of similiar: http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=138439

In that thread, I relayed what has been happening to me lately - in the past year - and I wasn't sure if for part of it, I was awake or sleeping.

From what I know medically and psychologically (I'm a pre-Med major with a Psych minor.), while sleeping, we ARE basically paralized. Unless we have those uncontrollable jerks or are partially awake, we CANNOT move. Its our body's way of recharging while we sleep. Its is why we feel refreshed - or sometimes in pain - because of HOW we slept. Don't we often awake and wonder how on earth we SLEPT in such a strange position all night to have woken up so uncomfortable?

Another thing I noticed with your situations (and mine too, I've been living in my version of hell for the past year - and have been constantly thinking of my kitties not being with me) is that everyone is STRESSED and have a lot going on. Our dreams are the result of our consciousness and unconsciousness, especially from what we're currently dealing with or NOT dealing with during the day. A LOT of times our dreams define what has happened during our days and we get to re-live those moments, but in a veiled way, an interpretation of sorts.

Think of how those dreams made you feel - trapped, stuck, worried, scared, helpless - stressed physically. Then think about how you feel when you are stressed out and have a ton on your shoulders. You may find that a lot of the same feelings you're having while experiencing these horrifying dreams are the same as when you're dealing with stress in the daytime.

This is just a hypothesis and in no way negates what you've experienced. It sounds so terrifying and in my dreams in the thread above are the same way. I'm unable to move and only get relief when I call out to God to help me! Its so scary when you are paralyzed and cannot help yourself - as in sleep. I've OFTEN wondered A: why no one heard me screaming to come help me and B: how loud I'd been screaming, not IF I'd been screaming. The first time, I even asked my mom if she heard me in the night and she was like, "what?". Guess that means no.

Its interesting that the two events are linked though: stress and the dreams. I wonder if we can control these from happening if we try to control the stress? Its worth a shot, I'm going to focus more on that as it has numerous benefits becides these terrible dreams.

I used to have Night Terrors my entire childhood. I don't remember what happened to me, I just know that I'd wake up terrified and SCREAMING and CRYING at the top of my lungs. My parents would come in and I'd be better. I don't remember a thing now...I wonder what caused it. Its really interesting that Ginger's Mom has actually experienced the terrors...I wonder if thats how it is for everyone.

This is all so interesting!

Sparklecoon, I read in your profile that you are in school to become an RN. Very cool!! :) Congrats and good luck...we really, really need kind, caring nurses. What school are you going to?

You mentioned you work with pts that are having scary/bad dreams due to overnight nicotine patches and that being a known side-affect. I didn't know that, very interesting. Are they having night terrors too?

I've heard about and have spoken with pts (and friends/family) about certain anti-depressants causing bad/creepy/vivid dreams, especially the Effexor. Most recently, I've heard about the horrible dreams caused by the anti-smoking drug, Chantix. I've spoken to two patients that said that the only reason its hard to stay on it is the truly terrifying dreams! The drug, otherwise, works well to help them stop smoking.

Very interesting...

So sorry you have to go threw this, It sounds really terrifying.

I have experienced other things like I'll wake up really fast at night because I'm scared my heart stopped.

It's all in my head but it scares me, I think it's all from stress.

I saw somewhere that the sensation of sleep paralysis happens when your brain wakes up before your body, in reverse of the usual order of things. I've had it very mildly a few times, but I think I have an analytical enough mind that I go, "OK, body, time to boot up!" It scared the *&$! out of me before I understood what the mechanism was.

Wow, I must be an odd duck then because I've never had these sleep/
dream episodes. I've had dreams where I want to wake up & I do. If a
dream becomes scary, I always wake up. :confused:

I experience it from time to time. I switch between different sleep disorders every few weeks to months. Right now I'm in insomnia. Usually I'm just plain paralyzed for a few minutes with the sleep paralysis. I can't get up to shut off the alarm clock or answer the door. It takes a good ten minutes for my mind to get my body moving. Only once or twice have I seen figures over my bed. Both times I'd say they looked like black forms of the tall big-headed alien guys popular to sci-fi. I knew it was the sleep paralysis though. Sorry I don't know how to stop it, I haven't been bothered enough by it to ask. I figure taking drugs might yeild worse side effects than the problem itself.

I guess I should update my profile, I passed my state boards in May! LOL. Yeah alot of drugs have some little known/ distressing side effects. One thing to remember is that if, during a clinical trial, one person has a certain side effect it goes on the label as being a possibility. With that said, per hospital policy we always remove nicotine patches prior to bed to prevent that specific one.