Sleep paralysis and temporary madness.

I get the ringing in my ears, the loud buzz and the white light or energy... whatever it is? I saw an alien once standing by the bed. I don't think it was a demon. Very scary thing to happen to you i admit, but i'm not convinced i am asleep that's for sure! I am not sure of the theory of the brain having a good old clear out either. It's too real for me and for 10-12 minutes it's a case of hear we go again! I'm not such a wimp these days. Once upon a time i wouldn't go to bed i was so frightened.

Originally posted by Kandinsky
Not sure why, but avoid sleeping on your back.

The reason why sleeping supine makes a difference goes back into the realm of sleep apnea. As a matter of fact there are people who only have what we call positional sleep apnea. Its pretty easy to understand when you think about it. When you lay on your back gravity is pulling tissue directly back into your airway. Its almost the same thing as the way that they teach you to clear the airway before giving CPR, same basic principal anyway. Think about how often you have heard of someone who snores and their significant other tells them to roll over so it stops, its the same thing basically. People can have different levels of apnea as well, they may only have it when they drink, or when they go into REM, or when they go into REM while on their back, etc... There are a lot of combinations that can cause this at various points through the night.

As to the OP's mention that he has trouble getting to sleep, sometimes that can also be the same problem. You start to dose off, you get into stage one sleep (which is such a light sleep that you still think you are awake), you have an event, and you wake back up. Rinse and repeat for an extended period of time, and you have someone that thinks they either have insomnia or have a hard time shutting down their brain so they can get to sleep.

reply to post by happinness


That sounds a lot more like hypnogognia, possibly related to sleep paralysis, then some of the other posts in this thread so far.

My Doctor never mentioned anything like that. He knows more than he is letting on.

reply to post by defcon5
Good point regarding sleeping on the back and Sleep Apnea. On the other hand, clinical accounts of apnea don't always include experiences of adult night terrors. In my experience, I see a distinction. I've got a very loose idea that the limbic system and dehydration might play a subtle part in the nightmare aspect of sleep paralysis and night terrors. Sleep Apnea is often present but not always.

Whatever idle speculations, sleeping positions that allow for clearer airways can only help

Thanks for all of your replies, sorry I don't have time to reply to all of them but I think I have found a possible explanation for my ordeal.

- The sleep paralysis was caused perhaps by apnea, or being suddenly awoken by someone moving around my house (perhaps closing a door loudly etc)

- After experiencing the shock of sleep paralysis I think it's probable that I experienced more fear than I realised at the time, perhaps the shock causing the intense fear to be locked in my subconscious and maybe adrenalin blocking some of the fear whilst I was experiencing the SP.

- The duration of the next day I think I may have experienced mild anxiety attacks - something I have never had before - due to the fear perhaps being forced into my subconscious and slowly flashing back (for the lack of a better word)

- The mild anxiety attacks caused me even more fear because I didn't understand that anxiety attacks may have been causing the seemingly reasonless feeling of dread or horror.

- Not understanding what was causing the dread I started worrying it was something more serious and the first thing that came to mind was "Am I going mad?"

- Worrying that I was going mad (although I knew there was no reason to think this) made the whole thing worse, and helped to bring about more anxiety attacks.

- Getting bored of the needless worry, and feeling of dread knowing there was no reason for it, I overcame the fear locked inside and no longer experienced any more attacks.

It was Kandinsky's post that lead me to the wikipedia SP link that game me this explanation, so I thank you for that!

After a bit of reading, a few of the articles there rung a loud bell, something very similar to what I've described in my OP.

The person may think that someone is standing beside them

A lucid dream that immediately precedes the episode.

Anxiety is a physiological and psychological state characterized by cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral components.[1] These components combine to create an unpleasant feeling that is typically associated with uneasiness, fear, or worry.

Someone suffering from anxiety might also experience it as a sense of
dread or panic

Anxiety disorders are often debilitating chronic conditions, which can be present from an early age or begin suddenly after a triggering event.

Hopefully I've hit the nail on the head for anyone else who may encounter a similar problem and read this thread.

I'm completely over my symptoms now (was before I wrote this OP) and am glad and thankful that I now know (or have a pretty good explanation) of the cause.

I think you all for replying with such nice and thoughtful replies, without you I would still be wondering now just exactly what the hell went on.

Thanks!

reply to post by Kandinsky


Night Terrors are not the same thing as Nightmares.
Night Terrors happen in Delta, or Slow Wave sleep (Stages 3&4), which is more prominent in young people as Delta decreases with age. When someone has a true Night Terror, they have no idea of what they have dreamed about, they simply panic, are hard to wake, and cannot tell you what happened. This differs from a Nightmare, which occurs in REM Sleep, and the person can recall what it was that frightened them. Normal Nightmares, especially those involving suffocation or drowning, are very much related to sleep apnea where someone is choking in their sleep, for obvious reasons.

reply to post by GodForbid


Here are some details on Apnea as well:

Sleep Apnea
short term memory problems
Weight gain
Tiredness
Gastric reflux
Dry mouth
Sore throat
Slow metabolism
Inability to lose weight
High blood pressure
Diabetes
Depression
Severe Anxiety
Memory and concentration difficulties
ADD and ADHD symptoms
Intellectual deterioration
Mood swings/temperamental behavior
Poor job performance or problems in school
Mouth breathing
Restlessness and tossing and turning during sleep
Impotence
Decreased sex drive
Difficult nose breathing
Choking/gasping sensation that wakes you up
Insomnia
Inability to sleep through the night

Obviously not everyone has all those symptoms, but you should get it checked if you have some. I hope you find out what is going on...

Originally posted by defcon5
reply to post by GodForbid

 

Here are some details on Apnea as well:

Sleep Apnea
short term memory problems - Not something I suffer with.
Weight gain - Definitely not
Tiredness - Only at the end of the day before sleep.
Gastric reflux - Nope
Dry mouth - I don't wake up with dry mouth no.
Sore throat - Only when I have an illness like flu, or chest infection.
Slow metabolism - Definitely not.
Inability to lose weight - Definitely not.
High blood pressure - No
Diabetes - No
Depression - No
Severe Anxiety - No
Memory and concentration difficulties - No
ADD and ADHD symptoms - No
Intellectual deterioration - No
Mood swings/temperamental behavior - No
Poor job performance or problems in school - No
Mouth breathing - No
Restlessness and tossing and turning during sleep - No
Impotence - No
Decreased sex drive - Definitely not
Difficult nose breathing - No
Choking/gasping sensation that wakes you up - No
Insomnia - No
Inability to sleep through the night - No

Obviously not everyone has all those symptoms, but you should get it checked if you have some. I hope you find out what is going on...

I think I can definitely rule out Apnea, not one of those applies to me and I answered them all seriously. Besides, I sleep next to my girlfriend each night and never get complaints of snoring or restlessness I sleep like a log.

As I wrote a couple of posts above, I think I did find out what went on. I am no longer suffering from any symptoms / illness / etc. But thanks !

reply to post by GodForbid


I was just going off your initial post where you mentioned: Waking up, soar throat, anxiety, inability to get to sleep, difficulty waking up, and a bout of possible SP. It is entirely possible that you only have difficulty like that when you go out partying.

I was just trying to make sure you get all the pertinent information.
Not all those things apply to everyone, you might only have 2 or 3 symptoms.

[edit on 1/20/2009 by defcon5]

reply to post by defcon5


Yeah, your info definitely provided a possible explanation of what may have caused the sleep paralysis, I thank you for that. I wouldn't have thought of apnea otherwise. However, I don't think any one of those symptoms applies to me, so I think it was probably another cause, perhaps being awoken suddenly while in REM sleep.

SP is not something that happens regularly for me, twice in my 21 years it's happened, and I think one off occasions can be a freak occasion and not necessarily due to anything in particular. However it's still possible that apnea maybe could have woken me on this occasion perhaps due to the flu like illness I was suffering.

SP is a strange and frightening thing. Hopefully this thread could ease some people's fears if something similar has happened to them due to the amount of well thought out and nice responses in here.

I wish that there was an explanation for my sp. I have had it as long as i can remember. I have never had any issues like the ones mentioned or been under mental health, yet usually twice a year i get it. Some of the things that have happened i can't mention here, but believe me it never ceases to amaze me. For the record i wouldn't wish it on my worst ememy!
There have been positive outcome's. Again i wish i could say, but i can't. It certainly makes you look outside the box, so to speak, though any romantic notions of life went out of the window long ago.
One thing i will say is that i know when i am awake or not and i know the habits of my cat. He's been involved too on one occassion and to this day i can't fathom out why he won't sleep by my back door, which he had done for years. I am pleased that you feel better Godforbid. Goodluck.

reply to post by happinness


I'm sure there is an explanation for your SP, only that you haven't found it yet. You said you saw a doctor, did he/she conduct a sleep test? As you may have acute narcolepsy, irregular REM sleep patters, or any number of sleep disorders you never thought you had, all of which can cause regular sleep paralysis, and all of which are treatable without the use of hard medications and are apparently very effective.

I also have a friend I spoke to after posting my OP and surprisingly enough, he gets SP very often too, he says maybe 5 times a month. He also doesn't know the cause. I think it's very common.

It sounds like you have come to terms with your SP now and aren't afraid of it anymore which is good, but still I hope you find a cause and cure for it.

Thanks for your replies.

Cheers GodForbid,
The problem i have is that they won't see me under mental health, because they say there is nothing wrong with me! My Doctor say's he can't help, cos he's not a psyciatrist, so iam stuck really!
I mentioned stuff i had read up on and my Doctor went white! Eg the pineal gland and stem cells. I have been told that some peoples brain is dorment until night time and that's when the fun begins. I told my Doc this he looked mortified that i had even had the brains to articulate it to him.
He's a good guy though and reassurred me all was well in my world.

....As the day went on, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was going mad, or maybe already had a little bit. I couldn't think of any reason why, I wasn't hearing voices, or hallucinating, I wasn't having any unusual thoughts or erratic behaviour. I was as normal as I always have been, but there's still nasty feeling of horror that I can't shake off. This continued for a few days after. Perhaps up to a week, and really getting to me, upsetting me and worrying me. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was going mad, although still not having any explanation as to why, no symptoms of what I would imagine as madness. Only the horrible sinking feeling....

I have noticed an increase in the number of people that feel that they are experiences changes in their mental perception. It varies in intensity for everyone and it can be intermittent or constant. I tried to cover it in a thread but it is such a difficult thing to describe that I may have missed the mark but here is link to that thread. Don't know if it will help.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I thought i was going mad, not that i was mad! When you open your eyes and see a little alien standing beside the bed for 20 minutes and you can't move, then i think it's understandable. Then he shot a beam of light at me!
Sorry i'm not thick, but my imagination don't stretch that far. Infact there was two beams of light, one from each eye. Please don't anyone say i was dreaming or having a halucination. I know what i saw. He didn't hurt me and aparently had no intention to do so. That's a relief in itself!

reply to post by happinness


happiness, you could familiarise that with my "fake step Dad" I was so sure he had sat on my bed and shook me to wake me up. It was him, all facial details everything as normal. The only way I knew this wasn't real is because I woke up again and he wasn't there. I had to ask him if he had came into my room that day to know if it wasn't real or not.

I think you are actually dreaming if that makes sense. You've woken up, but you're in-between dream and awake, therefore parts of your dream are still with you while you're stuck in the SP. Creating a very real picture.

Honestly, I saw my step dad there, and I knew it was him. It was right, definitely him. It later turned out it wasn't him, he never came into my room.

This could easily have been an alien, goblin, demon, or anything, it would still have seemed just as real.

Obviously though, I didn't see what you've seen, and am not claiming this is definitely your answer, but that's what happened to me, only minus alien + my step dad.

reply to post by NightSkyeB4Dawn


Odd, and this could definitely contribute to some of the uneasy feelings I've had. Interesting read nice post.

Well i'm open to suggestion and believe me i'm the biggest sceptic going!
I remember exactly what was going through my head at the time and i kept thinking it will be gone in a minute, it was all a dream. 20 odd minutes later it was still there and i was still awake, wide awake. Infact i couldn't have been more awake if i'd tried. This thing was even dribbling! I can remember every minute detail. I kept thinking this is like something out of the x file's what is going on? why me? I have never seen anything like since and can honestly say i was petrified that night. i don't know whether i was halucinating, but nothing like it has happened since as far as what i would consider an alien apperition. Weird stuff happens to me alot, but i never thought anything of it and just put things down to coincedence. That's what brought me on here the quest for knowledge. Too many weird stuff to mention on here and i'm frightened of scaring anyone. Plus some of it is too sensetive to go public. I use to refuse too go to bed at night, but as i've got older, i've kind of accepted it. There is nothing anyone can do, other than be a friend and listen to me blab when i have my off days and can't deal with it. I love my bed, but at one time i wouldn't walk through the bedroom door, let alone go to bed!

defcon5
I could give you more examples, but to be honest i'm too scared.