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MDMA, 5-HTP & sleep paralysis

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vancbc

Bluelighter
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Jul 19, 2003
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Has anyone noticed an increased incidence of sleep paralysis when post-loading with 5-HTP after using moderate to high doses of MDMA?

I don't normally pre- or post-load, but the past year after experimenting with higher and/or extended dosing regimens with MDMA, I have used 5-HTP intermittently to see if I notice a difference in what can be a harsher and more extended comedown.

I do not normally suffer attacks of sleep paralysis after using MDMA, but interestingly enough I have found that if I take 5-HTP too soon before bedtime that I can experience repeated and unpleasant episodes of sleep paralysis that involve auditory hallucinations, bright flashing lights, and the struggle to move or wake up but the inability to do so for some time.

I've tried delaying the 5-HTP for a few days, but in experimenting have also found that 5-HTP too close to bedtime even several days after taking MDMA can also seem to initiate an episode. These episodes only seem to happen after taking moderately high to high doses of MDMA followed by 5-HTP and most often occur as I begin to fall asleep, although in one case they lasted nearly all night.

Does anyone have any ideas or knowledge if there could be any correlation between 5-HTP and sleep paralysis, or is it more likely that these episodes are nothing more than a coincidence?
 
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I've found I've had sleep paralysis after a few periods of heavy E usage (for me anyway... 3 pills in 2 weeks). I don't normally get sleep paralysis, and I don't always get it after MDMA and 5-HTP. Out of all the times I've done this combination, which is probably around 10-15, I've had sleep paralysis twice. During both of these times I was also experiencing brain zaps - feeling like there's a brief zap of electricity in your brain, there's some discussion on Bluelight about it if you search.
 
^^

vancbc said:
.I do not normally suffer attacks of sleep paralysis after using MDMA, but interestingly enough I have found that if I take 5-HTP too soon before bedtime that I can experience repeated and unpleasant episodes of sleep paralysis that involve auditory hallucinations, bright flashing lights, and the struggle to move or wake up but the inability to do so for some time.
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What he said.
 
Post loading with 5-HTP usually gives me sleep paralysis. A very weird feeling indeed.
 
5-htp on it's own just before bed makes me act out the movements i'm dreaming about.
 
Haven't noticed any change in sleep since I started usintg 5-Htp this last month or two.
 
using MDMA more than once a month gives me a few episodes of sleep paralysis, usually between weeks 1 - 3 after using. i haven't noticed anything different with or without 5-htp; i assumed it was just from rolling too much. i find it really fascinating as long as i'm sleeping next to my gf, but otherwise it's terrifying when it happens alone 'cause you get that awful feeling like you're being watched and can't move. ouch.
 
I would be interested in those who have experienced this to explain what sleep paralysis means to each of you.
 
One of the experiences I had involved me drifting off to sleep on the couch a few days after using E for the second time in a couple of weeks. It was quite light sleep, that sleep where you're still vaguely aware of noises around you. I started to feel and hear a buzzing noise in my head that spread through my entire body. When I noticed this feeling I woke up in my head but my eyes were still closed. I went to sit up but found I couldn't move a muscle in my body. A feeling of panic come over me as I struggled to move and the buzzing noise/feeling remained. Eventually after about 5 seconds or so I woke up properly, the buzzing stopped and I was able to move again.

I guess for me it is just feeling like you have woken up, but your body not registering that fact.
 
MazDan said:
I would be interested in those who have experienced this to explain what sleep paralysis means to each of you.
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It's very unpleasant for me. Like one of the posters said, it often begins with a buzzing sound and sensation. There are often very vivid flashing lights or bright swirly colours. There are intense auditory hallucinations where people have conversations, sometimes even yelling or shouting. Underlying it all is an electric, buzzing type sensation that is both felt and heard.

The most terrifying aspect is the struggle to wake up and escape, but the body is completely paralyzed. Your eyes are glued shut and you can't move a muscle. Often I'm confused and believe that I'm actually screaming and shouting for help. Panic and terror arise as I fight and fight to move or open my eyes. It probably only lasts a few seconds at a time before I open my eyes with a start. The auditory hallucinations, the fear, the paralysis, the buzzing sensation - they are all gone immediately and it's often hard to believe it wasn't real.

One troubling aspect is that when the cycle starts, it often continues as soon as you close your eyes and begin to drift off to sleep again. You no sooner start to relax when the buzzing begins to start and you try to wake up again, but it's usually too late and it's another fight to open your eyes.

I have tried to relax when it happens and just lay there and not panic, but part of the whole experience seems to be an inescapable instinct to fight to wake up.

I did some research and found that some people suffer sleep paralysis as a chronic condition that can leave them paralyzed for literally hours at a time when they try to sleep. If the research I've done is correct, the brain induces a state of paralysis during certain stages of sleep, and sometimes a part of the brain awakens before the chemical causing paralysis clears the body, leading to the condition. It normally lasts only a few seconds, but it can subjectively last a very long time.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis
 
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i used to get sleep paralysis or something similar when i was a kid but i haven't experienced it since i started using drugs. mine might be something different though - when i was lying in bed about to fall asleep i would get this horrible body feeling like my 'consciousness' became the size of an atom and my body was crushing itself with its mass... and i would struggle to try and move and during this time i felt like i was choking to death like my lungs were full of lead... but if i tried really hard i could move my limbs around which made me feel better but then it would come back again. usually before that happened i would have a 'floating' feeling which wasn't unpleasant. i never heard any auditory hallucinations and i don't know if there were any visual because it was too dark in the room to tell, but if i tried to imagine something in my mind's eye the image would get all fucked up and start flashing and warping. one thing that i think is interesting though is that PiHKAL mentioned a similar thing that Anne Shulgin experienced as a child and related it to some psychedelic experiences though i have never had a drug that induced similar feelings...
 
oolong said:
i used to get sleep paralysis or something similar when i was a kid but i haven't experienced it since i started using drugs. mine might be something different though - when i was lying in bed about to fall asleep i would get this horrible body feeling like my 'consciousness' became the size of an atom and my body was crushing itself with its mass... and i would struggle to try and move and during this time i felt like i was choking to death like my lungs were full of lead... but if i tried really hard i could move my limbs around which made me feel better but then it would come back again. usually before that happened i would have a 'floating' feeling which wasn't unpleasant. i never heard any auditory hallucinations and i don't know if there were any visual because it was too dark in the room to tell, but if i tried to imagine something in my mind's eye the image would get all fucked up and start flashing and warping. one thing that i think is interesting though is that PiHKAL mentioned a similar thing that Anne Shulgin experienced as a child and related it to some psychedelic experiences though i have never had a drug that induced similar feelings...
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Yea, interesting stuff. I used to have sleep paralysis from time to time as a kid, but I never knew what it was. Then it spontaneously disappeared for almost fifteen years but has resurfaced after using MDMA.

It didn't really scare me as a kid, but it still wasn't that much fun.
 
oolong - I've had a similar feeling to what you describe, as with you it started when I was young also. Mine has never gotten to the point where it has actually become uncomfortable, rather it is just a feeling that my perception is infinitely small, but my body is infinitely large. I've had the feeling induced by meditation, DXM and codeine also.
 
I haven't used mdma in a few months. took 250mg 5-htp one night and slept fine, the next night i took another 250mg and watched tv when next thing i woke myself up with a really weak moan. Wouldn't say sleep paralysis really because it wasn't until a split second before i woke myself up i realised i'd nodded off.

Was like a daydream for 1-2 minutes in which i was shouting then i actually snapped too while i was acting it out.
 
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