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I experienced them first when I was 6 or 7 and I still remember it.

I remember each episode since, and they're getting more frequent.

It goes like this:

I go to bed normally, but at some point during the night - I either wake up and I can't move, or I dream that I wake up and I can't move.

Last night was particularly bad - I woke up and I was completely paralyzed, then I either fell back asleep or fainted, but I woke up again as like I was experiencing a Groundhog Day moment, and the whole thing repeated with just small differences (i.e I was closer to the edge of the bed - I was trying to reach for the light.

I then 'fake' woke up again. Basically, either I experienced three episodes of the same panic attack and just fainted in between, either I dreamed about waking up three times, with only the 4th one actually being base reality.

They always come with extreme fear. Sheer terror for some unexplained reason. I straight-up feel there's someone in my room with me just out of sight and it's really, really difficult to move my eyes and focus them on a single spot.

The weird thing is, I had one of those faggot eye blackout masks on, but I could still see what was going on in the room.

The last time this happened I was visiting my parents during Christmas, and it was so bad and I was screaming so bad that my father walked in the room and had no idea what was going on. Somehow I knew he was there and I started screaming: 'Touch me! Shake me! Move me!'. I remember doing that and I remember why: because I couldn't move and I was hoping him shaking me would kickstart me back into reality....

...but how the hell would I know that I'm experiencing this, and that he's in the room, when I was with my eyes closed and apparently having a nightmare from his point of view?

I now have them once a month. It used to be once every few years, then once a year... I've no idea what's going on but I'm terrified of going to bed.

I used an app called 'Sleep as Droid' to record my sleep and on a few occasions the sound recordings were pure horror. I was screaming in pure terror. I'm a grown ass man and it was painful to hear myself scream like a little girl. No horror movie, story or anything like that - now, or when I was young, ever came close to the panic and fear I experience during these episodes.

What the fuck is going on with me?

I experienced them first when I was 6 or 7 and I still remember it. I remember each episode since, and they're getting more frequent. It goes like this: I go to bed normally, but at some point during the night - I either wake up and I can't move, or I dream that I wake up and I can't move. Last night was particularly bad - I woke up and I was completely paralyzed, then I either fell back asleep or fainted, but I woke up again as like I was experiencing a Groundhog Day moment, and the whole thing repeated with just small differences (i.e I was closer to the edge of the bed - I was trying to reach for the light. I then 'fake' woke up again. Basically, either I experienced three episodes of the same panic attack and just fainted in between, either I dreamed about waking up three times, with only the 4th one actually being base reality. They always come with extreme fear. Sheer terror for some unexplained reason. I straight-up feel there's someone in my room with me just out of sight and it's really, really difficult to move my eyes and focus them on a single spot. The weird thing is, I had one of those faggot eye blackout masks on, but I could still see what was going on in the room. The last time this happened I was visiting my parents during Christmas, and it was so bad and I was screaming so bad that my father walked in the room and had no idea what was going on. Somehow I knew he was there and I started screaming: 'Touch me! Shake me! Move me!'. I remember doing that and I remember why: because I couldn't move and I was hoping him shaking me would kickstart me back into reality.... ...but how the hell would I know that I'm experiencing this, and that he's in the room, when I was with my eyes closed and apparently having a nightmare from his point of view? I now have them once a month. It used to be once every few years, then once a year... I've no idea what's going on but I'm terrified of going to bed. I used an app called 'Sleep as Droid' to record my sleep and on a few occasions the sound recordings were pure horror. I was screaming in pure terror. I'm a grown ass man and it was painful to hear myself scream like a little girl. No horror movie, story or anything like that - now, or when I was young, ever came close to the panic and fear I experience during these episodes. What the fuck is going on with me?

(post is archived)

[–] • 2 pts

Embrace the fear and face it, you're scared of what you cannot see yet somehow feel.

Calm your dreaming heart-rate, deep breaths and believe your the stronger entity. If you begin to dream-scream and freak out, you're not doing it right, good news is you can try again when it happens again (as it likely will occur again).

While in dream, you wake up and realize you're paralyzed, by my own experience...I would re-close my eyes in that state, continue to focus on a deep breath and the sound it makes in the dream. Once this has calmed me down enough I begin to think what I intend to do while at the same time wiggle a toe or two, then a finger and then imagine myself floating out of bed to an upright position.

If I see a creature of any sort I imagine an invisible blade tearing the creature into a bunch of pieces, they'll usually just turn into a radiant-smoke and disperse. Air in the room immediately lightens up and I then calmly wake up into reality again, get up and drink a glass of water and go back to bed.

[–] • 1 pt

Brain or neck damage. Nocturnal epilepsy. A neurologist will scan your brain and find the damage.

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

Sounds very similar to something myself and my wife have experienced over years, suprisingly normal. Sleep paralysis brought on by sleep apnea. Sort out anything that might be harming the quality of your air or your ability to breath. Reduce or quit smoking, regular light to moderate exercise and find a sleeping position that reduces snoring.

Honestly this is way more normal and common than you think. My wife used to have a dark shadow sit on her at night and stop her breathing. If you google sleep paralysis and then add a symptom after you will find many in the same boat and different things work for different people. But as others have pointed out you can learn to recognise it and deal with it. I used to experience something akin to drowning but unable to move, my mind was mostly awake but body asleep. I learned not to fight it and to just drown, weird but it worked.

I do not experience this anymore better health lower stress and mostly quit smoking seem to have helped me.

[–] • 1 pt (edited )

Being paralyzed while you sleep is a totally normal defense mechanism. You could hurt yourself if your arms and legs are flailing around while you're sleeping. So your mind locks you down almost completely. Some people having active dreams such as running or fighting will twitch a little. Often this doesn't disengage if you don't fully wake.

To the extent that we know the purpose of dreams it's to form subconscious responses and work through problems. Your mind is practicing. That's why if you play basketball all day you'll likely dream you're shooting baskets. This has the same effect of consciously imagining yourself shooting baskets, it will make you slightly more accurate. If you're dreaming about running away from something this usually means you're avoiding a serious problem in your waking life. Turning and fighting the demons in your dream will help you fight the real problem when you're awake. The problem you're avoiding isn't always obviously connected to it's dream manifestation. For example if you're worried about being fired from your job it can manifest as gang niggers coming to beat you up in your dream. If you don't think there is a real problem that you're worried about or avoiding, then you might want to consult a specialist.

[–] • 1 pt

Dont bother with making noise, it just scares you more, focus on wiggling your fingers and toes

Eventually if you learn to recognize what's happening you can control the entire environment

[–] • 1 pt

Drink more Ovaltine.

[–] • 0 pt

Are you fat? Sleep apnea is a common cause.

[–] • 0 pt

While I can't give you any advice, what you describe happened to me once when I was a teenager, sleep paralysis, waking up unable to move it was quite distressing, I thought I was about to be abducted by aliens. I remember calling out for my cat thinking whatever was happening would at least be more bearable with her comforting presence, she promptly entered the room, jumped up onto my lap and laid down, after that I must've fell back asleep. 18 years later and I haven't experienced that phenomenon since.

[–] • 0 pt

and I thought I was nuts

[–] [deleted] • 0 pt

I found that I can basically predict when they are going to happen to me, and I can therefore prevent them: don't take naps. When I take a nap during the day, I almost always have a sleep paralysis episode that night. Granted, I run on little sleep during the week but make it up on the weekend, so when I end up taking a nap, I sleep really hard, so I think it's just my sleep schedule getting messed up. Probably wouldn't happen if I got 8 hours of sleep every night, but that's not likely to happen...

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