Opiates - Lucid Dreams & Sleep Paralysis

[itsok]

I know that there is a scientific explanation for SP, but SP always seemed like an encounter with the spirit world to me.

Sleep paralysis is sooo scary that I have made major life decisions because I thought the place where I was sleeping was haunted. SP always happened to me just as I laid down to sleep.

Here is my SP history paired with my drug use history:

Freshman year of college I experienced my first SP-- a deafening, tonal sound, and a feeling that something is crushing my chest making it hard to breathe; I can't move or scream-- try with all my might, but all I feel is excruciating pain and aches and I am tearing and feel fully conscious. As soon as I can move, I run and sleep in my Resident Advisor's room and the following day, I change rooms.

For the next 5 years, I don't do drugs or barely do drugs and experience no SP.

The next 3 yrs I smoke weed, do acid, and other research chemical psychedelics, dotted with occasional methamphetamine use. During these 3 years, no SP.

Then I start oxycontin and episodes of sleep paralysis start up again. However, it seems like a ghost is haunting me...when the house shakes and hear strange noises, my boyfriend at the time also says he hears it. So, I move out of that house.

SP chills for a while...now I am onto iv heroin and crack and iv cocaine. I overdose badly with a grand mal siezure and wake up after 4 days. 7 weeks later, I am straight sober in rehab and start tripping out on nothing. I experience something like a Kundalini Awakening and have mystical visions and strange feelings. One night, the SP thing started again and I was so fed up and was determined to defend myself, and somehow, I got up and fought a ghost (a young girl). For the next few nights, I have awesome lucid dreams, including teleportation dreams that feel real. From then on, I don't feel like I'm haunted by an evil spirit.

However, I relapse back onto heroin and about a year later, for about 2-3 years, I experience SP so often where I feel as if I am being levitated, swung around, hung upsidedown. Often, I feel like I struggled to no avail and woke up just to be either thrown back in, or realize that I haven't gotten out of bed and am still frozen. This time I don't feel like a spirit is trying to kill me; in this era of SP, the spirit feels more mischievous than evil. I get used to SP and letting go and knowing that I will be fine.

Several months ago I was sleeping at my bf's house and I felt the SP feeling and was like oh shit, not again and felt myself being transported to someone's kitchen and I had a bad feeling; so, I struggled and called out my boyfriend's name to save me. We both suddenly woke up; he said he got a brainzap and saw a little orange glowy ball roll off of me and into his closet. We were both freaked out.

After taking dissociatives like PCP analogs, methoxetamine, ketamine, I end my physical addiction to opiates, including suboxone, and chip here and there, and haven't had SP for the last 6 months. For a while I even started to miss them.

Anyway, I probably sound crazy....

 

[Korn3x]

^^
just a little.. lol.

i've had a few cases where i've actually been able to consciously realize i was in a dream, and i could actually do whatever I wanted. it was pretty cool. you can just spawn hot girls in front of you and fuck them once you realize it's a dream, or you can go to mystical places. flying sounds cool tho, altho i haven't been able to consciously make myself fly in a dream yet. i've been trying to practice it for years and have only had a significant handful of experiences.

 

[thurston]

I had an episode of sp last night. I took the last lortabs i had in the morning and that night I woke up about 4 am after about an hour of going in and out of sp. At one point I saw someone standing over me who I tried to kick but I could not move. Once I finally came out of it I got up to watch TV and try to chill out. I noticed I was starting to get dope sick (body aches, watery eyes, brain zaps i get those from opiate wd just like ssri wd). I know getting dope sick in the middle of the night caused it. I had just hoped I had tapered enough to not get dope sick. I was down to 2-3 lortab 10 a day.

 

[spaceyourbass]

Its interesting to read about sleep paralysis in people who aren't clausterphobic to begin with. I'm not afraid of small spaces if I get into them on my own, but I have extremely little tolerance for being held down against my will - first noticed this after being on the bottom of a dogpile while playing football as a kid. As a person who's had sleep paralysis a good many times, I've perfected a personal breakthrough technique that basically involves putting forth an extreme amount of effort to move before a deep state of paralysis can set-in. If I'm not up to doing this when I first feel the SP (sleep paralysis) creeping in, I usually keep my mind as alert as possible and might wiggle a foot or a hand until I muster the courage to complete a "breakthrough." This can be an experience that ends up taking extreme amounts of energy; I may try to breakthrough a few times and realize this is going to be a tough one, and have to psych myself into this emotionally charged fight-or-flight mindset that helps me complete one act of physical exertion and sit up/roll on my side...all to simply wake up.
As for going back to sleep after sleep paralysis occurs, you'll want to roll on your side if you weren't already sleeping in that position. Do not just wake up and get back in the same position, however tempting that may be. It seems like SP occurs way more often for people sleeping on their backs as opposed to other positions. Also, being physically fit definitely helps with waking up from sleep paralysis. I've had huge improvements even after just one good workout, after having not worked out for the last couple weeks. This should also help with sleep patterns overall.
I've only experienced "the demons" once after just laying there for about 60 seconds during sleep paralysis. Scaaary stuff.

 

[Fornax55]

Definitely bumping an old thread, but nobody's mentioned (at least not with an appropriate explanation) what I'm going to say, and it's hugely changed my life since I first posted in this thread six years ago.

Instead of fearing sleep paralysis, embrace it.

Sleep paralysis occurs as something like a malfunction during hypnagogia. Hypnagogia is the brief transition between waking consciousness and sleep, where things like audio hallucinations can occur. Hypnagogia is also closely linked to lucid dreaming.

Sleep paralysis is an extended hypnagogic event, which can multiply the chances of having a lucid dream a massive amount.

Whether or not you're a fan of lucid dreaming already, if you're struggling with sleep paralysis, you might as well make an effort to become a lucid dream master. Lucid dreams are great - you can explore and create worlds of your imagination, communicate with your subconscious, meet entities - almost like NPCs in a video game - that your mind's already created for you. Hell, you can even practice muscle memory motions, like playing piano and guitar, or write lyrics and poetry during lucid dreams.

There are several techniques involved in smoothly transitioning from sleep paralysis into a lucid dream that you can use. I've had several transitions that were so smooth that I was certain I'd just, for the first time, beaten sleep paralysis! I got up off my bed and went to open the door, only to find myself in a endless rolling grassland that certainly wasn't my kitchen. Other times I'd feel the transition as my consciousness rose from my body and looked down on it as it lay in bed. You can find a few techniques here.

Anyhoo, just thought I'd leave the update here because sleep paralysis can truly be terrifying, but nowadays I look forward to it! Lucid dreams outweigh the terror. Besides, once you accept and acknowledge being paralyzed, a lot of the fear disappears.