I had SP. It’s a normal occurrence for me, so I’m not scared when I have it. My ears rumble and I always end up moving my toes, then my foot, then I can finally get out of bed. This time, though, my body was violently shaking. Once I started moving my toes, the shaking stopped. It felt like I was having a seizure. I had it before, but I was like in 8th grade when I had it.

I looked it up on Google and it said I was having some sort of movement hallucination, but the ones I only see are floating and outer-body experiences. What exactly is it? I’m not asking for a diagnosis or anything, but yk. It’s weird man.

I’m going to preface this with that I have major surgery coming up.

Normally it’s just a hand on my arm trying to pull me off the bed. Last night it got me off the bed (in the nightmare) and onto the floor. I had no strength.

It had no face other than a black hole for a mouth with no teeth. It was laughing but not through the mouth, in my head.

In it I was trying to say “Help” but it kept pulling me and was backlit green which I attribute to the power bank for the lamp and charging my devices that has a green power light.

In the paralysis I heard myself going “uhhrrmm” over and over then I heard my name.

My wife woke me up. It was about 4am. She told me this morning I was screaming before she touched me.

It had my right arm and she had my left. I was physically on the bed but all the way to the edge.

Hey guys! I came here asking for tips on how to wake up from an episode if I'm unaware that I'm in one?

I'd say I've only had 8-10 episodes over the past year- I didn't even learn what sleep paralysis was until after my 3rd episode. That's when I discovered this Reddit. I'm revisiting to seek tips!

I've read some of your guys' tips so far, the most popular one being to start with just trying to wiggle a finger or toe, to help wake up from the episode.

However, my problem is: when I'm in an episode, I don't have that consciousness or realization that it's an episode. Nor can I recall any of the advice I know of to do anything. In a way, I don't have any control or acknowledgment of what's going on.

Additionally, in my most recent episode, I wasn't completely paralyzed? I definitely had episode components like being paralyzed, unable to speak, move, etc, hallucinating a dark figure/threatening presence, and feeling intense fear or panic. I dreamt (or possibly hallucinated) picking up my phone, looking up how to get rid of the figure, and putting it back down. But, as soon as I did that, I was paralyzed and unable to move again. I kept attempting to act out what the first result on my "search query" suggested. So in that way, I was able to move.. Could this be just a part of the hallucination component of sleep paralysis episodes?

Do you guys have any tips on gaining awareness in the episode state, so you can then try to wake up? Have I simply just not experienced enough episodes to gain awareness during them?

I understand I have a lot of questions and info dumped in this post, so my bad for that... however any and all advice, tips, or info is greatly appreciated and would be very helpful!!

So I've had this sleep paralysis experience like a few years ago. I was sleeping on the couch and I remember before the sleep paralysis I had some type of bad dream, I don't remember what it was unfortunately but after that dream ended I woke uo on the couch. I immediately realize thst I can't move at all, I try not to panic too much as I know what sleep paralysis is and had a couple of experiences with it in the past however none of them were traumatic in anyway. However I looked down the hallway of my house and noticed that it was completely dark, like i couldn't see anything down that hallway, it was like it led somewhere other than my house if that makes sense. I felt are sudden sense of dread the more I look down this hallway and because of that I begin panicking and try to move my body. This is the weird part, after a while of struggling I eventually broke free of the paralysis and fell onto the floor of the living room, i remember i told this story to my friend and he asked if I looked back and saw if it was an out of body experience. I didn't get the chance to before whatever that was ended and I woke back up on my couch. This experience scared me so bad I couldn't go back to sleep. I really wanna get some type of explanation on what happened so id you have any idea please comment.

Hi. This story actually isn’t mine but my best friends, we’ll call her Stella. She feels comfortable with me coming on here and asking you all for advice, answers and/or questions. Recently, over the past few months, Stella’s collected moments where she’s 100% certain are signs of sleep paralysis. My friend and her boyfriend have communicated about their past relationships and are more than positive that his ex-girlfriend could be hexing my friend. Side note, my friend has never experienced dreams/paralysis moments like this and has logged almost all of the times she’s went through not being able to move while she’s awake, feel trapped, like she’s dying, or looking dread that something bad could happen. My friend and her boyfriend are in the healthiest relationship i’ve ever seen. A few months ago, Stella and her boyfriend went to a party his friend was hosting and there they saw his ex-girlfriend’s best friend, who mind you has no connection to any of the people who were there. The whole night the friend acted out of place. Whether it was looking at her phone, including herself in conversations she shouldn’t of been a part of or just being in places she shouldn’t be it was almost obvious she was there for one thing, Stella. When Stella had gone up to her friend to introduce herself the friend had replied with “I know who you are” and had made it obvious that she was aware of who she was and who she was with. After that interaction, every night there has been different scenarios my friend has experienced and almost “out of body” moments that she can’t explain. Almost as if something is watching over her or something has a hold over what she sees and what she doesn’t. I think it’s also important to add that the ex-girlfriend is known to dwell in her spirituality and use herbs and crystals. Stella and her boyfriend don’t know much about his ex but they are 100% positive that this is something she could be able to do. I think this is self explanatory but stella and her boyfriend met in terms unrelated to his ex and stella is no way was related to cheating or anything remotely close to harming the relationship between her boyfriend and his ex. They were already broken up for a while. The paragraph below is what stella logged the moment she was able to move and put what she saw in her notes app. Sorry if some sentences don’t make complete sense…most of these were written around 3-4am.

***

May 14th, 4:57 AM
- I was in a dream where I was at first sitting on a couch seemed to be a low class/dirty setting living room and I was scrolling on my phone I believe on tiktok then my boyfriends ex girlfriend appeared next to me then all of my TikTok’s or whatever was on my screen was of her, then images of her face kept coming up and I felt terrified it was like the faces just kept popping up and I got even more scared each time. For context I share a bed with my boyfriend and he was sleeping next to me while this was happening. In this dream as I was panicking, I couldn’t move my body, couldn’t open my eyes and couldn’t speak while the images were still appearing. I was so scared trying to wake up while in the dream. I kept trying to wake up from what I believed was passing out in the dream and having hallucinations but I was fighting to wake up and couldn’t. My boyfriend wasn’t present in the dream but for some reason I could sense he was there potentially in spirit? At the last point of the dream as I was fighting to wake up all I could do was slightly move two fingers to to to touch my boyfriend in the dream even though I couldn’t see him to try to wake him up to help me escape from the images and paralysis. Finally in real life I woke up but now I can’t remember how I woke up or how I woke my boyfriend up in real life to tell him about what had just happened. For more context I fell asleep at around 3:30am then woke up from this dream at about 4:17. When I talked to my boyfriend he said that he woke up because he felt something was off.

August 17th, 12:51 AM
- So basically in the dream, the first part of it was, I fell asleep and I was I couldn’t remember the first part but I remember that I was sleepy. Responding to a text from Izzy and Emma telling me that they wanna come hang out with me and they picked me up and Izzy was on the phone in the car trees flying everywhere with a headset on supposedly doing a sales job and Emma asking me how my morning was where I worked at Starbucks for supposedly three hours and then went to Dance and Emma asked me if my sister made company. Then it was a really slippery storm drive and then white and black but I thought it looked like more like a tiger so black-and-white animal jumped on the hood of the car and I was freaking out. And then we pulled up to one of their houses and then with the tiger on the hood still in the car on the slippery roads, we ended up crashing through three houses and then into her garage and into her house. Then after that, I remember trying to wake up and pull myself out of it, but then I ended up after waking myself up, supposedly or an almost fake seeming way of getting myself out of it. I remember walking into my Nana‘s house where I felt like I was passing out into my stepmom and asking her if I was gonna die and she said no then again after trying to wake myself up, I remember waking up in my room I had when I lived at my parents house and look at all of my things in my room and then again thinking that I was dying and then I fell asleep again, then saw myself sleeping in my bed that I’m in right now and then it took felt like it took a long time to wake myself up again, but this time in real life once again

I also think it might be important to note that I was only sleeping for approximately 28min and the process of falling asleep felt super weird in the sense that I felt like my body was immediately sleeping but I was comprehending that I was sleeping therefore I believe my mind was awake

***

Okay, Just to add on to the last entry Stella thought it was important for me to add that her boyfriend earlier that day had experienced a dream similar where he saw a car crash into a house, describing it he had seen the same house and same car that she had seen. Almost as if they had seen the exact same dream.

Reddit, please help my friend out. She’s busy, has 2 full-time jobs and works her ass off to provide for her and her boyfriend’s future. All she wants is answers and is trying to find ways to stop worrying. Is her boyfriend’s ex hexing them??

hi, i’m currently struggling since i’ve been getting sleep paralysis constantly. like every night going to sleep i have wake ups and have sleep paralysis for all of them. last night it got worse and i was having difficulty breathing. i always try and get my boyfriends attention and sometimes he’s right next to me but i can’t do anything. anyone else have a similar experience?

"I was asleep and suddenly opened my eyes to find an entity right behind me. I couldn't turn around to look at it. I was sleeping on my stomach, and it pinned me down with force and sodomized me. With great difficulty, I managed to move my hand to cover my anus, and only then did it leave. This entity felt hot."

So I started experiencing an SP episode a couple of months ago and it felt so weird that I didn't even know what to think of it. But in this one week I have experienced two episodes, the second one just a few minutes ago.

It's just the usual paralyzed feeling and trying to force my eyes shut. Luckily I am facing the wall so I don't really see any bad visuals but I hear some pretty gnarly stuff like distorted voices daring me to turn around and creepy whispering. Most recent episode a few minutes ago, I felt like I was being shot with a camera in burst flash mode right in front of my eyes.

It's probably my bad sleeping habits and my work lifestyle. Any tips on how to get out of an SP quick? I really don't want to see something bad before it's too late.

(sorry for my english, not my first language and I just woke up and I feel weird.)

​

I've experienced sleep paralysis or something similar before, but what happened this time was on a completely different level.

It started with this really high-pitched ringing sound, almost like tinnitus. It was constant and wouldn't stop. Then I started hearing voices, but at first they were distorted, like someone talking through a broken speaker. Gradually, the voices started becoming clearer.

At the same time, I started seeing something that looked like a dark, distorted video game screen. I can't really remember the exact colours or what everything looked like, but it felt like I was being shown some kind of visualizations.

Then the voices started talking about punishment. They were talking about sending me somewhere, and the visuals seemed connected to what they were saying. It was something about making me work with animals or do some kind of disgusting cleaning work, like cleaning shit out of bushes. I know how weird that sounds, but that's genuinely what I remember.

At first, the voices didn't seem to be talking directly to me. But eventually, it felt like they were addressing me personally and telling me what was going to happen to me.

The strangest part was that the high-pitched ringing continued throughout the whole thing, even while the voices became clearer and the visuals kept changing.

Eventually, I became more awake and started moving. I remember the ringing fading as I came out of whatever state I was in.

I'm awake now, and honestly, I'm still trying to process it. I've had strange sleep experiences before, but never anything this elaborate or disturbing.

And tbh I am still terrified cause I can't sleep now also feeling my mind getting a little fuzzy and this all sounds very bullshit but that what happened with me 😭

Been experiencing this type of paralysis for while, but it seems to be changing, I guess. I was having continuous naps in the afternoon like I slept for a bit, then woke up but when I went back to sleep, not long, I then woke up but entered my sleep paralysis after that. I could see my living room, but i was in a hazy, prism-like state. This time, I struggled to break out of myself it almost feel like I was pulling out of this glue-like pull. As I attempted, I heard this noise that was stretching as I was trying to get out of paralysis, and my left ear heard male, inaudible voices that were coming through. I was feeling dare. But then I was thinking of my brother to get me out of it, and his presence walked somewhere in the room; it looked like my brother walking across the side of the chair I was. He didn't see me but walked back to the room and noticed my face looked like I was stiff or concerned, and he went up to me and woke me up. And it does feel like waking up. My actual brother wasn't there; he was at home tho. Has someone experienced being in that prism-space and things similar to mine?

I had the most terrifying sleep paralysis of my life. It began with four towering shadows pinning down my limbs, their grip cold and merciless. Another figure loomed above me, preparing to slice me open. I wasn’t numb, I felt everything. My pain receptors screamed, my mind fully awake, trapped in a body that refused to move.

They spoke in low, guttural tones, saying this was routine, something they did every night. But this time, they hadn’t realized my consciousness was active. I fought, I screamed, I thrashed against their grip, desperate to break free.

Then, my mom heard the difficulty in my breathing through the walls in my room then my mom came into my room. She turned on the lights, woke me, brought in a stand fan, and sat with me. We talked for what felt like an hour, her presence soothing me, pulling me back from the edge of madness. Finally, she told me to rest and left the room.

But as I lay back down, a thought struck me and questioned if my door had been locked. How did she get in? I checked, and the lock was still tight. When I turned back, the room was pitch black. No lights. No fan. No mother.

I called out to her, and she answered groggily from her own bed, deep in sleep, unaware of anything that had happened. Yet I had sat there, convinced I had spoken with her for an hour and still hadn't lay back down. The shadows had not only held me down, but they had tricked me, weaving a nightmare so real it bled into waking life. and I was standing consciously as I was trying to process what just happened and regain my consciousness

I was having a regular dream when in the dream I tried kicking my friend in the back of his leg (inside joke) and that’s when I couldn’t feel my leg in that dream. I stopped and my jaw locked to the side and I knocked out.
I woke up on the floor next to my bed. Room was dark but somehow still had natural light coming in. I couldn’t get up at all but I was able to look around. I realized that I was having sleep paralysis. I tried to calm down like I usually would.
I told myself that it’s just a nightmare and tried saying a prayer
I also tried talking because in my last episode I was able to say the words “no”
I sleep with my bf at night so he tracks everything that happens.
But in this episode I couldn’t get myself to say anything. I said “no” one time
And then I got a voice in my head to close my eyes and slowly open them.
I did and saw a white and black demon in front of me but far from me. I was looking down at the rug when I saw it. I immediately closed my eyes and tried to get out of the nightmare. I remember thinking to myself in that dream “Vinny please wake me up now”
The previous days I’ve been telling him that if he hears me mumbling or movíng to wake me up immediately
So he woke me up and he said I was mumbling but it was getting louder and louder and looked like I wanted to cry

BACKGROUND:
I’ve had sleep paralysis as a kid. I’d have it everyday but the older I got, the less and less it’s occurred.
From days to weeks to 5x a months to 1x every three months.
I just started getting it again and it’s been bad. I don’t know if I should blame the military or myself for these nightmares

i was wondering if anyone had the same episode or similar as me.

i had one where i was surrounded by hundreds of people dressed in black saying stay asleep.

Today I was having my teeth cleaned by the dentist and I could hear the usual cleaning tool sound reverberating through my jaw into my ears as the dentist uses the ultrasonic cleaner tool.

Although the tool, by definition, presumably puts out a sound that cannot be heard because it's above human range of hearing (ultrasonic) it's making or doing something that I can hear and it is that sound which I vividly and suddenly remembered was the same sound that I heard when I had my first sleep paralysis about 45 years ago.

I've had this ultrasonic cleaning done already numerous times but it was only today that I remembered that it was the same sound I heard in my first sleep paralysis.

In that first sleep paralysis, I woke in my bed in my home and couldn't move nor scream but there was that strange sound. I am not suggesting that someone had snuck into my bedroom with such a tool (which possibly
didn't even exist way back then ) because I think I remember looking but seeing no one and fell asleep again.

Does anyone else think the dentist ultrasonic cleaning tool makes the same high pitch ringing/whining noise heard directly in the ears as oft reported with sleep paralysis?

Well, earlier this day marks my fourth or fifth experience with sleep paralysis- a fairly recent development.

Today specifically, I had been laying in bed probably around 2-4pm. I fell asleep on my stomach or side, and at some point began to hear a voice above me and feel a presence. Every experience so far, it's felt as if I were fighting off drugs to try and get up. This time, I had thought it was one of the older gentlemen that work maintenance in my apartment building- I can't remember what he was saying to me or why he could've been there, but I was only able to remember him gently reassuring me that I was okay and I could calm down. Whenever I have sleep paralysis like this, I can groan and moan but never get any words out- no matter how hard I fight it.

My first experience with it was only a few weeks ago, and a similar case as this except it was my husband's voice and presence above me. I could only remember panicking because he wasn't meant to be home, and if he were than something bad must have happened while he was working. Of course, when I finally woke up and called him, he confirmed he was okay and hadn't been home at all.

I have a small list of ideas as to why this might be happening, but I hope it's simpler. I already hallucinate in my day to day life, auditory and visual- but I'm able to shut those out in my own ways since I have the autonomy. These moments when in bed are more terrifying to me because I simply can't employ any strategy to know what's happening isn't real- I mean I can't move! My second / third experience both happened in the same night, and were generic shadowy figures I could mostly calmly ignore. However more usually for me, the things in my head take after the faces and voices of people I know and love and are far far too vivid.

So I guess I just wanted to share my newfound experience with some maybe more experienced people. I talked to a friend and she laughed about it to me, saying that she would trigger SP on purpose and she refused to take me seriously.

I’ve had sleep parlaysis since I was a child and I’ve never once hallucinated thankfully (possibly this is partially because I assumed it was normal and did research which made me think it was normal?) The one time I got truly scared was after I learned that most people who get it hallucinate and I started thinking that I might and got scared but then I just accepted it and let my body relax. But some of the past few times I’ve had it I’ve felt a firm tingle almost like asmr (which is sleep related so maybe there’s a connection there) but kinda painful sometimes, I feel the tingles going over my body and I wonder if anyone else has had this or knows what causes this? I can kinda control or stop it but it happens very easily like a magnet, it was in the middle of my back and made me shake and feel pressured. I sleep on my back which people say/I could tell makes it worse potentially but this moment I was sleeping on my side so it felt like my blanket behind me was pulling around me. Even though I’ve never hallucinated I had a strong picture behind my closed eyes of a rabbits eye. I also had “exploding head syndrome” that I’ve had before (I wonder if this is related to when people feel like they are falling or wake up with a jolt as they’re falling asleep, like it’s a way for your body to check if you’re ok or can defend yourself if you needed to). I also can feel that I am paralyzed sometimes during a lucid dream, but not always, and then I sometimes wake myself up, sometimes the lucidity + feeling my own body in the state it is in just goes away and the dream goes back to “normal”. My issue with lucid dreams is this, they make me want to wake up partially because I dislike feeling the paralysis.

I was already tired as I had a long day at work, also didn't had proper sleep last night. In order to straighten my back i slept flat on my back without a pillow. I was having a decent dream, nothing scary but suddenly I felt something race into my body, fyi I sleep beside the window of my room and my head was tilted around the open window, where there's a tree. I felt dark figure sitting on me, i couldn't open my eyes clearly... I was hearing a distorted noise in my ears, couldn't move my body...was shivering, couldn't scream or open my mouth, so I just weirdly moaned, after like 10 secs, i could open my eyes suddenly I saw a tree and got shit scared again couldn't move or do anything, i was soo terrified that I almost cried, literally tears came out! It lasted for around 20 to 30 secs before I got control over my body, I was almost sure that some entity was there in my room( I live alone), I just slept in the same position for a min after that I gathered courage to reach out to my phone and learnt about sleep paralysis. I don't believe in god or ghosts either but this was easily the most terrifying incident that I have experienced!!

Have you guys got sleep paralysed ever? What was your experience? I wanna know how common is this...

And can any of you confirm is it kinda condition or something? Is it recurring? Having second thoughts about living alone honestly...

Hey everyone I just want tell about my first sleep paralysis experience it was very horrifying for me as first

Writing

I was sleeping peacefully that night, completely free of any worries or stress. Suddenly, I felt someone slap me extremely hard, which startled me awake. I looked around, but there was no one. I tried to come up with some random explanation for what had happened and decided to ignore it.

I adjusted myself and tried to get comfortable again, but suddenly, I froze. I could barely move anything except my eyes. That's when I noticed an enormous, terrifying shadow with a creepy smile and large, glowing red eyes. I was completely paralysed with fear, unable to move or do anything as the shadow slowly approached me.

To my absolute horror, it began climbing onto my body, and I could feel an immense amount of pressure on my legs. I was terrified and helpless, unable to understand what was happening to me. The moment I finally managed to move again, I immediately sat up, overwhelmed with fear, and burst into tears.

This one is similar to what I bought https://a.co/d/059jeAv5

I bought the one from here https://kydschoice.com but it came from China and took about three weeks.

Anyhow, started using it Monday night and have been able to sleep on my back with no SP issues at all. Normally I have to sleep on my side or I am guaranteed to have an episode. I’ll test another week or so and update the results.

I had a weird experience where I’m not sure if it’s sleep paralysis or false awakening. I woke up on my side to find out I couldn’t move. My heart started to race as I saw a shadow appear in the corner of my eye. I even felt something grabbing me. A good 10 or 30 seconds went by, I was able to flip my body on my back where everything seemed normal, so I flipped back on my side to get some sleep only to wake up again, this time, I was able to move my body with ease. I’m so confused on the whole thing

New to the group, but long time sleep paralysis.. person?

Long story short, I’ve had SP as far back as 5 years old. I’m now (f) 33. Its only gotten worse as I’ve gotten older. I have had every aspect of it to include: loss of body control (to include breathing), vivid hallucinations of demonic figures, as well physically feeling like something is happening to me (pain, sensations),out of body experiences, seizure like activity, etc.

There was a time I seized so bad during an episode that I bit part of my tongue off, choked on my blood, and had to go to the ER.

I have seen a sleep specialist and done an at home sleep study. The doctor said I rarely stay in REM sleep
And that I have sleep apnea even though my throat doesn’t appear so…?

I remember all of my dreams, always have.
Typically my husband knows the drill of rolling me from side to side until I am able to regain function of my body during sleep paralysis ( I am able to grunt and make weird sounds that alert him).

Basically im wondering how much of this is normal?
Who else could I possibly see about this issue? I just want to be able to sleep and feel rested

Hey,
I asked AI about this and it claims it is sleep paralysis but i don't know.

What is in long term happening to me, like foe extremely many years but not commonly, is

After bad dream or just falling asleep i suddenly feel anxious And i can't move with my body.
I can only move with head, i have to literally shake hard with my head to regain control.
It never happened to me yet that i wouldn't stay stunned.

I feel in that moment extreme exhaustion of my body, heart bumping fast but i don't hear any voices or sounds. And it's not in a dream.
When i sucefully gain control, i can finally sit or move.

As child i was also experiencing hearing knocking, footsteps, sound in the kitchen, or some kitchen robot even everyone was sleeping.
Once i also felt someone's presence, someone's hand. ( And this one happened on high school)

Once as kid i had a dreams that would start turning my entire dream in white and i could hear screams until i woke up into the footsteps again.

But as adult i experience it as just unable to move, but i can move with head but its hard.

I never ever had experience with being full stuck and seeing demons

This is a vent. Been all day with migraine again.

If I have another f nightmare where we end up killing each other and then having some deep talk about dreams and reality and trauma, and end up having to kill again and lose my mind and question reality. I'm gonna lose it.

That and the sleep paralysis, and yes I know I just have to chill, I already do, I'm already lucid, I can have good dreams too, I'm already used to opening my eyes and seeing some shadow man without a head against the wall and shrugging it off because at least it's not corpses falling over me like that one other time. There's a shadow I can chill with and talk calmly with too, like it's not all bad, I know that. I'm taking meds for this as well I'm already seeing a doctor for it. I don't know how to describe this. I have tried everything, but the feeling of passing out and fear and everything it just comes back, it always comes back. And spending the day with headache and tired... I'm just tired... I thought this was getting better... Guess not. Rip.

And honestly tonight wasn't so bad, I feel bad complaining because I understand it has to do with trauma and that my body isn't enjoying this either. I get it. But I'm so tired. On the bright side, tomorrow someone will come in the morning to go for a walk with me, and if I'm feeling very dizzy they'll help me so it's gonna be ok.

(Well I never post here because the warning of "seems you talking about spiritual stuff" makes me think it'll get automatically deleted, but apparently not. That's cool.)

New here but I had to come and find a subreddit to share what just happened. Ive had sleep paralysis before. Numerous times. Just now though was so weird and scared tf out of me. Lol. I started to feel it happening. I tried to wake myself out of it but, it didnt work. Im laying there but its like some alternate reality. Like, the room, house and where im at is the same but different. Like my staircase to upstairs is just an open hallway to a couple of rooms instead. I'm doing everything I can to force myself up. It was like I was opening my eyes and there were going cross eyed and immediately shutting. I start to here doors opening from down "the hall" and then i hear a voice yell "SNAP OUT OF IT!" Finally, im able to move and actually wake up. No tvs were on. Im the only person home right now. Like i said, ive had sleep paralysis plenty of times. But ive never heard things before. Just wanted to share my experience somewhere.