sleep paralysis problem

Ok this is my first post I have been lurking here for awhile , but go easy on me
Ever since I was a teen (maybe even before) I have suffered from sleep paralysis, everytime I wake but cannot move (obviously) and it sounds like someone is walking around. When I was younger I even experienced what felt like someone (thing) jumped on my bed.
Now that I am in my own house I have experienced what sound like someone walk down the stairs sometimes go to the kitchen and walk around. Once while I was asleep on the couch, it seemed like someone walked down the stairs and tapped on the end of the couch a couple times to get my attention. While all this happens I feel that someone has broke into my house and I cannot get up to defend myself.
OK the reason for this post. This morning it happened to me twice in about 30 minutes. The first time it sounded like someone walked down from upstairs went into the kitchen. I thought it was my wife but had the feeling something was not right when I realized I could not move. finally I was free I lift my body up look around knowing nothing would be there, turn the tv channel and fall back asleep. I awoke shortly after unable to move with what best could be described as the sound of a helocopter and a bird flapping its wing really fast behind my ear. It ended as soon as I was able to move. My question is, is it common to have the paralysis twice in one night and so close together?
thanks

Sleep paralysis is normal, and common. Are you able to simply ignore the sounds and senses that tell you someone is there? Do you experience fear during these experiences? I was watching the Discovery channel once-- the show was trying to debunk alien abductions. The program suggested that a sense of someone else in the area comes with sleep paralysis, along with fear.

Can you just close your eyes, knowing no intruder exists, and resume sleep?

Good luck!

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R00t! 2,004 ATS points!
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[edit on 16-7-2004 by Jake_]

[edit on 16-7-2004 by Jake_]

No I am usually afraid, thinking someone other then my wife and I is in the house, so it is hard to ignore and just go back to sleep while it is going on.
I really do not think I am being abducted, I just never experienced it twice in one night.

I used to get sleep paralysis a lot...I haven't had it in a long time though. I remember one time I was really tired and was taking a nap on the couch, and I was just drifting in and out of sleep for a long time...but each time I was conscious again, I couldn't move. So, it must have happened several times in that hour or so. Lots of people report feeling or hearing weird things during sleep paralysis, I don't think it's out of the ordinary.

Originally posted by unamused
No I am usually afraid, thinking someone other then my wife and I is in the house, so it is hard to ignore and just go back to sleep while it is going on.

Are you fully concious? If so, you can remember that this has happened before and there has never been anyone there.

I know what you mean
it used to happen to me all the time when I was a kid,
Once I was asleep on the sofa and i heard my mum
get up and go to the toilet. I could'nt move and the room felt dark like I was in mud or something' I tryed to call for her but nothing came out
then I felt something pulling me and a dark hole like thing was at my feet
(Scared was not the word) For a moment I let myself go with it, then fear got the better of me and I just thought NO, I pushed down hard with my feet and the next thing I knew I was on the floor.

It hasent happend for a long time now thank god.

The last time it happened to me, there were more weird elements involved...I remember seeing a black cloud coming over me and being really scared. If you haven't had these a lot, it's really scary to not be able to move, but just know that nothing can happen to you from it. Also, after you've had them for a while, you learn how to wake your body up when you want to.

I'll experiance it about every two to three weeks. I'm glad I recently figured what the heck it was to beign with.

Anyway, usually I wake up on my back and I just feel like someone is in the room, or I see a figure standing and looking out the window.

The other night I woke up on my side, which was a first, and felt like something was sitting right behind my back on the bed with me. It made a weird sound sorta like a growl and a hiss. Freaked me out. I thought I saw a dark figure shoot across the room and pass by the foot of my bed and then off towards the window. I kept telling myself it was just sleep paralysis and kept calm and eventually was able to move.

This was only the second time in as long as I can remember that I heard a voice or felt something directly next to me.

It can be scary but you've just got to learn to deal with it. Unless you wake up with scratches or something, then it might be something else.

Cheers.

THe Big O

It's funny, I haven't been a serious Catholic since I was a child, yet whenever I have those frightening sleep-paralysis episodes, I always break out of it by screaming in my mind: JESUS HELP ME!

Maybe you can build an "escape mechanism' like that. You know, like people who have a lot of nightmares are told to do: have a certain phrase or visual image that you can concentrate on.

The way that I would use to "break out" of being paralyzed in my sleep, is I would focus all my energy into tensing my muscles, all over my body, like if I were to try and jump out of my bed as fast and powerfully as I possibly could. When I was paralyzed I would always feel really tired, and it was HARD to do this, where you all of a sudden try to jolt your whole body in one direction...but if you do it right, you can shock your body awake most of the time.

for the last couple of months i have some weird experiences. i woke up three nights in a row not being able to breathe for a couple of seconds, during this i would scream and shout to my girlfriend next to me but she couldnt hear me. i can scream and shout but no sound comes out then a week or so later i woke up half way through the night to see a blurry figure stood next to me, i thought it was my girlfriend doing sumthing but it just stood there looking at me i was half asleep and it was rerally blurry i closed my eyes and opened them to have another look thinking that i was just imagining it but it was still there, i said to myself i was dreaming and went back to sleep. now i cant stop thinking bout it.