Sleep paralysis

busywend

Well-Known Member
I have had this happen only after a nightmare. I was literally scared stiff by the mightmares. I could only move my eyes to check the clock - IF I happen to be facing that way.

I also noticed this always happened within minutes of my falling asleep even though the mightmare seemed to last for several minutes.

I would for sure see a doctor. Sounds scary!
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Heather, I've had this happen fairly frequently. My easy child daughter has also had it. We took her to a hypnotherapist and it really helped. He explained that she was so exhausted when she fell asleep that she was skipping the normal levels of sleep and going straight into REM and then awakening. She had horrid night terrors associated with-it all and screamed that her legs were tingling. She did not reconize us as all and everything terrified her. When she awoke in the a.m. she remembered none of it.

When I have had it, it has often been related to a nightmare but not always. The feeling of looking at something horrible over the side of the bed is similar to my feeling that someone was coming up the stairs and I was about to be attacked. That used to happen a lot about 10 yrs ago. The only thing that kept me from losing my mind, since I couldn't move, was that the reasoning part of my brain finally kicked in and I realized that the dogs were asleep--four BIG dogs--two collies and two borzoi and they would have taken off the head of anyone who tried to come in the house, much less near the bed. So I willed myself back to sleep and assumed that the tingling and paralysis was the fact that my body was asleep and my brain had somehow disconnected from that sleep.

More recently, I took amytriptiline for headaches and possible depression, and it brought back the paralysis 10-fold. It hit me within a wk of starting the scrip. I also had involuntary muscle contractions, so my leg or arm would shoot up for no good reason. (Luckily, I could pretend I was scratching my head or something so I was too terribly embarrassed in public.)

At any rate, if you're on any new medications, keep in mind you could be having a reaction.
I also agree that stress is a factor, because it interferes with-your sleep patterns, just as the hypnotherapist described to us.

Take care.
 

Steely

Active Member
Just wanted to say you are not alone. Not only do I have sleep paralysis, I have hynogogic sleep hallucinations, which means that while I am paralyzed I have dream like hallucinations. I am dreaming, but awake, eyes wide open - but I cannot move as the alien is coming closer to kill me that I see with my eyes wide open. I cannot describe it, but it is horrible.

All of these sleep problems are made worse by sleeping on your back, and by certain medications - and most definitely stress! Especially PTSD related stress.
 
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