For anyone who has never had sleep paralysis, it is an extremely interesting phenomenon that can reveal a great deal of insight into how sleep, dreams and hallucinations work. As someone who regularly experiences it, I can say with absolute certainty that various drugs influence it. Most notably opioids. In my case if I go to sleep on opioids I get severe sleep paralysis to the point that I can barely go to sleep because the kind of sleep paralysis I get on opioids is a lot more uncomfortable and scary than usual. The sleep paralysis I get sober isn't scary at all but on opioids it is pretty menacing. I've researched this and have came across some people claiming that opioids give them sleep paralysis and other people claiming that opioids cure their sleep paralysis. Highly interesting shit and since some people get the intense, scary kind of sleep paralysis every night and cannot live a normal life because of it, I think there should be clinical studies done to investigate the connection between opioids and sleep paralysis.
Enough about opioids though last night I was on zolpidem and remember falling into sleep paralysis plenty of times. It was not scary or uncomfortable but it was pretty intense and I had plenty of visual hallucinations which is unusual for me (I usually only get tactile and auditory ones). Also I remember waking up paralysed once or twice last night which is unusual for me because I usually only get SP when I'm going to sleep, I never wake up in it like some people do. I noticed that sleep paralysis is a lot heavier on zolpidem and it takes a lot more effort to pull myself out of it. The same thing happens with opioids. The only other drug that I recall inducing SP in me is ritalin and for some reason the kind of SP it causes is terrifying. It always comes with this rapid burst of terror just as I fall into paralysis. The terror fades away in a matter of seconds but its still an unnerving experience.
Its only some people that find opioids give them sleep paralysis but it seems most people get nightmares when they go to sleep on opioids. I do too. I think hypnagogic hallucinations (thats what they call the hallucinations you get in sleep paralysis) are similar to dreams so its not that surprising that opioids make these hallucinations more negative and menacing. Anyone else here have experience with sleep paralysis?
Enough about opioids though last night I was on zolpidem and remember falling into sleep paralysis plenty of times. It was not scary or uncomfortable but it was pretty intense and I had plenty of visual hallucinations which is unusual for me (I usually only get tactile and auditory ones). Also I remember waking up paralysed once or twice last night which is unusual for me because I usually only get SP when I'm going to sleep, I never wake up in it like some people do. I noticed that sleep paralysis is a lot heavier on zolpidem and it takes a lot more effort to pull myself out of it. The same thing happens with opioids. The only other drug that I recall inducing SP in me is ritalin and for some reason the kind of SP it causes is terrifying. It always comes with this rapid burst of terror just as I fall into paralysis. The terror fades away in a matter of seconds but its still an unnerving experience.
Its only some people that find opioids give them sleep paralysis but it seems most people get nightmares when they go to sleep on opioids. I do too. I think hypnagogic hallucinations (thats what they call the hallucinations you get in sleep paralysis) are similar to dreams so its not that surprising that opioids make these hallucinations more negative and menacing. Anyone else here have experience with sleep paralysis?
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
. Alcohol brings on night terrors of epic proportions for me so that is a no go.
