I've experienced it 2 or 3 times in my life when I was younger. And yes...it would freak you out. I've always explained it as the possibility that the Devil snuck into my room and was lying next to me. I never knew what it was called up until now. A quick Wikipedia search and BAM!! A listing of the symptoms and causes. Guess the Devil had better things to do after all.
TrueRange, You might try keeping a detailed journal of your dreams. I believe another poster suggested something similar. Since we tend to forget our dreams, keep the journal by your bed. As soon as you wake up, write down everything you can remember. This should help take away some of the mystery. Also, you might want to explore "lucid dreaming" where you can take control of your dreams, instead of your dreams taking control of you. Good Luck. AZD
Just stress. I have the same college/high school dream all the time. I never leave things unfinished. A particular one is I find out that I haven't been to my English class all semester (don't know why it's English) and it's the day of the final. But I don't know when and where the final is... The more interesting recurring dream when I was in college, was dreaming I was answering certain questions in a test. Then later the real test had indeed these questions. I just copied down the answers I had in my dream - always got A's in those tests. Just a full bladder. Good thing you didn't find a clean stall. Imagine if you did...
Sleep paralysis can be freaky until you find out what is actually happening. When I first experienced it years ago I thought, great,I'm trapped in some f'n twilight zone death trap and will never get out. Scared the shit out of me. Don't have them much anymore. The only recurring nightmare I ever had was many years ago while overseas, I would always be walking into a room full of my family and friends and when they'd turn their heads toward me I could see they were all dead. Stopped when I made it home alive. Maybe I was seeing their dreams thinking I was the dead one. Who the heck knows? Coulda' just been being surrounded by death every damn day. Seek professional help if it persists. Most things like this aren't as complex as they first seem. Doesn't mean they aren't scary as hell though.
Sleep paralysis , yeah, it sucks. Actually, i knew what it was, doesnt make it any less freaky to me, IMO. Often , beacuse it occurs with significant lucid dreams/nightmares, in my experience. In other words, wide awake, i know im dreaming, but i cant stop the nightmare/control the dream, OR move or get up . That is, as if being fully conscious and not being able to move, isnt bad enough. Fortunately, doesnt happen so much now-but it used to be the case, id know which nightmare i was likely to have, days, sometimes weeks in a row, because certain "sets" of nightmares always occured in sequence, and id seen them so often-like a bad movie guide. I guess that's why i cant stand horror movies. Edit-Used to happen of couple times a week (sleep paralysis), various nightmare sequence's would run from a couple of days, to a week, depending on the sequence. Re, feeling held down, ive had that too-i differentiate that from standard paralysis, because normally i just cant move; on this single occasion, i also had the very real sensation of being crushed, and couldnt move because of the "weight", and actually being "scared stiff" i suppose, like one of those fainting goat's or something. I still strongly suspect a ghost/poltergeist/paranormal thing, but in reality it was probably just a variety of paralysis.
If you are having these every night I would immediately seek professional help. Especially if you are having "night terrors" vs. "nightmares". Either one can be a precursor to a mental breakdown. I wouldn't want to wait to see if this happens or not.
Version, YOUR giving advice on nightmares? I thought i was having a "night terror" once, until i realised i was just drunk and reading one of your posts I dont know, the odds of being prescribed some worthless drug are high going down versions route, but i gather it works for some-if you dont get hooked on sleepy pills or some other stuff. It doesnt sound like the OP actually has a serious problem, that some heavy exercise wont fix-avoiding caffeine of any sort, of course.
What, nobody has sequential nightmares/sleep terrors/freaky nutso weird stuff happen, as a matter of course? I guess it was just me.:eek:
I've been told I have this effect on people even in real life. I guess that is why I have been married and divorced 18 times... Oh yeah, and I am getting tired of those damn Aliens that keep abducting me every other night and experimenting on me. I thought it was just bad dreams until one morning I found out they had left one little Alien in my backyard by mistake. Boy, was that really weird. I had to call them up on my space phone so they could come take him back. Of course, they had to do some more experimenting on me again. Apparently, my genetics are needed to save their race from dying out. What can you do? I guess I can help a planet out once in awhile...