I really wish that someone would respond. It's really getting to me..I dont even want to go to sleep because I just want to avoid it..I want I t to stop... I feel like I can't live with this..It scares me so much.

Hey, I was just about to make a topic about this, no lie.
I even had my post written up, so instead of repeating i'm just going to copy and paste...

I'm not sure what this could be, but i'll try to explain what I feel every once in a while immediately after waking up.

This does not happen to me too often, but it still scares me everytime it does.

When I am laying there, I feel like I cannot keep my eyes open. Then it gets to the point to where I can't tell if I am awake or asleep. Most of the time I can force my eyes open and snap out of it, but sometimes I can't move a muscle and I still know that i'm awake. My eyes are closed, but I can still see a warped sense of my room or another setting. Finally after trying and trying I can pry my eyes open and "snap out of it". Then for minutes afterwards I feel like I am fighting to stay away and it is quite frightening.

Any idea what this could be?

If any more description is needed just ask.

Thanks!


Is this sleep paralysis?

That is sleep paralysis. I've been independently studying all sorts of subjects surrounding my own experiences with sleep paralysis for over 20 years. Only in the past 10 years have I been able to get actual medical information.

To explain this as easy as possible...

Sleep paralysis is a normal cycle during rem sleep. Triggers in your brain shut off skeletal muscle activity as we go into rem sleep. Literally paralyzing the body without paralyzing organs. When we are out of rem sleep and move toward consciousness, triggers in the brain turn the muscles back on.

Sometimes, these triggers are either delayed and you wake up paralyzed or they are premature and paralysis occurs prior to going into rem sleep.

What i've been highly interested in are dreams, visions and any other senses experienced while stuck between wake and sleep. I'm also interested in medical history of sleep, psychological and metabolic conditions or disease in the family of those who experience sleep paralysis.

I'm finally in college to try and make biological sense out of it...Including the visions.

Are the visions clear? Can you breathe when paralyzed? Are people in your family common to diabetes, thyroid complications, mental health issues or sleep disorders like narcolepsy?

Btw...Sleepwalkers are the opposite. The triggers neglect to shut the skeletal muscles off in rem sleep or prematurely switch the muscles back on before going out of rem sleep and so they act out what they are seeing behind their closed eyes. They are in rem sleep. When we experience sleep paralysis while conscious, what we are seeing is happening out of rem sleep.

Eyeon

You know..My family doesn't have any history of mental illness or sleep disorders...I really seem to be the only one and I just dont know why.. I really wish I knew I am the way I am, but I just dont know... I wish I could make it stop...The only people i've told about this slep paralysis is my mom and my boyfriend and they just dont even believe me... They think I imagine it..It happened three times before I researched it...Why am I so misunderstood?? But i'm surprised that someone knows so much about it..You must be pretty smart..Thanks for the insight...It helps.. It makes me feel a little less crazy..

I used to have this every night, used to be scared to go to sleep.....Try drinking a glass of water before you go to bed or change your sleeping position...It usually happens if I sleep on my back or side...So I sleep on my stomach with my head to the right.

Hello i was just looking this up on the google website and i came across this site. I just had one of these last night. It happens to me when im laying on my stomach. Yes, it freaks me out really bad. I use to think that i was never going to wake up. Everytime this happens to me, i cant move. I try really hard to move my arms and legs but i cant. I cant even open my eyes. Last night my daughter fell asleep in my bed and i tried yelling her name so she could wake me up and i just couldn't make a sound.

I learned that sleep paralysis is brought on by lack of sleep. The more sleep you miss the more it will happen when you do finally get to sleep. I had mine for 30 years then I just sort of grew out of it. Had not had an episode in 5 years. But I make sure to still get 7/8 hours of sleep every night.

My husband also suffers sleep paralysis. But he can see what is in the room, where I can't see at all during mine. I had an eeg once, but the test came back normal, even though I had an attack in the middle of the test. They made me go without sleep. That was when I figured out lack of sleep is the cause.

I have been doing the wierdest things while sleeping, but I never really thought anything of it.. it has been going on the last few years more often, I have sleep walked and talked in my sleep since I was little, and now that I am older I have also been texting while sleeping, calling people and talking to them, walking around the house, i have done sexual things with people while sleeping also and i have no memory of this, i have gotten in the shower and woke up when i turned the water on. And I just want to know what my problem is.. can anyone help me out?

Yeah, I have sleep paralysis. There's lots of stuff you can find about it on the internet. My biggest advice is just to NOT lie on your back. I always get them when I lie on my back Also, I reccomend you try your best not to get stressed out. When I'm stressed im always like ten times more likely to get one.

I have experienced this for years. I remember the first time, it felt like someone/something was sitting on my chect choking me. I remember hearing a weird noise as the though my air conditioning unit was dying. I struggled to yell out for my husband, but all that came out was barely a whisper.....then I remember the struggle was over. This is when I became calm and also why I believe I experienced an Out of Body. I remember looking down at myself, but completely at peace. Then I was struggling again until finally I managed to fling myself off the bed.
I was afraid to sleep for a few weeks after this first experience. After doing some research I also learned that the "Scientific" term for this Sleep Paralysis. Whatever it is.... it sucks.
However, the next time it happens (I know this is hard) try to focus on moving a finger or your eyes....this may send the message to your brain to trigger the response that you are awake.
I know how you feel, I still get these from time to time. It's hard to explain to someone who has never gone through this.
Hang in there.
Do you or have you had problems with sleep your entire life?
I ask because I've been an insomniac off and on my entire life ---- as a child I would drink the NyQuil in the medicine cabinet just so I could fall asleep.

Good Luck! Write back if you wanna talk.

I too have this almost weekly... I try and shake my body back and forth... I can see the room and hear what is going on... I will try and talk and move but can not and it feels like I can't breath... when I finally can wake I feel like I have not slept at all.

I've had Sleep Paralysis since I was 17, and a few times when i was younger, but before i actualy expirienced the paralysis i expirienced the other things first, like the "halusinations" visual and noise.

I would realy like to chat with somebody about this stuff, because anyone i try to talk about it with just end up telling me i'm crazy or something and it's realy frustrating cause they don't understand what it's realy like for me. it happens to me at least once a week, some times up to 5 times a week.

ive had sleep paralysis twice in the last two weeks, the first time i was lay on my side and opened my eyes but couldnt move, i really felt like someone was behind me i was pretty scared to sleep afterwards.
then yesterday i woke up again on my side not being able to move anything but my head although it was a real struggle to move my head, before it happened it felt like someone jumped on me and when i really Tried to look behind me i could see someone i knew but only really feighntly, and there arms were round me, i kept trying to push them away but couldnt so i tried to shout help but only murmmers were coming from my mouth. im really scared to sleep alone now because although ive read its just a disorder and its common im not too sure it is