A TERRORIFIC SLEEP PARALYSIS EPISODE

I remember it as if it were yesterday. That afternoon I got home after school; being hot, hungry and quite tired. The first thing I did was eat a lot. I went to my room without even taking a shower. I lay down in my bed for "just a moment" and fell asleep on my back. Without knowing that, with everything I did, I was preparing the perfect cocktail to live one of the most terrifying experiences of my life.

A few hours of sleep went by when something woke me up. I opened my eyes and I saw everything different, a little dark, a heavy atmosphere and a lot of heat. Immediately, I heard a whisper. I didn’t finish understanding that it was a whisper when many others appeared as an army of little voices, like children, but little by little they became gloomy. I got really scared, I wanted to jump out of bed and scream but I was petrified. Never in my life had I strained this much, but my arms, my legs, my head and everything, except for my ears and eyes, were numb. The whispers and buzzing were frightening but believe me, it wasn’t the worst of this story.

Little by little, shadows of creatures appeared, I don’t know if they were extraterrestrial or demonic, but just as terrifying. I felt that I was sweating and trembling with fear. The worst came when out of nowhere a dark, stinking mass, with evil eyes and a very big mouth, rested on top of me to look and talk to me only 2 millimeters off my face. Immediately, I closed my eyes, I began to scream but those screams were only drowned screams; they never came out. I fought, I tried with all my strength to move but it was impossible to do it.

As I said, I was petrified and now with a horrible entity over me wanting to eat me, bite me, terrify me, get into my body, kill me or make me who knows what or simply, all the above. With my eyes closed, I kept trying to get rid of that thing that kept me in a catatonic state, but the more I strained, the more terrifying the experience was.

Being face up, with open eyes, aware of what was happening, while a black and smelly shadow (I swear I could smell it) spoke to me in a strange dialect and at the same time breathing in my face, neck and ear, made me think that I was going to die. When I felt like I couldn’t stand it anymore and I started to give up, I relaxed my body and that's when I managed to move some toes. That was the click I needed for my body to finally react and allow me to sit in bed and cry. The nightmare, to call it somehow, lasted only a few minutes.

I didn’t tell anyone about the experience. A short time later it happened again. Then again and so many more times.

Over the years, I realized that all the episodes had some things in common: the time (afternoon), the position, the fatigue and eating before the nap.

One day, listening to a radio show someone was talking about SLEEP PARALYSIS. My heart took a tremendous turn because finally someone had described exactly what had been happening for a long time and that I couldn’t find an explanation. Immediately I began to investigate and it was impressive the amount of information that lay on the internet. I was reassured to read that it is a fairly common disorder and that it doesn’t represent any danger to life.

According to Wikipedia “Sleep paralysis is when, during awakening or falling asleep, a person is aware but unable to move or speak. During an episode, one may hear, feel, or see things that are not there. It often results in fear. Episodes generally last less than a couple of minutes. It may occur as a single episode or be recurrent.”

Those episodes were repetitive for several years in my life. Then they stopped for a good time. Now, 3 days ago, I had one again.

Over the years I learned how to cope with them. There are techniques that apparently work. One of them is to keep in mind that they aren’t real and that what you suffer are mere hallucinations. Also, to get out of an episode quickly, it is recommended and I certify it, to avoid fighting or trying to get up at once (you will not achieve it). You should only relax your body and concentrate on a specific finger or toe; if you manage to move it, even if it is very little, the body will react immediately. I have never suffered it at night. It has always been during a nap and usually when I eat some food before, so I suggest you wait to do digestion first or eat little. In the case of eating a lot and feeling very full, it’s preferable to wait.

I learned so much to deal with episodes of sleep paralysis. The last times it didn’t scare me and I just hoped to manage to move my finger to end this unpleasant experience.

I hope this post is useful and serves as a guide for those who still do not know what is happening to them. My advice is to do some research. And I hope those, who like me have been in this for years, will not be disturbed and they assume it as something that is part of their life; that we have to deal with it and take it in the "lightest" way possible.

Thanks for Reading.