Message:
I am a 24 yr old female. I have not had any sleep paralysis for many months now so I'd almost forgotten about it(my SP comes in flaps). Two nights ago I laid down to sleep & it started happening again. I wasn't especially tired, but it was really late so I thought I'd go to bed. As soon as I laid down, relaxed & closed my eyes, I started to feel the vibrations. They were really strong, I felt myself being pulled in very rapidly............ Immediately, I started hearing voices. It was distinctly a male voice, the presence did not seem friendly. I could not make out any of the words but it seemed threatening............. Well, I realized right away what was going on because I was still completely conscious. I struggled to move, call out to my boyfriend to come help me. Eventually I was able to move & fully bring myself back to normal waking state. The problem is, when this starts happening to me, I can pretty much count out going to sleep that night............ I have a couple questions, I was hoping someone will have some insight on these:............. 1) How come, once sleep paralysis starts, you cannot try to go back to sleep that same night (or at least for a couple of hours) without the same thing happening again? I do want to add that I've never found any relationship between my waking life & the onset of an SP flap (not stressed, etc). If I drop my guard just the slightest bit, whatever it is is right there to pull me back in. It's not even like I just cannot go back to sleep. I literally have to get up & walk around, & sometimes jump around like an idiot to maintain complete control over myself. If I as much as sit down, or close my eyes for a second it starts happening again.............. 2) Another thing, I've never read about SP starting when people still have their eyes open. Once the sleep paralysis starts & then I struggle & bring myself back awake, later that same night if I just sit let my guard down a bit, I get pulled right back in. This happened the other night. All I did was sit down, my eyes were still wide open. Suddenly, the vibrations started & I felt myself being pulled back in, yet I had my eyes open the whole time & could see everything. I was even able to move a bit. Does this also happen to others? I thought most people were at least in a semi-sleep state when SP sets in............. 3) One last question. How come once the sleep paralysis starts, I become so unbelievably tired? I will start out only slightly tired before I lay down & the SP begins. But once I pull myself out of it the first time, it seems almost impossible to stay awake. I feel so completely exhausted, all I can think about is going to sleep, which of course I can't do, as I'll just go right back into SP instead. Kinda reminds me as if I'd taken some sort of sleep aid & it completely knocked me out. When I was younger I used to think that it was because I had just finished struggling so hard to bring myself back to my fully waking state, & that wore me out physically. But now since I've had SP for so long, it's much easier for me to pull myself back out of it. I struggle, but not as bad, so it doesn't seem as if it should wear me out that much......... Since I've gotten access to the internet, I've found so much info on sleep paralysis. I finally feel almost ok about it, knowing that I'm not crazy. I now know that there is supposed to be a scientific explanation for these experiences, & I am trying hard to get myself to believe that............ It's just when it happens, it all seams so real. I feel like some melevolent presence is responsible, I feel like it's there waiting for me, tring to pull me in (to another dimension?etc) where it has control over me............. I would appreciate any thoughts from anyone on this, maybe ideas on how to prevent the SP from reoccurring later that same night so I can get some sleep, etc. It's good to know I'm not the only one suffering from this.