Across and Inside my Universe

Sleep Paralysis, the Hallucinogenic Kind

You do NOT want to experience this.

It's beyond the most horrific, terrifying, deathly, panicked, frantic thing I've ever experienced.

I've had this once or twice before, and had forgotten all about them.  Last week I had one.

I woke up, but I couldn't move.  The fact that I couldn't move didn't occur to me until I tried to fend off the evil entity(ies) coming through a portal a few feet away into my room.  They were coming in to kill me and take me away to a nightmare of eternal horror . . . I tried to fend them off, there was a specific motion I was supposed to do to fend them off, but it was then I found out I could not move.

I then kept trying to shout, "WHITE! . . . WHITE!"  over and over again, because either that would summon the right kind of help to stop them, or it would summon my husband to my aid.  I could have sworn that I actually yelled this, but when I finally was able to move and went out to my husband, he said he'd heard nothing.  I still felt the evil so strongly that I performed the movements a couple times at the physical object in the room from whence the entities were portaling, before I left the room, even though I knew it wasn't real.  It FELT real.

 I found a variety of websites, many of which use the same painting to represent this problem.  I've also read a wide variety of possible durations for this: anywhere from a minute or less, to several minutes, up to 8 minutes, and some said up to an hour or more!

There are some things that make you more susceptible, like irregular sleep schedule, lack of sleep, stress, sleeping on your back, and other things.  I found one site that mentioned bipolar being a potential factor.  I found another one that mentioned, with a technical term for something that seems like the exact opposite of sleep paralysis, if you are prone to moving around in your sleep, performing actions, etc. then you might be prone to the paralysis.  I guess both of them have your sleep/wake out of sync with the paralysis you are supposed to have only while sleeping.  I do tend to move around in my sleep, even hitting myself or throwing punches, and other things, as well as some infamous sleepwalking episodes.  Still, out of all the sites I looked, almost all of them did not mention these two things.

Some sources listed a few things you could do during the episode (although I'm not sure if I'd be composed enough, with the overwhelming terror), such as wiggle your fingers or toes (apparently extremities have a better chance of breaking through the paralysis).

Someone even made a movie of it!  I can't imagine anyone who's experienced the hallucinatory form wanting to bring those feelings up again, but then I don't understand horror movies either.

One Noisy Neighbor Out; A Pair of Them In

In the decade we've lived here, we've rarely had problems with noisy neighbors.

Our last one, who moved out two weeks ago, was an exception.  Her stereo was in the bedroom, or at least the one she preferred to listen to, was.

In the last 3/4 year I've gotten more migraines than in the previous 5-8 years.  Lotso stress and such.

There's nothing like going to a cool, quiet, peaceful bedroom, putting your sleeping mask on to really keep the aggravating light out of your migraine-sensitive eyes, and a few minutes later you start to hear her playing music.

ARGH.

Sometimes I could almost make out the words, except the beat was thumping too loud.  Other times it was half that volume, but still loud enough to keep me from resting.

I tried several different things, but eventually resorted to banging my cane on the ceiling.  It took her awhile to get the message (maybe cause her music drowned me out sometimes?)

About 6 weeks before moving out the noise quit being a problem; hmm, could her love of listening to music in her bedroom be that important to her?  I'd have tolerated much more out in the living room than I would in the bedroom; how hard is it to have your stereo out there?

So, this new couple seems to  be "night" people.  At first I was hoping they were staying up late to unpack and put things away.

The seem to have a sort of schedule, however, of staying up until midnight or 1, and then one of them at least seems to get up every two hours in the night.  They could just have a job that ends late, or sleep much of the day, or have medical issues getting them up at night, or have the munchies, or whatever.  I don't mean to sound whiny.

Tonight, though, it sounded as though they were watching TV, in their bedroom, at 1:30 am.  This could be a problem.  Especially since they seem to be night owls . . . I'll have to see what all they are doing, and if it's loud enough to interfere with sleeping, if it's something that people could be reasonably expected to be taking into account the time of night, and that neighbors are sleeping (or trying to.)

Am I catastrophizing a bit?  Probably.  More, though, I'm just venting, because we just got over the last noisy tenant overhead.  (We're in the basement/ground floor).

Also, sleep is a big deal for bipolar disorder, so I'm a little sensitive on the subject. 

I don't want to feel like THIS in the morning.

I note that when I look at the three pics in this post? I have a strong negative reaction to the old lady/broom one, curmudgeon comes to mind. The young lady pictures? A positive feeling about them. No matter the age, people have a right to a restful bedroom for sleeping, old or young. I just thought it interesting to note this, and I have to keep resisting the urge to pull the "negative" one down, lest it make people think that I'm an old curmudgeon . . . Fight those stereotypes!

Also, I don't talk to them face to face, as a reasonable adult might, because I'm afraid to.  Can't do it.