(As I was writing this post I noticed it got quite large... I should try to get more concise in the future...)

I've noticed that my sleep paralysis comes in bouts. I was like 3 months without getting any, and then I get one or more per night. I was always like that, like I can go a very long while without getting any, and then get multiple in a short amount of time. If I get one at any moment, I'll get more soon after.

So, I've noticed something new the last two episodes. Or I should say that I've noticed something recurent that I didn't notice before.

The episode before the last was the night from the 26 to the 27 september. It was maybe of the hypnopompic (upon waking up) style, which I almost never get, though it could have been hypnagogic (just before falling asleep) without me noticing. I can't say if I completely got awake, and then got paralysed, or got paralysed directly.
This one starts with a dream. I dreamt that I was in a city (which I thought was mine, and I was certain of it in my dream, even though I've never seen that place or a place that looks like it). It was during sunset and a thunderstorm was forming about 5 kilometers north east of where I was (if I consider north was ahead of me). I was going home specifically to go to bed. I started to hurry up since it was starting to rain. When I got home (a big black tower with glass windows, a very commercial looking tower like we can see in most metropolises) I decided to go to bed. From the bed, I was looking at the storm, since my window was allowing me to look at its progression. Despite being bright outside, I had noticed it was very dark in my room. I then check the alarm clock on my left to make sure the alarm is set, and then notice that there is no display. I then understand that there is a power outage, so I decide to set up my watch alarm instead. I notice that my watch doesnt have a display, and I then remember that this is a very common feature of my sleep paralysises (if I get to move enough to look at my watch during the paralysis, or more "dream" that I move, there will never be a display, and if I turn screen light of the watch, there will always be something very odd about that light.). I then start to paralyse in my dream, and then get extremely surprised that this is a dream, since it felt so real, but it was at the same time so different from my actual life. I was thinking that there were quite enough cues in the dream to make me notice it was one (I often am aware that I dream when I do), despire that there wasnt any unrealistic events in my dream at all.
At this point I wake up, looking to the left to check my alarm clock. The display was very functionnal and it was 5:10. The alarm is set at 5:30, so I knew I could still sleep some. About 10 seconds after looking at the clock, I hear the sound I often hear when I am paralysed. But otherwise I don't feel anything odd. I even see the time changing to 5:11. I then try to move just to check, and I was effectively paralysed. I look directly left of the alarm clock, and I see the pile of Playstation 2 DVDs that was there. At the moment I didnt recognise them, since an hallucination decided to show something else. The game labels on the boxes didnt look like text, but REALLY looked like a complex printed circuit, as if a motherboard was upright and supported by the cardriges behind it. I tried to force myself to read the text, since I should have been able, but the hallucination was opaque. I then checked the time and it was still 5:11. I decided to close my eyes and wait a moment. After I wait for about 20 seconds, I reopen them just to notice that the printed circuit is still there and hasn't changed at all. I try to move my eyes around the room, just to come back and see that circuit hiding the game labels. Then something quite cool (or frightening) happens: as the time switch to 5:13, my paralysis ends and the hallucination too. Looking at the cardridges, I see that printed circuit kind of fade out slowly, and then I can read the text. I can also move again and then decide to get up before my alarm clock.

The last one (yesterday, the night from the 27 september to the 28 september), I had one that was even more vivid, but at the same time less real.
For some reasons, I woke up at 4:00 and I couldn't fall asleep again. I then get up and go drink some water. I go back to sleep and try to relax. After a while I notice that I am kind of more relaxed than I should, but don't pay more attention to it than that. After a few seconds I decide to try to move, and I notice I can't. After another few seconds, I hear "the sound" which seems to be almost a trademark of my paralysises. This is when I see a form taking shape over my blanket, and then I kind of start to be afraid. I try to move my fingers super fast and breath faster to stop the paralysis (which usually works after a few seconds). But after a moment I decided to actually try to go with the program and see what will happen. Then I reopen my eyes, and I see "the face" that is still there and very much like it was when it was forming. For some reasons I wasn't afraid at all, and the face wasn't really scary. It was a very simple face with no details, almost like a clay face. It was just looking in my direction without moving or doing anything. It was also very opaque, since I couldn't see my closet behind it even if I should have been easily able to. I then decided to try to fall asleep... but I just couldn't, even after almost a minute of trying. I reopen my eyes to notice that the face is STILL there and didnt change at all. I did notice though that its eyes glowed green when I was hearing "the sound". It was also glowing when I was delibarately producing that sound with my eyes and my jaw. (This is also the sound I delibarately end up producing in dreams when I try to wake up.) Then eventually the face just faded out and I decided to change my posture. I got a chain of about 5 paralysises before actually falling asleep (where you paralyse, unparalyse, paralyse, unparalyse, etc... it once happened to me like 14 times in a row in about a minute, though it immediately stops if I get up, but it can go on forever when I am too lazy to.)

Of the things I noticed: The hallucinations aren't really chaotic, and tend to stay constant for the duration of a specific paralysis. If during a paralysis there is a cat walking around the room, the cat will stay there for the duration of that paralysis, it won't go away, unless you unparalyse or fall asleep, and if you fall asleep you just feel like you unparalysed, but the cat is still there. The nice thing is at this point this is a lucid dream where you can do whatever you wish, including making a meshui out of the ghost-cat that scared you. Also, if an hallucination is "chaotic" (like a chaotic music where every tone is just randomly chosen or the tune doesn't make sense), it will stay that way. Usually though the thing that produce the sound won't change (if it is an eerily sounding mutant-piano from hell, it will stay that way for all the duration).

Also, "the sound" wasn't there when I was younger, but now I can be certain that I'm paralysed whenever I hear it when in the bed. This sound is an internal sound that is very easy to produce a number of ways. This is the sound you hear when your head is underwater. This can also be produced by plugging your ears with your fingers. But the most effective way is to close your eyes strongly and force your jaw, you'll hear exactly what the sound is.

That sound is actually common among people that has sleep paralysis, which has me wondering if that sound is an hallucination, or that the body do an odd internal movement during REM sleep that produce that sound. I remember that when I was younger and tried to wake up from a nightmare, I'd close my eyes very strongly and that would produce that sound. The sound was useful since I couldn't hear anything of the action of the dream anymore, further detaching myself from it. I would wake up (or more commonly just change of dream) within about 5-10 seconds with that trick.

Is the "stability" in the hallucinations common among other people that has sleep paralysis, and what could produce that sound during the paralysis, since you can't move?

For some, sleep paralysis is real - they may be able to open their eyes and look around the room, but the mechanism which prevents movement during sleep is still in effect, and they have indeed temporarily lost control over their limbs. For others, they're dreaming they're awake, but they really aren't, hence the blurred forms, faces, and other non-reality details.

A night or two in a sleep analysis room could determine which kind you're experiencing.

Are you on any medication that interferes with the serotonin system? SSRI's? MDMA? It's also thought that sleep paralysis is more likely if your head is hot - particularly if you're lying on your back with head pushed down into a nice soft pillow.

clop

I too have 'awake in my sleep' dreams and there's always a 'presence'... spirit/entity there. I am trying to learn to go with it, but my gut reaction is to wake myself up and get out, resulting in me realising my physical body will not respond.

I hope to overcome the fear and go with it, one night soon.

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Round...everything is always round!

"the mechanism which prevents movement during sleep is still in effect"

Let me point out one clarification: Sleep paralysis is operative only during REM sleep. Keeps us from dreaming about playing football and tackling the armoire and knocking all our teeth out.

Note to Eric: I suggest you look at the idea of "lucid dreaming" and there are a couple of older books that are very useful, both by Patricia Garfield. Msg me for details, if you want.

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