[ptrincr]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Can I ask how you found your sleep paralysis encounters? (for want of a better word).

Personally I've found them deeply disturbing. Throughout my life I have experienced moments of sleep paralysis at most on 10 occasions. They've left a big impact though, and I sympathize with anyone who has the misfortune of feeling as though you are trapped and unable to move.

After watching the film "Waking life" I spent a long time thinking about lucid dreaming and perhaps maybe had 1 or 2 myself. I had never connected the two however, definitely food for thought.

[grawprog]

I used to get sleep paralysis a lot when I was younger. It could be fairly terrifying sometimes. I remember the scariest i was probably as a teenager lying on my stomach while it felt like someone eas holding me down with the blankets. The first one i remember i was pretty young. My brother and me still shared a room and had bunk beds. I remember waking up one morning and watched a giant spider crossing the ladder towards my face and freaking out but not being able to move or yell or anything. Then suddenly I could and the spider was gone.

When I actually learned what it was I tried lucid dreaming and stuff with it. But, I always find the feeling uncomfortable. I don't like not being able to move or do anything while your dreams mix with your bedroom.

It doesn't happen so much now. Every once in a while if I wake up in the morning and go back to sleep, the second time I wake up it'll happen. I don't tend to sleep in any more and once i'm awake I get up.

I don't know if it's related but i've always had problems sleeping. When I was young I was scared to sleep, even as a baby i didn't sleep well. I can usually fall asleep alright now but the slightest noise in the night wakes me up and I still feel wary about losing conciousness.

[barbs]

I'm not the parent but I experience sleep paralysis fairly regularly - maybe once or twice a month. It's happened enough times that I can usually recognise it and can either try to wake myself up or wait until I go back to sleep, so it's not particularly scary. It depends though - if I get sleep paralysis coming out of a nightmare it can be fairly uncomfortable, but not much more than if I were to have just the nightmare on its own. Probably the worst part is the embarrassment of someone witnessing me thrashing around trying to wake up or hearing me moan in my sleep.

[jjeaff]

Have you ever been checked for sleep apnea? Sleep paralysis is a common symptom.

[barbs]

I haven't actually. I feel like my previous girlfriend told me I was an extremely quiet sleeper so I don't think I have problems breathing when I'm asleep.