[net506]

hi, i had a frightning experince last night. i can swear i was awake, i could feel my bed, the cover, the pillow, and i am pretty sure my eyes were closed but i could tell where was everything surrounding me. Except that, i was terrified, like someone or something was in the room too, lurking. and then suddenly i felt a quick relief i was back in a dream (can not really recall it) for what felt like a second and then back to my room. this time i was more terrified as i felt something just above me. my eyes were still shut, and i couldn't breath or move or open my eyes (i didn't really want to see what s there). i was struggling -if i can say it like this, because i wasnt moving but i was truly felling my body move somehow when i knew i couldnt move xd.

anyhow, this lasted for what felt like 5 or so minutes (i am not really sure about duration) and then sudenly i was up, breathing heavily, finally able to move, still terrified looking everywhere fro what was in there, it was very unpleasant experience.

I recall that i had one or two experiences like these when i was younger : they were very close in time, the first was in my family home, i awoke at night, eyes closed, heavy chest, paralysed, but with a hand to my throat trying to choke me. everyone was sleeping in the living room at the time (very hot summer night, only place to get some cool breeze), i tried to scream or make a sound, movement but with no success. finally when it was over, i check my surroundings still terrified, but nothing unusual but a bunch of heavy sleepers around XD (i could have died no one would have noticed).

the second time was in the dorms like 1 or 2 months later. i wake up in the middle of the night, terrified, this time my eyes open, still paralysed, and there is a hand pressuring on my intimate parts, and then the pressure was getting stronger, i tried to see who was there but i couldn't see that far. i saw my roomate sleeping on the other side of the room and tried to scream but with no success. i kept looking at the ceilling praying for someone to wake me up from this bad dream but nothing happened. when it was over, the first thing that escaped my throat was a scream xd my roomate woke up terrified and was shaking from fear. that time i could swear i saw the shadow of footsteps behind the door. i was convinced something was in the room, so i left my roomate with his questionning look and went outside following the sound of footsteps down the hallway, into the bathrooms, and there i got this sick feeling in my stomach that something is very wrong and felt like that pressure on my chest is getting closer so i ran away back to the room. i preferred not say anything to my roomate, but left the light on for the rest of the night.

even if i didn't get any of those up untill now, i kept a light on while sleeping from that night on. When i tried to talk about what happened to my family, both times, they related it to evil spirits, or witch craft xd anyway i didn't pay attention to that and preferred not to talk about it anymore. untill tonight. when i woke up i started searching on the internet and found this "sleep paralysis" thing.

so i am wondering if any of you had a similar experience or knows of a way to prevent it or make it less traumatizing, because what i read is that there is no known treatment (i didn't have the chance to search more).
thank you all

[lynn P.]

Yes its sounds like either Sleep Paralysis or Lucid Dreaming. The best thing to do is, reassure yourself this will end and it won't hurt you. I just started having Lucid dreams the last 2 years and haven't reached the point where I can move my body...so I feel I can't move. A person can also hear and think they see things during both states. Try not to worry and once you realize what's happening it won't seem so frightening.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis