[ouroboros]

Over the last few months, I have been subject to the transient experience of being awake yet asleep simultaneously... unable to move, and gripped in the fear of unseen shadows. Though recently I have somehow been able to deter its recurrence, after a week of solid sleep I still wonder if it might come back again during a stressful period.
Has anyone else had a similar experience?

[Sabrina]

Yes, along with night terrors, I have experienced sleep paralysis. It is very frightening and I wish I knew what to do to prevent it. Fortunately I haven't had an episode in a while.

[VickiesPath]

Ouroboros,

I must say, your posting tweaked my curiosity. I have never heard of sleep paralysis. So I did some research, nothing extensive, and although I am sure that you may have done your own research and already know everything I am about to report, I am sure that it will be of little comfort because it seems to me that it would indeed be a very frightening experience.

What I read indicates that sleep paralysis occurs normally at some time in around 30% of the adult population. During REM sleep, the body is normally paralyzed, something I was not aware of, but is true so that during the dreaming activity, one will not move in violent ways which would be self-injurious. So far, all of this is normal.

The abnormal part is, sometimes the mind regains consciousness before the actual event is complete. In other words, the dream sequence is proceeding in the normal REM cycle, the body is still in it's usual paralyzed state, but unexplainably, the mind partially wakes up. Vision is restored and focuses on the external surroundings, although parts of the dream state remains in the mind. Thus the person experiences hallucinations. The visual stimulation can cause immense fear. Individual experiences vary from shadowy figures to people or animals to alien abductions! But it only lasts minutes at most and the person "goes back to sleep" and awakes normally but usually confused and frightened by the experience.

It would make sense to me that the drugs we take for our various psychiaric illnesses would make this type of experience more likely. It is often also induced by prolonged periods of lack of sleep.

I don't recall ever experiencing this. But if I do, I'm glad I know what it is now. Thanks for the post.

[Shoe]

I have had SP before. It is more likely to happen if you sleep on your back. There are 2 books written about SP, The Terror That Comes in the Night, and Wrestling With Ghosts. Wrestling With Ghosts gives a good explanation on what SP is and how to transform the experience into a lucid dream or OBE. The key thing is learning how to over come your fear of SP. I have had some neat trips myself. Happy Trails ~ Shoe

[thunderbear]

I have had that and night terrors. I have'nt had the night terrors in years but I still occasionally have the sleep paralysis. It's very scary to experiance. I wish I knew how to make it stop

[ouroboros]

Originally Posted by Shoe

I have had SP before. It is more likely to happen if you sleep on your back. There are 2 books written about SP, The Terror That Comes in the Night, and Wrestling With Ghosts. Wrestling With Ghosts gives a good explanation on what SP is and how to transform the experience into a lucid dream or OBE. The key thing is learning how to over come your fear of SP. I have had some neat trips myself. Happy Trails ~ Shoe

Many of my SP experienced occured AFTER a lucid dream, believe it or not. I am a spiritually eclectic person, and without going into too much detail... lets just say I've had my share of psychic phenominon.

[billieJ]

Originally Posted by ouroboros

Over the last few months, I have been subject to the transient experience of being awake yet asleep simultaneously... unable to move, and gripped in the fear of unseen shadows. Though recently I have somehow been able to deter its recurrence, after a week of solid sleep I still wonder if it might come back again during a stressful period.
Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Oh, yes. By all means, yes. I have also heard it described as sleep terrors. If I am correctly inferring what you mean, you can see your actual bed, room, etc. around you, so that you feel awake; but there are also these dream entities, seen or simply perceived, such as your unseen shadows. You can awaken from such a dream state by forcing yourself to move or speak aloud - just a little bit, if that's all you can do. Then, don't let yourself drift back to sleep until you have gotten up and walked about a bit. Then it should not return that night. My most serious sequence of such dreams occurred during the last few months of a long-term regimen of the tricyclic antidepressant tofranil, maximum dosage. And then the dreams increased tremendously, when I was abruptly taken off the medication. They recurred at intervals for perhaps several weeks but then disappeared. It's as though, in such an experience, we get caught in the place where wakefulness becomes sleep and vice versa. I'm glad someone posted something I know a little about, from personal experience. Thanks! It's nice to know one is not alone in one's craziness! Cheers! billieJ