Sleep Paralysis: Awake But Still Asleep

I have been experiencing something strange for past 6 months something which I now, after reading this article think is related to sleep paralysis.

I am 17 yr old girl in high school. Sometimes, when I go off to sleep after a tiring day, I feel that after sometime, when i'm sleeping, I can't move my body. Even though I feel i can hear everything around me and can feel the bed, but I'm not able to even open my eyes and whenever I try to move my body or open my eyes or try to call out for someone, I feel a sharp pain in my head. After all this, I suddenly wake up. Earlier I used to think its just a dream but now i can feel that its really happening to me.
Mostly I've noticed that I experience all this when I listen to my i-pod before sleeping but I don't think that can be a cause cuz I've stopped that habit of mine.I consulted my doctor but he said its only due to stress of my studies and he even gave me few pills but even after taking them, it happens occasionally.

Please help me to understand what's wrong with me because all this makes me feel very weak and tired.
I need your suggestion badly.

I experienced this several times as a young child. I don't know why the feeling was always negative. As an adult struggling with alcoholism, it was pretty much a semi-weekly occurrence for me. After several days of binge drinking, I would try to dry out and the detox would cause insomnia. During this stage, I would "awaken" with dream paralysis several times a night for two or three nights in a row. Oddly enough, since I knew it was a form of hallucination, I learned to twist the experience once I recognized it and make the "dreaming portion" more positive. Still, didn't like it very much when it was happening. I don't drink anymore and it doesn't happen anymore. I've always known it was a biological response to external stimuli, so thanks for this article backing up my belief.

Wow, I always wondered what that was, n now that I know here's my story. I was letting my sister n her boyfriend sleep in my bed cause she was pregnant n I sleep in my living room floor. I awoke to feeling somethig on top of my holdin me by my throat n choking me, holding me down, pulling me, I screamed help me n I started crying, my sisters boyfreind came running in there, I could see him but my eyes where closed I could hear him but I couldn't answer him, I couldn't talk, I was like that for two hours n when I finally got up after fighting for that long I heard a laughing sound n I ran to my dads room.

when i was about 8 years if age, i remember a time when sleep was like drowning in a tub of water. id begin to lose breath and felt as if falling i dont know who nor where but this feeling was horrible. i am now 19 years old, and still my conscience tells me i shouldnt sleep. i feel the need to sleep but dont. upon my insomnia i start to hallucinate. these shadows moving round my physical being. i remember seeing these faceless creatures during this state of paralysis. i have yet to enjoy thier pressence. all but one. she, just like me, wants to hurt my sleeping body. i dont really know for sure what she wants but she seems to be coming back. i see her on a rugular basis, sleep or wake, so i gave her a name...Saddie. it may sound fictional but its true. halluciating during insomnia. lethargic in many ways of destruction. i have found that, in order to hault these episodes i must hit the wall or use my surrounding to my advantage. something surprising as if scarying me out of the paralysis stage. i should hope that my story inspires those who suffer this and help you coupe.

I've been experiencing this constantly and now i finally know that it's sleep paralysis. I always thought there was a ghost in my room or something, but i'm really happy that it's not. This has been happening to me a lot recently, starting this year. It's never happened to me before. It might be cause i sleep late, but i get enough sleep cause it's the summer, so i wake up late. I used to have it everyday for a while, a few months ago, and then it stopped for a month and came back again. Now i have it everyday, and i'm afraid to go sleep cause i know it's going to happen, i can feel my heart beat faster. I always feel a presence in my room which i thought was a ghost. I try to move my hands or legs, but its really hard and i try to speak but my voice doesn't come out. It happened to me this morning. i was sleeping on my back and it was 12:15 in the afternoon and i was still tired, i wasn't fully awake and then it happened. i felt someone run to the side of my bed. It lasted for a min or so. i was trying to call my brother cause he was in the washroom which was in front of my doorway, but my voice didn't come out. One time i felt a presence on top of me. When it first started happening, it always felt like i was being strangled, but it didnt hurt and it doesnt happen anymore. A few days ago, it was night time, probably 3:00 a.m and i was facing the window side, trying to close my eyes and go to sleep and then i couldnt move and i heard my cousins running upstairs and i felt a presence behind me, but it stopped cause i finally moved. It was weird cause my cousins weren't even over. Sometimes i think i see a black blob or something. i wear glasses and my prescription is high too so i'm like blind without them so when i take them off, my room looks really blurry, so i think i see things but i dont. So basically i just feel a presence in my room and i can't move. I thought i was the only one who had this, but i'm very happy to know that other people experience this, too. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to minimize the times you experience sleep paralysis or how to get out of one or get rid of it altogether because i'm getting tired of it and it's ruining my sleep. Thank You!

I have had episodes of SP since I was a child and still remember every detail of my first time. I do believe that it is genetic since my father and two siblings have experienced it as well. With mine it ranges from talking to people in bright lights... seeing ghosts... my usual red glowing eyes in the corner of the room... and my favorite,out of body experiences.

During my youth I was always told that it is a supernatural thing, so I was always to embarassed to speak of it to any doctors. And now when I hear people still giving those type of excuses it bothers me to no end.

Through out my years with this I have found out that anti-depressants actually stop the episodes. And last night I was in so much pain that I doubled my dose of pain pills and I had the most vivid and absolutely horrible experience. I had the most realistic hallucination where I could literally feel and respond to it, but I was struggling to suck in each breath of air and my I could hear and feel my heart becoming eratic and skipping beats. Plus I had more of a difficult time waking myself up than normal. I would like definite answers to this. Instead of continous studies and old wives tales.

Hey I have your same problem. I know some tricks that can help u snap out of it if you get that. For myself when I get sleep paralysis, it's silent first, then later my ears get blasted with a static and ringing loud noise. Then if my eyes are open I see scary shit usually. But if I close my eyes I don't see it. If I try to relax I get pain somewhere random on my body. usually it's on my neck. Sometimes its on my ribs. It's usually somewhere on my body where it's most vulnerable. I remember 2 times i felt the pain in my butthole, no joke. But it's worst when the pain is at my neck, ribs or armpits.

So here's some handy tricks I've picked up to stop paralysis:

1. play music as you go to sleep
2. if your fingers can move, tap a hard surface to make noise. then you can wake up from it.
3. if your mouth can move, make a loud sound with your mouth. like a popping sound with your toungue, i dont know how to describe it. but the point is to make sound to wake up.
4. even though you can breathe, try breathing a lot harder than you are currently breathing while in paralysis.
5. try to close your eyes.

so now everythime when I feel like I am about to get paralysis, I think "ahh crap here we go again :/"

I've only had one experience of this happening to me. Happened in the Summer of 2001 while I was a counselor at a Boy Scout camp. Anyway I had laid down to take a mid-day power nap. All of a sudden I awoke with the symptoms that many have described as sleep paralysis. However my experience differs from theirs while there were moving shadows in the room. The voices that I heard on that day seemed to coming from a large group of people who seemed to be praying for me. The prayers were cyclical and vigorous to the point that I could barely pick out what they were saying. I honestly kind of layed there and relaxed since there was not much else I could do at the time. I am not ruling out that this is a 100% spiritual occurance and nothing to do with the physialogical changes that the body goes through during sleep, but I definately think that both the spiritual and physialogical have a role in it.

On a side note, I was also the chaplain during that summer for the camp and had much resistence to the messages I was delivering.

hey this is derrick i am a 12 year old boy who has dealed with this kind of stuff thank you very much i was really scared but now i understand thanks

I am 27 now and was 18 the first time this happened to me. It seems like in most of these posts this is the age it starts for alot of people which seems like there should be some kind of explanation for that. I have had this happen several times in the last 9 years but every experience has been different. The one thing I have noticed is it always happens if I take a nap during the day and it happens as soon as I fall asleep.
The first and most horrifying time was I seemed to have just dozed off in the middle of the day in my bed, I woke up with the most horrifying sense of fear i've ever felt. I then saw a small black image right next to me, not really a body but more like a floating black small blob like image, I could see everything in my room and could hear my parents talking in the kitchen. I was trying to scream for them but couldn't move or scream. It felt like it lasted forever but i'm sure it was just a minute or so. My mother then opened my door and I awoke from it crying and so scared. I tried to explain to them what had just happened and we just thought okay it was a dream but i always knew it wasn't. About a year later I no longer lived with my parents but I was at their home I layed down on the couch and just as started to doze off (during the day) this time i'm pretty sure my eyes stayed closed and i felt this overwhelming presence of fear all around me, i heard footsteps walking very lightly behind the couch. I was trying my hardest to move and snap out of it and then all of sudden i was across the room by the fireplace looking at myself sleeping on the couch with that thing whatever it was standing over me. Thats when i started to freak, i remember trying my hardest to cry, then i heard myself wimper and i immediately snapped out of it and jumped up and left my parents house. For the longest i thought it was something in their house. Until i lived on my own and it started happening alot more but i do know it only happens when i nap or when i go to bed extremely sleepy. I went a couple years without it happening until one night in my new home i had just layed down in bed with my husband to go sleep he was already sleeping but my dog always sleeps at my feet. I was alseep on my back (which im always on my back when it occurs) and i could feel it coming on i felt the pressure of this presence holding me down i tried my hardest to move and nothing then my dog jumped up and growled very fiercly which he never does and it was over. It has since happened several time and I have learned that as soon as i feel it coming on i have to fight to move and pray and it stops.
I have no idea if its a spiritual or a scientific thing but in the last 6 months it has happened to my mother twice and now she understands what i've been dealing with all these years. My mother and i are very high stress people, and both have a history of chronic depression. So its hard for me to understand what this really is. The first time it happened i had just been thru a really hard time in my life and was in a deep depression (hence sleeping during the day)
But the fact that my dog could see what i was seeing and knew i was in danger has me more confused that its definitely some kind of evil spirits. This has really effected my life i've been and insomniac for over 7 years now because i'm so afraid to sleep. I have to take several sleeping pills at night just to go to sleep and i've never had one while i've been on the pills so i'm scared to stop but that has just caused a dependency problem on sleeping pills. Ugh its so frustrating all i can say to people who just started having them (whether you believe in God or not) pray when its happening pray and fight hard just to move a finger or hand. I now can feel them coming on as soon as i start to feel those waves thru my body and start to feel that presence surround my i immediately start to fight and it has seemed to work for me but they never go away and i wish someone could help me. I know its SP but what is it really???

It used to happen to me when I was a kid. Maybe only a couple times though. In the past year its happened twice, and I'm 19 now. Kind of a funny story...I took some NyQuil and went to bed and my brother literally pulled me out of bed onto the floor and I mumbled "take me to the hospital" because I couldn't move and could barely see. My brother didn't do anything and it freaked him out. I thought it might have been a dream because it was such and intense experience.

The recent second time I awoke and saw Indians working on my walls, like with a hammer. The Indian didn't look at me, I remember that specifically. I possibly could have been on NyQuil.

The third recent time I also took NyQuil before bed because I had been sick, and two little twin skinny alien looking men were on my bed looking at each other but, not looking at me..again. Its just kinda weird how they don't make eye contact with me. This experience with also followed up by a vivid nightmare.

My brother and my mom both occasionally have sleep paralysis. Its very frighting but in a way fun to look back on in a way.

I wonder if NyQuil Induces sleep paralysis..Maybe it puts you in a deep sleep, and as a read sleep paralysis happens during R.E.M.

Anybody have any thoughts, comments, stories.

This essay made me feel much better about my sleep paralysis.

I've had MANY of these episodes. The first one I can remember occurred when I was about 5 years old and the latest one about a month ago(I am 18 now). The one that happened when I was 5 went as follows:
I had just watched the movie Twister and was pissing my pants I was so scared[because I lived in Texas at the time]. I was sleeping in my parents' bedroom on the floor. [I assume] Once my REM sleep kicked in, the sleep paralysis took effect. I was aware of my surroundings but everything in the room had been lifted from the ground and was spinning about[as if being tossed around by a tornado]. I don't recall how I ended up getting out of the dream state, but I remember being terrified.

Then last month a very similar episode happened [sans Twister]. I was sleeping in my bedroom but in the dream state, I imagined that I was in my living room laying on my couch. My entire body and my lungs were COMPLETELY paralyzed and I began to panic. Once I started panicing, [I imagined] the weather outside suddenly became dark and stormy and wind was blowing all around me.

I find these episodes frightening yet extremely interesting.

sleep paralysis has been happing to me about 2 years im 17 now at first its scared me real bad i thought i was having a heart attack. after i searched the internet i found what i was looking for for the past year and half they have been fairly ok i would only here buzzing noises in my ear and unable to move any part of my my body. but the past 4 months or so they have been getting worse its almost like somebody is touching which freaks me out even more then i wake up up even while im having it i am aware its nothing and i try to pray to make it go away which works most of the time. it happened to me like a hour ago and i felt someone touchinh my chest and moving up and down i realised this happens when i take naps so im going to try to stop having naps and going to sleep around midnight. i havent had one at night for like 6months thank God..

i couldnt really go to sleep but i kinda had to cuz i had school the next day but when i did fall asleep i was asleep for about probabaly like 2-3 minutes only and i woke up but i wasnt awake, it started happening to and i was scared, during the moment i felt as if my body crumpled up into a little ball and my head tilted way back, and then i started hearing growls and whispers, that was when i started praying out to God, i prayed that God would cast the demons out of here in the name of the father the holy spirit and right as i said that in my mind it was gone. People who dont believe demons make up these excuses to cover the truth although i do believe that someitmes it could be what scientist say but i think that it still is a visitation from evil.

With Christ you can overcome anything, and in the end the rewards he will have for you will be everyting you need

I have had this all my life. I am 52 now. I never knew there was more like me. My parents sent me to counsling when I was a teenager, they thought I was crazy and I did too. It happened every night and only when
I was home in my own bed. It wasn't until recently when my son started having the same symptoms that he went online and found out what it was and there are others. The only thing that I haven't read from anyone else is that they (the evil) has cut me and lifted my bed and dropped me. Last month I was sleeping in our garage in my van (camper) because we had had a flood,the house stank (long story) and it happened. I could feel it starting; the electricity in the ears the numbness in my body then I felt something like a vacumm or an energy coming through the walls. I felt it come closer, slowly. Suddenly it rocked the van it banged on the walls it lifted it then dropped it, all the while I was frozen and awake. I tried to scream and couldn't. Then it was gone. but I was so affraid to sleep. It came several times that night always the same only different ways to torture me with fear. I alsohave anthe experience I haven't seen from anyone else. One time, the first time it was from an angel. Pure white light, so brilliant and beautiful. And it spoke to me like music. not aload but in my head. I can only remember that she told me I'd be alright. It was just as frightning at the time. And it was the same seizure type of experience as with the evil ones. any one have those experiences?

I two have had this sleep paralysis for years. I'm trying to sleep then I get this strange sensation,buzzing/huming noice in my head. The atmosphere of the room changes my eyes are closed and I feel so scared and I am being dragged into blackness, I try desperatly to get out of this paralysed state but I cannot move or talk. I eventually come out of it with a scream. I then have to sleep with the light on. I generally feel a pressense in the room too.I can go a couple of years without having one and then it comes back again.
Upon finding this website I always thought it was just me who got these. I cannot believe how many other people get them too. I do not feel so alone now. I hope more people share their experiences as this website has helped me so much.

i was 12 years old when i use to get them, and im now 13 years old. It started off where i couldnt see or move, and i would try to talk but the more i did, the harder it was to breath; The same with trying to move. This always happened. but then it changed. I would wake up in the morning and my teeth as well as my jaw would be hurting. When i think back,. i can remember me grinding my teeth and it feels like my jaw like gets stuck it a really uncomfortable position.

This is so weird so i started to pray to god asking him if he could take those experences away and i didnt have them again.... NOW... so 1 week ago i had one, i couldnt move, talk, and could hardly breath and then i heard a lady talking to someone, but i couldnt hear the other person. It was like a normal conversation, and then she started to yell at the person and i started to assume that it was a guy she was talking 2 but i got scared because she got louder and louder like she was talking to me and that would explain the fact why i couldnt hear anyone......

does this mean i knew this person in a past life or something!!!???

For all these stories to be some kind of unfortunate psychological condition..........don'tcha think?!?

I, like many of you, am writing due to my having experienced this most horrific of "nightmares".........although fortunately, for me, it's happened just twice.

The first episode occured when I was fifteen.....

It was around 3 in the morning when I awoke suddenly from a deep sleep. I found myself instantly alert and focused, rather like I imagine a small animal to be - straining to hear even the slightest sound, and searching for any hint of danger in the darkness. I felt incredibly uneasy, as though a sixth sense was telling me to escape from some unseen predator!

As I lay there in the darkness, I could hear the wind outside my window.....and as I listened I swear I could almost make out some kind of strange voices.........it sounded almost like someone talking backwards!? Anyone that's seen David Lynch's Twin Peaks will understand what I'm talking about...
Then, all of a sudden, as I lay there straining to hear, I felt a massive surge of electrical current pass through my head from one ear to the other. There was no pain, it was just the most intense sound and I felt the shockwaves pass through my body as I felt myself become instantly paralysed.

Obviously, I went into total shock - my breathing came in shallow, ragged gasps and I felt terrified that something awful was about to happen to me! I tried in vain to cry out, and desperately sought to move, but there was nothing I could do. Fortunately, that was the worst of it. It took me about a minute, maybe two, to shake off the paralysis........although it felt like an eternity had passed, and it had taken all my reserves of strength to move just my little finger!

Turning on the light, I found that I was soaked with sweat.............I was tempted to go and wake my parents, but I know what their reaction would have been!

.........................................................................

Fast forward to just three years ago (I was twenty nine), and a similar event took place........only I found this one infinitely more terrifying!

Again, I awoke in the dead of night (around 3am), only this time I found myself instantly paralysed and overwhelmed by the same primal terror. Once again, I felt like a trapped, defenseless animal. My heart was beating at a ridiculous pace, the sweat pouring off me as my mind raced....

Although there were several simliarities with my previous experience, this time around I was instinctively aware that there was some kind of malevolent, evil presence in the room. Although I couldn't see anything in the dark, I felt as if this horrible spiritual entity was standing over by the door...
As I lay there, trying desperately to move any part of my body, I heard an inhuman, gravelly voice inform me that I was, "going to Hell."

I would like to point out that I was fully awake, and the voice came from outside my head. I am not schizophrenic!

Once again, the paralysis lasted perhaps another minute, and it took every last ounce of physical, and mental, strength to break free of the terror and reach out for the light switch.
It took a good twenty minutes to calm myself down. The bed was soaked with sweat, but in the end I managed to drift back off to sleep........although, thinking about it now, I'm not sure how I managed it!

Just writing this and reliving these two experiences sends chills down my spine! I can't help but keep checking over my shoulder every so often for fear there might be some horrific demon sneaking up on me!

I don't consider myself to be overly impressionable, and have, at times sought to explain away what happened that night as nothing more than a bad dream, or perhaps, the result of a heavy weekend. I've also looked into the medical explanation of sleep paralysis as a way to allay my fears.
Ultimately though, I feel it would be ignorant of me to try and rationalize the events that took place that night. Besides, I've always been very wary of people that seek to explain away the inexplicable with science, and feel that this is merely a way for cowardly types to avoid confronting the idea that there is something far more profound to this world we inhabit than the mundane, indifferent nature of our day to day physical environment.

As many people have pointed out - there is absolutely no harm in calling out for God's help. Whatever religion you choose to follow or, indeed, if you consider yourself an atheist (which I have been for many years....although, that's changing!), I believe the power of love and faith in a benevolent higher power may well help to overcome this most horrific of phenomena. I don't really know any prayers off by heart, but I'd like to think the simple action of calling for God's help can be enough.

Remember this people - there is no greater power in the universe than the power of LOVE! Love washes over everything and conquers all.........it really can be that simple! When you carry love in your heart it acts as a shield......a kind of spiritual force field, if you like!

Yours sincerely, Danny boy xxx

I am 18 years old and i have experienced this before. I have a really hard time getting to sleep, mostly cuz i have a bad back and its uncomfortable to sleep, so i had gotten some sleeping aides. i took a few and laid down. within, i would say 10 mins, my head began to get really heavy, as if someone was holding it down. i dont remember falling asleep though. than i went to turn on my side and i couldnt move. it felt like someone was on top of me holding my body down, including my arms, legs, and head. i remember trying to call for my mom but nothing came out. than all of a sudden, i felt like i was floating, looking down i could see myself laying there... it was really weird i didnt know wat was going on. i told myself something isnt right and i need to wake up. but looking down on myself, i looked awake. i didnt see any figures as some do. i always thought maybe it was like a high from the sleeping aides but i have never experienced such a thing before. now i know what it was.
thanks.

This just happened to me last night around 3 am. I awoke suddenly with the room spinning around really really fast. I instantly closed my eyes back and within a near few seconds I hear strange voices. I was unable to move and I noticed I couldn't breath, plus I couldn't even scream. I felt really hot like I was on fire. All this lasted for about 20 seconds. I thought I was fearless until this event spooked up on me. I moved myself onto the sofa and tried going back to sleep. Then my eyes were seeing weird bright colors that didn't even exist. After that went away my vision was grainy/snowy. It finally went away and I was able to sleep correctly.

I have been experiencing sleep paralysis for a very long time i never knew that it was a disorder until today this happens to me a very lot sometimes more than once a night i could be trying to go to sleep then all thinking that i am sleep i am still actually awake sometimes it is very hard to breath i hear loud and strange noises surronding me see things that are not even actually around me and it scares me half to death i actually thought it was something just wrong with me for the longest im so glad i found out im not the only one with this promblem but also i could be trying to move around but it dont work i try to scream or talk but nothing comes out this is a very scary feeling for me each time.Then when im in the bed with my boyfriend and he is awake i be hoping he would bump into me or something so i could get out of this feeling it even somethings feel like im about to die and im never going to get back up because i be so stuck and unable to move i hate this feeling with a passion i havent even never told anybody about this before because i thought they might think im crazy or losing my mind lol

This never happened to me til I was about 19 and I'm 21 now. I'd feel like I'm dreaming but one of my eyes are open and I can't move and I can see the alarm clock. And I try screaming but I don't know if anything comes out. And it's like things are happening around me when no one is there or they're asleep. But the things I see or hear aren't scary, it would be friends or family around. One time my fiance was next to me asleep and I guess I was dreaming my mom was there and kept on saying (in my head) push me so I can move. I also try to rock myself to get myself out of this state. And it's only happened two places I think, my brothers apartment and my apartment. Is this thing dangerous? And why didn't it happen til I was older.

Thank GOD, that all my sleep paralysis moments are actually GOOD if I think about it ... first of all, I usually sleep for 5 hours - 6 hours MAX a night, I am 22 years of age, I love waking up early, usually at 5-6am. My experience is just like many here, I get in to this paralysed state if I go BACK to sleep in the morning so after going for a piss at 6, if I decide to jump back in to bed. I usually have a dream that feels sooo real, and then I suddenly wake up, but my body is paralysed, almost asif its healing/regenerating (I go to the gym so feel as if my muscle tissue is mending itself, weird I know, but I strained my wrist the other day and I could actually feel it resting and getting better while I was in this paralysed state). Any way, the dream I had was that my dad bought a yellow Mustang and I tried getting out of bed wanting to drive it ... but I couldn't move because I was in a sleep paralysis. The scary part was the fact I wasn't going to be able to drive this car because dad was about to leave to go to work in half an hour and I was simply dying to take it for a spin before hand ... for me that was scary? LOL ... thing is, I tried so hard to get my body to move, but then for literally 5 seconds I thought forget it, and go back to deep sleep, but then I panicked EVEN more and suddenly managed to open my eyes and my wrist was in sharp pain like I disturbed its healing and I just generally felt groggy ... and then to top everything off, looked out the window in to my driveway and didn't find the mustang. It was all a dream ... :(

I understand the science behind these episodes and have had regular experiences myself since longer than I can remember. After extensive reading I am still convinced this phenomena is spiritual.
These bad/evil spirits feed off fear and the only way I have found to get rid of them completely is to truly accept that they can do no more than scare you, and then rid yourself of all fear from them.
I still get SP now and then, with the same sense of evil. I just egg them on and almost say to them ' come on is that all you have?' They dissappear alot faster than when I used to freak out and try and fight them.
Each to their own and whatever works use it. All the best to everyone.

I have had this sleep disorder for awhile and I hate it. Everytime I have a dream, it seems like ill wake up half asleep with one eye open while having muscle spasms. While all this is happening I'm unable to move and their is always some evil crazy looking person staring at me. It gets so bad that this evil person will always try to bite me with it's sharp teeth or stab me or get really close to my face where I can't turn away. It gets really annoying and its scary. Anyway to fix this ?

same here man, my brother thought i was retarded but after I showed him this he changed his mind about me. not because there was alot of people who was getting this but also HE WAS getting it too. LOL

I have been looking everywhere on the internet for what I actually have and I finally found it. I JUST now had one of these. I heard the loud buzzing in my brain but couldn't move. After a little while of trying I finally could. I just started getting them a couple months ago and when I get them I just try to relax and watch tv after they occur. I'm glad to know that there are more people out there with this problem.

I keep having sleep paralysis ...like every time I finish taking a nap in the afternoon, and then when I want to sleep it starts to happen. Before I tried avoiding the sleeping paralysis by eating snacks before I go to sleep, It helped me before..but not anymore. I am at a stage where in my sleep, my heart beats faster..and louder..I feel like my heart is going to JUMP out and i feel like suffocating. I suffocated before, and I still couldn't wake up. luckily, my brother made a loud noise, so I was able to wake up. for me, if anyone makes a noise, or if they talk i will immediately wake up.

Anyways, back to my experience. Although my sleeping paralysis makes my heart beat faster, and makes me suffocate, it some how.."sucks" me in too. Before I was able to wake up from the sleeping paralysis BY MYSELF, but now if I don't try to wake myself up in my sleep it drags me in closer until I can't even TRY to wake up anymore.

Somehow I feel like my next stage is going to be hallucinations..I hope not.. I sleep by myself.

Only sleeping paralysis happens to me if I sleep/nap two times in a day.. I just took a nap today and I'm going to sleep after I post this comment, I hope I won't get that stupid sleeping paralysis.

I am only 14 years old. I started having sleep paralysis when I was 13.
Turning 15 soon**

My experiences far exceed anyones. I have read every single persons experience, but mine can be developed into perhaps the scariest movie ever made.
There are only two explanations (1) SP or (2)Incubus -----http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incubus_(demon)

To give you a glimpse of one experience. I always feel a sensation that something evil is in the room, this is how it always begins.
There is always a dark shadow resembling a male figure that slowly approaches me. In this instance it came very close to me (most of the time i sensed it had sexual intentions). I was in a state of paralysis but at that point I previoulsy promised myself if it ever happened again, i would attack it. So when it got very close, I pretended to have my eyes fully closed with the intention it thought i was sleeping so it would come even closer. As soon as it did, i jumped at it, placed my hands around its neck and squeezed as hard as I could. A distorted devil like face appeared (horrific face)and it made a high pitch sqeeling noise (simliar to a pig) but this was a squeel like ive never heard before. I know my attack shocked and terrified the thing. The sqeel was so loud and terrifying that it woke me up. I then rose from my bed (totally 100% awake) and looked into the mirror, only to see that the thing was
swaying side to side at a very high speed. This image lasted for 20-30seconds..
Perhaps you can only visually see these things when looking into a mirror when you are fully awake..It didnt appear for another two years after that.. Perhaps it new that I was too strong and not afraid to fight..

I have more experiences like this, and am happy to share.

And yes, most of the time it happens when laying on my back.. Funny thing is when you die, you are rested on your back in the coffin.. Coincidence, maybe..

Kosta (33 years old) Australia

...but I can certainly understand how a person suffering from it can draw that conclusion. I've had it since around the age of 10 or so, to different rates of occurence throughout my life, and it can be quite a terrifying experience. I've never had a visual hallucination but often I will hear footsteps or feel an ill-prescence drawing closer. Sometimes the sense of fear and panic will cause me to force myself awake, and other times it's gone so far that I felt moved outside of my body to different parts of the room or different rooms in the house, only to panic at that point and wake up. I truly believe there's a scientific explanation for it. The funny thing is, I do believe in demons and spirits and such, but I simply don't buy that there's one out to get me while I sleep. To believe that would be to give into the fear. So I always have it in my mind to not be afraid the next time it happens, although it seems impossible with no luck so far. There's always next time.

I am fifteen years old, and just had my first experience of whatever you want to call this. It happened about four hours ago, so around 7 a.m. I was watching tv and just dozed off. Then I woke up, but I couldn't move. My eyes were open just barely. I could see my pillow and my hands, that were clasped together. My WHOLE body was tingling.. Like when your leg falls asleep. I knew I was awake, but I couldn't move a single part of my body. I imagined I was leaning forward on my bed almost rolling off, then I would catch my self. I did that two times, but It didn't really happen. I was still stuck there, motionless. I tried to swallow, but I couldn't. Then I tried to move my hands, and legs, which failed also. I could see my hands still, and I could hear the sounds of the tv. I finally heard my dogs barking, which immediately woke me from this. I was trying so hard to get up so when I finally could move I almost jumped out of my bed. I didn't hear anything weird, nor did I see any ghosts or whatever. I also didn't feel like I was being held or like someone was in the room. It was just me, everything in my room was the same as it was when I was awake. Anyways, I told my older cousin about it. She said something like walking, and outer body experience. I also told my father, he had no explanation so I google'd it, and found this site.

You know I've been through this my whole life and I finally got an answer on this subject. Ask your self how much do you really believe in spirits,ghost etc.? Sometimes we might find out that we believe in this stuff a lot...and that's basically the point, the more we believe in this the more it happens to us. The way to get out of this is to simply start being skeptical about what it is your going through. Think about it. Why is it the people that you live with are not going through it but you? The answer is simply because you believed in it more than anyone else from the very beginning. It's always the skeptics that don't get attacked or see none of these demons or ghosts simply because they are SKEPTIC. Think about how many times you've seen it on tv where, some person in the house sees it but no one else does and on top of that no one believes that person, well that's because they are skeptical about it, but once those none believer find out that ghost do exist...what happens then?....they start seeing the ghost more frequently. The reason they start seeing the ghost more, is because they start having fear of them and that is what the ghost or demons "feed on" is fear and things only get worse. But once we aren't afraid anymore then it doesn't happen so often or at all. Start questioning everything and brush it off like its nothing, have faith, don't be scared and do what ever you want to do, don't let anything control your life and make you miserable. It's your life and you control it, not anyone else but you. It's time to start being a "skeptic" and you will see that nothing and no one will get in your way. It's time to take back what is yours, It's time to take back your normal life back and live happy.

I have been getting sleep paralysis since I was about 19 years old. I am now almost 22. Even though I've been getting them for a while, they still terrify me. The hallucinations are horrible, but what's just as bad is this feeling I get as I'm trying to wake up and get out of the paralyzed state. I try my hardest to move my body and I'm almost there right when I get sucked back into sleep and this happens repeatedly until I finally wake up. I wake up screaming and frightened. I used to get them a lot, but thankfully I can go a couple months now without getting them. Some of the hallucinations I've experienced are violins getting louder and louder, my family walking around me talking very fast, my dogs scratching at my door and barking, evil dark images shooting at me and cats fighting. I have no idea where they come from or why they happen to me. To top it off, I also get night terrors. Lucky me. I wake up from a nightmare screaming and crying because what I just dreamed was so terrifying, but I can never really seem to explain what happened. I then keep myself up for hours until I feel calm enough to go back to bed. Thankfully I also get these rarely. I'm glad to know though that I'm not alone and many others go through similar experiences.

Hello my people,

I am a 45 year old male and have some VERY scary frightening experiences during day nods during work and night sleeps. I begin to fall asleep and suddenly see this woman standing over me with a Kroger sack face and long hair I feel as though had she me. I was completely awake but could not move or speak. When I tried to move my feet it appears that she started hit at them. Thank God that I was finally able move. That was most frightening sleep paralysis I have ever experienced. Here is another one that happen to me today at I was standing in this stadium near a table this man walk me takes my money Again I was awake but could not move. I just thought I would share these frightening sleep paralysis experiences.

I can relate to most of you, however one night, I woke up paralyzed and it felt like an eternaty as I struggled to get out of the cocoon of paralyis. When I finally popped out of it, I heard a zooming/sucking noise and two litle red dots zoomed away from me and disappeared. I stayed up the rest of the night thinking I was losing my mind...?

Slim

hey guys im 24 and I have had 2 different types of sleep paralysis experiences. The first time it happened to me i was about 21 and i felt this dark evil presence squeezing the life out of me i was so scared i cried out "jesus help me!" and it instantly went away. This totally freaked me out and the fact that it stopped when i called out to jesus i was even more scared believing that it must be some sort of evil spirit or demon. I did not tell anybody about it for years until my dad told me that this had happend to him before as well. It seems like it would happen to me at least once a month and sometimes more. It felt as though the sheets on my bed were pressing down on me and i would be paralyzed and felt like i was being strangled. Usually happens when I sleep on my back but has also happened on my stomach. The second type that i have had happen is the more common one of waking up in the morning and with my eyes open but being completely paralyzed and unable to move. This was terrifying to me as well the first time it happend i thought i was dying and it felt like it lasted an hour but in reality was probably only a minute or so. I should mention that the second type happens to me more frequently and sometimes occurs every night for a week or so. After being so disturbed from all this i decided to start researching it. i typed in my symptoms on google and it led me to an article on sleep paralysis which gave me alot more comfort knowing i wasnt being attacked by a demon. i should also mention that i suffer from panic disorder and have severe anxiety and panic attacks. i read some where that they think this may somehow be related to sleep paralysis. it was also interesting to me that when i started taking an anti depressent for my anxiety the sleep paralysis went away temporarily although i have recently gotten off the medication for other reasons, and have noticed that the episodes of sleep paralysis have returned. so im wondering how many other people who get sleep paralysis also suffer from anxiety or panic attacks. if anyone has had similar experiences please let me know- scott

I started having this awake dreams probably at 6 or 7 and I've been having a lot of them still today. The 2 that scared me the most was both when i was 7 i woke up my face on the pillow where i barely was able to breathe and felt as if some one was pushing me down trying to suffocate me, and the other was when a little figure bit my arm and i my arm spas' ed out. i learned how to get my right arm to move staggeringly to where i want it my be to swing at where the figure was or turn on a light, but today just now i had multiple awake dreams in less then 4 hours, and that kinda scared me because I've had them a lot just not like that in a day. I learned that if i sleep on my stomach i tend to get em or my side, so now i try just fall asleep on my back only, but that still hasn't stopped them from occurring. I gets pretty lame now days... When i wake up... cant move... all poo here it goes again... my heartbeat doesn't race any more as it use to now i guess I'm kinda use to it.. bad thing is each time it happens different things happen. I say no harm in it just don't get to scared eh you'll be fine i guess. and i did find out... both my parents went through this as well so it might be it is hereditary. so you should ask you parents or siblings if ya got 'em.

I have had odd dreams about my lizard rapidly jumping in and out of its cage every time I attempt to enter sleep paralysis.I can't do it! help me...

I'm 17 years old and last night this occurred for the first time, i felt as though my body was floating and i had a tingling sensation throughout my body, i then heard very loud noises that sounded like many people all talking very fast at once, the feeling is horrible and i just want it to go away, i would hear very loud noises and try to wake up but i couldn't, i felt the presence of something around me and felt heat around my head that felt like a hair dryer was being blown onto me, i tried very hard to wake up and when i finally thought i had, i wasnt actually awake and then woke up again until i was properly awake, i tried to move and couldnt at first but after trying very hard was able to move my body, i had goose bumps all over my body and was very tired when i woke up in the morning as i felt as though i missed out on a lot of sleep because of it..

I read this article for I wanted to see what my son thinks about himself experiencing the phenomenon. I am 48 now and remember that I have had such experience only once in 14.

As I have been reading this article, I found that the author has not described the cause of sleep paralysis. He only described how the brain acts or doesn't act to produce such state. I couldn't find from the article why brain should do in this way. Why brain of some people acts like this and brain of others doesn't. May be it is not problem with brain, may be we should seek somewhere else.

Modern science tries to replicate the real world in theory to find solution to the problem already articulated in a theoretical set. Is it possbile to throw away or disregard some important data (not presented or presentable as scientific facts)through the process of this replicating? May be science is right in this matter, as it is said science is right as it can predict what is to happen next. But what if this prediction is also a misjudgement, as have had many example in modern sciene for this misjudgement (for simple example of this misjudgement think of new medicines that goes absolete when it is explored that study of medical effects of the drug has not been conducted in well manner, so new medicine!) let go closer to the problem and see it from other side of story.

To my experience, this phonomenon is quite common among sensitive and spiritual people. you can justify this idea with considering people around you. Let me introduce you a new idea for sleep, modern science gives a description for sleep as a state for relaxation and inner data processing of brain. But give a look to ancient notion of the problem, especially in eastern countries, people in many eastern cultures think that sleep is state that every human touches other world to get his/her battery charged. Look sleep in this way, then think of sleep paralysis, it seems that two contradictory process conflict and produce this event as a result.

I have another related experience that has lasted for 30 years, and it is that I wake after each NREM-REM cycle in the night, especially I wake after first cycle walking, studying, eating, sitting till next round starts! nice experience? To human scale, I sleep half of a normal person, but I work more than many other people, may be 18 hours a day, but mostly types of work that charged my spirit through day!

I am 26 as I writing this comment,I don't think that it is a matter which just science have answer for it.Science and scientist just dealing with materials , and this is the kind of problems that we should look at them from spiritual aspect.How it could be possible to be just a disorder! read this to find out what I say: During my experince of this thing we called disorder, the only way that I can get rid of it, is to move my body, it is really hard, but, after 12-3 years I can do that,last time, that this disorder happend, I was sleeping in my cousin bed, and she was slept along side of me, and her dog was sleeping near the bed. I felt something dark but transparent was sitting on my chest !and I tried hard to move, so in the dream I threw my self out of bed, and that thing fall on the poor dog.the dog woke up and ran and barked,(I saw this when I was in that dream)you dont believe it, becuz right after the thing that I saw in the disorder dream,I can say right after 1 milisec , the dog start to run and bark, and he woke up us. I'm sure that it is becuz of me.so is this just scientific?

Im 24, had sleep paralalysis about 6 times, maybe more as a child, when i 'wake up' breathing is difficult, body paralysed, eyes closed. The best way to deal with this is to stay calm, accept the lack of oxygen, DO NOT try and change your breathing pattern it is under a set pattern. Just appreciate it will be all over very soon. Willing your self awake with physical activity will make it worse and will result with increase panic/breathing problems. Just Will your self awake with your mind. Make sure you are aware you are awake, dont give up! WILL your self awake.

I've read quite a few of these messages, and I'm intrigued by all the different things that people experience. I understand fully the fear of Sleep Paralysis. I have it quite often, and the "presence" is always the same figure. A tall, dark figure with a skeletal face, long black hair, and a hand reaching out of his cloak towards me. If there is a closet in the room in which the SP takes place, he usually comes out of it. If not, he is right next to my bed, watching me. The worst part about it, is that it feels like the first time, every time it happens, so I can't talk myself into waking up. I have the paralysis, the heightened senses, the inability to call out. The figure speaks sometimes, but I can't understand him. I think the scariest part is when I realize that the figure knows that I'm watching him, and even though I can't see his eyes, I can "feel" them. I was just curious about the different things that you people see during SP.

I am dealing with sleep paralysis since I am a little girl. One time I thought I saw and heard the devil. I saw that evil thing in dreams as well. It was terrifying. Even now as an adult and mother I suffer under sleep paralysis. I don't just see/hear things & creatures, sometimes I am also in a completely different location. My room is gone and one time I was coming down something which looked like a well. I could see the rocks on all sides and touch them. A good friend of mine which had stayed over one night told me that she woke up by me screaming, sitting straight up and speaking fluid latin. I know when 'it' is coming and especially when I am really tired I just toss and turn to 'shake it off'. Sometimes I am too exhausted and just 'sink'. I always pray for protection.
Prayer has never failed to help when it got really bad.

Hello my name is ashlee I'm 19 I've been having this so called sleep paralysis once in a while myy grandpa calls it frightmares. He's also had them in the past.. he has told me that its because I eat late at night but I think its something evil. My grandma has told me when I have bad dreams to say jesus and I will wake up! Well when I'm experiencing whatever this is I can't seem to say his name or even think of it.. and finally when I do I wake up instantly it is the scariest thing. I never seem to see anything evil but I can sense it around me.

As fas as I can remember moving into my house like 5 years ago I have always felt my room was haunted and could see and feel scary things. But I can remember about three times with this, twice I saw demonic images and the last one nothing. The first I couldn't breathe, move or talk and felt a lot of tingling, and of course this ghost slowly coming down closer to me, before I woke up. The second time I was on my top bunk and saw that Saw Guy and he was punching me as I lay there paralyzed. And the third time just happened this Sunday, but it wasn't even at my HOUSE! I was at a friends and spent the night and woke up like an hour later to paralysis. This time I was mad and kept saying in my head that I wasn't scared and that satan and his demons were nothing but cowards and stuff like that. My paralysis lasted the longest of any other I've experienced and I couldn't move at all or talk, but I did not feel suffocated nor did I see a demonic figure.

I think whether you believe its supernatural or natural, the important thing is to be strong, confident and determined to get out of the paralsis and back to sleep. Push it off.

I am a 27 yr old male, who has been experiencing sleep paralysis since I was age 6. Last night, as I was falling asleep, I slipped into a sleep paralysis episode. It may have been my scariest one ever, which led me to do some more research, therefore finding this forum. I have always thought there is a scientific explanation for these experiences. However, I am NOW CONVINCED that these experiences MUST BE PARANORMAL.

Here is what happened. I was falling asleep on my stomach when it began. Something got on top of my back, digging their knee into my back between my shoulder blades. At the same time, what felt like a hand wrapped around my neck exerting extreme pressure. My eyes were wide open, and I was looking directly at the mirror. I could see in the mirror that there was something on top of my back, and there was also another figure moving around in the background of my bedroom. As the grip tightened on my neck, I heard a voice in my ear, and felt the breath on my ear as well. This thing was speaking directly into my ear. What it said was very clear..

"I AM CLOSER TO YOU THAN I AM TO DEATH." And it then said something in an unknown language, which at the time sounded like "Corpus Dilecte". I was then able to shake myself out of it, and I immediately got out of bed and stood up, completely freaked out of my mind, sweating, with tears in my eyes. The first thing I did was write down what I heard in my ear. In the morning, I researched common latin phrases, and found the expression "Corpus Delicti". It was immediately obvious that this is the expression I heard in my ear. I do not know any latin at all, nor am I familiar with even the most well known latin phrases. The translation of the phrase "Corpus Delicti" is: "the facts of a crime". However, after doing more research, I found this term is most commonly used in legal circles, and it refers to the dead body in a murder case. For example, a lawyer would say, "We cannot convict without the corpus delicti".. meaning that there must be a dead body to convict.

Now... how amazingly frightening is THAT!!?? I don't know any latin, and I have never heard that term before anywhere. I am sure of it. How is it possible that my brain could have made that up on its own? And what about the other expression, "I am closer to you than I am to death." What does that even mean? I don't know.. but it scares the shit out of me. This has turned my life upside down. I am afraid of my own bedroom now. I don't know what to do. I have read all the other posts, and there seems to be a lot of people sharing similar experiences which involve hearing voices speaking in other languages. Has anyone else had an experience similar to mine?

Hi, it happenes to me 2-3 times a mouth. Most of the time I'm sleeping on my back, but to day I was taken a nap and it happened to me I was getting chocked so I started to fight back and I thought I was going to die. I told my grandma about it and now I sleep with a red shirt, red pillow ect… My grandma told my mom to take me to a voodoo lady a.k.a baabaa 2 get somethings for my room. I'm so happy I'm not the only one this happenes to cause everyonr else I tell this to thinks I'm crazy.

I'm 14 years old and i just had what i believe was a sleep paralysis 2 nights ago, what had happened was i fell asleep, but it was like my body was sleeping and my mind was awake. i didn't experience any hallucinations that i remember but i felt like i was slowly sitting up, and i couldn't open my eyes, or move anything. i remember the feeling of tipping off my bed, and i could see myself in the mirror, but i couldn't wake up. there would be a few times where i would wake up and i couldn't see anything. i remember looking for the light of my alarm clock but the image was moving around and i couldn't tell where it was. This lasted for maybe an hour before i actually fell asleep and had one of the craziest dreams i've ever had in my life. I remember every detail of it which i normally don't do. Since i hadn't experienced hallucinations so far, my conclusion is that it's just my brain playing tricks on me. But if it ever happens where i do hallucinate, i'll probably be more open to sleep paralysis possibly being spiritual

I can't believe what I'm reading on this site. I'm gad I'm not the only one this happens to. I'm 26 and my episodes started when my mom was first hospitalized when I was 18. They were really bad then. I wouldn't see anything,I would hear and feel my husband at the time, or the tv..I could literally hear what was really on, or what he was saying. I could feel my body laying there paralized like and I could feel myself so relaxed in deep sleep, yet my mind would be awake. My mom passed and it happened more. The past couple years it had toned down, but lately it's happening again and I know it's due to stress. I don't believe it's anything evil at all. Our minds like playing tricks on us that's all it is. I usually can wake myself up from them but it takes a few tries. Sometimes it feels like I can't breathe. Sometimes I'll feel like I woke up but I'm still in it. The worse is once I awake from one, I can't sleep again for a while because I'll fall back into another episode. My fiance takes it lightly and I know my friends think I'm nuts. It's 12:43 am right now. I have no one to talk to and am horrified of going to bed. Isn't there a cure for this????

all i can say is this happened to me and in the quran it says this happens and it is jin(evil spirits), but they are not powerful. if you've tried everything i suggest you go to a local mosque and you dont really have to do much they will help you very much.

I noticed that I experienced SP much more as a child. As I grew older, the episodes were less frequent. When I got on Citropram (Celexa/Lexapro), I hardly had any and if I did it was when I accidentally missed a dose. I recently (within the last 3 weeks) discontinued my antidepressants after 6 years. I am starting to have SP again more regularly (but I'm also 6 months pregnant, so that may be a factor).

I am wondering if SP responds well to SSRI's, as documented, SP is sometimes stress-related, as documented then SP has to be some sort of chemical imbalance. I'm sure that it could be spiritually-related as well. Praying and calling on Jesus does seem to help, even though my experiences usually aren't frightening, but more annoying than anything.

The episodes do usually happen when I'm laying supine, napping (or sleeping in), but not always. I also noticed today when it happened that the room was warmer than comfortable.

I wondered if anyone else had "triggers". I'd like to start a list so I can avoid these ANNOYING incidents. So far I've read:

• Drinking wine
• Naps
• Laying Supine
• Stress
• Bad choices/life decisions

The list I've read for things that help "snap out" of an episode are:

• Trying to wiggle toe/finger
• Praying
• Reciting Scripture
• Thinking good thoughts
• Changing bad habits
• Moving to a different house
• Taking medicine

Obviously, as a born-again Christian, I totally believe that prayer and the name of "Jesus" is the most-powerful tool, but there has to be a scientific explanation as well that can make it easier to deal with too.

Up into this point in my life I have kept what has happened to me to myself, I thought for the longest time that this was only happening to me, I've been afraid to tell anyone because I felt I would only be looked down upon and just be told I am a liar because so many times in my life terrible things have happened that no one would believe. I am what you would call damaged goods. I've been through so many things in my short time here on earth only 29 years now, and already I've endured more crap than most people would in a life time, most likely several life times. I am the product of what society has made me, a complete and utter sinner. I am a drug addict, a manipulator, and totally emotionally detached person, but one thing I am not is an idiot, my IQ is over 130, which puts me in the 6th percential so I am still a man of reason. Through the years my beliefs have changed and I once was a christan but now I believe more in the science explanation of life, but the more I research this the more I become confussed, I want to believe in the the science of Sleep paralysis but my experience was so real my better judgement won't let me believe it. I will only tell you of my first experience, because it was the worst and I remember the most about this one. I was asleep, and when I awoke, and I know I awoke, staring right back down at me was some kind of spirit, he had long hair and a beard, and was dressed in white, unlike others saying it was a dark figure, I thought maybe I was dead, he kind of looked like Jesus, but this was no jesus, I stared at him for a couple of seconds as he stared back, he started to rise higher above me and that's when I became scared, because I relized I was awake and I was not dreaming I was aware of everything in the room he then began to throw something at me, it was a pulse, a pulse of white light of some kind, and when it hit me I felt so many different emotions and feelings it's hard to explain, I felt, hate, anger, depression, loneliness, fear, anxiety, dreed, and miseary, and after the first one hit me I tried to get up and move and I was paralized, he just kept throwing them at me, and I still tried to continued to move, I tried to scream out for help with no success and this carried on for a minute or two untill I was finally able to budge from my position and when I was about to get up, he seemed to pin me back to the bed, at last I was able to get up and I noticed the alarm clock because I knocked it of the table when I got up, and I knocked it onto the floor but the time was 11:34 and when it landed on the floor it was upside down and 11:34 up side down spells HELL and that's what made me remember it so well. I finally was able to run out of the room, and I've never spoke of it untill now, because it's happening again. Now I know I'm doomed, I just figured it wouldn't happen untill I was dead.

This so called sleep paralysis is i guess nice to know that so many people have it and that the demon in my dream is really not going to kill me? I have been having this dream since i was 5, I am now 21 and this is only getting worse for me. Yesterday I tried just letting go in my dream I already knew i was going under so I let myself go and said the most violent things I could to my so called demon, I told him to go away he had no right to keep haunting me and when I did for the first time he talked to me more like laughed at me and said there would be hell to pay and that I would die, laughing at me i became freightend and tried screaming my moms name and fighting against it tried picking my arms from my bed it litteraly paralyzed me more then ever normally i can move my head a little or so I think, when I awoke from my dream my cat was still laying on my chest which makes me think Im not moving what so ever. About a month ago I dreamt not only of this demon but that I myself had come into some kind of higher power I had a vision of myself putting on my glasses as if i were looking in the mirror clapped my hands together and said, "WAKE UP." I jumped from my bed terrified and still half in my sleep ran upstairs and sat down. I thought I taught myself how to wake myself up since then I have had the dream at least 5 differnt times and i dont know what to do, does anyone have any kind of way that this can go away for good?? Please it's gettting worse.

Sporadically Throughout my life I was paid visits in the middle of the night by a spiritual entity. These experiences in the middle of the night were quite terrifying. This is what happened. My bed was located so that when I slept my head was positioned next to the exterior wall of my room. As I slept a spiritual entity would reach through the wall grabbing my head with its hands. It would place me in what is known as sleep paralysis. I would feel numb all over and couldn’t move. I would say the Lord’s Prayer over and over again and then at last I would wake up terrified, but the demonic entity would be gone. When I woke up in the morning I wouldn’t remember the attack that happened the night before. It was as if my mind was erased. I will call it a demonic attack. Prior to the gulf war in 1991 I discovered a underworld secret society of Satanism / the NWO. This is when spiritual warfare became sever in my life. After the unmasking of the NWO, this spiritual entity that had came in the middle of the night returned frequently. It happened so frequent that, when I awoke, I wasn’t forgetting the experience. In fact one night when this entity came back the spirit in me manifested the entity to me. I saw the demonic spirit through the eyes of the spirit in me. It was an unholy spiritual entity. It was +- 8’ in height. It stood out side my exterior wall, reaching through the wall with its hands grabbing my head. To this day I’m unsure why it did this, and I’m not sure if I want to no. This was only one of the many experiences that I was having with the spirit realm after discovering the NWO and how it is run by witchcraft! This is what I did. I went to a very old Catholic church in the town were I live. I took a small bottle filling it with Holy water. I proceeded to bless the house on the interior and exterior walls in the shape of a cross. I did this to all the walls around the entire home, including the roof and floor. This spiritual entity returned shortly there after. I guess he wasn’t all seeing! He returned in the middle of the night as usual. This giant of an entity tried to reach through the wall of my room when he discovered a young man who was waiting for him. As his hands touched the wall, which I had blessed with Holy water, he discovered what pain was! There was a spiritual explosion. It was so loud. Blamo!!! It sounded as if the wall was going to shatter into pieces. This entity let out scream that I will never forget! I must have smiled from ear to ear that night! Praise the LORD JESUS CHRIST! To the best of my knowledge this spiritual entity has never returned. Graciously yours baptized by fire / the witness!

Hii
im 15 and ever since i could remember ive been getting this Sleep Paralysis thing
ive spoke to my mom about it and she told me that shes had it to. one day i was having a dream that i was being kidnapped and in this dream i had caught the sleep paralysis and i couldnt move. i beacame very scared and i kept trying to move. when my sister came in the room i tried to shout her name but it only came out as a very,very low whisper. then today my sister told me that i woke her up in the middle of the night saying that i was hot and i thought i was sleep through the whole night. So now i guess im sleep walking i really dont know what i should do because this whole sleep paralysis thing scares me.

my most terrifying experience of sleep paralysis was when I was taking a nap on the couch one afternoon. I was alone in the house. then, after god knows how many minutes, I woke up to the sounds of a baby crying right next to my right ear. I tried to turn to the sound but couldn’t move an inch. then to my horror, I saw ‘someone’ with a tall, lean figure wearing blue, move slowing across the living room. It walked passed me with its back to me all the time, and continued to walk until it reached the corner of the dining room. it was crystal clear. and all the time, I was unable to move or speak, let alone scream or make a run for the door! when I was finally able to move, I was still undecided whether it was a dream or a scary encounter with the unknown! I told my friends about it, who replied, ‘it was just probably your recently deceased grandfather coming back to pay you a last visit.’ that scared the crap outta me!!

It is incredibly comforting to know that I'm not alone!

I began having this sleep paralysis as a child. I would have a nightmare in which I was "being tickled". It was not a pleasant sensation and I could actually feel the "tickling". I would awake and look around my room. I too experienced the sensation that there was something evil there. I guess this is where i differ from other postings. I would literally look around my room at my surroundings. I would try to call out with great effort, but my jaw wouldn't move and I was only capable of making very very quiet sounds, all of which took great effort. The rest of my body was paralyzed as well. I was really awake. I wasn't sleeping. I could see that i left my light on. I remember trying to call out to my mother, to no avail. I definitely awoke from mine.

After years of this, I realized it was triggered by sleeping with my arms over my head. I clearly tried to avoid this in the future. I told myself once (when I was 12) that I would sleep with my arms over my head, knowing that it would trigger the paralysis and nightmare. I also told myself that I was volunteering to subject myself to this because it was the last time I was going to have the dream. Ironically, I never had a "tickling" dream again.

Sadly, I'm an adult now and still experience a variation of this dream. I no longer have paralysis... but I awake with the definite sensation that there is evil in the room. A definite presence. It's as though it can be felt. I was telling a friend about it... I was kinda ashamed to admit that I felt the evil presence... not wanting to seem like a religious freak. But there is no other way to describe it. As many others have stated, to think about it brings chills or even tears to my eyes... it's that uncomfortable.

Regardless, I don't have the dreams very often, and I'm grateful for that. I understand the whole scientific take on it in regards to paralysis... but how do you account for the sensation of EVIL?

Hi,
I have still that problems while I am sleeping, just I fell unconcious and it happening while I am sleeping with the possition in which my face is to up or I lay down on left sid, and it never happened when I am slepping on right side. It really suffuring me, what should I do, the very bad things is that it begining at the first time when I am getting bed, the more bothering is I hearing very bad sounds it comes to my mind like falshing. I don't know what should I do.

Please give me an advice what should I do?
Thanks

FELT SOMEWHAT RELIEVED TO SEE SOO MANY PEOPLE GO THROUGH THE SAME FEELING I HAVE.IT USED TO HAPPEN TO ME ALMOST EVERYDAY CONSTANTLY FOR 3/4 YEARS.IT WAS THE WORST TIME EVER.THIS SLEEP PARALYSIS CAUSED SOO MUCH TROUBLE THAT I HARDLY EVER SLEPT,VERY SURE IT OCCURED BECAUSE OF SOME SORT OF EVIL SPIRIT WHICH SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME.IT TALKED TO ME, SHOWED IT'S APPEARANCE AND PRESENCE,AND WHAT NOT.IM AM 21 YEARS OLD NOW.IM GETTING BETTER NOW,AS I DID A LOT OF RESEARCH ABOUT IT.FROM MY EXPERIENCE,I CAN TELL THAT THESE EVIL SPIRITS ARE EVERYWHERE AND WANT ATTENTION FROM YOU, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOUR GOING THROUGH SOME DEPRESSION, FEELING ILL,YOU ARE STRESSFUL, ISOLATED..THESE EVILS SPIRITS WANT ATTENTION AND CAN GET IT SOMETIMES BY SHOWING YOU NIGHTMARES,BY SHOWING SOMETHING BAD HAPPENING TO YOU IN NYOUR DREAMS AND ONCE YOU GET AFRAID, IT WILL GET YOU AND YOU WILL FEEL UNABLE TO MOVE. WHAT THEY WANT FROM YOU IS TO MAKE YOU THINK ABOUT THEM. THESE EVILS THINGS CAN SEE YOUR AURA(THE LIGHT AROUND YOU) AND WHEN THAT AURA OF YOURS IS GETTING WEAKER (WHEN YOU'R AFRAID,ILL,EMOTIONALY UPSET/DEPRESSED,ISOLATED) THEN THEY ATTACK YOU.THEY KNOW WHAT YOU'R THINKING AND FEELING.ALSO WHEN YOUR SEE HORROR MOVIES OR THINK MORE ABOUT THESE EVIL THINGS YOU'R OPENNING DOORS FOR THEM TO ENTER,IN A WAY INVITING THEM OVER.THESE THINGS ARE BAD SPIRITS WHO HAD LIVED MISERABLE LIVES OR DIED IN SUCH A WAY,OR BECAUSE THEY DONT WANT TO MOVE AWAY FROM THIS WORLD TO A MORE HIGH SPRITUAL PLANE.THEY ARE NOT DEMONS JUST BAD SPIRITS.THEY ARE HERE TO DISTRACT YOU AND LET YOU KNOW THEY'R HERE..DONT GIVE THEM ATTENTION AND THEY WILL NEVER BOTHER YOU.
I KNOW IT FEELS REALLY HORRIFYING BUT ONCE YOU START TAKING STEPS TO HELP YOURSELF GET OVER IT YOU WILL SUCCEED.I HAVE DONE SO ALREADY.I HAD SO GOTTEN USED TO IT THAT I NO LONGER AM AFRAID OF IT.HAVE FAITH THAT THE EVIL CANNNOT DO ANY HARM TO YOU! GET OVER THAT STRESS.ALSO, IMAGINE THAT A WHITE LIGHT IS AROUND YOU (THAT YOUR AURA IS STRONG) AND WILL PROTECT YOU WHILE YOUR SLEEPING..DO NOT BE AFRAID,FEEL STRONG. WE HUMANS HAVE MORE POWER THAT ANY OTHER TYPE OF LIVING BEINGS ON THIS PLANET,OVERCOME THAT FEAR,THINK THAT YOU ARE NOT AFRAID OF THAT THING ANYMORE,AND BELIEVE ME THIS WILL SCARE IT.DONT LET ANY SORT OF NEGATIVE THOUGHTS COME TO YOUR,ALWAYS TRY TO HAVE POSITIVE THOUGHTS.WHENEVER YOU FELL NEGATIVE,THINK ABOUT THE GOOD THINGS IN LIFE.BELIEVE ME,THIS WILL GET LESS FREQUENT AND EVENTUALLY IT'LL END.
YOU ARE POWERFUL!
HOPE THIS HELPS

Hi,
I am having a starnge experience in my dream and now it is almost like a condition. Firstly some of the background checks..
1. I sleep 4-5 hrs every day.
2. I smoke 3-4 cigs every day
3. I drink about 400ml of whisky every week, but evenly distributed over the week.
4. I smoke cannabis but very very very rarely.

Now this strange thing mostly happens when I am into 60-90 mins into my sleep(I guess..case how can one be sure). I start having very strange dreams and then I pop out of it. I can see the room very clealry and then I want to get up for a glass of water or a cig. Before I was not able to get up, something like a sleep/dream paralysis, which I later realise was also a dream(me seeing the room and wanting to get up) and pop out of it in a very anxiety mode all sweating over.. This, I guess is quite normal.

But now, its got worse somehow.. My dream is fooling me. I have lost control over it. I dont know how thats possible but after a strange dream, when I want to pop out of it, I get fooled by my brain that I am not in sleep paralysis and I am wide awake roaming about the room, drinking water..Once I switched on the TV too..Once I remember vaguely I was lighting a cig. Starngest of all, Once in woke up and it was 6am(I saw the time) and I went out to collect the newspaper and saw the date on it.

After sometime I finally pop out of it and I can remember everything very clearly. I got really scared yesterday when I wanted to pee, and in my dream, I got up and went to pee and came back all relaxed and went back to sleep. After soemtime I woke up my urge to pee was up the roof.. Luckily i did not wet the bed..

I thought i might be dream walking but thats not the case as my partner , who was once up all night told me i was fast asleep all the time. this was the case when i lighted a cig.

Is this a serious sleep disorder. its getting stronger every time. Should I consult someone. Cause I think if it continues, I might consult someone in my dream, like call take an appointment and drive to the doctor.

PS: sorry for my english, may not be very correct.

Thanks in advance.

I have episodes of sleep paralysis 5 years ago, i remember that the SP will come when i have try going to rest (sleep) when i have sleep already before. So what i want to say is that you try to sleep when you actually need to sleep (when You are really tired) . It has worked to me maybe it works for You!

I am 27 and I had sp since i was about 15 yrs old. I used to here wierd drums playing and here noises (never saw any figures though) to get out of it I pray and try to rock my body, sometimes it works and i come out of it, but when I wake up I feel so frightned that I turn the lamp on my night stantd on. The funny thing is that when the light is on it never happens. So whenever I want to avoid it I simply leave the light on (it's hard to sleep with the light on but once you get used to it, you just fall asleep fast).

i am 17, last night i had the most unusual experience for the first time, i woke up into what felt like my dream, my eyes were locked shut and i knew my body was laid straight in bed, i could see my room around me in this 'dream' and i felt aware. i didn't see anything scary like lots of you have mentioned but the experience did scare me and i panicked and began to try and wake myself up. suddenly i felt a really strong force pulling me downwards, so forceful it felt like my cheeks were moving and my arms were sucked to my sides, i then woke up after 5 seconds or so abruptly to see myself dead straight in the centre of my bed. i felt my cheeks and they felt normal but it was such a weird experience. initially i thought it was maybe what poeple call an outer body experience as i saw myself in the dream but after reading this page im wondering if its this? please help?

Iam glad to know that Iam not the only one out there with this. My very first memory of this happening was when I was about 6 or 7 and I awoke to a strange image in the doorway of my brother and mines room. I began to pray and it left. I am 37 now and I still have the on a weekly basis somtimes 2 to 3 time a night. the only difference with me is that sometimes Iam fully aware of my surrounding and can hear other people in other rooms and even down stairs. I can tell them what was on tv or what they were talking about. Iam sometimes able to move parts of my to make myself wake up, like move my hand to bite it or make my leg move off the bed to let my body think Iam about to fall off the bed. But I have always had complete control over my mouth,voice and eyes. If someone is in the bed with me or in a nearby room I start to call their name and they can hear me and they either ask me what I want, cause they see that my eyes are open and they think Iam awake, so I tell them to either shake me or hit me so I can wake up. But when thet is not an option I just start to calm down and relax and most importantly I begen to Pray to GOD and HIS SON JESUS. This always helps. I believe in evil spirits and aliens and sometime think that they are involved with this also. Sometimes it is just your mind and your over stressed body but far to many time its not. Just remember that GOD did not give you the spirit of fear, but of LOVE and a SOUND MIND. Nothing can take your free will away, you have absolute control of your mind, body, and spirit, USE IT. And this is not to say that there is not a scienctific explanation as well, the things we do and eat play a major role in how our bodies react to external and internal influences. Just remember that you have control, USE IT!!!!!

Hi,

My name is Dan and I am 21 years old. I started having sleep paralysis when I started taking naps during the day in college (my classes were dispersed throughout the day). These only occur when I have naps and specifically when I lay on my back. They started as everyone described with the paralysis and the hallucinations, but have recently progressed into something a bit more odd. Lately, I will feel myself having odd sensations throughout my entire body like waves of pleasure and numbness (hard to explain), I still feel the evil presence but consequently i have been being paralyzed with my eyes closed. I know exactly where I am and what is going on, but cannot open my eyes. This last one i tried desperately to open my eyes with my hands but couldn't. I may have been thinking i was forcing my eyes open but no vision occurred. I got one blurry eye open but the other stayed asleep as well as the entire side of that body. It has been a progression away from sleep paralysis in the conventional sense, and more towards my mind waking up and body not doing so (completely). I feel like I am trapped asleep trying to yell but unable to. Anyone else experiencing this?

Hello all. I am 22 years old and had my first SP episode last night and pray that it will be the last. Its terrible that this has happened to so many of you and to all of those that will experience this in the future. I came here hoping to find a cure or treatment but alas, there is none.

While reading about Sleep Paralysis I found that some have associated it with drinking alcohol or eating a lot of carbohydrates before bed. I personally drank in excess last night and ate 3 plates of spaghetti before going to bed... (I was really freakin hungry). Using wikipedia I found that almost 24.1 % of people will experience a SP episode at least once in there lifetime. In many cultures its commonly associated with demons or evil spirits sitting on your chest trying to suffocating you. It may be related stress and anxiety, which sucks because now I am stressed and anxious about it.

My experience seem different from all the ones I've read on this site though. My eyes remained closed and I had the incredibly loud buzzing in my head, but the most alarming part of the episode was that I felt waves running through my body. Almost as if I was being electrocuted. I was awake in mind but not body. I tried moving my fingers and when it finally worked I was able to wake up shortly after. I rolled over and fell back asleep. It happened again. I woke up. Fell back asleep and it happened AGAIN! Rinse and repeat till morning. It happened about 7 times in total.

I pray this never happens again to me or to any of you. Good luck.

I remember i was about 18 when I had my first one, I remember evil demon-like creatures walking out of the closet and getting right in my face. There must have been like 5 or 6 of them. I remember hearing myself trying to scream myself awake, but couldn't wake up or move. My friend was in the room and I could actually hear his obnoxiously loud snoring, while I was in this state. That was my worst one, but since then i've probably had at least one a month, usually more if i'm extra stressed out or anxious. I don't usually see anything, but just have an intense feeling of fear and hear noises. I usually don't remember the noises I heard though, once I wake up. Right before one happens I actually know it is going to happen, But by then it's too late and I can't move, I just try not to panic and let it pass. They usually last about 4-5 minutes in real time at least that's what I think. If you know of any medications or help for this bizarre phenomenon, please let me know. E-mail: Rodneymullensktr@sbcglobal.net

Dis is my 3rd time,im 20yrs..it scary..anifeel if icls emyeyes,id die....the 1stt ime i felt like my eyes was closing an i was trying hard to open it,,, the2nd timeidreamt sumthing kinda wired but evil,thistime i dot kno what happen buti kno iwas awake...but couldnt move myeyes closing down, an anoying sound like a ,screeching microphone poundinginm ears for 3 secs or more then stopping and coming back...i praed but it seemed likeit lasted for 20minslikeit wasnt gointo end. imm crying right now...i tried callin my brother i could c the room but ifelt likeiwasshouting air.. until ifinaly was released ijumped out of bed wit a force,,,imscared

I'm 13 almost 14 and this happens to me often. The first time it happened I thought it was just a bad dream and didn't think anything of it. But lately I've been scared to go to sleep because the other night I thought I was going to stop breathing (this was when I was still asleep...kind of) then a few seconds later I thought someone had their hands around my neck. That was defiantly the scariest thing EVER! Actually I was telling my dad about this incident when my brother told me what it could be. I was SO relieved when he told me not to worry about it to much and just look it up on the internet....and come to think about it I think I saw an episode of 'House' where a little boy had it and thought he was getting abducted by aliens.

i know how this feels. i've been having it since i was little. to me, it feels like my soul wakes up before my body has a chance to wake up first. i see everything around but i cant move or speak. then i try to shout Jesus but all that comes out is mumbling. anyways, after a few tries, i say it properly and then i'm free. it used to happen only when i sleep on my back but now it happens even when i sleep on my tummy. i never sleep on my back anymore. even when i'm tired, i wake up in a hurry to change position. its very scary. it mostly happens to me when i'm backsliding in my christain life.

thank God i found you at long last..same experience with you guys..awake but still asleep..i only see dead hands during my episodes aiming to cover my nose..this happens all the time..but i always struggle to move my toes,,get up and drink water..then pray..but sometimes it's hard to move my body..my question..what if i wont move and just trip out.. will i die? just like the others.sudden unexplained death?

I only just realised that this scary experience has a name after suffering this morning. I have been suffereing from SP for about 4 years, however I always know when it will happen. My husband works shifts and when he works a day shift he gets up earlier than myself. I like to stay in bed for a bit longer but these days I get up two hours earlier to avoid this SP. I f I stay in bed this is what happens...

I feel as if I am awake but can't wake myself up, then I hear footsteps in the bedroom (often think my husband has returned)then sometimes feel like someone is touching me.

Today was the worst ever same as above but seen woman walk along past the bottom of my bed and a huge spider crawl across the ceiling!!!! at the same time I kept trying to wake myself up but took me what felt like ages!!!

I'm 15 years old and ever since I was about 9 I've been expierencing what you call 'sleep paralysis'. It's a very traumatizing happening for me. Usually it occurs in this order: I'm having a restless night, I toss and turn until I finally give up and lay on my back. I slowly fall asleep and then about 5 or 10 minutes into the sleep, I feel the sudden urge to get up. Once i flip open my eyes I can no longer move. And from then on, I expierence everything that was stated in the article above. I just can't bring myself to believe that this is completely scientific, and I don't think it is. I'm also amazed that so many other people expierence this as well, I must say that I'm glad I'm not alone. And I'm also happy that there is some sort of explanation for it.

I don't really have any specific questions about this topic now, except the general one - why? Why does this happen? Yea, I understand my body mentally wakes up before it physically is ready to wake up...but why?

I guess some questions are better left, unanswered.

Thanks for reading this
-Tasha :]

I have had sleep paralysis before. Last time I had it, I hallucinated during SP for the first time. I felt the presence of a laughing girl. It creeps me out.

I´ve tried having sp af couple of times, but last night was the scariest thing i have ever had. Normaly i feel like dying, i cant breath, or move. But the last 2 times it have been different. The first time i dreamed i was at the bottom of the ocean, and i suddenly waked up, shaking, but couldn´t move, and it felt like a strong wind on my body, and my teeths were clattering. The second time, which was last night, i woke up, couldnt move either, shaking a lot, a strange alien like noise, and the wind again as if somebody where sucking the life out of me, i was very convinced that i was aliens, who were stealing my life energy. It was very scaring, because it kept going on for while, and i was totally paralyzed, i could just barerly move a finger, i tried to yell, but nothing happened. Im 19 years old and this is the first time i have experienced sp so intense.

I was having problems sleeping being awake at the time im aware of my train of thoughts, i can hear my partner having his shower even.
at that point i felt it happen, at the time i am able to move and open my eyes, but was too chicken too as i didnt want to see anything. there was no noise present besides the shower running and my own train of thoughts telling me to keep calm. I have had it before but it was always connected with sleeping whether it be deep or a restless sleep however this time i have no explaination as im awake.
the feeling was the same, this sence of pressure on me, it comes in a force that your whole body can feel something like a strong gust of wind blowing at you.
it comes stronger and stronger in wave like patterns there was 3 distinctive waves that hit me the first was really painful the second i was prepared for, the third was the most painful, i could feel the pressure mostly on my stomach and neck area.

i told myself to stay calm and not to open my eyes no matter what as the shower water stopped the expereince ended as well. my partner came into the room then i had the balls to open my eyes.when it stoped i have no experience of continueing pain and before the expereince there was no pain either.
i was NEVER even asleep or close to it, i was not drosy when i opened my eyes, just shock as i cant explain this or link it to REM sleep!!!

its comforting to know that there is an explaination for SP but this time how do i explain this?........

i have alot of expereinces that link me to believe that maybe SP is linked to reasons beyong this world maybe?........

i hope this doesnt happen again it happens to me maybe 2 times a year or not at all its rare.

Im 24 yrs now when i was 6 i saw my first spirit (ghost) through out my lifetime i will see a few more after that. but i do not claim to see them on a regular basis but on random accations, one time me and another person saw something at the same time.
and i do see them in broad day light too, never spoken or been spoken to by them before THANK GOD!!!

so to me there is alot that cant be explained and maybe this SP i expereince is one of them.

Hi, I've had this happen to from age of 6yrs old to now at 37yrs old,my mother would tell me stories om me sleep walking. That I would turn ON all the lights in the house.I would try to walk out the front door in the middle of the night AT AGE 6,and with out any knowledge of this disorder? As I got older I still had many ghostly encounters through out the night,some nights I felt that a dark figure would hold my legs down,as I try to fight it I could feel small feet or small shoes.Other times I would fall asleep on the couch on my stomach and felt a FORCE so that was so HEAVY on my back.I would feel something trying to gain access to my Bottom (butt). I've also have had many encounters with hearing voices as I would walk through old graveyards? through my child hood well into my adult hood,its has stopped since then, now I just can't sleep for no more than 4hrs a day and at times if I sleep more than 4 I wake with a migraine. Just last night on 2 March 2009 around 11:30pm I was falling asleep on the couch and I felt where this MASS or Thing HEAVILY Pressed on my BACK, as I awoke with NOT able to SPEAK,nor move my limbs I said to my self NO,NO,NO PLEASE STOP, and that seems to go away, but then I can't go back to sleep. Thank you

I'm 14 years old and this first thing happened to me a year ago when i woke up and couldnt move my body at all, i started to panic and such, i looked it up and really didnt have any more problems...until recently. Recently before i fall asleep this wierd feeling comes over me, i can move a bit and ward it off but if i let it overcome me my body starts to like shut down and not move, i can try to move my muslces and maybe i could break free. However this one time i let it continue and i felt real scared and eventually my eyes started having almost a seizure or something, like they were moving back and forth. Must be sypmtoms of REM sleep taking place before im asleep. I keep telling my parents but they dont believe me and they wont even take the time to look it up because they keep thinking that this is rediculous, but im glad to see that people other than me have this terrifying disorder, although i wish none of us had it. I guess i will just have to learn to cope with the terrors of Sleep Paralysis.

My name is Brooklynn and I am 15 years old. For the past 3 months I have had my episodes. This last time scared me the most. I had a dream about my grandfather who had passed away in October of 2007. I woke to the feeling of something holding me down and it felt like I was being choked. I remember trying to scream for help but nothing came out. I then tried to hit my wall to try to wake my sister up but again, nothing. I finally made the effort to try to open my eyes but when I did, everything was darting and I couldn't focus. All I could hear was static, like from a radio and it boggled me because I don't even have a radio.
I was so afraid to tell anyone about it because I thought they would think I was crazy or something. The next morning when I actually awoke, I told my sister about it and I asked her if she heard me screaming or hitting the walls and she said she didn't hear nothing.
I heard something on the TV about SP and decided to do some research about it and I found this website.

I'm 22 and have had SP since I was 7. for years I had no idea what was going on. I can remember night after night of extreme fear and terror, something creeping over me, blotchy clouds, evil laughs, weight on my body, strange sounds like rining and people's voices. I would try so hard to call out to my parents but my voice couldn't work. I really thought death had come to get me. I would lie awake all night until I felt safe enough to go into my parents and curl up at the end of their bed. I only recently discovered the name for this and am so greatful for this. I am currently working on a spiritual writting piece about SP. Having SP has really shaped me as a person. I mean it takes great strength to deal with this. after eight years of having this i have finally gathered the strength to talk back when I'm in this state. I normally mumble "go away, leave me alone" and that does the trick, but it takes so much strength to do this. I also listen to music at night and have a hypnosis tape that I use. I also always have a stuffed animal (at college) and my dog (at home) on the outside of my bed when I sleep. I can't sleep unless something is protecting me. I know that their are triggers for SP, mine are paranormal things (go figure that i'm fasinated by that topic anyway). I have had SP for so long now that I know when i wake up in the morning if I will have one at night. I also don't sleep on my back ever, but this does not always work. mostly i get SP a few times a month.

i have had something happen to me three times...i still am not completely sure what it is, but after reading the article, think it might be sp. when i am about to wake, i open my eyes and see my surroundings, but physically can't get up. i can see myself trying to getting up in my dream (if i can call it a dream-like state). i sometimes feel as though i am being held down by something, not necessarily evil, but something. i do not hear any noises or scary sounds. it doesn't last very long, a few seconds, i think. it just happened to me and i thought i would look online to see if there is anything that would help me figure out what is going on. i have been under stress lately which may be a contributing factor. any comments/thoughts would be appreciated.

My Experience of Sleep Paralyzes
I am just going to go through the different steps of my experience

Episode 1: year 2008
Time:between 5:00 am - 6:30 am: It happened Right before i woke up

Step 1:Eyes was open i could see everything around me i was aware of everything around me
but i couldn't move not move an inch not even a finger or toe, also the feeling of someone
pressing against my head was there.

Step 2:I tried saying words but i couldn't, It was like i couldn't say anything out loud
but only in my mind.

step 3:I`m not sure if i fell back asleep for 2-4sec but within a short period of time
i saw what i`ll say was an half wolf half human looking beast running towards me like it was
just about to attack.(i still couldn't move or call out for help)

step 4:Right before that beast reached close to me, i got my hands to move
and i used my left hand to push my self up(my upper body) and raised my right hand to
guard my head from being hit.(after that bit off movement i got to guard my self
i still couldn't move afterwords )

Step 5: 3 Circular bright lights appeared between my self and the beast {[(they were just
hovering right in front of me as if was protecting me from that beast thing)}

Step 5: as soon as those three lights appeared the beast stopped,turned and stared running
in the other direction.the lights started moving in the same direction as the beast.

step 6:Now with one hand holding up my upper body and the other guarding my head, I kept Forcing
my self trying to move then suddenly i forced and forced and it was like breaking free from
some unbelievable power that was holding me down.

I still cant understand how i was able move to defend my self during my attack
(i knew i did move because when i came out of being Paralysis i was in the same
defensive position guarding my self)

i have had four episode total
MY most recent and worst one was 25/02/2009 some ware between 2:00-3:00 am

I have been interested in this sleep paralizis thing for years as i have been having these phases on and of scince i was 14 years old. I would lie in my bed and on one occasion i heard a low horrible throaty laugh walking towards me i could smell sulpher and damp My head was half under the duvet and i was facing the other way. Then i felt something scratch what sounded like nails as well as the laugh across my duvet up to my head i was completely paralized but im sure i was awake then something was pushing my head into my pillow and i paniced like you obviously wouldi was struggling for breath. Then eventualy i was able to move and sat straight up in bed there was nothing. On other occasions there has been something on top of me pushing me into the bed while i was paralized and i couldn't do anything eventually i was able to scream which bought me out of this state. Then i done a bit of research and tryed to put myself in this state after relaxing and using hypnotherapy to relax my body. Then this experiance started again but this time i wasn't to bothered because i knew i had put myself in this state. Ever scince that last episode that i put my self into i havn't had any more scince so i deffinately know now that it does have a scientific explanation and that it is to do with when you are in between asleep and awake im just glad i don't have these episodes anymore.

I had "Sleep Paralysis" or an encounter of some sort about 10 years ago. I still remember it vividly. I was asleep in the attic room in my parents house. It was in the early hours of the morning when I was awoken by the most evil of entities pinning me down to my bed whilst I was lying on my back. It appeared to be holding my arms and had a dark outline resembling some sort of cloaked being. I couldn't move, couldn't speak, and I panicked. After a few seconds of struggle, I managed to shake this thing off. It seemed to disappear in the wall to my right. I sat up in bed gasping for breath trying to work out what it was. I looked at my clock and it said 3.45am. At that point, exactly the same thing happened - and I was once again pinned down by this thing. Again, I struggled until eventually I threw this thing off and it disappeared once again. I just ran down the stairs and straight into my brother's room. I was so upset by it, I didn't go into the room or sleep in it for 2 weeks. Even then it was a big effort to ignore what went on. A few years later my friend told me that my "symptons" were pointing to sleep paralysis. Reading some of these reports, they certainly do - but I'm still not 100% sure it is scientific. I haven't had it since, and wouldn't want to go through it again. A horrible nasty experience. One question though - why does everyone's experience of this event have an evil undertone?

i am 22 now and used to have really bad night terrors but they stop when i was 16 and now out of no were i have been having sp it was just once and awhile and now its every night and some times it only last a few mins but some times it seems like it last for hours. i have tried everything meds and all and nothing seems to help i dont sleep on my back i dont know how to get rid of it. i just want one night of sleep. its been so long i can function anymore. so if any one knows something i dont that i can try let me know or if any one sp this bad somehting at least so i know i am not the only one who has sp every night

sometimes I would be laying on my back watching T.V and would fall asleep not even knowing that I did. And when i try to wakeup, its like my eyes are too heavy i have to put my hands on my face and open it and i got hide a few times. I sleep on my back , I was like I was asleep but awake in my sleep. Someone was covering my mouth and i was yelling my sister name but i couldn't hear myself. i swear If people could of die twice. I was killing that person again!

My name is Matthew, I am 29 years of age, married, and naturally have shared in the misfortune of experiencing the darkness we are all here to investigate.

I woke up not more than 15 minutes ago from another such of theses events. My last occurred Tuesday, October 16th, 2007 and at that time I made an entry in my journal. I have planned to make another at the current time, but for now I would like to share the entry from my last experience. It is rather lengthy and is personal, but I think presently I am so filled with gratitude for surviving the last such event that I would surrender something as personal as a journal entry with you. Without further adieu, my entry:

“In the now tangible I sit looking and listening. I see solid objects that I can touch, that I can heft, that I can feel. I hear, I hear crickets now, I hear light classical music; I hear the hum of the computer and the dogs breathing. It’s 2:30 in the morning and I am safe, but only a short time ago I wasn’t. You see, a short time ago I was lying in bed only inches from my spouse, who never even knew of my danger. All at once, from a state of sleep I woke up. My mind came out of its state of rest, it woke up. The “it” I call is my mind but more specifically I mean to say my spirit. I believe they are one and the same. Not the gray matter of the actual physical brain but the power behind it that motions it to thought.
“All at once it was thinking you see, reasoning but with no response from my body. Yes, that terrifying feeling. My limbs did not respond, my head did not turn as I commanded. So I lay in bed a live spirit, a living soul bound to a flesh, non responsive coffin. I could see a live shot, a perfect image of the room before me, I could hear the sound of the electronic waves we have playing. I could hear the sound of the ceiling fan above me. Then that feeling came over me. All at once, so fast it came; the feeling that someone was in the room. I couldn’t turn to see but it was not a good person, it was not a being of light, but rather darkness. This person, this being was there to do harm, but I couldn’t turn to physically defend myself. But wait, it wasn’t physical at all and it [was] not alone. This was not a single being of darkness. In my inability to physically assess the persons I used another sensing ability which, with out looking could tell me how many persons were in the room and where they were.
“I felt, sensed, the room and where they were. I felt, sensed, Jessica laying behind me, she was facing up. The two dogs, I felt, or send them rather, under the bed. I then sensed the person of darkness by the closet. Around him, yes it was male, there were more. They all whispered. They mocked everything, the sound of the waves, the way I laid in bed, Jessica, everything. The period of awareness that I maintained was not very long before he found me. You noticed I said “found me,” that is because I believe in my ignorance, my being in that sate of awareness somehow summoned the creature. He was able to find me, or lock onto my signal and use it as a way to find me. He knew that I was in that state; he knew I knew he was there. [He] seems he ruled over the others, or was somehow stronger, or smarter than them. The longer I remained in this state the darker the room seemed to become until I sensed there were dozens of them. They filled the room around him, each new arrival finding a place to situate themselves without regard to the floor.
“Some swirled about behind me, some by the window I was turned facing, some by the night stand. As each new creature came into the room they brought with them their voice. They were all so angry, so full of hate. The feeling was so magnified, so intense, with dread fear lest they somehow take me I realized I still could not command my body. I could not leave, I was helpless.
“I was alone to face them all. No one not even Jessica could help me fight them. I realized then that it was a fight. They did not enjoy my company nor I theirs. We were mortal enemies. They know it and I know it. I am at the disadvantage though, I am not used to this bodiless state and they are. Each of them has been in this state for a very long time and I but a few number of minutes. I am, and was out numbered. It seemed that a state of panic filled me. Quickly I tried to focus, focus on words to cry out for help. Of course no words came out of the mouth of my body but words did come from the mouth of my spirit. I called out, hearing it myself as they heard it. They mocked me. So powerful was the darkness, so many became the voices. Language did not seem to matter we were not bound or limited by that. A lot of them meant to do me harm and they, each of them, spoke in their tongue. Some of theme couldn’t even form intelligent words all they could bring themselves to do is make growling or snarling noises. Others could only vibrate, like the base from a speaker; they could vibrate this feeling of darkness that would fill the room with each pulse they would release. Each would spread its darkness with the power it possessed.
“As I struggled to find a way from this they joyed, for what ever portion of joy they could experience, at my expense. I thought to pray. Pray to God to pull me out of this terrible state. I couldn’t pray so powerful was the darkness now. I couldn’t remember how to pray. I was panicking. I never panic. I am good with emergencies, that is my job, that is what I am good at. But this, how can you begin to prepare? How can you plan for this? How can you exercise the power of your spirit in this state when you don’t even know the first thing about it? They live in that world, and have been there so long, they rule, that is their playground. They have dominion there. At this point I remembered one of them, he felt familiar. I had felt him before as a child. The experience came back to me in a flash. He had done this very same thing to me in my youth. Though the duration and intensity was nowhere near this, I had tasted of his presence once before but, was protected more from him than I was at this point.
“So, there I lay helpless to the room of darkness not able now to pray and fearing they might have the end of me, when my mind grabbed, as it were, a song. A single song out of the whirling panic of my soul. So I sang it, I sang it, all of it. My mind remembered every word, every note. I belted it out like a trumpet. The song rang out through the darkness and penetrated it. The sound of my voice singing this song made them more angry. But as I sang my pitch was matched. The tones were louder and I realized some of them were singing it with me. Were they really helping me? Were they too trying to call out for help, for deliverance from this darkness? Then I kept singing, but a little quieter so I could hear them. Their voices were strong and they know how to sing really well. But wait, those weren’t the right words. They, some of them started out singing with me but then began to change the words to make fun of me. They were not singing to help me or themselves. They were singing to mock me and the One my song was crying out to. “The song I sang was Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing…[I included the words here in my original entry] as I sang this song their anger rose but they began to fade. The darkness began to lift; my song, my only prayer I could utter, was heard and I was spared from their darkness. My body was release to my charge once again and I could command it to motion.
“Oh, how grateful I was. I quickly rolled off the bed and to my knees I dropped. I thanked god with all my heart. Thanked him for sparing me from the darkness and granting me protection from it. I thanked him for my body, thanked him for the power I’ve been granted over it.
“What an amazing gift we’ve been given! What glorious protection from the darkness! How can I, in all my fear, panic and weakness be seen as something of worth to rescue? How truly grateful I am, from the bottom of my soul, to God for His tender mercies. For His grace and compassion on such a weak servant. How can I begin to repay for sparing me? Not only for the protection from this one experience, but for daily protection. Protection when I don’t know it, protection and guidance. How wonderful a Father! How kind and thoughtful He is indeed. I owe him everything I have. I owe him everything I am. I know of my own strength I am nothing. I could not deal with even a room full of darkness let alone a whole host, no, army of them!
“I see now that it is His strength, His power and His light that keeps them bound. When my chance came to fight with darkness I was overcome by it. I was drowning in their darkness. I only had the strength to beg, beg for His mercy.
“This world is real and very familiar to us. The things we touch, the laws of nature we are bound to live by. But there is another one and it is inhabited by creatures that would feed upon us all. They are here with us on earth, we just can’t see them with the naked eye of our bodies (thank Heaven). Should your chance ever come to face those demons of darkness do not fight, do not try to fight, rather, pray. Pray for your life, pray for your soul. Pray that He might spare you like He spared me for the darkness is too strong; their power is greater than you think. It is very real, it is very scary. I don’t want to imagine what would happen if I were left alone to face the darkness. I know God lives, I know Christ is…greater than us all and He lives! I was safer than I knew, I was saved this morning from a terrible fight. I will never forget this. I will never forget. Amen.”

I understand that our time here on this earth is limited. We, all of us, are here for a purpose. I believe that each of us is a son or daughter of our Heavenly Father and we are all given experiences that are for our learning and growth during this probationary period we find ourselves in.

As, I’m sure you can read, my disposition is one that would relish in lengthy communication, so for the sake of your time I’ll conclude now by sharing one last thought. I understand what I am opening myself up to by posting on a public form such as this, but all the same am doing so because I believe that I have been born during this time and granted exposure to this world and all the curious workings of its many sides to better myself and those around me. I have a firm testimony in our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. I say “the Christ” because Christ is His surname which by definition means the only begotten of the Father. I share you my solemn testimony that He lives! He loves us and desires greatly for us all to return to live with Him and the Father again after this life. I also would like to share with you my testimony of the truthfulness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth. I leave you my testimony that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God and that he restored the church on the earth in this dispensation; and this I do in the name of our elder brother and Son of the Father, even Jesus the Christ, Amen.

I would very much like to provide support to any of you seeking support or assistance during your time of concern about your experience with what science has labeled “Sleep Paralysis”.

I AM SO HAPPY THAT I COULD FIND OUT THE REAL TRUTH IM 13 NOW,AND ITS HAPPENED TO ME ABOUT 3 TIMES. ONE DAY I WOKE UP FROM A DREAM AND I COULD VARIFY THAT I WAS IN MY BED,AND I TRIED TO GET OUT MY BED BUT I COULDEN'T MOVE AT ALL,BY WHOLE BODY WOULD SHAKE ALITTLE,AND I EYES WOULD MOVE,AND BACILY I COULDEN'T MOVE. WHEN I WAS 12,I COULDEN'T SEE WHAT IT WAS SINCE IT WAS INVISABLE,BUT SOMETHING PICKED ME UP AND I WAS ACTUALLY FLYING.IT SCARED ME.THANKS 4 FINDING OUT ABOUT IT.

I had no Idea what this was called before falling upon A web site about illucid dreaming, then I searched sleeping while still awake, because I wallways wondered why when I fell asleep and tried to wake up I couldnt, I would try to scream my self awake but couldnt speak, untill I finally awoke, after a few times that it has happened I have found the abillity to controll what happens when this happens, sometimes, it;s a frightening feeling, like something is crawling on walls, or talking, other stuff like that. I remember one time this happened and I said to my self ok well I know I cant awake let me see if I can fly and I felt like I was lifted off into the air, and I tried a few other things and they all worked...this was more than A dream, It actually "felt as if it were to be happening". I can almost controll rather I am Paralyzed Or the event . Sometimes I try to do this just to see what will happen , It hasnt happened for about a month know. I have a gard time falling asleep as it is sometimes. My brain just keeps thinking and thinking and thinking......well anyways it's 3 AM and I think I'm a go NREM/REM a little bit thanks.....

I have been having sp occurrences for probably about the last two years or so. Although, I cannot say I have ever hallucinated. When it happens to me I usually feel awake, but I cannot move my body AT ALL no matter how hard I try. Also, when I go into sp I find it extremely difficult to breath almost as if I am suffocating. As anyone reading this probably knows...this can be very scary. I have noticed that for the most part sp only happens to me when I am awake for maybe an hour or two and then try to go back to sleep. This happens because I will go to my early morning classes and then come back and try to fall asleep, and that's when it usually occurs. It also happens to me, sometimes, when I try to sleep in a car. I find trying to avoid doing those two things (for me at least) helps prevent my sp from happening.

My first attack was at 12 years old. I thought aliens were trying to do experiments on me. Once I fell asleep in class at College and I had an attack. When it happens all I can do is whisper very softly, open my eyes and turn my head very slightly side to side. It does happen during stressful times. I also grind my teeth as someone else mentioned.

i have had these sp occurrences many times .i dont beleive sciences explanation for them as they would literally have to attach probes to your brain and then monitor you in your sleep,and i dont see them doing that.but thinking about it ,i beleive it is a near death experience.people whe report nde's usually report seeing spirits.it is also a fact that the majority of natural deaths,other than those attributed to natural traumas such as a heart attack or stroke,are in our sleep.and these almost always occur in the dead of the night,between 1am and 4am,aka the witching hour,and for those of you about to lambast me for beleiving in witchery,demons,spirits/ghosts let me just say i beleive in the bible and you cant belive in one and not the other as the bible clearly tells you of them.it is also interesting to note that they occur most often when a person is sleeping face up,the exact position that the majority of people worldwide are laid to rest in.lastly if we were to beleive sciences explanation of it as being a hallucination,then explain why all of these hallucinations are of spirits?wouldnt an hallucination be more random?never heard of any who woke from one of these and claimed to see pink elephants on their chest or any other type of random hallucinations,its always spirits.

I am a 36 year old female who has had what I guess is SP since I was 4 or 5 years old. when I was a child I would have these out of body experiences along with auditory and visual events all within the first minutes of falling asleep. This past year the SP expereinces have become more frequent along with what I call Brain Zaps. Brain Zaps is an auditory electrical bolt or zap that goes through my brain...zapping me with an electrical current that I can hear and feel all at the same time. When I have these right before falling asleep I know I will be having an SP episode, usually quite frighteneing where I will have to pray for Jesus to protect me. He always does and I am able to fall back to sleep. My doctor says that the brain zaps could be related to the Cymbalta that I am taking, but he only prescribed Clonidine to help with high anxiety I must be expereiencing at night. He doesnt think I am crazy only very anxious and have every reason in the world to be anxious, I am the mother of 3, going through a divorce and I am the manager of manufacturing plant. Put all those stressors together and you get one highly anxious person. But I do believe in the spiri world, out of body experiences and defiently this SP. Sometimes my SP expereiences are good, they always start out evil but when I pray to Jesus I have a wonderful expereience and see the light of goodness and know everything will be ok. I would recommend to anyone expereiencing the evil spirits to pray and visualize Jesus and you too will see the goodness. I hope by sharing my little story I have helped someone somewhere. May God Bless you and yours.

So, I started this a few weeks maybe a month or two ago. I have had sleeping problems since I was a little girl, been off and on sleeping my whole life. I took myself off of them and then these started happening a few months later... I wake up in the middle of the night usually around the same time. I get nervous but I'm not sure I'm scared. I can't talk or move and sometimes it is hard to breath. I open my eyes and see black on the top part of my vision is all black but I can see everything else. Sometimes I feel frightened but mostly after. Lastnight I started to pray when it happened.. It lasted a little while but the stronger my prayer got the more movement i got...

I have sleep paralysis sometimes three to four times a night. I will be falling asleep and just 10 minutes later i will wake up and not be able to move. I am always on my back when this happens. The only way i can wake up is is i gain enough energy to twitch my entire body to one side so as to send a shock wave through myself. I too hear music before i get sleep paralysis, mostly music i don't remember ever hearing previous to that night. I find that if i take time to relax myself and don't move around too much before i go to sleep paralysis is less likely to happen. It is quite scary and this article really helped me out because now i understand why i have been afraid to sleep my whole life. I'm 16 years old and i really hope this does not go on forever because it may be the scariest thing that ever happens to me seeing how claustrophobic i am. I have a lot of anxiety in my life, and so seeing that that is a common symptom of sleep paralysis in the future i will try to also calm my thoughts and try not to think about my worries before i fall asleep.

Yah I feel better readin everything bout sleep paralysis an knowing so many people deal wit it. I'm so used to it by now. All I do is tryto move my leg or arm an once I'm able to then it goes away. My dad an bro also suffer from it an it's so annoying wen my mom sits there an says were being "attacked " by a demon SO ANNOYING but ikno it's not true haha thanks to scientist people :) I jus wish I knew if there was some kind of cure for it

I'm 35 and I use to get this all the time as a teenager and into my 20's... I then noticed that it only seemed to happen when I would sleep with the TV or Radio on. Ever since I stopped falling asleep with the TV or Radio on I've never had to experience another episode of this "Sleep Paralysis". I would even go a step further and avoid any noise or conversations during sleep. Close your window or door and maybe even wear ear plugs.
I believe some how my brain was incorporating what I heard into my dreams and some how that triggered it.

Good luck...
Carlos

Sleep paralysis is associated with sleep deprivation. The average adult need 7.5 hours of sleep and the average child needs 8 to 9 hours of sleep in order to perform at their peak. If you frequently stay up late and get up early you will eventually experience sleep paralysis. To put it simply Sleep paralysis occurs when the synapsess (part of the brain that controls movement) does not return from its rem sleep state. During rem sleep the synapsess is shut off to allow the body to recover however if you require more sleep it will sometimes stay disconnected. The consciousness awakes simply because it is used to waking up at certain time because you have trained it to awake regardless of the sleep you have given it. The hallucinations that you may see are caused by rem sleep simultaneously occurring with the real world. In a sense you are able to see a dream with a real world backdrop. In order to reawaken your synapsess you need to do one of two things. Above all stay calm though I understand how scary it can be. You can either allow the dream to finish which will then allow you to regain total body control or you can focus on moving a small body part that requires little energy back and forward. Once you are capable of moving a small body part it will cause a cascade effect throughout the body resulting in total body movement. I hope this helps. By the way I too suffer from sleep paralysis. I'm a video game developer and never get enough sleep!.

I have had two different types of incidents where I experienced what seems to be called "sleep paralysis". The first was several months ago where I experienced what seems to be the most common type where one feels as though a demon or "hag" is sitting on one's chest and you can't seem to breathe nor can you move. Yes, it is very frightening not being able to breathe, especially for what seems like no apparent reason. But just the other night I had a totally different experience which did not seem to hinder my breathing. I was lying on my back reading a book when suddenly I began to doze off. Naturally, I sat my book down and went off into sleep. I then abruptly woke up when I suddenly had the sensation as though I were floating up off the bed. Alarmed, I attempted to open my eyes, but couldn't. Nor could I move my body. So then I panicked and somehow snapped right out of it and woke completely up. I had no real signs of trouble breathing nor shortness of breath so I closed my eyes once more and drifted back off into sleep. Again, I woke up and began floating upwards away from my bed. This happened several more times until I became really annoyed and began to fight it. The last time I began to levitate it was a bit different. I felt myself swaying from side to side, just missing the walls. This time I became very alarmed, and panicked. But the panic only made for more turbulence so I decided I would give up and let myself relax. This actually helped. Suddenly I felt myself slowly descending back into my body. Then I noticed the strangest thing. I began to hear music. Of course! My mp3 player (which I currently had plugged into my computer speakers)! It wasn't until then that I even took notice of the other music that I heard playing (music which I had never heard before in my life). What was so strange is that the closer I came to reentering my body the less I could hear this foreign music, the more I could hear my mp3 player again, until finally I could no longer hear the foreign music. I had then reentered my body. It was then that I discovered I was still paralyzed when suddenly I felt the softest lips fully kiss my neck (near my Adam's apple). Frightened, I began to push it (her?) away. And then almost like a flash of light I felt whoever it was vanish as if into thin air, or perhaps another dimension. Now able to open my eyes, clutching my throat, I began to scan the room in attempt to reorientate myself.

i've had this since i was 14. or at least that's the earliest that i can remember. i remember talking about the "shadow" with my brother. it scared the crap out of both of us. and then, i scared my lil sister with these ideas. and then, i scared my husband. and all the while my mother said i was crazy. so i finally learned about this, and i'm sooooo happy. although, i did figure out on my own that it happened when i slept on my back. and i learned that if i told myself to do something, i would eventually get out of it, like scream for help. i would lay there and think to myself, come on, say it, say it, you can say it, move it, say it. sometimes the command was as simple as rolling over. and when i got my body to roll over even slightly, it was gone.
anyway, to all those young ones who had it, i know it's scary, but try to learn the little things that can make it easier to live with. my husband reminds me every night to roll over.
o, and i firmly believe that some people have had this experience, but have not told anyone. if you would like to ease other people's suffering, pass this information along. it can help someone think they're not crazy or possessed.

For years now, I just assumed that I was dreaming these weird episodes, but I stumbled upon an article today on sleep paralysis and recognized what I've been going through!

Mine only occur when I'm sleeping on my left side, and it always feels like there's a person in bed with me, squeezing me tightly all over, like a full-body hug. I also often hear unexplainable noises while it's happening, and I have also felt like I was having an orgasm on more than one occasion. After about 20 or 30 seconds of not being able to move, I am suddenly "free."

It always happens when I'm trying to fall asleep, rather than when I'm waking up. I'm so glad to know that I'm not going insane and that there are other people who've been through this. And it's also good to know that I'm not being harmed when it happens. I was afraid I was not getting enough blood flow to my head or something!

Well, the first time I experienced this, I dreamed that I was a spirit traveling down a "ghost town" if you will. I saw a few people, who I knew were also deceased, some struggling with their new "spirit" bodies. I felt like I was in a strange, but familiar neighborhood. Anyway, all the people that I saw from a distance looked like white mists, but the closer I got to these people, the clearer their images became. I have to say this for humor's sake - in the dream I asked some deceased people "Why are you so white; they grinned but didn't answer me. Anyway, when I started waking up, the first thing I heard was my heart beat, very loud and clear. It was as if my heart was restarting itself. The next thing I noticed is that I felt like a force was pressing my entire body down into my bed, and I noticed that the pressure was making it hard for me to breathe. (this happened about 2 months ago). Since then, it has happened about three or more times. I usually can hear myself praying in my sleep, praising God. It doesn't let up right away. Today it happened again. I just got married last Saturday (1/24/09). I figured since I now have my husband by my side it wouldn't happen any more. Well, it happened again this morning. This time, I was asleep on my stomach & I was able to lift my left leg from the knee down, and slam it on the bed a few times, then I then started trying to yell - fighting very viciously. I heard my voice although muffled. My husband was asleep, but I heard him make a noise in response to me slamming my foot on the bed. I wasn't as scared this time, because I was so busy fighting. The last 2 times this happened, I could hear loud "white noise". I also felt like there was a presence in the room, urging me to just go back to sleep, but I'm such a fighter, that I refused to fall back asleep in that state. I refuse to submit to an enemy! I do notice that when my Bible is near me, and open, it does NOT happen. I can't help but believe that I'm going to WIN this battle with the Grace of God. Just as suddenly as it started happening, it can stop!

It has happened to me a few times within the past few years. The first few times not being able to move really frightened me and I'd try to move my head and I could barely let it fall to the side and couldn't speak. Well so it happened maybe 3 or 4 times total since then and the last time it happened I just really concentrated to "wake up" and regain use of my body and it worked. So I believe it just a wacky experience kinda like a dream that can happen while your in that inbetween state of sleep and awake. Just concentrate hard to move your limbs and I think that will raise your heart rate which in essence will cause you to start to wake and then you will be able to move.just say to your self that you control your body and your not going to let some far fetched dream own you. I'm also an avid weight lifter and have been for the last 6 years or so and I really practice the mind muscle connection stuff when I lift so I also think that led to me "beating" my sleep paralysis. I hope that this bit can help you.

I remember my dad tellin me that he use to feel things at night and couldnt move... i thought he wuz juz sayin tha to scare me... but i have read that it is genetic n now been happenin to me for tha past 4 years.

i cant say ive seen anything.. cuz once the lights go off.. there are so many shadows every where.. so even if they were there i didnt pay much attention. There was a day tho i fell asleep in my moms room and i heard a little girls voice saying if i had a pencil?? an then she started to say it faster and the voice got higher.. i right away woke up but couldnt move at all. i was on my stomach an had my head on my arms. i was still able to move my eyes. i looked at the time it was 6:22pm i then started to see the lights flash on and off. once i snappd out of it i immediatly got up and it was 6:23. so i know i was not dreaming.... since then i been hearing a lot of things at night sounds like a deep devil voice and i hear a lot of buzzing and static.

another one that i would never forget... i woke up in the middle of the night. not able to move.. i was being held to tight then i decided to scream for help!! i was surprised because i was able to scream and heard myself screaming. i was crying an yellin out for my mom to help me. i then heard her say.. shut up! n i started to cry even more an kept yelling for help.. then i heard her say shut the fuck up bitch!!! i was still crying but did not say anything.. a couple minutes later.. once it let me go i ran to my moms room and said didnt you hear me screaming!!! she said yea i heard you.. you scrame SHUT UP!! really loud.. an i said no i didnt!! i kept calling out for you to come and help me an you were tellin me to shut up!! but i guesz i was not yellin the things i thought i was/.

Is there any professional treatment for this disorder??? Please post...

I had the most terrifying dream a short while ago, around 6am... i could not go back to sleep after it, i just jumped on the internet trying to find some answers...
In my dream, i was in the bathroom, washing my hands and face in the basin, when i suddenly collapsed on the tiled floor and could feel a case of hyperventilation coming on (my hands were curved frozen in one position and i couldnt move them, and my face too)... i recovered slowly, and when i finally got up, i looked in the mirror, and watched as my eyes went small, black and beady and i felt my brain was about to burst out of my head! I felt like my whole head was going to burst actually! I remember saying 'God no, please, i don't wanna die now!' but then i woke up at that exact moment, and swore i could steal feel my whole head tightening.. then i developed a mild headache, which i still have now as i am typing this ... it was utterly terrifying, i have never had any dreams like this before. I felt like i was trying to force something (demon??) to not possess me, but i couldn't stop it, and that when it finally entered me, my dream was stopped (by me awakening) ... It's not possible to be possessed by anything these days is it?? I was fine today, i've always been fine, but this has really scared me. I'm scared to go back to sleep now in case the dream continues. I don't understand it, i've never had any awful dreams like this before ... can anyone help me make sense of this???

I suffer from sleep paralysis also. I have found that if I sleep propped up, with my head elevated it does not happen. Hope it works for other people too.

The first SP episode I can remember having was around the age of 13/14. I felt that there was an evil presence in the room and I could hear it rasping but couldn't wake up. The next time it happened I heard my little sisters footsteps, my bedroom door opening and closing and then the weight of her sitting at the foot of my bed. The time after that the same thing but this time it was my stepbrother (who had died when he was 8 and I was 12). Both these times weren't scary as I felt they were protecting me. Whether it was a dream/hallucination or my brothers ghost and sisters astral body visiting me who knows.

From the age of 18-20 I was single and living in a very large, dark and depressing house. This was when I started having SP episodes very frequently. Almost every night. I would feel an evil presence and would try to wake up/move/scream etc but couldn't. My body would be vibrating/buzzing with energy and I would eventually wake up feeling groggy. It totally freaked me out and I would be too scared to go to sleep most nights. It used to happen around 2am or 3am.

I was working with a psychic medium at this point of time and he said that I had something that evil spirits wanted and so it was them trying to take it from me. He told me to pick a positive affirmation and to repeat it in my head whenever it happened. I still don’t know whether I believe about the spirits part but the affirmation used to help. I now believe that panicking is what makes it worse and that’s why people who pray etc always find that it helps because it calms them down. After I moved out of that house the episodes slowed down to a minimum. Old housemates later on all said that they felt really sad/depressed when they lived there but were fine again once they moved out. I lived in a few rooms in that house but the room that I had the most experiences in had its windows nailed shut. The reason being that a previous housemate had done it because she would always find them wide open when she knew she had left them shut.

I am now married and only have these episodes once in a blue moon. They only happen when I am by myself and have slept in or napping. This supports my theory that fear play a part as I never have them when I’m sleeping next to my husband. When it happens now I just relax and tell myself that I am fine and nothing can harm me. The feeling of other presences still occurs sometimes but it is almost always comforting (children babbling or singing). Whether this is paranormal or just my brain playing tricks on me I will probably never know.

Hope this helps someone.

I realise that I have been experiencing sleep paralysis for most of my conscious life. Fortunately I really only experience very vivid dreams (which I can recall in a lot of detail) and waking up and not being able to move. I consider that lucky unlike some of the things that people here seem to experience.

However, what I have started to notice is that on the days that this doesn't happen or when I cant remember my dreams, I feel like I have had such a bad nights sleep that I left feeling lethargic throughout the rest of the day.

I also miss when I cant recall my dreams, although I suspect that could be down to the fact that for the most part I can control the content of my dreams; although I still wake up thinking that there are Veloceraptors or the Aliens from Alien in my room, or that King Kong is looking through my bedroom window (which I find more and more funny now when I wake up). I can also go to bed or even whilst asleep direct or think exactly what I want to dream about.

I find that I am left more relaxed the next day when my dreams (or even the paralysis) happens then if it doesn't. I would compare it to not being able to slip into a hot bath at the end of a hard day and relaxing.

Im only 20 and this happens moe then i like. At first i thought maybee i numbed my body from sleeping on due to the fact that it was my arm alot. After a while my body started to just stop amd i get paranoid. I looked up this issue cause just know i never went to sleep i was looking at my wall and it happened. I was paralized but awake i never fell asleep. now for this to be a sleep pralysis i would assume you would of had to fall asleep and during this time all i her is Spanish. Granted im a latin but i dont know a ounce of spanish which is wierd because what ever i think of seems to be translated to spanish. to get out of this state i tell my body to move and try to move i twitch alot during this phase but like this im out of it in 10 sec if any one know y i expericed this with out sleeping plz email me thank you+

I used to have my sleep paralysis prominently in my early teens. It was the usual paralysis and there would be a hooded figure with red eyes standing behind me. Like any one else, I'd try to wiggle or holler out but couldn't. As I got older, the frequency reduced. It reduced to the point where if I napped during mid-day, I would get a sleep paralysis episode. Then they stopped save for one last episode.

There was a period where I discovered exercise, a more acute awareness of the world and the paranormal (without actively seeking it, per se)...and a growing belief system of general optimism. The sleep paralysis was gone by this phase of my life.

But sometime in late 2006 or early 2007...there was one last bout of sleep paralysis, like a last attempt by whatever tormenter. This time was different. I actually was able to move and PUNCH the dark figure; it dissipated and I woke up. I went to the bathroom and boy was I shaking. So I think there's more to sleep paralysis than a mere "scientific explanation."

After that I resumed being free of sleep paralysis. Saying some grace before eating, understanding karmic responses in what you do, maintaining a sense of gratitude for what you have, putting life in good perspective and doing earnest cardio (something which really makes you feel good)...you do become a strong being who develops a great protection aura at some point, in my estimation. That aura can help protect you from dark and negative forces. At the same time you understand that you will still be a work in progress for as long as you live.

I'm 29yrs old and a healthy lady! I've has this sleep disorder since i was 15yrs old, and I would to know when your body goes into that state is it at the same time every time? Because with me ever since the age of 15 til this day it happens at 12am and I don't even fall asleep I go straight into the terror and the voice noises and screaming are over whelming. I can't move speak, I can only look around and I feel like someone is holding me down! and I don't know as the years go by It's getting stronger and stronger and I feel like someone what to enter in and take over. I just went through it and decided to research and stubble upon this site........I will not sleep I'd rather be sleep deprived than experiencing sleep paralysis if that what it truly is! When I was 15yrs old I'd wake up and hear a song playing mind you it was a horror song and I would hear someone or thing drag themselves to my room in the hallway but never saw anything, as I got older it would come and go but when it happens the only thing that get rid of it is praying why? and why does the experience have to be so traumatizing and evil? when I was 17 I fell asleep in my living room and I heard a noise it was humming and all of a sudden I could not move it took all my strength to move my pinkie finger and the thing I felt it release me and the humming went into the master room bedroom can I get a explanation for that! I so tried of this it's making me live in fear and I can't sleep and tonight I was trying to sleep and it happened again and this time it was stronger and I could hear hundreds of screams and whatever was holding me down I could feel that it was stronger the holder and I felt like was going to die!!!!! So If there is anyone out there even you Mr. Doctor Please shed some light I don;t believe that it's sleep paralysis!!!!

... to learn this is a know experience. I've had this since I was young. The first occurence I can remember was when I was about 7. I was in the car sleeping on someone's lap. I saw the other people in the car but could not move, breathe and say anything. Now I'm 33. Along the years I learnt to break the paralysis by moving my jaw which takes the greatest effort.

I do have a case of waking up at 3am constantly since about 19 yrs old - this I'm not sure if it's related one way or another to sleep paralysis.

sometimes i get sleep paralysis at night. i see a thief is stealing in front of me but i cant do anything except mumbling.this is suffocating. is there any remedy for this?

IVE HAD SP AFFECT MY SLEEP FOR ABOUT 15 YEARS NOW. I SAY NOT TO BE SCARED BECAUSE YOU ARE PARALYZED AND CANT DO NOTHING WITH YOUR BODY ANYWAY SO GETTING ANGRY TELLS THE BEINGS YOU WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED.THE ONLY THING YOU CAN CONTROL IS YOUR BREATHING AND EMOTIONS.THE SIMPLEST WAY TO EXPLAIN HOW TO DO IT IS EXHALE WITH ANGER. WHEN YOU BREATH OUT THROUGH YOUR MOUTH ROAR LIKE A LION DIRECTING YOUR AGGRESSION TOWARDS THE UNWELCOMED BEINGS OR WHATEVER THE FUCK THEY ARE. ITS FUNNY HOW DOCTORS AND SCIENTIST TRY TO PASS IT OFF AS BRAIN ACTIVITY AND OTHER BULLSHIT. THEY SIMPLY JUST DONT KNOW. I DONT KNOW EITHER BUT MY HEART TELLS ME ITS MORE THAN JUST MY BRAIN PLAYING TRICKS ON ME. WHETHER ITS SPIRITS OR BEINGS THEY GIVE ME A NEGATIVE VIBE COLD AND DARK. SLEEP WELL AND DONT BE SCARED.

I've had SP since I was 7-8 years old. At first I would wake up to see or hear things calling my name in the night. Then it started happening in the morning/afternoon when family was in the room with me. My family was very annoyed by my actions because the voices would only say/sing my name repeatedly but only I could hear them. Then by the time I was 10 The voices stopped but then I started to experience the paralysis where my entire body was stuck to the bed. Most of the time it felt as if someone or something was laying on top of me. I could open my eyes but I was scared of seeing something scary. This continued once every few months until I turned 20. I am a sleep walker.(I never left the house or ate but I have changed clothes many times.) Now I am 22 and things are more intense. I am not hearing voices but I often wake up jerking, struggling to breath, and my tongue moves around quickly. It feels as if I'm having a seizure and not a SP episode. I usually close my eyes tight, pray and breathe deeply to make it stop. My cousin also suffers from this problem but not as bad as me. I plan to have a sleep test soon to better diagnose my problems. Are there any meds to decrease the episodes??
-P.s. I've noticed when I take cold medicine that makes me drowsy my SP is most likely to be " out of body" or it causes me to sleep walk, fight and/or talk during my sleep.
My attacks happen when I am sleeping on my back or side.

My first episode was when I was 14. I have them about once a month. I am 31 now. I get this ringing sound in my ears, like the sound of glass breaking slowly. Then I am awake and cannot move. I see shadow figures lurking over me. The best I can do is to try to shake my head and roll it around until I get feeling back into my neck and then with much effort I am free. Once I tried so hard to kick one of the shadow figures and when I became free my foot slammed right into the wall next to my bed, damn that hurt! Once awake, i then have a fear of returning to sleep. I walk around my apartment making sure no one is there and that all the windows and doors are locked. If I lay back down and try to go back to sleep too soon, I feel myself slipping back into paralysis.

If anyone who has sleep paralysis and is also a Muslim, please contact me. It is my opinion that the shadow figures are Jinn. But the Sunnah says that they are not visible to humans, only Prophets Solomon(pbuh) and Muhammed(pbuh)are reported to have had the ability to have seen the Jinn. But I am wondering if because our brains are having this abnormality, that it is causeing us to see them also. What does anyone think about this?

I'm currently 21 years old, but when I was 18 I also had a daunting experience of sleep paralysis. They occur regularly for me, but that was definitely the scariest of them all. In the middle of the night, I jerked awake as I felt a forbidding force moving my body across the bed. As I fought aggressively, I felt my fingertips moving across the headboard's wooden bars and my head sliding down the edge of my bed. I was confused and scared, trying to call out to my parents (couldn't find my voice) as some sort of negative aura was trying to take me away. I didn't actually have the brain thought that this was the devil or a demon, only that it felt really bad. Felt 5 minutes go by til I surrendered, thinking 'man, he got me' and I closed my eyes and woke up sweating profusely. My diagnosis is that this is genetic, my mom (SP: hears footsteps), my dad (SP:sees rabid animals), and my sister (SP: sees man in her room) all have sleep paralysis.

I have only had one experience, but I thought it was pretty scary. I am 15 years old and when this occurred I was maybe 10. Although, the time of five years never helped fade away my fear. I woke up around 6:30 hearing my mom and older brother in the kitchen, so I figured it was time to get up and go to school. However, I couldn't move except shift my eyes around the room. Then, my eyes clashed with a male lying in the same position as I (on back). Must've been minutes, because I got the overview that he was Caucasian and wearing black, scuffed up converses, blue jeans (not too sure about the shade of the color, it was still dark) and a blue sweatshirt. I couldn't scream or move. Then he looked at me and made the gesture to calm down or be quiet by putting his pointer finger to his mouth, then he faded away. My diagnosis of this is that I was in irregular sleeping position for me, I usually sleep on my stomach or side, but in this predicament I was on my back.

p.s. i have named this character 'pale joe'. jus to make a joke out of it.

I'm a 25 year old male. Born in india, brought up in germany and am now living in Canada. i experienced my first SP when i moved to Canada. This was about 8 years ago. It's been quite regular ever since. At first i was convinced that it has to do with black magic or spirits. Recently i was speaking with one of my friends about my SP problems and he told me that it happens to him too. he also told me that its a quite common problem and that it's nothing but our brain trying being stuck between the "asleep and awake" state. I'm sure that all of you guys know what the scientific reason is for us not being able to move during this phase. I am now somewhat convinced that it is a nothing but sleep paralysis (non spiritual). But then again, when i think about it....why did the chocking / suffocation get stronger every time i tried to pray or tried talking to "it" or try telling it to "EFF OFF". And if it is an evil spirt...why doesnt it attack us when we are wide awake? or if it is trying to harm us or enter our body...why not just do it while we are in a deep sleep and completely harmless and unable to do anything? why does it only attack us when we are either about to fall asleep or just about to wake up?
nice to know that i'm not alone. Thanx everyone.

I wrote a short story about my experiences. someone alerted me to what I might have been experiencing. I'm glad I read about this. I don't sleep on my back EVER because of this. I went a few years with out having an episode but had one recently.

absolutely horrible experience and I'm glad I'm not alone.

http://www.delawareliberal.net/2008/12/29/caught-in-the-middle/

Last night @ around 3 AM i became paralized, unable to move or speak or anything involving muscle movement. At first i thought i had a stroke or something so i decided to scream. After screaming for what felt a long time. I could see someone from the corner of my eye. Initially i thought this was a demon of some sort. However he was only there and watching me. I started panicking and didnt know what to do. I could not see this "person" or demonic presence but i was able to see his eyes. After a few minutes had gone by, i screamed loud enough for my brother to come from the next room and wake me up, he grabbed my hand and i felt my hand move and that was the end of that. This morning as i wake up i thought i had a bad dream, this has happened to me before and i was never able to explain it. Shortly after my brother woke up and told me that i was screaming like a crazy person last night. The first thing that came to my mind was, wtf that really happened??? I thought i was dreaming. I asked him if he came to my room and grabbed my hand he said that he never did that.

After fully analyzing this experience i came to a few conclusions. I specificly recall sleeping on my back, which from reading some peoples post seems to be the major cause of the problem. I do not ever recall having these dreams when i sleep on my stomach. As i mentioned above, i had dreamed that my brother came and grabbed my hand, I have come to realise that i may of moved my hand on my own and from doing research on sleep paralysis i have learned that moving a body part usualy puts an end to this. Now that i have red some of these posts i am better prepared for this. Next time this happens i will pray/relax/try to move a body part and e.t.c. I believe this may be hereditary, this morning i spoke to my mother about this and it turns out she has them too and her mother had these dreams aswell. My mother told me her experiences were quite different, she described it as a demonic figure sitting on top of her chest and suffocating her.
The first thing i did when i got on the computer today was to search information regarding these "crazy dreams" and the first thing i see on wikipedia is a painting of a demon sitting on someones chest.

I do believe there is a scientific explanation to this however i think there may be a bit more spiritual things involved. I hear some people get cuts from this and other unexplanable things.

Anyways thats my experience, glad to see im not the only one experiencing this.

p.s sorry for any gramar mistakes i wrote this in a hurry.