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I am so sorry! Unfortunately, I suffer from sleep paralysis too, on a frequent basis. For years, I would have the hallucinations like you do, but in the last two years, it's progressed to where I feel like someone heavy is sitting on my chest and it's hard to breathe. It's terrifying, but I just have to keep telling myself during the episode, that yes, I can breathe, and it will eventually pass....Uggg...I hate it!
My SIL suffers from this, but her hallucinations revolve around a demon that sits at the end of her bed. My older sister will randomly have it happen, as well, but hers tend to be that her bedroom is on fire. I know that when they are having episodes, they focus on one body part, like a foot or hand, and try to get those going. It takes the sting off the "scary" thing that is happening and can usually get them out of it quicker than anything else. Try that technique next time and see if it works.
Sorry this happens to you! I know it's terrifying for my SIL because she takes longer to remember it's not real and to start to focus on her hand. I know I have no desire to have a demon sit at the end of my bed while I can't move!!
that is the worst. In my family we call it the old hag. I usually just keep dreaming over and over that I'm starting my day, then I realize something is off, and force myself to wake and can't, only to be "stuck" when I do " wake". It's awful.
Oh I'm so sorry you've had to deal with this! I've never experienced sleep paralysis myself but my grandmother has suffered from it her whole life. She would always tell me how incredibly terrifying it is, and how she would focus with all of her might on forcing herself to move or make a sound. My mother has had it happen a few times as well, but I really hope it never happens to me...it sounds awful. :(
Jeez having a demon sitting at the end of your bed sounds totally terrifying, as does fire really.... occasionally I see someone I know coming into the room and spilling buckets of water or trying to wake me up but its not quite the same thing. I would wake up really confused and wondering if that person might actually be in the house somewhere.
The first time it ever happened, it was as though I fell out of my body onto the floor, I thought I died or something.
I've never tried focusing on my body parts quite like that - I will give it a try next time! I once read that trying to blink a lot can help wake yourself up, and I sometimes remember to do that. The other thing that someetimes works is if I try to relax and get brain to fall back asleep so that I dream an obvious dream that isn't so shocking to wake up from. I wonder if an alarm or a phone ringing would snap me out of it.
Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry that you suffer from this! I don't have it and hadn't ever really heard of it. But it sounds terrifying!
Is there nothing that can be done for it? Do you know why it happens?
I have this happen sometimes if my phone rings early and wakes me up suddenly... I just see myself getting up and walking around but really I can't move and everything sound muffled, real but not real. It's rare though these days. I suffer terrible insomnia now though all the time... I just traded one bad sleep issue with another... as I type this it's 5am. sigh.
I suffered from sleep paralysis a bit over the last few years, but I have no idea what triggered it. Those years were the least stressful times. I still think I lived in a haunted house because my (now) FI saw the demon one night while "I" was sleeping, and he was a huge cynic!
In our new house, I have no problems like that at all.
@Mrs.tobe: As far as I can understand it, your brain starts to wake up, but stays in an in between state of sleep/dreaming. But the area of your brain that allows you to move is still fully asleep. So you are half awake, half dreaming, but recognize that you cannot move at all. A lot of people have demon hallucinations or ones in which something is sitting on their chest, smothering them. And some people just think they are paralyzed.
I'm pretty sure it also happens most often to people who sleep on their back and those who have sleep issues to begin with. My sister only has them when she has had a very overwhelming day, but they are rare. My SIL has them much more frequently, but there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to when she will have an episode.
I've only had this happen to me once, when I was about eight years old, and it was terrifying. I was fully awake, unlike what most of your have described, so there weren't any hallucinations for me. I just couldn't move at all. My nanny and my little brother came into my room in the morning to wake me up, and they were both touching me and saying my name, but I couldn't open my eyes, move, or otherwise acknowledge that I was awake. I think it only lasted about thirty seconds, but I freaked out, and I've never been so relieved as I was when my eyes finally opened. I was afraid to go to bed for weeks after that.
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I've feeling awful today because I tossed and turned all night last night - was constantly too cold or too hot, or my pillows just seemed uncomfortable - which has actually been happening a lot since we bought a bed a couple weeks ago (before it was just a mattress on the floor) and I decided to take a nap this afternoon.
I kinda thought I might be able to escape sleep paralysis this time because it wasn't a boredom nap, I really didn't sleep well. And I tried to prevent it by remembering to sleep on my stomach rather than my back though I think I rolled over when I couldn't fall asleep.... and once again any daytime napping lead to terrible sleep paralysis.
Usually its a lot of hallucinations of me thinking I'm getting out of bed but I can't move my head, or falling down over and over again after getting up, and trying to touch things to prove to myself I'm awake and the sheer panic of not being able to move. Though this time I was simply plagued with reeally loud noises of static and voices and our flat's awful buzzer sound.
Bah I'm so tired!
Sorry for the rant. My body is unhappy today.