r/Sleepparalysis • u/DangoPlango • Feb 23 '20

Identifying SP

I’m making this because 75% of this sub is people asking “was this SP”. And almost always the answer is yes. So I’m going to list the various effects and some helpful information about the effects. Sort of a master guide to “Do I have SP”

Edit: This is a list of potential Symptoms, if you only experience 2 or experience all you are most likely experiencing SP Seeing and hearing things are far more rare than not. However its also boring hence why no one shares their story here or other places when not a lot happened.

Edit: 0. Someone pointed out I didn’t include the obvious, Paralysis, feeling of being unable to move, like your limbs weigh a million pounds, like your being held down, like your moving but nothing is happening, pain in limbs you try to move. ETC... (This is where we get the name, the explanation is simple. Your whole body is asleep, except for your brain.)

Chest pressure/ Feeling of being unable to breathe. (While under the effects of an SP episode the nerves in your chest are dulled as they are under the impression you’re asleep. You are in fact still breathing.)
Hallucinations (You’re brain is in dream mode, you’re having open eyed dreams)
Sounds (screaming, talking, music etc...) (Again this is because of your dreams being active while awake)
Feelings of being touched, hurt, bit, scratched, flying, falling, shaking (You’re nerves are all asleep, sometimes they’re in the process of waking up and can cause interesting feelings as they do. Alternatively you’re body may be simulating what your brain is dreaming about as we normally experience these while asleep)
Panic, anxiety, terror (100% natural responses to being trapped.)
Feeling like time won’t pass or time is stuck (You have no real way of perceiving time in this state)
Racing heart (Anxiety)
Intense or vivid nightmares/dreams before or after (The nightmare would be what woke you up into the SP, and if it comes after it’s because you’re anxiety is through the roof)
Feeling alone (SP is not as rare as you think, lots of people never even know it happened as they attribute it to a weird dream, you’re not alone, there’s lots of us out here.)

Edit: 10. Recently discovered through this Sub, I had never heard of or experienced it but people report “Buzzing” “Humming” “Grinding” type noises preceding and episode.

Edit: 11. Also recently Discovered through the sub, spiraling, dizzy, sickly feelings. Occurring before during or after episodes.

Edit: 12. In the comments someone mentioned “feeling a presence.” To be clear, this is almost as Rare as actually seeing something. It does happen however and can be an eerie feeling. (Again your having an anxiety attack, our brains try to explain why we are panicking by blaming something. So it manifest a feeling of someone being out to get you, someone there to harm you, or maybe just someone in the room. Either or, nothing to be too scared of.)

There’s a slough of other things that can happen. But generally you can identify SP with three questions. “Am I in my bed” “Am I paralyzed” “Am I unable to talk”

If the answer to these questions are yes then it’s textbook SP

Also remember that people are wildly different, and that your SP may be different but follow the same patterns as what you read. That’s normal, we all have differently wired brains, and no two cases will be exactly alike.

Sources: Myself, experienced SP for the past 16 years.

If anyone needs any advice or has any questions feel free to comment here and I’ll try my best to answer. SP doesn’t have to be as scary as it feel.

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u/LonnieBird Feb 24 '20

we should try to get this pinned to top

u/halfginger16 Mar 22 '20

Tl;Dr: first episode of sleep paralysis (21F), and it was terrifying. Just wanted to share with people who understand.

Hi, just need to share with people who won't just chalk it up to a "weird dream:"

I just had my first (and hopefully last!) episode of what I'm pretty sure is sleep paralysis.

I've read about it happening to people before, since I spend a lot of time on this site, but I wasn't expecting it to be so terrifying.

I was napping on my couch (it reclines), and I woke up (or thought I did, at least). I knew my mom was napping on the other couch, and I figured my dad was there too, as he was there when I went to sleep. I heard my brother and his girlfriend talking, who moved out recently, and sounded like they didn't want to wake us. I honestly don't know if my eyes were open or not. What I do know, however, is that I could. Not. MOVE.

I tried so hard to get up. I wanted to say hi and let them know that I wasn't asleep, no matter what I did, nothing worked. Eventually, I started resorting to breathing really, really hard, hoping one of them would notice. Of course, that didn't work because my mom was the only one actually in the room, and she was asleep, too.

I don't know how long I was like that. Maybe 30 seconds to a minute, in hind sight, though it felt a lot longer.

I've never felt anything like that before. I recognized what it was almost as soon as I actually woke up and could move.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I'm better now. Going to go on a walk now (I live in a rural area, don't worry).

u/makingkevinbacon Mar 06 '20

After thinking I experienced this last night I came here to check out some experiences and info and concluded I had my first sleep paralysis episode last night. Still remember what I saw and felt incredibly clear. Scary still

u/captmeow97 Sep 16 '22

I was wondering because I have never seen anyone else report not being able to open your eyes. I will have what feels like sleep paralysis, since I'm in bed, I cannot move, I cannot talk, etc. Reports I have heard, usually mention looking around, etc. But like I am conscious I am fully aware of my bed and being in my room, I can feel my pillows under me, but I cannot even force my eyes open.

u/lperez16 Mar 26 '20

I just experienced SP Friday night and I can’t stop thinking about it. I’ve never been more terrified in my life. I had a creepy dream and in that dream there was a grocery store across from me, but it was closed because of quarantine. I saw boxes and signs moving inside the store but no one was there so I was super freaked. I ended up waking up from that dream and my heart was racing fast and it took me a while to fall asleep because I felt like I couldn’t get my heart rate down. When I did fall asleep I fell right back into the same dream and there was a dog above my head staring at something above me. I woke up and I was paralyzed and I knew something was there so I didn’t want to open my eyes. Both my arms were pinned down. One was pinned above my head and the other was pinned to my side. I started feeling around to figure out what was holding me down and I felt hands that weren’t mine and I immediately started rebuking whatever it was back to hell in the name of Jesus because that’s what I had been raised to do heaven forbid I was ever in a situation like this. And after about 5 minutes of praying it finally let go of my wrists but it growled in my ear. I was in so much shock and I kept praying for like 30 more minutes with my arms on top of my face because I was so scared of seeing it. And I wanted sooo badly to grab my phone but I was too scared to look and eventually I built up the courage to grab it because it was above my head and then I immediately turned on Christian music and then I called my mom and my sister to pray with me but neither of them answered and then I sent a message to some family members in Mexico cause they’re super religious but they weren’t awake either because it was 4 am. But eventually like around 6:30 I fell back asleep but it was so terrifying. After doing some research and asking friends I figured it was just SP and that I never wanted to experience it again.

u/MindAwakeApp Jun 28 '20 edited Jun 28 '20

Would anyone be interested in learning Mindfulness Based Lucid Dreaming here? I’m hoping to shed light on SP and help people reframe the experience from something horrible to something interesting and fun.

u/avraila Apr 01 '20

Tldr: is it sleep paralysis if i see a creepy woman coming to me but i am with my eyes closed(dreaming) and i cannot yell and move?

I thought i had SP like 5 times in the last 2-4 years. I’m not so sure anymore. Last one was this morning. I kept waking up thought out the night so i don’t really know if the SP was while i was falling asleep or waking up. The thing is i saw my room vaguely (i knew i was in my room, my bed) and next to where my door is, another door appeared, and though it, this extremely skinny horror movie like woman came, moving possessed like and when i saw her i knew: it’s happening again! When i’m aware that’s happening to me i usually try to scream, call for my boyfriend and try to escape it. Ofc this does not happen so i now use it as a check. If i try to scream and i cannot, it’s definitely SP. I didn’t look at her and just “fought my way out”. Finally did (didn’t last long) and i was awake, breathing fast and being somehow dizzy. I read about SP again and some info suggested that in order to say it was SP you need to be awake, eyes opened and paralyzed and have these hallucinations. I am sure that i was with my eyes closed... i was paralyzed, but i don’t think i had the “textbook” SP experience.

u/discipula26 Apr 07 '20

So I’ve experienced “real” SP a handful of times before, but the latest incident I had I think may have been a dream. I’m not sure. The symptoms I had were identical to what I’ve had in the past and everything looked and felt pretty real, but then it was like I was able to “unparalyze” my tongue and start crying out for help, at first really softly and then quite loudly. I kept hearing a sound like someone was about to open my door and then at the end I was convinced a family member had come into the room. Then suddenly I could move completely and it was just me in the room. Was I dreaming the entire time? It’s pretty clear now I hadn’t been making any noise.

u/mealz111 Apr 08 '20 edited Apr 08 '20

Hi not sure if I had SP my workmate thinks it was lucid dream.

Its just happened to me a few hours ago, It started with a nightmare I was in a big store shopping and a person with yellow eyes was following me around getting closer and closer and eventually it was right in front of me, I was screaming and it covered my mouth. Then I thought I woke up I was in my bedroom in bed and I was scared so I was trying to wake my partner but he was not waking all of a sudden this yellow eyed person was there, in my room, once again covered my mouth and it felt like this went on for ages, I couldn't wake but I kept saying it's just a dream wake the hell up!

When I actually woke I shot straight up and smacked my partner awake I think just to know I was back in real life? I burst into tears and hyperventilating, I was uncontrollably crying and hyperventilating for at least half an hour and I was pretty emotional for about an hour, no way in hell I was getting back to sleep straight away I got up and watching tv now and having a cup of tea and txt my workmate straight away as he is insomniac so knew he would be there for me he thinks I was lucid dreaming, I still remember it very clearly I get nightmares often but never had anything affect me like this I am legit traumatised and freaked out to go back to bed tonight.

Edit: Another question is what is the difference between lucid dreaming and SP assuming they are not the same thing.

u/jesslynn39 Mar 28 '20

I'm so glad I found this group cause I had a horrible episode of SP the other night and I haven't done it in several year's. My god I woke up so confused cause I thought it was really happening. I've been under a tremendous amount of stress with all the covid-19 stuff going on, and I was already really stressed before so it's amplified 50%. Did stress cause this episode?

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '20

I have a question; I think this might be a weird dream, but basically, when I was little, I had this reoccurring dream that my pictures on my wall came to life to attack me. I went to my parents’ rooms with the semi-jello-y feeling in my limbs, but was suddenly somehow back in my bed, everything normal, and I couldn’t move. But when I couldn’t move, nothing was happening. Then I would just fall back asleep. I’ve never known what it was; maybe it was extensive sleep paralysis, or I just knew my house well enough to accurately dream it.

u/gugawoop Apr 25 '20

I'm still not sure if this was SP, but I remember when I was about 7/8 years old, I woke up in a white room. Next to me I could see a 2D battery fully charged. I couldn't yell or move. When I closed my eyes in the white room, I opened my eyes in the real world but there was very little lighting in my room. Opening my eyes in the real world made me very weak and it drained energy from the battery. I remember it being so hard (even a bit painful) to keep my eyes opened in the real world, and when they closed, I opened them in the white room. That's when the battery started recharging. I knew I was awake, or at least that I was half in a dream and half awake..

u/_valenntiinaa Apr 29 '20

I’ve just come across this sub and happy to feel like I’m not alone. This has been happening to me pretty frequently throughout the last 6 months. I’ve had pretty intense dreams about me falling getting raped or other crazy stuff. My brain is aware that it is a dream but what scares me is how realistic it feels. When I finally wake up drenched in sweat I feel extremely relieved it wasn’t real and I’ll usually be able to go right back to sleep. I don’t feel any anxiety or fear really. I normally won’t even think about it throughout the day or question it. It’s more of a “ugh not again” feeling when I realize it’s happening. Since I’ve stumbled across this and have seen what others go through I’m just curious if this will get worse over time or if there are any tips anyone could share on how to deal with it.

u/DifferentNet4 May 05 '20

So this recurring thing keeps happening in my dreams, regardless of the dream, where my legs in the dream suddenly collapse and I’m paralysed for minutes on the ground in my dream, waiting to be able to get up again. It usually happens when I’m walking towards someone in a hurry or running away from danger. Is this a form of SP or just a recurring dream of not being able to move..?

u/[deleted] May 23 '20

My question is, does it have to be frightening to be SP? I ask because this morning I think I've experienced a case, and I never experienced it before in my life. Yes, I was stuck in bed, yes I saw a figure with my dream eyes. But:

-I felt really sleepy and tired, like I did in my dreams within that dream. Struggling to stay awake and falling back asleep, basically.

-I felt weighed down, but at times I could barely move a limb or two before I just... stopped.

-The only thing I heard was a passing thought I had when seeing said figure floating above my bed. Then I eventually fell back asleep before waking up?

I didn't feel frightened at all, just tired. And very confused and uncomfortable when I woke up for real. Would this count as SP, or no?

u/NextGenProphet Jul 31 '20

I'm new to the whole sleep paralysis. I'm 21 and I just started experiencing effects the last two years. I've only had them a handful of times but I am not a big fan of the effects. Is there any ways to mitigate the effects of sleep paralysis?

u/rbuttthole Aug 05 '20

Does anyone have tips on how to support someone with SP? My partner has this and he usually moans/yells in an attempt tp wake himself up. It is usually me that brings him back to a conscious state. Is there anything else I should be doing?

u/wattm Dec 20 '21

I just had my first SP experience. Thank you for making this post.

I totally recognize the dizzy feeling, and i perceived some “bird tweeting” in my ears before the paralysis dropped on me like a bomb. I felt the chest pressure and managed to move one arm outside of my bedsheet as i felt like that was what was causing the pressure on me, and uncovered my other arm. At that point I was able to move both arms but i had no strength and my torso was still paralyzed. Then it just went away as fast as it came, but it was an interesting experience, though a bit intimidating.

u/Sharp-Reflection7909 Mar 05 '23

Question , you seem to know a lot about it and this was helpful for me do you experience or have you experienced it yourself ? And my sp are always extremely terror feeling and the dark entity is always in the corner once he sprung at me idk how but I know it's a he. And do you believe these dreams and or episodes are purely science or do you believe it can be tied to actual other worldly evil and or spirits at play ? I have a whole journal about some of my nigjht time adventures I even began to control some lucid dreams and also started astroprojecting and traveling it's so crazy I wish I could remember it all when I wake up. Sometimes I do I have a few that I can never ever forget but I feel like I'm not just having so, it's a mixture of night terrors anxiety sp God aometimes I think just my mental health in general idk

Identifying SP

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