Mental Health Sleep paralysis

[Pagey]

Hey,

Hopefully this is the right place to post this, sorry if not.
So thanks to the helpful people of BDD, a couple months back I figured out that the recurrent episodes of being completely unable to move or react and seeing some figure I'm terrified of in the corner of my room while on high doses of heroin (as in very deep nod), was very probably sleep paralysis. This happens on high doses of codeine too btw. As I mentioned back then, I'll just be lying in bed in that sort of barely conscious nodding state and just see some horror movie figure (it's always that dude from Saw, or Patrick Bateman, or Hannibal Lecter...you get the idea) standing at the other end of the room - and I'm convinced they're there to torture me/kill me. It sounds stupid but just imagine you could very clearly see a guy standing over you with a bloody chainsaw and there was nothing you could do about it. And you were truly, truly sure he was there. Not fun.
It usually just lasts a few minutes, after which I'll come to with a massive headache, feeling really weak all over and, you guessed it, pretty intense paranoia.

I know you're going to tell me to quit heroin - and I have. However I'm coming off months of abuse and even longer with codeine/other opiates (although I've never noticed it with others) and it's now happening when I'm perfectly sober. Well, not exactly - I just tried to sleep about an hour ago, turned the lights off and ended up having a massive panic attack because I could vaguely see it happening again. It clearly wasn't really sleep paralysis though since I was able to get up and turn the lights on. Sometimes I literally am stuck to the bed unable to do anything though.
Anyway, point being - I'm now terrified to try to sleep (now that I've stopped gear it only ever happens when I'm about to fall asleep, maybe once a week or so). I'd rather be up all night than risk experiencing it again, which obviously isn't terrific for my mood or health.
Does anyone have any experience with it/any idea how to help? I'd be really really grateful.
Thanks, and sorry if this is all kinda disconnected - as I mentioned, not in a very clear state of mind right now.

 

[freehugs]

Sleep paralysis is a naturally occurring bodily function. Your brain uses it to stop your body from moving when you are dreaming and I think you may have tripped yourself up a bit. It sounds exactly like people who think there is an old witch or something pressing down on their chest when they wake up and have sleep paralysis. Seriously its gonna happen and there is nothing you can do it stop it since you dream every single night, so the best you can do is convince yourself that the guy isn't there. Like shit shout at him or something, anything to snap you out of that state of mind. You got it.

 

[Pagey]

...I'm not talking about what's supposed to happen during REM sleep. Sleep paralysis is a seperate sleeping disorder.
I can't shout at him because I can't move. It's literally impossible for me to do anything. This isn't exactly an unheard of thing, you'd think you could take me a bit more seriously no? Obviously if I could just 'snap out of it' I wouldn't be posting for help on here.
Seriously, just read the wikipedia entry on it or something please. I'm not an idiot.

 

[freehugs]

Dude you got me all wrong. I'm not getting my info from Wikipedia, its from my research when I used to lucid dream so take it or leave it.

 

[Pagey]

Yeah that's what I'm saying. The wikipedia entry is more informative. This isn't lucid dreaming and it's not dreaming at all actually. I know how to make the difference between a vivid nightmare and being paralysed in bed hallucinating, thanks.
It's just not all that nice to be told I'm 'tripping myself out a bit' over something that's kept me from sleeping these past few months.

 

[Black Rabbit of Inle]

It sounds like you suffer from night terrors. I used to get this when I was a teen and understand the helplessness you feel while it is happening.

That coupled with the paralysis would make it so much worse. Do you experience these episodes when you're awake or is it always while on the nod/during the first few hours of trying to sleep?

 

[freehugs]

Welp, keep pushing away advice if its simple (cause you never would have thought of that would you have ) and keep fighting biology. You might win, or you might see a guy sitting in the corner of your room again.

 

[Pagey]

^What, thought of the fact that it might be a nightmare? Yeah I had actually, thanks. I'll take the advice of people who don't obviously take me for an overreacting idiot if you don't mind. Also if your advice is to shout when I mentioned a couple times that I'm physically paralysed, sorry if I skip over it.

Re-distributed: Never when I'm awake - it's either when I'm in a very deep nod or literally just about to fall asleep. I suppose the nod thing is because I'm in a vaguely similar unconscious state or something? But yeah. The thing is I mentioned it to my shrink a few weeks back and he said anti-depressants were the only treatment option, but I really don't want to go down that road for obvious reasons so I was hoping to just find some other tips

 

[coelophysis]

Keep in mind sleep paralysis is moreso a symptom OF a sleep disorder, rather than a disorder itself.
Your best bet would be pinpointing the sleep disorder you really have and then finding a way to treat it. And then the terrors/paralysis should start to go away.
Even snoring can cause it.

SSRIs would be a piss poor way of masking a sleep disorder in my opinion. But I'm no doctor.


You can always look on the bright side and think how the intruder in your room hasn't tortured you or come after you yet. You're just panicking about the idea of fear. Change gears on it and pretend it's your guardian angel watching over you at night, heh. Sorry to make a joke, but who knows..

 

[Pagey]

You can always look on the bright side and think how the intruder in your room hasn't tortured you or come after you yet. You're just panicking about the idea of fear. Change gears on it and pretend it's your guardian angel watching over you at night, heh. Sorry to make a joke, but who knows..

Hah! I suppose that's one way to look at it

The problem with the whole thing is I've just got no control over how I feel during it. I mean otherwise obviously I'd just tell myself that it clearly isn't real and I'm just imagining it, but I can't form that thought, I just lose complete control over my body. It's very weird.

But you're right about it probably being a symptom of a sleep disorder...the doctor I talked to about it said it was probably because of a mix of my dreadful sleeping patterns/substance abuse/stress, but the irony is that it makes my sleeping patterns worse and doesn't help with stress either. But yeah I'll definitely be working on those.

 

[Black Rabbit of Inle]

Night terrors in adults have been reported in all age ranges. Though the symptoms of night terrors in adolescents and adults are similar, the etiology, prognosis and treatment are qualitatively different. These night terrors can occur each night if the sufferer does not eat a proper diet, get the appropriate amount or quality of sleep (e.g. sleep apnea), is enduring stressful events in their life or if they remain untreated. Adult night terrors are much less common, and often respond to treatments to rectify causes of poor quality or quantity of sleep. There is no scientific evidence of a link between night terrors and mental illness. A study done about night terrors in adults showed that psychiatric symptoms were prevalent in most patients experiencing night terrors hinting at the comorbidity of the two. There is some evidence of a link between adult night terrors and hypoglycemia.

Have a talk to your therapist about the stresses and lack of sleep, tell them you would rather avoid SSRI's as you feel they won't address the underlying issue.

Eating well and forcing yourself to get a proper sleep pattern going will help with the terrors but I'm unsure with the paralysis.

 

[Pagey]

Thanks RD. I wasn't really sure about the night terrors because as far as I know those wouldn't explain the paralysis nor the fact that I'm completely awake when it happens but it would probably help if we treat it as such anyway. Especially since I'm guilty of all the night terror causes 8(

 

[Toucan]

I've had this quite a few times before and a couple of times quite recently.
The first time it happened to me was fairly interesting because when I woke up and couldn't move a made a huge effort to get up and suddenly it like 'released' me and I got out of bed. Only when I looked at my bed I was still in it and I'd somehow stepped out of my body and into some lucid dreamworld where there was a canal outside my window with barges moving steadily down it...

Every time since then though it's always been fairly horrid, usually accompanied by a very vivid dream directly before it and when I wake up a very strong feeling that something bad is in the room but I can't open my eyes to see it.
A few weeks ago I had this incredibly vivid dream. I was at my friends house with her and 2 others, we were in her bedroom only it was like the most opulent room ever and had this fantastic like dress that was on a gold mannequin right at the centre of the room were all talking about something fairly boring so I went to sleep in the bed, the other two left and she was like tidying around while I was asleep (somehow I could still see) but then something, about the dress - made the mannequin start to move. It started creeping towards her making this awful screeching sucking sound.
Then the other two came back and she's gone the mannequin is wearing her dress now. They start like shaking me and I wake up in my room but I can't move, I have sleep paralysis. Thing is, I can hear the screeching sound in my room loud as ever coming towards me. Took me five minutes to like open my eyes and wake up...

yes sorry I don't actually have any way to help! it's bloody horrible though isn't it

 

[Pagey]

Those last few lines sound exactly like what I get, except it's before I fall asleep so I haven't been dreaming. But yeah, it's having some presence in the room and not being able to move or do anything about it. Thanks a lot for sharing, at least now I'm reassured in thinking it's a relatively common thing (well, not unheard of anyway)
Although really sorry it happens to you as well!

 

[Black Rabbit of Inle]

Re-distributed: Never when I'm awake - it's either when I'm in a very deep nod or literally just about to fall asleep.

Thanks RD. I wasn't really sure about the night terrors because as far as I know those wouldn't explain the paralysis nor the fact that I'm completely awake when it happens but it would probably help if we treat it as such anyway. Especially since I'm guilty of all the night terror causes 8(

I'm confused, does it happen when you're awake or not?

That moment when you're about to fall asleep/on the nod and not really awake would be indicative of Night Terrors. If it happens when you're still wide awake then it would indicate there's another problem.

Either way it's something to discuss with your GP/therapist and see what they have to say on it.

 

[Pagey]

Yeah sorry I'm not being very clear - it's when I'm nodding or about to fall asleep, but I'm definitely still awake. It's true it never happens when I'm completely awake/ haven't been about to fall asleep though. With that second post you quoted I just wanted to emphasize that I'm not in any way asleep or dreaming or anything. But yeah I'll definitely be speaking to my psychiatrist about it again asap. Thanks for your help

 

[Toucan]

Yeah as you said there's no way of shouting at the presence because you literally can't move a muscle. The only thing you can really think about is being able to move again before whatever is in your room gets to you...

 

[Pagey]

Yepp

 

[Foreigner]

I know this sounds "out there" but whenever I have sleep paralysis like that, I just leave my body and go somewhere else. If it happens again, don't think about trying to move, think about where you'd rather be, and you might leave. That magnetic pull you feel which holds you there is a result of trying to engage your motor neurons. You can't. Instead, you have to think of leaving and going to other places.

The dark figure is from your unconscious. It's sort of like the dream time mixed in with your view of the room. Sleep paralysis is astral projection, except you are still in the first step which is you haven't gotten out of your body yet. Getting out of your body can be hard the first time because it feels so heavy, but once you're out it feels really light and you can go anywhere.

I don't think what's happening to you is something that needs medicating, but if it's really bothering you then I guess it's an option. If you weren't seeing the room I'd say it was some kind of semi-dream state but because you are seeing your room but your body is still asleep, that's for sure an OBE in the making.

 

[coelophysis]

I don't think what's happening to you is something that needs medicating, but if it's really bothering you then I guess it's an option. If you weren't seeing the room I'd say it was some kind of semi-dream state but because you are seeing your room but your body is still asleep, that's for sure an OBE in the making.

It seems like medicating and or self medicating may be what led to this. I think this is something you'd need to get down to the bottom of and defuse rather than mask with more medicine that will potentially make it worse farther on down the road.

And it is most certainly Sleep Paralysis that you're experiencing. Considering the time frames, the inability to move, and the vivid recollection of it all. I think Sleep Paralysis & Night Terrors get confused since they both sound scary and have to do with bedtime. Night Terror only really happens to children and just appears to be a freak-out panic attack in bed. In the morning they can't remember what happened. Sleep Paralysis is pretty different from that in a lot of ways. From what I can gather you're most likely too old to be experiencing Night Terrors. I could be wrong though. It seems like you have all the symptoms of Sleep Paralysis though. And I would think the reason it is continuing to happen is because of the lack of sleep you're getting which is keeping the imbalances going. You just don't have any dependable sleep schedule in action it seems. Which is something I've never been able to get a hold of since as far back as I can remember personally. But there are periods of time where it feels like I actually have a regular sleep schedule for once.

Do you lay in bed at a reasonably regular night time hour, and just lay there for hours only to eventually get an hour of sleep? Or do you stay up a majority of the night on the computer/watching television. Exposing your eyes to light during unnatural hours (when it's dark outside) when you should be going to bed is the quickest route to Melatonin deficiency. Also do you spend hours in bed? Say, on your computer or watching tv. Just generally being in bed without the intentions to go to bed. This can throw things off as well.

If you take Doxylamine, how many mgs do you take? It's a pretty dirty drug. Gets the job done every once in a while when really in a bind but if you're taking it often, and taking a decent sized dose I could picture that assisting these episodes. It's a very strange drug. I know at a big enough dose I get restless instead of tired and squirm around in bed with fluid-like vision almost, not very comfortable. It's similar to Diphenhydramine but more potent per mg. So maybe you're taking too much? If I were you I'd drop the Doxylamine completely. Try to stick to the Melatonin and if you need something more look into Valerian Root. Doxylamine can be a really weird drug and I definitely wouldn't depend on it when having Sleep Paralysis. It seems like the kind of drug that can turn the experience even more hellish.
Try just Melatonin for a while, at a low dose, 1mg like I said. Try to get to bed at a reasonable hour, and repeat. Have patience try Valerian Root as well. A lot less dirty feeling than Doxylamine. And of course there is always that dreaded exercise thing you can do to help restore your body.

I think someone else said it already, but just close your eyes when you wake up to sleep paralysis. The menacing figment never hurts anything but your pride. So close your eyes and it's barely there. Since it was only in your head to begin with. It's never going to hurt you, just remember that. Keep the eye lids shut and most likely before you know it, you'll be be back asleep. Any time I've gotten it I forced my eyes shut instead of trying to fight the emotions and inability to move around. It couldn't have kept me up for any more than 5 minutes. So in retrospect, how scary is it actually after all? If there were a cold blooded murderer in my room I doubt I'd be able to dose back off.