Dorm Room Paralysis

by Addie
(Seattle)

I just had my first true sleep paralysis experience (with hallucinations), and was doing some research online to see what in the world just happened to me... and I found this site!

I've been having sleep paralysis since I was a child, though they were never accompanied by hallucinations, and they were never so terrifying. This time I came back to my dorm from class and, exhausted, feel asleep on my back with my head propped up. After a while, I woke up, and found I couldn't move. I couldn't move my eyes, or my head, and began to feel panicky. I wasn't sure if I was truly awake or not - I was seeing my usual visual field in front of me, but it was covered with blind spots and everything was overlapping, like when you look far away and put something right close up to your eyes.

While I was struggling, a cell phone rang, and my roommate answered it, though she was not in the room at the time. I could see the lower half of her body walking around, just her jeans and edge of her shirt, because the blind spots were covering the rest up. Then the voice in the phone started getting louder and louder, and she turned into my boyfriend (with his baggy jeans), who then turned into someone else, who then disappeared.

The voice, a man's voice, started moving around on its own, towards my head and away from it, talking, and I tried SO HARD to move! I wanted to scream, I couldn't see, I couldn't breathe, and for some reason I was embarrassed at being paralyzed - what if my roommates actually were in the room, seeing me just sit there, stony-faced, not blinking or moving?

The voice faded, eventually, and I laboriously and slowly managed to take out my own phone to look at the time but could not focus on the screen. When I eventually woke up, the cell phone was nowhere near me, but on my desk, way out of arm's reach.

After reading the others' stories and doing research, I'm so glad my episode was not filled with monsters, demons, or rapists, though I'm totally drained and do not want to fall asleep again...

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Kevin: Thanks for sharing this Addie. As you can see from throughout this site and as you expressed in your writing, you are not alone in this experience and it is even quite common--even the false imagery involving your roommate, boyfriend, and phone.

All the best to you. If you're interested in learning more about your experience and tools you can equip yourself with during future episodes, check out this downloadable book.

Warmly,
Kevin