True experiences with sleep paralysis

this blog is a personal blog about my experience with sleep paralysis and other sleeping issues/disorders.

[thedreamycity101]

One of the worst sleep paralysis episodes I experienced was after my son was born.

He was maybe 8 or 9 months old sleeping away in his crib one night and I decided I should probably lay down.

It was already about 10 or 11 pm and I had to be up at 6 to get ready for work, and take him to daycare.

I remember thinking about how peaceful and quiet everything was. Nothing was particularly stressful that day. Overall I assumed I'd get a good night's rest since my little one was a decent sleeper!

I was dead wrong that night...

I drifted off to sleep and remember waking up and feeling like I was "frozen". This wasn't my first episode but I didn't experience sleep paralysis as often anymore. I would maybe have an episode every 4 months, sometimes not for 6 months!

I remember looking up and my bedroom was pretty dark minus the bathroom light I kept on.

My sons crib was in my bedroom and I remember looking to his crib to make sure he was okay. Mentally I needed that and I could only use my eyes since my body was completely frozen in time.

I look up to the ceiling and above my sons crib was a baby his size and everything crawling on the ceiling! The most terrifying aspect was the fact the baby was pretty much a silhouette of a baby crawling backwards across the ceiling! I thought to myself over and over "It's not real, don't be scared, it's not real". This is what I did to remain calm. Eventually it disappeared pretty fast and I was able to gain my strength to get out of bed.

I ran over to the baby to find him still peacefully sleeping. He stirred a little but was still sighing and snoring peacefully as always.

I went back to bed and texted my boyfriend who luckily was awake at this hour now 1am!

I told him everything right away. I informed him I suffered from multiple sleep issues that ranged from hearing sounds, parasomnia, and full blown hallucinations. I told him I had better control over it now that I know what it is and I wasn't exactly terrified after the experience but just glad it was over because I knew it wasn't real.

I eventually drifted off to sleep and didn't have anymore sleep paralysis episodes that I know of around that time.

[thedreamycity101]

Slenderman

One of the weirdest sleep paralysis episodes I can recall was my short encounter with "Slenderman".

If you are not familiar with the legend of slenderman read with caution. The legend is truly terrifying and was very popular folklore and an extremely creepy urban legend on the Internet during the late 2000's.

During this point in time I was staying with my parents because my son's father left. He was my financial help as I didn't make enough at my current job as a waitress. You can imagine how this overall stress would keep me up at night.

We got into it around my second trimester and we broke up. Causing more stress financially as he wasn't willing to put forth the effort to raise our son so I had to make my decisions fast.

I almost immediately quit my job since my bills were piled and I was losing my home anyways. I packed my things and moved to a small rural town where my parents lived.

Whenever I got there it was small and crowded with several others there, including my brother, his girlfriend and his best friend at the time.

I was sleeping in the living room and put a mattress on top of the L shaped couch and foot rest that sat in the middle of the room. I was often stressed and remember feeling more alone than usual. It wasn't the fact my sons dad wasn't there but more so I didn't have anyone anymore since I had to move. Everything that I knew was in the other more small city community I was from. I was isolated a lot because I lived in the woods now. It was dreary and cold a lot of what I remember. Skies were gray, the trees creaking as they rocked back in fourth in the cold wind. Time seemed to freeze whenever you're totally alone. Unless everyone was awake or congregating in the living room at once there was an eerie silence all through the house. I was alone a lot because everyone there was at their job and I had just lost mine. My mom was super depressed most of the time and slept sometimes for 12 hours straight. I would nap throughout the day after job hunting on my phone. Cuddled under some blankets with my two chihuahuas at my feet is how I spent most of my days.

Sometimes I'd have nightmares about my sons dad killing me, or us in an auto accident since he and I had been in several life threatening situations with him in the past. I would dream of demons and ghosts that were lurking in my parents woods waiting to strike while I was alone with the dogs outside.

One dream I had was of slenderman. I remember walking throughout the house and running out the front door in this dream trying to get away from him as much as I could!

I'd cry and scream and he would just appear before me much like he did in the video game. There were points where his huge electric tentacles would burst from his back and electrocute me!

I remember whenever I woke up feeling so panicked almost like the dream had been real! I told others in my house about it to get almost a reaction to ease my nervous mind. Of course they laughed and said I was crazy.

I wasn't really afraid of the urban legend of Slenderman or anything but the dream had definitely made me afraid to sleep. It was one of those dreams you can't really describe the feelings or anything because only you felt them.

A few days later I remember feeling really depressed. My mom and I fought a lot and my brother and dad weren't much help to my situation. I was always so stressed no matter what I did. We would all argue and bicker about small things here and there. My sons dad would randomly message me out of the blue to try and make me jealous or ask me to take him back and this made me so confused and sad. One night in particular I remember laying there fighting for sleep. I remember not being able to get comfortable due to the sharp pains in my hips and thighs. Eventually I was able to get somewhat comfortable and drifted off fast. At some point during the night I woke up with a pain in my chest. My heart was racing out of my chest as I lie awake in agony. My head was already slightly tilted to the door leading to the next room. A curtain was over hanging in the door frame and I could see it perfectly with moonlight casted on to it. Unable to move I sat and stared at the curtain and saw a shadowy dark figure peering it's long arm out. I saw what I could remember being a head, shoulders and one long very skinny black arm. It looked like Slenderman is all I could think. "But why"? I remember he didn't move much but he kept waving individual fingers at me making the gesture that I should come towards him.

I couldn't move, completely paralyzed by the needed rest my body was trying to get but being tortured by my mind who had a plague spreading in it. I knew this figure had to be caused from stress because I knew what my sleep paralysis at this point was. I tried to move but of course I couldn't.

Eventually I woke up for real this time and went to the bathroom to pee and shake off what I had just seen.

Of course I couldn't tell anyone about this because I'd be considered crazy if I did.

[nocturnalx8]

[sweaterweatherisbetterweather-d]

[thedreamycity101]

One of the earliest memories I have of being a small child was sleep paralysis.

When I was a little girl I had a pretty wild imagination. I thought dinosaurs lived in the sewer. I thought sharks lived in lakes. I thought people really were not trying hard enough and if they tried harder they would see them. I told myself if I were to look down into the sewers I would surely be able to find a dinosaur down there.

My dad even took me fishing a few times when I was a kid around maybe 5 or 6. I remember one time in particularly I saw a huge red fin stick up in the water. I shouted, and pointed to it. The tail rose up from the water and was a pinkish red color. I remember telling my dad it was a shark! He laughed of course and let me believe it could be for a moment. He reminded me sharks didn't live in lakes because they were saltwater fish. I didn't care and I was going to let that stop me from believing.

You can say that confidence and certainty I had quickly faded as the lights did in bedroom. I would cry, and scream a lot at night. And refuse to go to bed. I looked for any excuse to be awake just a little longer. I told my parents there was a spider on the ceiling and I couldn't sleep in there because it had already disappeared. I also explained that if I slept alone the ghost in our house would find me. My parents told me several times there were no such things as ghosts and I needed to go to bed.

It didn't matter what I did. I could never win as my parents were just Stern and just as confident as me.

I remember one night in particular changed me. It took away what confidence I had in the safety of my own home.

I was sleeping downstairs this time. Luckily beside my parents so I felt safe. I was maybe 5 years old during this incident. I woke up with my head facing our front door and window and could see a street light coming into the living room.

The next thing I remember was a shadowy figure of a women gliding through the room. I automatically assumed she was a ghost. The odd thing about this thought was I couldn't move. My body was so paralyized that my arms wouldn't lift up. I remember wanting to look away but not being able to turn my neck. She floated around the living for maybe 30 seconds before me finally lifting my body up and her disappearing.

I remember telling my parents the next day and for months it was the ghost in our house that would follow me around. Little did I know there was more to come.

[thedreamycity101]

Here is my first post to my new blog. I hope that you can find comfort and hope in this blog. I also hope you can relate to some experiences if you have had some difficulty with sleep paralysis. This blog is also potentially a way to help cope with some of these experiences as well as hear others.