[daveT]

I would suggest reading Fire in the Brain. It is about Hallucinations and attempts to explain the groundwork for why they occur. The author describes a visit from a succubus.

I simply do not have normal dreams. I only have nightmares. This has happened ever since I was a child. I have always floated between insomnia and hypersomnia. I have a very hard time falling asleep and waking up. I am not a morning person: it can take me four or more hours to "wake up." I remember in school, that the first four to six hours of my morning was a blank, and my grades displayed this.

Your OP sent chills down my spine. I can relate to all of it, except the sleep paralysis. I still wake up at times to find my arm stuck in my blanket when I find myself defenseless in my dream, or I wake up talking, or I wake up with a jump, or a scream in my throat.

I have died several times in my sleep. I have woken up to put my hand to my head and felt blood that was not there.

I don't think that what we are experiencing is normal if it happens constantly.