Sleep paralysis?

[BrokenAge]

Last night I had a terrifying experince. It was 1 in the morning and I was exhausted so I decided to go to bed. I was a really anxious while laying in bed. Worrying if I was going to be able to fall asleep. I was in and out of consciousness for awhile. I was awakened by the sound of someone saying my name. I sat up and thought "well that was odd but it's a pretty normal experince" so I didn't think much of it. I layed down on my back and doze off. Then all I remember was opening my eyes to see a shadow hovering above me and I instantly blinked and wiped my eyes and then nothing was there. I rolled over and started having a panic attack. I was thinking "am I finally going crazy? Is this a hallucination?" And I was wondering if it was sleep paralysis. I wasn't paralyzed. I instantly moved when it happened and I went back to bed. I woke up and was completely scared of what happened. It all felt like a dream. Now I'm so positive that there's something not working with my brain and that I'm losing my mind. I'm now terrified to back to sleep because I don't know what happened. I googled all this and all I saw was "shadow people" and "demons" so now I'm ever more scared lol. I don't know what's going on.

[Suziewuzie]

I get sleep paralysis & night terrors quite a lot when I'm stressed. I often sit bolt upright in bed because I've heard someone say my name, or hear a gunshot or a loud siren - obviously it's just in my head though. I've 'woken up' and seen strange things, and my boyfriend has woken up before to see me with my mouth wide open silently screaming - very creepy!
But it's all just normal sleep stuff that happens to a lot of anxious people. If you look into night terrors in adults you'll see a lot of what you described - I watched a TV programme on it a while ago where lots of people reported shadows or faces floating right above them, or of shadows moving across the room to them.
It's all just your mind playing tricks on you. It's always passed for me, when I was particularly stressed I suffered with it for about a week but it hasn't happened in years now and I'm positive it will pass for you too x

[BrokenAge]

I get sleep paralysis & night terrors quite a lot when I'm stressed. I often sit bolt upright in bed because I've heard someone say my name, or hear a gunshot or a loud siren - obviously it's just in my head though. I've 'woken up' and seen strange things, and my boyfriend has woken up before to see me with my mouth wide open silently screaming - very creepy!
But it's all just normal sleep stuff that happens to a lot of anxious people. If you look into night terrors in adults you'll see a lot of what you described - I watched a TV programme on it a while ago where lots of people reported shadows or faces floating right above them, or of shadows moving across the room to them.
It's all just your mind playing tricks on you. It's always passed for me, when I was particularly stressed I suffered with it for about a week but it hasn't happened in years now and I'm positive it will pass for you too x

I appreciate the feed back but it's so hard for me to just think it'll pass. My biggest fear is becoming schizophrenic/bi polar and my brain not working correctly. This seems like it means I'm going crazy to me. It sort of feels unreal. Like I can't believe it happened type of feeling.

[Suziewuzie]

Looks like we're both going schizophrenic then buddy!
Seriously though, is there actually anything that anyone can say that will help? This absolutely is not a symptom of bipolar or schizophrenia but if it's not going to help then I won't go into the whys and why nots.

[BrokenAge]

Lol thank you. It's hard for me to 100% rationalize when I'm so anxious and panicky. Now I'm just a little nervous to go to bed tonight but all in all I've been doing good.

[MyNameIsTerry]

It's Hypnagogia, Nick. Sleep Paralysis is one of the things you can experience in this stage of sleep and yes it does cover "Shadow People". Hearing your name was an auditory hallucination, which is one of the known element of this sleep stage.

Hallucinations during the various sleep stages can & are experienced by any person and has no connection to anxiety although anxiety is known to increase them.

I would suggest reading the Wiki on it, the Tetris Effect you mentioned some time ago is part of it too. If you understand what you can experience during these stages of sleep, you know it's not anything more. What you fear means having these events to a deeper level and outside of these normal hallucinatory times.

[Girl18]

Gosh I remember when I experienced sleep paralysis. That is so scary! Luckily I've never experienced it again.

[Kmac1286]

There's even a docu-drama on Netflix about this called "Nightmare." Don't watch it before bed, but it shows many people with similar experiences.

Like you, I have had lucid dreams and sleep paralysis for about 12 years. Hearing my name, waking up to the feeling that someone was standing over me, sitting up quickly with my heart racing convinced someone was in the room, hearing gun shots, glass breaking, or my kids crying. Falling asleep and hearing a woman scream, or a man yell. It is so scary, and so far beyond a "bad dream." I have dreams where I'm convinced I'm going to die, and I scream and scream trying to wake myself up. Like I know I'm sleeping, and I will scream "WAKE UP!" Or, since I'm religious, I'll pray in my dream for God to protect me and wake me up, and then I do. It's SO weird how I can know to wake myself in these dreams.

Really freaky stuff.

[MyNameIsTerry]

There's even a docu-drama on Netflix about this called "Nightmare." Don't watch it before bed, but it shows many people with similar experiences.

Like you, I have had lucid dreams and sleep paralysis for about 12 years. Hearing my name, waking up to the feeling that someone was standing over me, sitting up quickly with my heart racing convinced someone was in the room, hearing gun shots, glass breaking, or my kids crying. Falling asleep and hearing a woman scream, or a man yell. It is so scary, and so far beyond a "bad dream." I have dreams where I'm convinced I'm going to die, and I scream and scream trying to wake myself up. Like I know I'm sleeping, and I will scream "WAKE UP!" Or, since I'm religious, I'll pray in my dream for God to protect me and wake me up, and then I do. It's SO weird how I can know to wake myself in these dreams.

Really freaky stuff.

Have you read about Hypnagogia? It's worth it as it includes many of these phenomena and more. Then we can just work on it from a rationalisation and acceptance point of view and plod on with recovery.

[Kmac1286]

Have you read about Hypnagogia? It's worth it as it includes many of these phenomena and more. Then we can just work on it from a rationalisation and acceptance point of view and plod on with recovery.

Yes, after a lot of research (started with "rushing water sounds as falling asleep" and "dreams that feel real") which went from lucid dreams into hypnagogia (one time Dr. Google helped!), I finally landed on it. I honestly haven't experienced this phenomenon in several years. I wish I could pinpoint what stopped it, but getting on Lexapro helped, and even after I was off the Lexapro, establishing a good sleep pattern and staying away from sleep aids helped too.