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Frequent Night Terrors With Sleep Paralysis

by Blanca Garcia
(Minnesota)

I have had night terrors all my life, many of the times they are your "normal night terrors", but some of the times when I start waking up from an episode, I find I can't move or breathe.


The worst of these I find myself waking up, not able to move or breathe and the images from the nightmare or night terror start forming around the bed, I think I am fully awake because I can see the room, my ceiling and know where I am. I can't say anything nor move any part of my body, then all of a sudden I have full control and fully wake up.

There have been many times where I think I am awake, get up and go to the kitchen, when I turn around whatever was in my nightmare will be standing in the kitchen and then I jolt awake. This will happen a few times in a row and soon I don't know if I am awake or not.

I wore a heart rate monitor for a while and one episode went as follows: I was dreaming that there were zombies chasing me, right as one grabbed me, I woke up shaking in my bed. Everything looked normal, I got up and got a glass of water and climbed back in bed. Then I heard a noise at my bedroom patio door. When I opened the curtains and got close to the window the face of the zombie appeared just outside. I screamed for my fiance to wake up but when I tried to run from the window I found myself laying in bed looking at the ceiling fan, so I sat up and woke
my fiance up. He went out onto the deck to check it out, then I looked over to bedroom door leading to the house hallway, there the zombie was standing. I screamed and once again was in bed looking at the ceiling, I told myself to wake up. Over and over again but couldn't move or breath, I told myself to kick but couldn't, to scream but couldn't.

Then finally I sat up, my fingers were numb and I was shaking. My fiance was sitting in bed next to me asking me if I was ok. He said I had been twitching in my sleep so he tried to wake me up, but I just looked at him and didn't respond to him until I sat up. I looked at my HRM and my heart rate was 186, that's just as high as when I'm running sprints.

Is it possible to have night terrors followed by sleep paralysis?


Kevin: Hey Blanca. Stunning stories; thanks for sharing them. I always find false awakenings like the ones you just described to be absolutely trippy and fascinating at the same time.

To answer your question, we must distinguish night terrors from nightmares. Night terrors happen in NREM slow-wave sleep, so it's not really possible from an intuitive standpoint for a sleep paralysis episode to occur right after, since sleep paralysis is preceded by REM sleep. Just judging from your description here, it sounds like what you are experiencing are instead nightmares, which occur during REM sleep, followed in some instances by the sleep paralysis with the nightmares carrying over.

You may find this book by Ryan Hurd helpful with empowering yourself against these episodes.

All the best!
Kevin

Comments for Frequent Night Terrors With Sleep Paralysis

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Nov 27, 2012
 Same thing happens to me NEW
by: Anonymous

I disagree-- this SAME thing (but different "beings", not zombies) has been happening all my life, but now, more frequently, like a couple times a week now. I fully believe that i'm having night terrors WHILE having sleep paralysis. My fiance just now woke me from one that in 12 years has been by far the worst
Jan 14, 2013
 I agree with you about them both happening NEW
by: Eddie

I've had night terrors my entire life (28 years) and recently they've gotten worse. My latest was me in my bed with the view of the door. Out of no where I saw a black Shadow walking towards me and I couldn't yell or move a single muscle. It took about ten minutes for it to be over and the crazy part is that I remember every detail! I am certain that you can have both at the same moment.
Oct 20, 2014
 sleep paralysis and terror at same time NEW
by: Anonymous

I also have struggled with night terrors all my life , in every terror I am fully aware of my surroundings or even who is lying next to me-as im trying to scream at them or grab them for attention I am completely paralyzed,and find myself going into a head spin as I am trying to wake myself up, by trying to find something of reality to focus on I manage to wake up.my dreams usually have some form of demonic presence hovering over my suckinh the life from my lungs (im often found by people in a positition where I am pushing my chest toward the ceiling).so yes I believe both can bapp3n at the same time.co
Oct 20, 2014
 sleep paralysis and terror at same time NEW
by: Anonymous

I also have struggled with night terrors all my life , in every terror I am fully aware of my surroundings or even who is lying next to me-as im trying to scream at them or grab them for attention I am completely paralyzed,and find myself going into a head spin as I am trying to wake myself up, by trying to find something of reality to focus on I manage to wake up.my dreams usually have some form of demonic presence hovering over my suckinh the life from my lungs (im often found by people in a positition where I am pushing my chest toward the ceiling).so yes I believe both can bapp3n at the same time.co
Oct 20, 2014
 sleep paralysis and terror at same time NEW
by: Anonymous

I also have struggled with night terrors all my life , in every terror I am fully aware of my surroundings or even who is lying next to me-as im trying to scream at them or grab them for attention I am completely paralyzed,and find myself going into a head spin as I am trying to wake myself up, by trying to find something of reality to focus on I manage to wake up.my dreams usually have some form of demonic presence hovering over my suckinh the life from my lungs (im often found by people in a positition where I am pushing my chest toward the ceiling).so yes I believe both can bapp3n at the same time
Oct 22, 2014
 YES night terrors suck NEW
by: Serenity

I have them so frequently i do not want to sleep, I just woke from one where i could not breath or even have any sensation in my body at all for almost 2 hours, a stupid psychiatrist told me oh adult don't have night terrors you grow out of them...my a#$ I am 31 and have had them weekly at very least my whole life. I also have the feeling like you are awake when it is happening so its twice as frightening. I hope some psychiatrists will read these statements or at least believe the patient so we can get help, I don't know how much more I can take.
Dec 12, 2014
 This is it. NEW
by: Blake bernhardt

This is exaxtly what I just experienced and it has happened in the past. I have had night terrors and sleep paralysis by themselves and I just had them together. Actually 5 times in a row within 2 hours. Every time I fell asleep I would find myself terrified in the paralysis state with scary images around the room and me trying with all my might to move or freaking wake myself up, and trying to scream for help. It's always help.. It almost feels like an out of body experience and I'm actually floating over my body watching this happen to myself.
Jul 12, 2015
 Having had this for years. NEW
by: Anonymous

I just recent Googled this phenomenon combination. I have had sleep paralysis, but assumed the "terrors" associated were related. I experience the "call for help" in my dreams and try to reenact this in my conscience world. Although I cannot move, my screams and sounds come out muffled or silent. It isn't until my girlfriend hits me or touches me that I can "escape". There are times when the screams are not muffled and they are extremely loud - as in the top of my lungs, but when they are muffled, it can lasts for what seems like hours before my stubborn girlfriend wakes up to my muffled screams. It is utterly terrifying and when I have them, I generally cannot go back to sleep for days due to fear of it happening again.
Jul 18, 2015
 Any thoughts? NEW
by: Anonymous

When I was a child I experienced this, where I thought I was awake, but I was hallucinating very terrifying things. My mom couldnt wake me up so she would put me in a cold shower, which took about about a minute or so until I would wake up and I was just standing there shaking. Ever since I was a teenager, and its still happening to this day, I dont get up and halucinate, I just get stuck for hours in it. Its so real I cant even recognize im in a terror and try to wake up. I just get stuck there. If it werent for my husband or kids being there to wake me up, I may not get up for a whole day. I dont understand what hapoens to me. As i fall asleep at night I hear and feel things in my room, and them im gone in another demension where im constantly trying to get away from something. I wake up balling about 3 times a week, and it takes almost the whole day to shake it off. Its also very hard to wake up. I dont feel like I have my consious mind, I know im there and I make desitions when im there, but I still cant distiguish that its not real.
Jul 27, 2015
 Night terrors and sleep paralysis NEW
by: Anonymous

Ok from reading g the comments , I think that you guys are experiencing Astral Projection followed by a sleep paralysis. It makes then much more sense because whenever you are astral project it means that your soul leave your body and enters a new dimension. This dimension is called the dimension of jinns(those spirit in akind of dark robewith no face) in my religion , those spirits have a free will like humans do but , they do no have more spiritual power then humans ! Remember that! Now I do have some tips to avoid it. First, I would recommend to never ever sleep on ur back but rather on ur sides , best on the right side . Second ,if you are religious it will be very easy to get rid of them , you only need to mention God's name and they become afraid because they acknowledge his existence . Then, if you are not into religion , I think you are going to have a hard time but it should be still possible if you are spiritually still strong and what I mean by that is that you have to show these spirits that you are not afraid and shout them to leave ! Also if you are Muslim having these problems , all you have to do is recite some basic suras and it will leave , if not u can even kill it by making a strong fist with ur hand and recite surat al kursi . Regardless of any religion ,if you tell them that u belong to God they will get scared and leave .
For those who are not religious do as I said before but if anything really worse I advice you to , but only if you feel like , talking to the spirit and asking why it is doing this and if it can leave u alone do this without showing fear . if things got bad I'd really want you then to visit a church and look for a priest or go to a mosque and look for an imam (Muslim priest) they should be able to help u withstand ease since the Koran give a lot of knowledge about these beings. Sorry for the long post , just trying to share my knowledge and hope it will help !
Sep 08, 2015
 Crazy idea but helped me NEW
by: Jbaker

Been experiencing these same symptoms for years. Feel like I am in a dang Freddy Krueger movie. Laying helpless while a dark figure approaches and stands over me. I know it wants to kill me and that's terrifying. Worse still, is that when he comes I know that he's coming for several days, weeks, etc,. That makes it very hard to fall asleep. I suffer from bipolar disorder and ptsd among other things and I believe I'm a pretty tough guy. When the lights go off at night though it's a completely different storey. Lay on my side so no surprise attacks from the back. Keep limbs covered. Listen for all noises. Occasionally touch my wife to ensure she is there. Ughhhh. Sorry for going off on a tangent but I want you to know we are the same. NOW HERES THE SOLUTION. This is gonna sound weird but here goes...laugh at the presence (in your head because you probably can't talk). Tell that figure to bring it on and laugh at it. This will be scarey at first but will work. You will begin to have confidence in yourself and it will go away when it knows you aren't afraid. I don't buy that these are just 'nightmares' because those of us who experience this know how real it is. Pleas give this a shot. Here's another random tip.... Put ivory soap in your bed for restless leg syndrome. It works! Let me know how it goes for ya. God Bless.
Sep 23, 2015
 Dream Train Yourself NEW
by: Anonymous


I had night terrors on an ongoing basis from the time I was a young girl of 5 until I had my first child at 30. As someone above wrote, at I had to fall sleep fully covered by at least a sheet even in the dead of summer, no a/c, while on my side with my back facing the wall to protect my butt from the witch with the needle who was coming to give me a shot in the butt... As an explanation I can only imagine this directly relates to the ear drainage tube insertion and adenoid removal I had performed at the age of 5, after suffering for years from excruciating earaches. Solved the ear infections, but my theory is that I had a very strong reaction to the total anesthesia. I started bedwetting, sleepwalking and, along with my regular nightmares, started having crazy night terrors.
I regularly mistook kitchen chairs for the toilet while sleepwalking, occasionally fell out of bed and once down the stairs. When I was younger and started having night terrors, they couldn't wake me, I would scream and I never remembered anything the next day. They were always physiologically devastating, my heart would jump through my chest and as I got older only getting out of bed going into my parent's fully lit bedroom spending an average of 15 minutes listening to my father talk me down would make me even remotely able to entertain the idea of being alone again. I had no recollection of the night terror other than it was the realest sense of being in mortal danger I can imagine, both myself and my loved ones.
When I was about 14 I started to study my night terrors, play with them, manipulate them and eventually taught myself to remember them and wake myself up midway. I then stopped going into my father for reassurance and took control.
After I would manage to wake myself up, staying in my bed would make it very hard not to drift back off to sleep right where I had left off. My body would feel drugged, but I learned that if I could stay awake until what felt like a chemical surge left my body, I could then and only then fall asleep again without going through it all over for that night. But it took superhuman effort.
The most interesting and helpful post night terror experience I ever had (not including the one time I had sleep paralysis) was when I had a full on hallucination while using the bathroom. (Luckily no kitchen chair that time!) It was what I imagine it would be like to be on LSD.
I now have 2 kids, my oldest had a few night terrors as a young guy, and my daughter has had difficulty on and off with separation anxiety, even now at 11, most acutely when it is dark and she has to go to bed. So, it seems in some ways that sleep difficulties are possible hereditary. Both kids also have a lot of food sensitivities, the symptoms of which we have consistently been able to keep under control through food mapping. And food sensitivities and allergies can also be hereditary. As it turns out, without knowing it, I have been aspirin and chemical sensitive, both to natural and synthetic kinds, my whole life. Explains the ear problems, which my daughter suffered from, and the bronchitis and hyper bronchial reactivity, which my son suffered from... And the feeling of chemical poisoning I get when I accidentally ingest something I shouldn't is similar to the drugged feeling I would have during and directly after a night terror. So I have asked myself: food sensitivities and night terrors... How much are the two related? Because I am sure they are.
Dec 09, 2015
 Night terrors, screaming and can't wake myself up NEW
by: Kenneth

In the past 2 months, I've experienced absolutely terror filled nightmares and start screaming for help but I can't move and someone has to wake me up. This is horrific and the nightmares are generally the same but this last one was more realistic and I can't stop thinking about it.

In what starts out as a vivid dream, I'm going to a gathering of people somewhere by myself usually to a fun filled function but always walking, driving and this time, riding a bicycle/motorcycle up a somewhat familiar hill. Once near the top, I group with a few people and eventfully get to the destination. I never know the people I'm with but they seem familiar and even feel like long term freinds.

Then things change. It's usually dusk as we start to leave the function and are alerted to something strange in the sky. Last night, in my dream, we were stunned to see what looked like UFO's like the ones pictured in Gulf Breeze Florida. Everyone starts panicking as the realization that we are seeing alien craft begin to fill a section of the night sky. The craft aren't doing anything threatening but there's a sense that this isn't going to be a friendly encounter. I struggle to get away from the panicking mass of people and make my way down the hill. The paths are always very tricky and highly unmanageable yet I make it down to the bottom.

In my dream I'm back in my childhood room going to bed with the sighting clearly in my mind. Thoughts of "what are these aliens like" and "what do they want" fill my head as I fall asleep. I'm awakened by some movement around me and I'm trying to open my eyes but it's clouded. I feel that I'm being physically manipulated and I struggle to get up. Again, this is all in my dream/nightmare/terror. My head is filled with projected thoughts like "why is he struggling?" And "this shouldn't be happening, you usually never wake up". This is the terror of my nightmare: I realize that I am being spoken to by a foreign supremic malevolence and I feel like I'm being mind-raped. As this horror continues, I'm finally able to move in my bed and I'm aware that there is a group of these beings around me or near me grabbing at my arms, legs, placing catheters in my orifices, patches on my arms, underneath me and I'm screaming for help. The projected thoughts become extremely potent and I'm being told that "These scenes are beyond your abilities and you mustn't struggle". The physical manipulators get angry as I feel that they are aware that I'm aware of them and that they have little time left in this session to fulfill there needs...and this where my roommate rushes in and wakes me up as I'm screaming for help.

Now what's different about last night than the time before is that I'm aware that I'm dreaming and I'm aware that there is a waking "layering" happening. I wake from one nightmare, to the next and on and on until I'm aware that I'm in my current bedroom but these beings are in the same place throughout each layer of awareness . When I'm awakened my by roommate I have a feeling of being pulled out of a different space time and back into our normal space time. The sensation is new to me and I can't make any sense of this.

I need to find out what's happening to me as I'm beginning to question my sanity. As I look below, the security word I have to enter correctly is Malice. What a coincidence.
Mar 17, 2016
 Need Help! NEW
by: Audrey

This isn't my first time experiencing these crazy, vivid dreams that are literal hell. I am fully aware of what's going on, screaming and screaming and can't wake myself up, controlled by super dark forces dragging me into this. Last dream was very symbolic but the underlying fear is that the entity actually entered my body and I became the torturer. I was possessed and couldn't stop myself from hurting others or exercising it from me or wake myself up. I mentioned God and was very strong in telling the entity that it had no power but that didn't work....I'm worried about its control over my body and it's refusal to recognize religious symbols. I need help! What works? Medication? Life? Religion? I'm so scared that whatever it is is becoming more powerful.
Mar 23, 2016
 Prayer worked for me NEW
by: Anonymous

I have had these for years, asked a friend at church to pray for me and it stopped for a good couple of years. Back again now, must give her a call!
Aug 21, 2016
 Sleep paralysis NEW
by: Jo

I have just had this exact same experience and am currently trying to stay awake in bed, I thought I had woken from the ghosts in my dream to find I hadn't woken and it was with me in the room, i then experienced sleep paralysis which I have had for years since a child, i finally regained movement but am now experiencing a thick, fuzzy sort of headache as well as being scared, the same thing happens every time nightmare, sleep paralysis and the an overwhelming fear and strange feeling.
Nov 10, 2016
 Dealing with all these since a child NEW
by: Jason

This has nothing to do with religion debunk in true sleep paralysis I can neither speak nor move so how can you make a fist or recite a name or prayer. I have suffered a combination of night terrors and sleep paralysis since a small child I'm 32 now. Some times one some timea the other sometimes both at the same time in a dream I can not read words or numbers what I have done to help me during these times is place a clock near the head of my bed high enough to look at if I can't read it I'm in rem sleep the numbers will appear and jumble as I attempt to wake up but un able to move and speak I am not hovering I'm in my body in my bed when the numbers would appear the things I see disappear and as the numbers jumble the dream things reappear I will say what I see is also faceless rigid moving and sometimes shaking its head quickly always in a white straight jacket arms tied In it trying to break free I would focus on the clock tryingvtovforce myself out of rem sleep what would seem like several minutes but as the numbers appear only at the most a minute went by b4 finally being able to awaken when i just have night terrors I am free moving in the dream and also in my bed some times kicking hitting or even walking as I dream wake up screaming crying etc. My theory is a chemical is supposed to produce in ur brain as I dream to keep u from moving. This doesn't happen in night terrors the more sleep deprived u become the more likely I are to have sleep paralysis ibthink sleep deprivation causes a chemical dump causing sleep paralysis during the night terror due to the broken sleep patterns from the terrors ur eyes are open during sleep paralysis it's why u can see ur room but ur brain is still in rem sleep waves causing dreaming and the chemical dump causes the inability or dificulity to move or wake
Apr 03, 2018
 Night terror or sleep paralysis? NEW
by: Natalie Prince

Hiya,I want to describe my scary episode which happened the early hours of yesterday in the hope someone can help. It was 7am ( I'd fell asleep on settee earlier) so came to bed. It was odd because I didn't feel quite right anyway. So I fall asleep rather quickly. These first instances are quite sketchy but first I could feel something moving inside me. I had my hand resting on my belly and I could feel like a baby kicking. I tried to move my arms but I couldn't, all the while feeling that something was wrong. I couldn't scream, open my eyes or anything and it felt like pins and needles through my whole body. I had to lie there and tell myself over and over again its okay and its just a dream. It worked and i fell back to a normal dream, to then be suddenly being chased down endless stairs. All I remember feeling is panic and fear. I again soothed myself from that one. Then the worst one. I felt like I was being drained of life force. Coldness and numbness shot through me. I could hear a endless loud rustle of like plastic bags in my ears, it was so LOUD! it was literally deafening. Then I had this man screaming in my face from the side! I could feel his breathe on me, I felt like some thing was passing through me my blood literally run cold. I felt like I was slipping away. It was horrible. When I eventually woke up my ears were ringing and my bedroom just didn't real right. I went loo, came back, got a cuddle and went back to sleep no problem.

What was this? Why did this happen? Also is this genetic too? I think my son has these too.
May 31, 2018
 Same here... NEW
by: Anonymous

It seems like the night terrors (from what I understand they are) happen as I'm falling asleep and quickly escalate into the addition of sleep paralysis. Now 35, I get them approx 2x a year and have for as long as I can remember which is at least 20 years. I convinced myself leaving the TV/sound on something fun but level low helped them be less frequent and I still think it's true since it's a mindless distraction for my brain but it's not 100% effective. Anyways, I just woke up with my heart racing again, afraid to go back to sleep.
I think for the first time I told the visions I wasn't afraid of them. I'm comfortable with the 'darkside' when I'm awake but I don't want them in my night terrors.
Sometimes there's audio, like a siren, or my brain thinks there is. Sometimes there are additional hallucinations; like I was looking for my cat 'calling out to her' to help me and I couldn't tell if she was really there or not. I've called out to her before too, last time, and she was even more vivid, just looking concerned, I can't remember were she was when I actually woke up. I've had an episode nect to an ex once. She said she didn't know what to do... I didn't get a full description of what she saw me doing because I was just so glad it was over but clearly she didn't hear me screaming "please wake me up" or whatever I thought I was screaming.
I have also astral projected seeing myself outside of my body but that's not always the case.
I don't recall having a feeling on someone holding down my chest, just the struggle move. It sucks and I'm afraid to take a sleep aid tonight because it could make it worse; homeopathic or prescription (not mine). This sucks.
It's been a stress year, also depressing. I have generalized anxiety but it's not that bad, professional opinion, and a little PTSD that can bring on waves of depression. It's also been a really rough month on top of a pretty rough year but overall I had a good day outside general annoyances with the human species but I had a mellow and productive day.
I'm gonna burn some sage.

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