I’ve been experiencing dreams similar to sleep paralysis
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something strange has been happening to me recently. warning: LONG. Please read.
It started a couple months ago. I admit to smoking weed pretty often (3+ times a week) and it just so happens the day this first occurred I had smoked a few hours prior to the situation. I'm not quite sure how relevant this is, but thought i would add it in case. Being that it was indica, after my initial high i got very, very tired, which is not unusual for me. I ended up passing out on my couch around 5pm and waking up when it was completely dark. I had a craving for pop, which i keep in my basement and so i started walking down to get it. Halfway down, i changed my mind and started to go back up. However my body started getting very, very heavy, to the point where I collapsed on the floor, and had to drag myself up the stairs, fighting against the weight. miraculously I was able to get back to the catch in collapsed in the same spot I was sleeping . As soon as this happened I woke up and realized it was all a dream, and that it was around 12 at night. this was the first time something like this has happened to me. it didn’t happen again until a few months later, I had not smoked for a couple of days. I fell asleep, although it was difficult, which I usually don’t have a problem with, and woke up (I later figured out it was another dream) with a heavy body. I had to drag my happy body across the room, falling on the floor at some points because at certain times it would get heavier until I finally dragged myself into a different room and all of a sudden woke up for real this time. I am not the type of person that when I'm dreaming, consider it being a dream. Lucid dreaming, or anything like that, is simply not something I’m capable of. However this time I remember clearly thinking "I am not dreaming, I am awake" only to be surprised later when I figured out it was a dream. This did not happen the first time. And then all the sudden the dreams started happening more, even multiple times a week, not particularly when I smoked. it’s to the point where it happened multiple times a night, Where I’ll experience a heavy body, and then 'wake up' and experience it again, because I'm not actually awake, over and over. I will sometimes wake up right after I say "this is definitely not a dream", and sometimes just randomly in the middle of the episode. The dream always happens in the exact same spot I fell asleep. I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t think it’s sleep paralysis as I've heard it being described as something sitting on your chest, which is not what Im experiencing. Instead I feel like my whole body is filled with concrete and I can barely move without great effort. I’m also pretty sure I’m sleeping when this happens so I don’t know. Ive tried researching but nothings come up except regualar sleep paralysis. please help, I’m now scared to sleep, as I wake up very panicked and scared.
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lily65668 alisha40325
Posted
Hi Alisha,
No need to be scared - and no need to worry about long posts. I'm an old lady with plenty of time and high levels of concentration!
This is a false awakening (google it) which is indeed one of the manifestations of sleep paralysis, as are lucid and pre-lucid dreams. (A pre-lucid dream is where you're not sure whether you're dreaming or not, suspect you might be and may or may not come to the right conclusion.) They're all part of the same phenomenon, but not everyone gets all the manifestations.
The reason why we feel we're having to drag ourselves along during these episodes is that the body knows it's paralysed. It's perfectly normal to be paralysed, or at least in a state of extreme muscle relaxation, during REM (dreaming) sleep. This is a normal response of the body, which stops us jumping up and acting out our dreams. In a few of us, the brain continues to secrete the paralysing chemical for a few seconds or minutes after we wake or - more rarely - starts before we're completely asleep. We're far more likely to go into REM sleep when napping during the day or having a lie-in. The paralysis only affects our voluntary muscles (arms, legs etc.) so there's no need to worry that you won't be able to breathe or your heart will stop.
I've had sleep paralysis for more than 50 years, together with regular false awakenings. (Had one this morning while having a lie-in!) I know it's alarming at first, but there's really nothing to worry about. It's estimated that 2-5% of the general population suffers from sleep paralysis and/or its related phenomena like false awakenings on a regular basis. It's just that we don't talk about it much, except on forums like this one, because people tend to think we're crazy. Which we aren't, of course. These phenomena aren't due to mental illness or neurological conditions. They're just a variant of the normal.
In addition, almost everyone will have a few isolated incidents of sleep paralysis, false awakening etc. during their life. This means it might wear off in a few weeks and never trouble you again.
There's been very little medical research on the subject, even among sleep specialists, but it's generally thought these events are down to a minor, and completely harmless, glitch in the temporal lobes of the brain. There's a strongly hereditary component too. In my case, my father, at least one of his brothers, and my grandmother all had it. It might be worth asking around in your family. However, like all genetic glitches, it has to start somewhere.
Age is another factor. Although all these phenomena can start at any time in life, the average age of onset is overwhelmingly between 15 and 25. (I was 23 when it all started.) I suspect you may fall into that age group.
Sadly, I'm afraid there's a lot of evidence that recreational drug use, and especially week, can trigger episodes, particularly in those who have a genetic tendency.
So... what can you do about it? First of all, calm down. Stress and anxiety are sure-fire triggers for this kind of event. And if possible, try to avoid sleeping at times when you're not really tired - like during the day or late in the morning after a full night's sleep. And maybe cut down on your use of weed? This may or may not improve things, especially if you have a genetic disposition to these things, in which case the weed might just have served as an initial trigger for something that was going to start sooner or later anyway.
If you want to go medical, you might try asking your doctor to prescribe antidepressants - particularly the older tricyclic group like amitriptyline and nortriptyline. These drugs suppress dreaming sleep, thus removing the problem. The downside is that they have quite unpleasant side-effects, and you have to take them for life. They don't cure the problem, they only suppress it while you're taking them. Incidentally, this isn't because sleep paralysis, false awakenings etc. are a symptom of depression. They aren't. Suppression of REM sleep just happens to be a spin-off effect of antidepressants. There's also the risk that your doctor might know nothing whatever about these phenomena, and assume you have some kind of mental illness, in which case you could end up on dangerous antipsychotic drugs. (I've met a lot of people on forums over the past 25 years who've had just this happen to them.)
Once you've calmed down, it may well be that all this will stop happening or just come back occasionally. If it doesn't, then you'll find it quite easy to live with once you've realised it won't harm you and you're not alone in this. You could also try avoiding the things that are clearly triggering attacks in your case - afternoon naps and smoking too much weed.
If you have any more questions I'll be happy to answer them.
lily65668 alisha40325
Posted
Two things I forgot to say in my very long post of half-an-hour or so ago.
When you wake from this state, don't allow yourself to go back to sleep, but get up - or at least sit up - immediately. I know it can be hard at first to figure out whether you're really awake or not, but once you get used to having these episodes you normally know the difference. When we wake from this state, we all experience an immense sense of heaviness, which seems to be sucking us back into sleep (and often a repeat episode) but you can put an end to the cycle if you jump up quickly before you get sucked in again.
I know I mentioned antidepressants, but please don't buy them yourself on line, and especially not in the street, in which case you can't be sure what's in them. Stopping and starting antidepressants can cause depression, extreme anxiety and sleeplessness even in people who didn't have these symptoms before they started, and this can go on for years.