Anyone get sleep paralysis?

[white hyacinth]

I get sleep paralysis pretty often. It comes and goes, sometimes I'll have it more frequently. The first time I can remember having sleep paralysis was when I was 5 years old, I saw a tarantula on the wall in my room. That was around the time I believe my first trauma happened. I'm 18 now and still get sleep paralysis, more frequently now than ever. For me, sleep paralysis has come with hallucinations, strange noises, weight on my chest, feelings of terror/panic, feeling like I'm being stabbed by needles, etc.

I get vivid dreams and nightmares too. I've had on and off nightmares about rape, being chased/attacked, being killed (usually by my mom), suicide, etc for years. I also have panic attacks at night, or feelings of panic at night that can be totally unrelated to a dream/sleep paralysis, and I've been waking up crying a lot lately.

I was just reading about how people exposed to trauma, especially people who develop PTSD, are more likely to experience sleep paralysis, and there may be correlation between PTSD severity and sleep paralysis frequency. I thought it was interesting because I thought PTSD sleep disturbances were usually limited to nightmares. Silly me.

So I ask you:
1) Do you experience sleep paralysis or hynagogic/hypnopompic hallucinations (seeing, hearing, or feeling things that are not there upon falling asleep or waking up)? Do the hallucinations have anything to do with any trauma you experienced, content-wise?
2) What other sleep disturbances do you deal with?

 

[New]

I definitely have trouble at night. I have never been told it’s sleep paralysis. At least not that I remember. I saw a green monster when I was very little all the time walking towards my bed and no one believed me. My sister brings it up sometimes and laughs. I just pretend it was nothing.
I hadn’t seen the monster in years and blocked it out for a long time. I still tell myself it’s silly.
Now I have nightmares and vivid flashbacks which turn in to panic attacks.
You are not alone.
Hopefully I answered your questions ;)

 

[barefoot]

Yes, I have fairly regular episodes of sleep paralysis and hallucinations. I often see animals, insects, sometimes people. I also often see things falling on to me or things/creatures coming down from the ceiling above me. Some - such as seeing little animals wandering around - aren’t scary, they are just bewildering. Mostly though, the hallucinations are frightening.

When I lived alone I would often have a sense of someone being in my bed but I could never move to turn to look to check - there was just such a strong sense that a stranger was laying next to me. It was terrifying. It still occasionally happens now if I sleep on my own.

I also have night terrors. I’m not paralysed during those - I actually shout and thrash around a lot and sometimes leap out of bed and run at speed. I move much quicker during a night terror than I ever can when I’m awake!

Night terrors - I rarely remember the content. I often don’t even remember having one at all.

The other hallucinations, which are often accompanied by paralysis - the content is not directly linked to specific traumas but I guess there are loose themes that sort of fit within the context of my experiences, if that makes sense?

Have you seen a sleep specialist at all?

 

[Fadeaway]

Sleep paralysis sucks. I used to have it bad when I was younger. Thankfully, it is something that goes away on it's own for most people when they get older. Sleeping on your back can make worse. Sleep on your stomach if you can. There is a connection with sleep position.

I have nightmares, insomnia and sleep terrors.

 

[white hyacinth]

the content is not directly linked to specific traumas but I guess there are loose themes that sort of fit within the context of my experiences, if that makes sense?

Yeah that makes sense. Sometimes the sleep paralysis hallucinations I get are loosely related to trauma in some way.

Have you seen a sleep specialist at all?

I saw a sleep specialist a few weeks ago about the twitching and spasming in my legs that goes on at night, and have an appointment at a sleep study lab soon.

 

[New]

@lullaby19 When I saw the monster I couldn’t move and would just keep closing my eyes
And opening later praying he was gone.
I so badly just wanted to pull the covers over my head or hide but I couldn’t. I was frozen.

Now I wake up after a nightmare and will not be in bed but somewhere else rocking and sucking my thumb. I am in my 30’s so this really freaked me out the first time it happened a few years ago. Sometimes I remember the nightmare but mostly just wake up scared and in a panic.

I’m crying as I type this because I am very ashamed of it and don’t discuss it. I know I shouldn’t feel that way but I do.

 

[Fadeaway]

@Faith Andrews I am sorry you feel ashamed. It isn't a matter of how you should or shouldn't feel. I used to feel that way too. I was afraid to tell even Dr.s because I thought adults don't get get nightmares like that. You aren't alone. There are so many people experiencing the same thing with nightmares.

 

[New]

@Fadeaway thanks so much for your response. It really means a lot.

 

[Gamereign555]

I have had sleep paralysis before under huge amounts of anxiety. I had difficulty falling asleep. When I did it started a waking nightmare where I was pulled out of my body and floated above it, looking down. I scanned the room, seeing articles of clothing of mine and my bed and other furniture.

I scrambled to find my way out of the room because the door wasn’t Open as it should have been. Realizing I was aware and still asleep, I was pulled back down into my body where I was pinned to my bed, facing the the ceiling.

Just then what I describe as “the shade” came through the wall and drifted past me. The rolling death-shaped figure was behind me! I sensed it and realized I was paralyzed.

It whispered in my left ear “You can wake up now”. And so I woke up. Paralyzed and staring at the ceiling for the next 15 minuets before realizing now I could move. Only 45 minuets had elapsed total.

 

[whiteraven]

I have a lot of sleep issues. Apnea (I use a CPAP), sleep paralysis, hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations, and kalaidoscopic hallucinations (which are migraine-related). I hear voices calling my name most often, but I also hear music (same thing each time and I also hear it when awake, so it's been suggested it might be Musical Ear Syndrome). Sometimes, I feel someone or something pushing down on my back when i'm lying in bed (so incredibly scary) and often feel the mattress being depressed, as though someone were sitting on it.

 

[Gamereign555]

I think these weird dream states happen to us when our brains processing of falling asleep is compromised somehow. It is as if we happened to fall asleep before our brains natural process is ready for it. It’s terrifying, imaginative and also very real. I actually knew I was dreaming but couldn’t figure out how to wake up.

Perhaps anxiety of panic proportions and fatigue play a role at the time it occurs. This alone is unpleasant in itself to say the least.

 

[RRT13]

I've experienced sleep paralysis twice that i can actually remember. I've had frequent nightmares since I was a child. I remember sitting outside my parents room alot crying to come sleep with them due to nightmares. I internalize stress alot and my nightmares seem to come from that. From losing a sister when I was a teen, alcoholic father, plus being a police officer and in law enforcement for 12 years I deal with a lot of nightmares.
Sleep paralysis makes me feel like I'm being smothered by a mattress and I'm awake but I'm suffocating. Im feel like I'm watching myself suffocate but I can't move and I'm screaming but no one can hear me. Its the worse feeling ever. I wake up laying on my back with my hands crossed over my chest too.
Had some nightmares last night due to stressing over my combat vet ex and Our talk yesterday. This is actually my first post so glad I can open up and talk and know im not alone on these situations.