Wow. I had that exact experience 3 or 4 nights ago.
I do the same thing. I find something like a finger that isn’t paralyzed and wiggle it. I’ve learned over time there are some back muscles that usually work so I rock myself awake.
As far as dreams are concerned, I’ve learned that certain dreams mean something and I know to wake myself up. If it’s a violent dream it means I’m getting a migraine. If it’s a claustrophobic dream it means I’m having trouble breathing.
i had similar happen recently. i had a really horrifying dream, that i don’t even want to share the details of, and i “woke up” about three times within the dream and it kept happening over and over. finally i woke up for real and had a hell of a time going back to sleep because i was afraid it was going to happen again.
Hmm. So, not this guy, huh?
For several years after my mother died, I would have bad dreams about her. She wasn’t a pleasant person.
Finally, I heard of ‘directed dreaming’, which works well with recurring nightmares. If you practice enough, prior to going to sleep every night, you can actually guide the course of your dreams. The next time my mother showed up in a dream, being hyper-critical and bitchy, I used the technique; in the dream I said to her “Mom, you’re dead; you have to go back now. This is my dream, and I get to say who’s allowed in it”. That was pretty much the last bad dream I had about my mother.
So, you can practice with this. . .guy, or apparition, or whatever. You can practice saying to him “I don’t want you here, and I’m not going to allow you to be here, so you have to leave now”.
You wouldn’t believe how empowering this is!
Roadblocks:
-I never knew I was dreaming when this happened
-I was paralyzed, which included my voice
It really is one of the most terrifying experiences a person can have without being in any real danger, I think.
It is.
Maybe he’s the Thistle-Haired Man from “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell” in an updated jacket. Don’t go with him to his castle, no matter what!!!
I will grant that I was posting about nightmares in general, not sleep paralysis, which, to the best of my knowledge, I’ve never experienced.
Anyone who does experience this, I can certainly understand the horror, and you have my sympathies!
Now now, Bob has changed quite a bit…
…since he learned about Enzyte. :eek:
I’m pretty sure he had plenty.
Also, I get the sleep paralysis thing whenever my sleep schedule gets messed up. Falling asleep with the lights on is a big trigger. BOB doesn’t show up, at least. I just get to look at the wall for a few minutes while I try to thrash around and wake my body up.
I can remember sleep paralysis back to the age of 2 and it never bothered except when I was wadded up in the sheets and getting smothered. Now THAT bothered me. I knew I could wriggle into non-paralysis but the interim time seemed forever. Doesn’t help being claustrophobic.
I’ve had the sleep paralysis on waking a few times, and I’m always terrified that someone will come along and put something over my face, or my sinuses will stop up, and I’ll suffocate.
We interrupt your regularly scheduled thread for this hijack:
Every time I see this thread in MPSIMS, in my head I start singing: “A-weem-a-way, a-weem-a-way, a-weem-a-way, a-weem-a-way…”
Carry on!
It’s probably this guy (youtube.com)
I actually like my sleep paralysis hallucinations. I usually see a glowing disco ball type thing floating around, making my head buzz with a low frequency hum. It’s very psychedelic and kind of cool.
This to me really explains demons and everything else. I mean, it affects something like 30% of people! I was so relieved to find out what it was.
Tips that help
- Get the right amount of rest
- Plenty of potassium
- No naps
- Take an ibuprofen; this helps me sometimes.