Sleep Paralysis, Lucid Dreaming & Hallucinations.

[daveT]

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Dave T,

I will check out that book. I have woke up laughing on a number of occasions. I've been falling asleep and whatever was playing on the TV at the time would somehow become a part of my dream (I think this is standard).

I don't think I've ever died in my dreams. I've been in situations where I was sure I was about to die, but that's about it. Your dreams really sound like they suck. You seen a doctor about any of this?

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So you know, that this book attempts to analyze why we hallucinate, but most of it is drug-induced.

The TV thing is probably standard. I don't watch too much TV, but I spend a lot of time in front of my computer, and there have been nights where the entire sleep is re-living my day in front of the computer.

No, I never seen a doctor for these dreams, but I have seen psychologists. To be honest, I don't think they know about or care about why this sort of thing happens.

[cardsharkk04]

I get lucid dreams all the time. They are completely random and nonsensical with story lines jumping all over the place and people always popping up that I haven't seen or thought about in many years. They're pretty damn cool I think and almost always happen after a night of drinking after I wake up and then go back to sleep again.

[rhymenocerus]

These experiences gave me a strong flashback, once as a kid i had a strong fever (103-104), I remember laying on my back and just sensing evil forces converging on me. it felt like I was about to be crushed by some unimaginably heavy force/object. People who believe there is no such thing as pure evil are definitly wrong even though it may exist only in our minds. Sorry for rambling, too many bong rips.

[PVR]

I get the sleep paralysis thing 2 or 3 times a year, not too scary but I feel like absolute sh*t for the rest of the day.

[Seether]

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Every once in a while I will get sleep paralysis. Unfortunately, I can't seem to calm down and I get really panicky. I always try my hardest to move, or wake up (because most times I know I am sleeping), and this causes me to get extremely anxious. It's such an uncomfortable feeling.

Not only do I get sleep paralysis, but there are two major recurring things that happen in my dreams. The first is that I always move or act sluggishly in my dreams, especially during times when I need to react quickly. For instance, in dreams where I have to run away from something/someone, I end up running away extremely slowly, as if I'm slightly paralyzed. This also happens in dreams where I am in a fight, where my punches are extremely slow, and again, I feel like there is something wrong with me because I am moving so slowly.


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This basically completely describes me. Another type of sluggish motion thing in my dreams is Ive had many dreams where I have a gun and the trigger wont pull or it wont fire.

[econophile]

wow i just had an episode of sleep paralysis earlier tonight -- my first (except possibly for childhood) -- and holy [censored] was it scary. i will avoid lying on my back for the near term.

here's some nightmare science: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/science/23angi.html

[HarryPotter]

I have sleep paralysis about twice a year. It started about ten years ago. The first few years it was extreamly scary. The best way I can describe it is a huge sensation of the sound of water just rushing through my entire body, my eyes water, everything is really loud. I try to move but feel like I weigh 10 tons. My eyes want to roll in the back of my head, I feel very dizzy, I try to speak but cannot even manage a whisper. Every single time this has happened I just eventually fall back asleep and wake up normal later on. A few years ago in passing I mentioned this to my doctor. He said what I was describing was sleep paralysis. It doesnt really bother me too much when it happens now.

[Somnius]

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I believe I have been experiencing both of the aforementioned occurrences for the past year or so. The latter happening is quite awesome and I'm glad it takes place. The former is slightly annoying and sometimes very scary.

A few experiences with sleep paralysis:

As a poker player without any schedule to follow, my sleep cycle occurs within very irregular hours. I'll frequently stay up for 18-24 hours in order to fix it for the time being, or to quickly slide into a fitting time slot when I actually do need to do something.

I bring this up because it is a common symptom for sleep paralysis.

Frequently, shortly after falling asleep, I will wake back up, but cannot move. I am totally conscious and aware that I am trying to move. This was very scary at first, but it has happened so many times that I'm pretty comfortable in dealing with the situation.

I think I can wiggle my toes during my struggle to move the rest of my body, but this might be something I am imagining (my mind plays several tricks on me as I will explain below). I have no clue as to how long I lay and struggle to move the rest of my body. After wiggling my toes for a while, my body will wake and I can sit up. On a few occasions I have went back to sleep immediately, only to repeat the entire process again and again throughout the night.

I did my honors thesis on something relating to Dopamine and through my research did quite a bit of reading on this subject since it's so fascinating. The fact that you're a poker player plays more into this. When you're spending your day in an excited dopamine state, you definately increase your chances of this happening. I get them too, especially when I pull long sessions. I personally haven't really read documented "treatments", however, I find, that when I do experience one and want to go back to sleep, I will re-orient my head so that the front of my head is angled lower then the back of the head. Do you find that when you do experience the paralysis, your sleeping on the back of your head with your face to the ceiling? I just have a theory that it may be somewhat influenced by frontal lobe dopaminergic activation...for me anyway, when I do the mentioned "fix"...it works.

To my knowledge, this does not always occur while I am lucid dreaming. The last occurrence, however, did, and ended with an actual physical hallucination.

To save time, I won't go into great detail as to what happened in my dream, but I'll give a brief summary:

-The earliest I can remember controlling the dream, I was at a party, much like the party I was at the day before. When I started controlling the dream, I began stumbling around and couldn't walk properly. I felt very disoriented.

-I left and was running after someone. I stepped in some dirt while running and it went into my shoe in the dream. I remember the physical feeling of the dirt in my shoe. This is the first time I have actually physically felt something from my dream. I remember being blown away by this in my dream.

-I ended up coming to a school yard and throwing a ball around with a bunch of children at recess.

-I felt something in my mouth and realized I was chewing on something. I am pretty sure I started chewing in real life (and I felt whatever it was I was chewing on and believed it was occurring). My heart started beating incredibly fast. This has happened before and I always tried waking up at this time, but I decided to try and go through it because I wasn't scared about anything.

Did you wake up with a headache? Again, after especially more dopamine activated days like long poker sessions, teeth grinding during sleep is pretty common. You were probably grinding your teeth/biting down hard periodically.

-I don't recall what happened in between (if anything) but I realized my bedroom light was on and I could hear a very distinct sound. It was the sound when Mario hits a box and receives a coin. I was talking about SNES with my friend the day before and deduced that he had come over and was playing it. This is obviously absurd as my friend wouldn't break into my house (only way to get in) and sit on my bed, playing video games while I'm asleep. But this is exactly what I heard and noticed with my eyes shut. I began wiggling my toes, desperately trying to move or say something, so I could let my friend know I was awake.

-I finally get up and notice that it is pitch black and nobody is in my room.

-I look straight ahead and something is hovering in front of me. It looks exactly like a Dorito bag. I get very scared. It lasts for about 3-4 seconds and fades away. I then realize all of it was another episode of my sleep paralysis and lucid dreaming. I turn on my light to make sure nothing is really there (was still in a weird state).

This was the most intense combination of sleep paralysis, lucid dreaming and hallucination that I have had. I've imagined people in my room before. I thought a friend was in my room, so I began trying to fight out of my sleep and get up to greet him. I then thought he left. After I finally broke out of my paralysis, I hopped out of bed and called his name and checked my living room. It was so real that I didn't even ask myself "Wait, I live in an apartment complex and my front door is locked and dead bolted. How did my friend get in here? Oh, and why is he coming into my house when I am sleeping?"

Another instance, the scariest, occurred in the same way that the Mario sequence did. I was trying to wake up, but couldn't and it happened before I could open my eyes and confirm/deny the occurrence. A very rapid and bright white light was pulsating right in front of my door. My heart began beating out of control and I tried waking up as soon as I could. When I did, I looked at my door and obviously found nothing. This doesn't sound scary at all, but I was terrified.

These are just a few experiences I've had and am curious as to how many others are experiencing this? It happens to me much more frequently when I've stayed up for long period of time. Please share any stories you have regarding the aforementioned topics. Sorry for the length.

It would actually be pretty interesting to conduct a study about the dream sequences of poker players. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we had more frequent/more lucid dreams considering what is happening most of the day before we sleep, reward center overload much...As an aside, once, I "woke-up" in the middle of the night, I was actually still "half-sleeping", and saw a shadow move across my wall of a person, I spring up and obviously nothing's there...tricksy brain...



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[Somnius]

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I have sleep paralysis about twice a year. It started about ten years ago. The first few years it was extreamly scary. The best way I can describe it is a huge sensation of the sound of water just rushing through my entire body, my eyes water, everything is really loud. I try to move but feel like I weigh 10 tons. My eyes want to roll in the back of my head, I feel very dizzy, I try to speak but cannot even manage a whisper. Every single time this has happened I just eventually fall back asleep and wake up normal later on. A few years ago in passing I mentioned this to my doctor. He said what I was describing was sleep paralysis. It doesnt really bother me too much when it happens now.

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Sounds like you're getting a seizure along with it, seems pretty common. I know when I try to get up from the paralysis I start kinda twitching as I'm trying to get the signal going but there probably just aren't enough transmitters for activation.

That sound of water seems really interesting though, and your eyes start to water too? What kind of water rushing sound, like you have a faucet or a more gargling/bubbly type?

[HarryPotter]

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Sounds like you're getting a seizure along with it, seems pretty common. I know when I try to get up from the paralysis I start kinda twitching as I'm trying to get the signal going but there probably just aren't enough transmitters for activation.

That sound of water seems really interesting though, and your eyes start to water too? What kind of water rushing sound, like you have a faucet or a more gargling/bubbly type?

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I'd describe it as a feeling of sticking your head out an airplane window or having a powerful waterfall flowing through your entire body. Eyes watering may or may not be my imagination.