I wouldn’t read on if you are a person who gets anxious and worried about weird stuff - or who gets bored easily!
Many years ago, I climbed the 3 flights of stairs to our bedroom and lay down in bed. A moonless night, around 1am, lights out. I was relatively sober and very tired.
A little later, I don’t know if I was still awake or had been asleep and had woken, I could hear the sounds of my partner making her way up.
Footsteps up the 2 carpeted flights and the final bare wood stairs.
No shoes or slippers.
The bedroom door was slowly pushed open over the thick carpeted pile and then pushed closed.
I was facing the other way and was so comfortable I just couldn’t be bothered to turn over.
After a moment or two the footsteps continued to the bed and I felt the familar movement as the mattress took the weight of another, felt myself moving as everything settled.
Then it dawned on me that my partner was now my ex, and she had moved out weeks earlier.
And then she, or somebody, started to move slowly toward me.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up as a cold shiver ran through me.
This was the point when, although my eyes were half open, I realised I was completely paralysed.
I could feel ‘it’s’ breath on me, and this thing certainly wasn’t my ex.
I was cold sweating and straining every muscle. Not even a finger or toe moved. I couldn’t even whisper, though I wanted to jump out of the bed screaming.
‘It’ started to climb over and on top of me. It was very heavy and I was, apart from terrified, now finding it hard to breathe. I was trying to fight it, push it off, but was completely frozen. What I presume was it’s face was now close to the side of mine (I was still facing away so I couldn’t see it).
I was soaked in sweat and after what seemed like ages, managed a faint ‘f.f…fuckk you!’, freed up my arm and pushed myself around. Nothing. Within seconds I was completely back to normal.
I later found out the ‘thing’ was an old hag, succubus, or even Adam’s first wife Lillith, this type of nightmare is suffered by at least 8% of the population (figures vary) and is also known as a side effect of Sleep Paralysis:
The reason I’m posting this is because although I’m staying sober, I’m getting these damn sleep paralysis nightmares regularly since packing in the booze - and they’re taking a bit of a toll!
I just wondered if anyone else is suffering from these since getting sober?
Not that I would, but it is virtually enough to make me want to f’n well drink!
I have experienced them before and they are very terrifying! I’m somewhat religious, I always began a prayer within the nightmare and managed to free myself. I have been in states where I woke-up only to find myself still within the dream, and the presence of something and still fighting control of my reality. That’s is the easiest way of putting it.
I can’t necessarily say I’ve had those dreams since I quit drinking, but it could be I didn’t remember it. I also find myself sleeping in one or 2 hr blocks and waking up. Only to rinse and repeat.
Thanks for responding @Shattered_dreams, I wondered if anyone would know what I was writing about!
As to your comment about you might have had them but not remembered, that’s what happened to me, I’d been sober for around a month, had one of these horrific nightmares and then remembered I’d also been having them over the previous month. And they’ve continued. Maybe writing about it will stop them. I hope so!
I know exactly, what your talking about. I’ve had them even as a young kid. My mother has had them as well. She described them just like you did. A force sitting on her chest slowly suffocating.
My night terrors are slightly more diabolical. Typically, an entity chasing me and in my mind it’s my soul; however there has been even creepier night terrors I would rather keep to my self.
In the scientific community their called night terrors, I’ve done some research in the past. I can’t remember much about the subject it’s been a while.
The waking paralysis happened to me only twice that I can recall, so I never really looking into it more. The first time my eyes were half open, and my close friend seemed to be standing there, at the edge of my peripheral vision, yelling at me! It was hallucination. I couldn’t move.
@Charlesfreck. Are you aware what is happening now when it does? That sounds very stressful. Maybe consider getting checked out at a sleep center or similar office?
What a great topic! I used to get those dreams with the ‘thing’, it was so real I could even smell her damp cheesy smell! She was very quiet though, not a sound, just my heart beat and me yelling! She only sat on my chest twice, mostly she was walking towards me, luckily i managed to wake myself up before she jumped on me. She disappeared few years ago, but i still get the paralysis every now and then…
Totally aware - I’m awake and paralysed. There’s no change in my mental state once the paralysis wears off. I would get it checked out but all the research and data points toward nothing being able to be done about it. The first time it happened the doctor just said try to get used to it!
I don’t know, I would hope something could help. I guess sleep aids are limited because could risk sobriety. My sister had terrible stuff happening at night, but she had epilepsy and was on a number of anti-epileptic meds. You don’t take any meds currently?
It’s quite unnerving isn’t it @JustL. - I’ve never noticed a smell - in fact I’m not sure if I can smell when it happens! I’ll try to remember if (when) it happens next.
Over the years I have gained more and more control of my dreams/night terrors. It’s like sometimes I know the pattern of my dreams. I’ll wake up in the cold sweat, and not necessarily remember the dream but have this intense feeling something bad was about to happen right before I woke up. Occasionally, I’ll have that same feeling in real life. Strange as it sounds I normally chalk it up to de jevu, and I’ll put extra caution in my surroundings and the decisions I make. Went out on tangent there .
Wow! Mysterious . I like to think I’m just a really good observer that puts everything into perspective. Thanks for the article, I do feel I fit neatly into almost all those examples. Perhaps, I’ll put a little more energy in to exploring that area of my spirituality.
Well - Einstein said he believed there were up to 13 dimensions, and he knew a thing or two!
“more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio definition. A phrase used by the title character in the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. Hamlet suggests that human knowledge is limited: There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy [science].”
I’ve always had sleep paralysis even as a kid I find its worse when I’m stressed and I had it alot in the first week sober …I used to take sleeping tablets and I found it was worse when I stopped taking them so probably won’t help,the same as it’s always worse the few nights after some medications …it is weird but I think it is just where you’re brain thinks you are awake but you are actually asleep and it seems so vivid it is scary
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. I like to think I’m just a really good observer that puts everything into perspective. Thanks for the article, I do feel I fit neatly into almost all those examples. Perhaps, I’ll put a little more energy in to exploring that area of my spirituality.
