Sleep paralysis

Anyone care to share experiences with sleep paralysis? Good or bad. Or what they believe actually happens during sleep paralysis (paranormal, ghosts, aliens, out of body, death, ect.).

WOW! It doesn't seem like many people know about sleep paralysis. I have it. I actually think that I have a sleep disorder of some kind because I struggle with insomnia too. The first time I had sleep paralysis I was in high school. I woke up to find a black bird on the corner of my bed. When I tried to roll over to get away from it I could not move. This terrified me so I tried to scream but I couldn't. As my fear grew the bird began to turn around. When it did it's back was my ex boyfiend's face. The bird became his severed head. I tried so hard to scream and move that when the paralysis broke and I could finally move I threw myself against the wall.

Over the years I began to have more and more episodes. I remember during a particularly long episode I felt like my spirit/soul was rising out of my body over and over. Each time I would remind myself that it is just sleep paralysis and begin to sink back in it would start all over again. This probably lasted for over an hour but it is very difficult to measure time because you are only partially awake. In this case I woke up to see my body lying on my bed. I tried to move and talk but couldn't. It is accompanied by a deep whole body humming sound.

Sometimes there are terrifying dreams/hallucinations that come along with it. I have had demons over me, black clouds coming through my window, and evil people lurking through my bedroom. I am not sure what I really think about what is happening to me during sleep paralysis. I have read about ancient myths associated with the disorder and feel like there must be some truth to the metaphysical theories of astral projection. There isn't always the feeling of leaving my body but most often there is. I find that either I have terrifying experiences where there is only paralysis or the opposite where I only have the leaving my body feeling.

I typically have 2 or 3 episodes a year but have found that it happens more often during times of stress. While going through a terrible relationship over the last year and half I have experienced 5 or 6 episodes. A mixture of scary and leaving my body experiences. Struggling to move, scream or talk is real physical work so they tire me out. I have learned that sleeping on my back makes the episodes more likely to happen so I now sleep with a pillow at my back to lessen the chances of rolling over to sleep on my back. It's a crazy but interesting problem.