Sleep paralysis, hypnagogic hallucinations, and nightmares

I get enough sleep - too much really - but I really have a few problems when I try to sleep and when I am asleep. I've done some research on this and found that this is common and want to see what others here have to say because, other than my mom, I've never told anybody.

I've experienced sleep paralysis at least twice that I can remember in my life. Sleep paralysis is when either waking up or falling asleep you cannot move or speak for a short time. When this happened to me, I was waking up. I remember trying to scream for my sister in the next room the first time. The second time, I tried screaming because, like I said, I felt this overwhelming fear. I wasn't hallucinating which is common with it but, until I learned about it, I thought it was a dream.

I also experience hypnagogic hallucinations at least twice a week. These are visual or auditory hallucinations when one is trying to go to sleep. Mine are always auditory, except for the time when I saw a shadow outside my room that looked like the profile of my doctor's supervisor. It started before I was diagnosed with schizophrenia - now I'm diagnosed as schizoaffective bipolar type. I just thought it was schizophrenia related so I didn't bother looking into it until I looked into Wikipedia.

I also have nightmares at least twice a week. They always involve another person trying to hurt me. This started only after I began taking Depakote. I asked the doc about this, and she said that it has nothing to do with the medication. I don't know what to think.

Maybe I'm drinking too much caffeine, or maybe it was the smoking. I just hope it goes away.



Has anybody else experienced these things? And to those who read this: Thank You!

My friend used to call them 'paralization dreams'. I used to get them on occasion. I read too that it's common. It's just the period right between full sleep and full wakefullness, and as you said, you can experience auditory and/or visual hallucinations.

I experienced that, too. While they can seem frightening and unsettling at the time (being paralyzed and unable to move, and trying to jerk myself awake is what frightened me), it is normal.

I just found your post on a search.

Yes, I used to get these, and I’m almost afraid to talk about it, because sometimes talking about it makes them start again.

I recently found out that I have complex PTSD, and I was curious if this might be a symptom.

The first time it happened was when I was in high school. I had the feeling of dread and ghosts in the room. Although I couldn’t actually see anything, in my mind there were shadows of hands crawling on the walls. Next incident,the shadow hands came down the hall, into my room, onto my bed, and onto my back. It was so real. I could feel the hands. I couldn’t move or scream. I could only breathe and open my eyes.

If I closed my eyes, I felt I was floating in the air above my bed. If I opened my eyes, I would be astonished that I wasn’t. I opened and closed my eyes several times. I screamed silent screams. No matter how hard I tried, no sound came out.

I was unbelievably terrified. I was a smart kid, though, and thought this must be a symptom of mental illness, because it can’t be real. But it was absolutely real. As real as anything that happened during the day. I wondered if I was schizophrenic. It set off massive anxiety.

I told my boyfriend about it. He shrugged it off.

I figured it out years later when they restarted by googling the symptoms. Fortunately, as I’ve gotten older I don’t hallucinate.

I believe the stories of alien abduction is just sleep paralysis.

Oh, I’ve had problems with night terrors too. I also have a side effect of my quetiapine that makes my dreams more vivid. Mostly I’m just having bad dreams about work and school and wake up anxious.

I’m curious-do you have PTSD or complex PTSD?

Complex PTSD pertains to chronic stressors, like childhood abuse or neglect.

i've had sleep paralysis a number of times and find it very scary. it has happened mostly when i've been sleeping on my back, and previously when i've slept after taking benzos. the way i've dealt with it has been to try and remind myself in the moment that i'll only get out of it by relaxing my muscles, rather than trying to move.

i also go into a really weird state just before i fall asleep often, and sometimes just when i'm very tired. i'll start hearing voices in my head very loudly and almost like hearing them for real, and when i'm going to sleep i end up talking to myself/these voices.

when i was a kid i had night terrors, and over the past few years i've had many dreams where i'll try to fight and scream in the dream, and wake up physically fighting and screaming. fortunately those have decreased to only once every few months now, when previously they were up to twice a week.

i don't really know what my diagnosis is, just anxiety and depression. i've had substance-induced hallucinations before and that's kind of what it feels like when i'm falling asleep or am very tired, and i also get kind of paranoid at times. but i am on quite a lot of medication including a low dose of antipsychotic, which seemed to clear up the loud inner voices for a period when i first went on it.

i'm sorry you're having such bad dreams. pretty sure drs will sometimes just say things - maybe depakote isn't officially labelled as causing bad dreams, but psych meds affect your brain, so i think it's always possible. i mean, if it's affecting your mood and how you experience the world, that will probably affect your dreams too, or how vivid they are. or maybe if you are processing something emotional it comes out in your dreams.

I experience sleep paralysis and the related hallucinations regularly. Actually, my research has shown that only a small percentage of the population experiences sleep paralysis on a regular basis, about 5%. But like another poster has said, I believe it's common with PTSD or anxiety, so I think it makes sense that numerous people on here would have experienced it.