Sarah,

The mind is very powerful. If you are freaking out or scared your mind can gallop off in all directions. Like you said you are afraid of spiders so when you start an episode you are already afraid and thus your sub consious kicks in as well where you are projecting your fears. I can assure you that if you were afraid of ducks there would more than likely be ducks pecking at your feet. What you need to do is stop being afraid. You will not die, you will not hurt yourself just try to ride it out and tell yourself that you are OK and you are not in any danger.

When I was in my prime of learning about SP and totally afraid it was only until after I spoke to my doctor and my vicar that I started to realise these were more of a pain then they were anything evil or demonic. That said I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea and SP are very clear signs of SA or Narcolepsy. Please get those two conditions ruled out as SA particularly can be very serious.

Here is an article in regards to your question of Hallucinations:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090609072705.htm

Here is another article that talks about symptoms and findings by Stanford
http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/paralysis.html

>>>>SP are very clear signs of SA or Narcolepsy.<<<<

*edit* I should say "They could be.." not in every case..

Btw, if you have problems slipping back into SP episodes when you manage to wake up chances are you aren't fully awake. A few folks I know (myself included) require getting out of bed to get a sip of water or even to stand up for a second. This gets your mind awake enough to be able to register things. The chinese said in these cases to rub cold water on your legs.

I have had the feeling of being moved whilst experiencing sp. For example, I was lying on my right side, and my right arm was on the bed level with my shoulder, and my arm was moved so it was at the side of my body. I could not move any part of my body and I did not move my arm myself, this was the most frightening thing about the experience, it was after that I felt the pressure on my whole body. I can cope with being paralysed to a point, but being moved without actually doing anything is very frightening. Has anyone else experienced this?

Maybe someone here might be able to shed some light on this Sleep Paralysis Experience:

For years my boyfriend has suffered from sleep paralysis. The other night while he and I were lying in bed I heard what sounded like a clear, one second electronic beep come from either his head or just above his head. The sound was quite loud so I asked him what the sound was. He turned over and looked very surprised at me with wide eyes and said, "You heard that?!" And I said, "Of course I heard it, what was it?" My boyfriend then asked me to tell him exactly what I heard. I told him that I heard an electronic beep sound, a short one second beep/tone. My boyfriend could not believe it. He then proceeded to tell me that only on occasion (maybe 5 or 6 times in his entire life) he has heard an electronic beep when he either goes in or comes out of a sleep paralysis episode. He has always thought it was an auditory hallucination. He said that each time he has heard it, it sounded like the beep came from the inside of his head. He said that hearing the beep would be equivalent to when you hear ringing in your ears, because you know only you can hear it. He had no idea the beep was an external sound. My boyfriend has been most sincere and honest in relating to me his experiences with "the beep", so I very much believe him and what he says to be true.

  The reason my boyfriend was so shocked about this incident, is not because he heard the sleep paralysis beep again, but because of the fact that I heard it too. This experience has completely perked our interest, so the past several days I’ve done some internet research here and there to try and find anything remotely related to sleep paralysis and hearing an audible beep. Through this I gathered information about auditory hallucinations, which was no big help because, A.) I clearly heard the beep and was not hallucinating and B.) It would have been my boyfriend’s hallucination, not mine. It truly was an actual audible tone. I was, however, able to find several sleep paralysis forums and such, with quite a few people claiming to have also heard/experienced a similar electronic beep sound with a sleep paralysis episode. Not all the time, but periodically it is said to happen. Most of what I have found during the short amount of time I’ve been able to research is regarding UFO abductions. Now, neither my boyfriend nor myself are willing to go that far as to say he was abducted by aliens. He has no recollection or experience of such things. I am more than curious as to what this beep sound was, though.

   After the incident, we checked the room and all surrounding areas of the house. It’s an older house that doesn’t even have a smoke alarm, so it couldn’t have been what we heard. My boyfriend had no TV or any other electronic device in the room that would have created the sound we heard. I am still trying to wrap my brain around this because I know what I heard and I know it came from him, but I also know that it is physically impossible for the human body to emit such a sound as an electronic beep. My boyfriend and I have separately compared the sound we heard with an online frequency program and both of us came up with the sound being somewhere between the range of 680 and 700 HZ frequency. I don’t know whether that’s important or not, but it is the sound that I heard and the sound that my boyfriend has occasionally heard throughout his life. We would like to hear anyone’s opinion or thoughts. Does anyone have any information about this? Anyone experience something similar? What is this beep? And why was I able to hear it? Any help would be greatly appreciated. This is a legitimate question and I would be grateful for a legitimate response, please. Thank you very much!

Sheena, I have never experienced a beep sound, but the fact that you heard it as well is amazing. Do you know if your boyfriend has ever had any type of surgery where he was anestized? Has anyone who has sp here ever been through any surgery or anything where they were? Maybe there's some sort of link there.

Nick, I too have had an SP episode when I couldn't breathe. It kept happening everytime I tried to fall back to sleep. SP can be related to Sleep Apnea. Its a disorder inwhich you will stop breathing throughout the night. If this is happening during all or most of your SP episodes and you are waking up tired all of the time even on nights when you don't have SP I would definatley talk to a professional. There are things to help with sleep apnea. My dad has it and has to wear a mask at night that is hooked up to a small machine. He sleeps much better and wakes up refreshed instead of groggy.

Judith, I've also felt at least the sensation of being moved. It was my most frightening sp episode, it was before i ever knew there was a thing called sleep paralysis. I was going to sleep when a loud ringing began in my ears and a mans voice bellowed that god and the devil will do battle. It said it three times and every time it said battle my ears would ring so hard that i swore they were going to bleed. After the voice stopped I felt something or someone try to spread my legs apart. I've never told anyone that part of my episode because it's embarrasing to me. That experience had me shaking even the day after. But it forced me to research what was happening to me. And luckily I stumbled across this website. One of the most important things is to know that you're not alone. This website and everyone's timely responses honestly saved my sanity.

Michelle, thank you for sharing your story, it certainly makes me feel like I'm not the only one going through this and, I know people who write on this website will actually believe me when I share my experiences, it makes me feel quite emotional to at last be able to share these. I had another frightening experience on Friday night/Saturday morning where something not quite as intimate, but nevertheless unwanted happened to me, this made me very anxious when it came to bed time last night, but I did control my anxiety as I don't think it helps the situation and, I most certainly do not want to experience what happened again.

michelle/judith, i to have experienced some sort of movement while having an sp episode. while i was paralised i felt like some1 had a grip of my legs and was pulling me out of bed, then when i woke up my legs were hanging of the bed. this scared me alot, and i even looked under my bed convinced that someone had pulled me, reading evryones experiences on here has maade me a little more scared of sp. latley i feel its got worse, and im experiencing even more bizzar things. the other night i heard what sounded like a voice spkin thru somesort of microphone. again as have said i felt my body move as if i was in mid air, tho this time i was on my side. its getting to the stage im scared to go to sleep, im starting to have migranes n sleep with the light on some nights as almost as soon as i feel myself drift of to sleep i have a very faint vibration throught my body n i knw the sp is kicking in, sometimes i can jolt myself awake others its to late, it often happens 2 or 3 times in a row, giving me no time to wake up. i have in the past coped n remained relaxed in sp state, but now with these weird experiences n the frequency i find it hard to do that now, sometimes i sit up, n stay awake n then try n go back to sleep but it happens again probably another 2/3/4 times. recenly i have got up and not went bk to bed at all until the next night. which leaves me very tired n i find also this is when sp kicks in with me. or when i am tired but cnt sleep by time i get to sleep its interuppted with sp, so i cant win !

Just been reading the story about a man who was awake in what the doctors thought was a 23 year coma and has only just woken up. Reading some of the comments about the story was where I picked up about SP....Like most other people on this message board I am now relieved to know it is a 'normal' condition too!

To answer your question, Michelle, nope, no surgeries.

Kellie, I've only known about this website for about 3 weeks now, and the more I read the more I'm noticing similarities to my own experiences. After my last sp experience on Friday I had a headache, and it stayed with me all day Saturday, Sunday I had a migraine and had a very bad headache yesterday which lasted all day and which no amount of paracetamol could shift. I can't recall if this has been related to sp previously but will now start keeping a diary of what happens and how I'm feeling.

Hey guy, iv been reading through ur messages and im so happy that i now know it's not only me, I didnt even know that SP was a real thing i just thought i was wierd lol! But i dunno what to do coz iv had it in the past and it only happened once every now and again but iv now had it since last wednesday everymorning!!! and i red the bit where it said relax im like how can i relax i mean really so i panic but i just wont it to stop! and when i tryed to explain to my mum i just said its like my brain is awake b4 my body! How do u guys cope with it?????

I have found that the most important thing to do when an episode comes on is to control your fear. The fear is what will bring on the hallucinations and the panic. Now that you know what it is you have you need to give yourself power over it. I used to try to control my breathing when it would happen but that doesn't help because you're breath will seem unusually shallow because your body is on auto-pilot and thats how you breathe when you sleep. Just focus on your thoughts. Know that you will be fine that the paralysis will let up that it has happened before and you've made it through just fine. Also try not to tense up when it happens, that may be whats causing the headaches. Let your body relax as much as you can. Another thing that could be causing the headaches is a sleep apnea, it is a disorder inwhich you stop breathing periodically throughout sleep, if you think that may be the case you should see a professional about it there are things to fix sleep apnea and it may help your sleep paralysis as well.

What a great site! I had these experiences every night for about 15 yrs...TERRIBLE. Some were so strange and terrifying that they would leave me disturbed the whole next day. I have had the evil presence in my room, voices screaming in my ear, hands touching me all over,a huge deafening sound fill my head and flashing lights so bright that they were blinding even though my eyes were shut. Ive woken up with wierd bruising on my shoulder(biopsied and shown to be scar tissue that appeared overnight?). After researching it the one thing that blows me away is how split in two the mind can be. How can voices talk to me and visions with obvious deep meaning be projected to my conscience from some unknown region of my subconscience( if that's what it is). Also that feeling you have right after an especially disturbing episode..perhaps that feeling is similar to when people would drop to thier knees in terror in the Bible when confronted by an angel...pure terror.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EChBRIF7BU