I'm certain that I have, at least 3 times that I can recall and it is terrifying each time.

One of the worst times, my eyes barely opened, I could see the sunlight coming through the blinds on my ceiling since it was late morning on a Saturday and I was sleeping in. But I could not move or fully open my eyes. Then I felt what seemed like some sort of animals inside my mattress sort of running all around inside of it (I promise I wasn't just farting in my sleep). Naturally panic set in and I remember talling myself in my head in third person "****** wake up! You need to wake up now, ******!"

Another time, again, eyes barely open, I felt something lift my mattress just under my right shoulder and while in my paralyzed state, I felt my right shoulder actually lift up off the mattress a bit and freeze there. Panic ensues, but there's nothing I could do. I don't know what's lifting me (from what I read, hallucinations are common in this state, so perhaps my shoulder wasn't raised at all, but without having read that, I would say that it was real, not imagined) but I feel like I need to hurry and snap out of it before whatever it is "arrives". Like it wasn't fully there yet, but if I let myself sit like that much longer it would be. That feeling sits with me a while as I can do nothing until I finally snap out of the paralysis state.

The most recent time was not as intense. I think being a little more aware of the condition now, the panic was slightly lessened. This most recent time I didn't feel animals in the mattress or the sensation of part of it being lifted. This time I felt a heartbeat in my mattress. It was slow, strong, and rhythmic. My hands were frozen though I was trying to move them. It didn't seem to last as long and the idea of needing to wake up before something arrived was not as prevalent. But I sat there paralyzed nonetheless.

Has anyone experienced anything like this?

You're weird.

I know.

I've refrained from telling anyone I actually know for that reason.

[Edited 9/12/10 23:35pm]

Well, you did succeed in making me a little freaked out to go to sleep now.

Sorry,

Here you go...

All better?

Actually, yes. For some odd reason I felt like that a few nights about 5 to 7 years ago. Thing was, I was fully awake, but could not move. But it felt like someone was gently shaking my bed. Once I turned about 18 or 19, things like that suddenly stopped. Honestly, I thought it was a ghost or something. Then, I knew it was me. Like my body was involuntarily jerking/jolting (seemed like it anyway) and I was more uncomfortable than panicked. But I had that same feeling of needing to wake up.

Honestly, I think it was the bed. The bed itself was well over 35 years old. Old mattress with this huge groove in the middle of the bed. It had been slept in from everyone from my great-grandma to my aunt. So years later when my dad switched the mattress and the box spring, I noticed I slept much better. I simply wrote it off as my body panicking due to relaxation, going into REM mode, and going through that "falling" feeling.

The bed I'm on now is very firm. I actually have problems waking up on time. I think my body just needed some extra support. I hope you can get to the bottom of this oddity. It's really not fun to go through...

FauxReal said:

Sorry,

Here you go...

All better?

Hahahaha.

Thanks.

I always just called it a hangover...

LadyLuvSexxy said:

Actually, yes. For some odd reason I felt like that a few nights about 5 to 7 years ago. Thing was, I was fully awake, but could not move. But it felt like someone was gently shaking my bed. Once I turned about 18 or 19, things like that suddenly stopped. Honestly, I thought it was a ghost or something. Then, I knew it was me. Like my body was involuntarily jerking/jolting (seemed like it anyway) and I was more uncomfortable than panicked. But I had that same feeling of needing to wake up.

Honestly, I think it was the bed. The bed itself was well over 35 years old. Old mattress with this huge groove in the middle of the bed. It had been slept in from everyone from my great-grandma to my aunt. So years later when my dad switched the mattress and the box spring, I noticed I slept much better. I simply wrote it off as my body panicking due to relaxation, going into REM mode, and going through that "falling" feeling.

The bed I'm on now is very firm. I actually have problems waking up on time. I think my body just needed some extra support. I hope you can get to the bottom of this oddity. It's really not fun to go through...

Yeah it's part of the reason I've strongly considered getting a new mattress. Mine is fairly old, it belonged to my ex's mother for I don't know how long. It's probably her evil intentions toward me manifesting themselves, lol.

FauxReal said:

Has anyone experienced anything like this?

One time when I was on acid I sunk through my mattress and watched myself and two friends have a conversation from underneath my bed... does that count?

Seriously, though - nah man. I know people have all kinds of sleep issues, but I'm the complete opposite. I have terrible insomnia and I don't get much rest when I'm asleep either. Been to numerous doctors, had all kinds of tests done. I just don't enter into the deeper stages of sleep like normal people do. A freakin' spider fart will wake me up.

Just read up on Sleep Paralysis - that's a trip. Especially that hypnagogic hallucinations are part of it. I've had those once or twice if I fall asleep during the day time while in the midst of a bad bout of insomnia. I'll start to fall asleep and then force myself to wake up - I've seen some weird shit when I do that. Do you suffer from narcolepsy at all?

Cerebus said:

FauxReal said:

Has anyone experienced anything like this?

One time when I was on acid I sunk through my mattress and watched myself and two friends have a conversation from underneath my bed... does that count?

Seriously, though - nah man. I know people have all kinds of sleep issues, but I'm the complete opposite. I have terrible insomnia and I don't get much rest when I'm asleep either. Been to numerous doctors, had all kinds of tests done. I just don't enter into the deeper stages of sleep like normal people do. A freakin' spider fart will wake me up.

Just read up on Sleep Paralysis - that's a trip. Especially that hypnagogic hallucinations are part of it. I've had those once or twice if I fall asleep during the day time while in the midst of a bad bout of insomnia. I'll start to fall asleep and then force myself to wake up - I've seen some weird shit when I do that. Do you suffer from narcolepsy at all?

I've never been diagnosed with it by any means, but I'm known to regularly fall asleep at dinner tables and mid-conversation, provided the right setting. But who wouldn't? So I guess for now, I'll go with no, in regards to narcolepsy. I was told I have a mild case of sleep apnea though.

I've given up on trying to get enough sleep, because I never feel like I am fully rested. Even with 8 hours and sometimes more, I struggle to stay awake at work.

Some parts of me are stiff when I wake up, does that count?

FauxReal said:

I'm certain that I have, at least 3 times that I can recall and it is terrifying each time.

One of the worst times, my eyes barely opened, I could see the sunlight coming through the blinds on my ceiling since it was late morning on a Saturday and I was sleeping in. But I could not move or fully open my eyes. Then I felt what seemed like some sort of animals inside my mattress sort of running all around inside of it (I promise I wasn't just farting in my sleep). Naturally panic set in and I remember talling myself in my head in third person "****** wake up! You need to wake up now, ******!"

Another time, again, eyes barely open, I felt something lift my mattress just under my right shoulder and while in my paralyzed state, I felt my right shoulder actually lift up off the mattress a bit and freeze there. Panic ensues, but there's nothing I could do. I don't know what's lifting me (from what I read, hallucinations are common in this state, so perhaps my shoulder wasn't raised at all, but without having read that, I would say that it was real, not imagined) but I feel like I need to hurry and snap out of it before whatever it is "arrives". Like it wasn't fully there yet, but if I let myself sit like that much longer it would be. That feeling sits with me a while as I can do nothing until I finally snap out of the paralysis state.

The most recent time was not as intense. I think being a little more aware of the condition now, the panic was slightly lessened. This most recent time I didn't feel animals in the mattress or the sensation of part of it being lifted. This time I felt a heartbeat in my mattress. It was slow, strong, and rhythmic. My hands were frozen though I was trying to move them. It didn't seem to last as long and the idea of needing to wake up before something arrived was not as prevalent. But I sat there paralyzed nonetheless.

Has anyone experienced anything like this?

that was your partner tryin to get a piece.

A few times I have woken up but not been able to move at all - and i've tried to shout but can't.

I looked it up at the time and it can be quite common I think... like you're awake, but your body hasn't joined you yet...something like that anyway...

I haven't experienced the other weird things that you're describing though.

Not really what you're describing but I once fell asleep right on the sand on a beach though, and when I woke up I felt like I had to gasp for air and as if my whole body had sunk into the sand and weighed 1000 pounds. It was quite unpleasant.

It used to happen to me in the mid 90's. I'd wake up in bed but with my face in the pillow unable to move, and all you want is for someone to come in nudge you, just move you to break the freeze you have. And you feel like you might suffocate because you're face might be in the pillow, and you think you can here a roommate walking around, and you think you're calling out or whispering loudly...

not very fun!

Yes, I have. I used to get night terrors a lot as a child and still do occasionally. I've learned to wake myself from them, despite being completely paralyzed when they happen.

Lisa10 said:

A few times I have woken up but not been able to move at all - and i've tried to shout but can't.

I looked it up at the time and it can be quite common I think... like you're awake, but your body hasn't joined you yet...something like that anyway...

I haven't experienced the other weird things that you're describing though.

and it's a scary feeling.

I experienced both sleep paralysis and night terrors up until my late 20s. Early mornings, I used to lay in a half-wake/half-sleep fugue aware that some monster or serial killer was about to walk through my bedroom door to 86 me... and I'd be entirely unable to defend myself.

myfavorite said:

FauxReal said:

I'm certain that I have, at least 3 times that I can recall and it is terrifying each time.

One of the worst times, my eyes barely opened, I could see the sunlight coming through the blinds on my ceiling since it was late morning on a Saturday and I was sleeping in. But I could not move or fully open my eyes. Then I felt what seemed like some sort of animals inside my mattress sort of running all around inside of it (I promise I wasn't just farting in my sleep). Naturally panic set in and I remember talling myself in my head in third person "****** wake up! You need to wake up now, ******!"

Another time, again, eyes barely open, I felt something lift my mattress just under my right shoulder and while in my paralyzed state, I felt my right shoulder actually lift up off the mattress a bit and freeze there. Panic ensues, but there's nothing I could do. I don't know what's lifting me (from what I read, hallucinations are common in this state, so perhaps my shoulder wasn't raised at all, but without having read that, I would say that it was real, not imagined) but I feel like I need to hurry and snap out of it before whatever it is "arrives". Like it wasn't fully there yet, but if I let myself sit like that much longer it would be. That feeling sits with me a while as I can do nothing until I finally snap out of the paralysis state.

The most recent time was not as intense. I think being a little more aware of the condition now, the panic was slightly lessened. This most recent time I didn't feel animals in the mattress or the sensation of part of it being lifted. This time I felt a heartbeat in my mattress. It was slow, strong, and rhythmic. My hands were frozen though I was trying to move them. It didn't seem to last as long and the idea of needing to wake up before something arrived was not as prevalent. But I sat there paralyzed nonetheless.

Has anyone experienced anything like this?

that was your partner tryin to get a piece.

Lol, I'been single and alone evrytime it's happened

A little creature/man/not sure what it was jumped on my bed and was strangling me and he was saying fuck you in my ear!..seriously I could feel it jump on the bed and felt such pressure on my chest too, I was half awake though and was trying to wake myself

It was years ago but it's stuck in my memory, it's a horrible thing to go through

Yes. It's terrible. It feels like the onset of death. I don't have it much anymore but I used to have it at least once a week

yeah ive experianced that a few times

Only once.

A figure of what seemed like a man wearing a leather overcoat with water dripping from it on my rug. I remember him asking me couple of things and me answering him,,,,but for the life of me I still couldn't remember what was the conversation.

I wasn't freaked out, I just felt weird,,,,and there was no water stains on the rug when I woke up.

But I do get intense hallucinations when I have fever, I've seen some wall-to-wall stuff everytime I got sick,,,,and I learned to shrug off those images.

I've had sleep paralysis but without nightmares. At one time when I was going through a severe bout with them I would make sure to fall asleep with my hands near my hair so I could yank myself awake by the roots in case I woke up one morning and couldn't move. Horrendous feeling. But it too, like all things, pass.

I have it happen to me 3 or 4 times, and it is terrifying! I only recently found out it was probably sleep paralysis and not being visited by spirits or something else.

A few times I've had that feeling like someone was shaking or moving the bed or sitting down next to me, but I couldn't move to turn my head and look at who was there.

One time I was sleeping with my hand on my boyfriend's back and I thought he had stopped breathing, and I was trying to move my hand to shake him and make sure he was ok, but I couldn't move.

It is SUCH a strange sensation because you really really think you're awake!

The most distinct time I remember getting sleep paralysis, was while napping right before I took the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test) in highschool, and I started having their bizarre dream about running barefoot in the rain through a field made of salmon.

I kept squishing them under my feet, so as I tired to wake up, for maybe 2 seconds I was stuck with my head folded on top of my arms. When I finally came to I freaked out a bit...only to remember I was in a classroom full of my peers.

I used to have that as a kid. It only happened when I was lying on my left side.

It was fucking scary that I could not move.

I would say to myself calmly "you are ok, you are ok, everything is fine" and then the panic would go and I would be able to move again. Say it over and over calmly.

Try it next time

luv4u said:

I used to have that as a kid. It only happened when I was lying on my left side.

It was fucking scary that I could not move.

I would say to myself calmly "you are ok, you are ok, everything is fine" and then the panic would go and I would be able to move again. Say it over and over calmly.

Try it next time

Had sleep paralysis for the first time at the age of 13 and scared me silly. That time I panicked and the more I tried to move the more I felt like was pinned to the bed, I couldn't move a toe. Sleep paralysis still happens every once in a blue moon and your advice is spot on, stay calm and for me I pull out of it in seconds. I just get up and lying on my back bring on these attacks.

[Edited 9/13/10 20:54pm]