Dreams, sleep paralysis and other

[SusanLR]

Large indoor Flea Market yielded this photo of one in Hartville, OH that it looked like:

 

[watersprite]

@LadyS I have always had nightmares, as long as I can remember. Extreme ones. Last one invlovled small and large reptiles, like crocs, but with the faces of people. Some of the people were known to me and were those who had been abusive or just jerks. They were atrempting to attack and consume me. Usually these wake me up. But sometimes, I can’t wake up & feel paralysed.
This runs in the family.
The only ways to control it a little are (for me) to 1. stay well hydrated - this sounds so simple but really has a huge effect on our minds, 2.get a lot of exercise and 3. to quit eating high carbs by about 6 p.m. each evening.
I don’t think the hearing of voices during waking hours is in the same “category,” so please ask a trusted doctor about that.

 

[LadyS]

@LadyS I have always had nightmares, as long as I can remember. Extreme ones. Last one invlovled small and large reptiles, like crocs, but with the faces of people. Some of the people were known to me and were those who had been abusive or just jerks. They were atrempting to attack and consume me. Usually these wake me up. But sometimes, I can’t wake up & feel paralysed.
This runs in the family.
The only ways to control it a little are (for me) to 1. stay well hydrated - this sounds so simple but really has a huge effect on our minds, 2.get a lot of exercise and 3. to quit eating high carbs by about 6 p.m. each evening.
I don’t think the hearing of voices during waking hours is in the same “category,” so please ask a trusted doctor about that.

Much of this is so true for me. I really do need to do better at staying hydrated and admit that I need to resume my exercise regime. Hoping now that with cooler weather I can do that.

 

[Tom]

Alway's had weird dreams in one way or another. Sometimes recurring ones. Often they blend into waking conciousness. Like I dream I am in a collasped building and will get out of bed making for the light and wake up in the process. Have dreams where I can't move, which also often transistion to waking. In some dreams I act out what i am doing physically, which has led to falling out of the bed multiple times - I now sleep with a guard rail. Also elaborate stories usually related to military or sometimes sci-fi. I am sometimes aware I am dreaming and lucid dream once in a while. Whenever that happens I try to fly like a bird which is aways the most amazing experience, but something I can never make last very long.

 

[Catherine Read]

One thing I noticed with other people is that they tend to be the focus of their own dreams, while I usually dream stories that involve made-up characters.

One such dream that I can remember involves a guy who made his way into a village where people were slowly disappearing. It was a near apocalyptic scenario where people were having to form small communities and scavenge for resources, although it's during these scavenger hunts where people tend to vanish while no-ones looking. On one such trip they come across a church and realise it's filled with canned food, the guy was suspicious of this - food piled in the middle of a dark church - regardless, some of the other scavenger group were desperate and so excited by the find that they went to collect the cans but were taken by the shadows. The rest of the group make it out and return to camp, but later the guy sneaks off back to the church to investigate. He's cautious about the dark shadow in the corner of the room at first, but soon realises it's not responding to him or trying to make a grab. As he inspects it he realises he can pass his arm through the shadow, he rears up then jumps through! He then finds himself in a large room stacked high and wide with horizontal pods. contained in these pods are all the missing people, unconscious and hooked up to machinery. It's at this point in the dream I was woken up, so never got to find out why.

I can sometimes consciously influence my dreams, not sure where the dreams heading but can make changes. I also never have nightmares, a dream may have horror (sci-fi horror) elements but not be scary. Even as a child, I'd never experienced a nightmare.

I had suffered sleep paralysis once, I think it was induced by sleep deprivation as I'd only been getting 2 hours kip each day while trying to keep up with college work. I went up for a quick nap, and when I woke up and went to get up, nothing happened. I noticed I could control my eye movement and breathing but couldn't force any movement in my limbs. I heard my sister on the stairs so tried to call for help but only breathed out. That was a weird experience. In the corner of my eye I could make out a shadowy figure, gaunt and smokey but dismissed it as I'd read about similar things during sleep paralysis and could feel my eyes trying to force shut to go back to sleep so knew I must have been in some sort of 'between' state. After a few minutes I eventually managed to bolt upright as I suddenly gained control again.

The other sleep related thing I have which seems more prominent during sleep deprivation or when sleeps disrupted by stress is a weird popping sound just as I'm about to fall asleep. It can happen several times and be a bit disruptive when I'm trying to fall asleep. Sometimes I might think I've heard the doorbell or my name being called out but its just my mind on the brink of sleep. I've got a better sleeping schedule these days so don't have any unusual sleeping problems anymore.

 

[Judge]

It's worth being aware of both hypnogogic and hypnopompic hallucinations. Hypnogogic ones being the transition from total consciousness to rapid-eye-movement (REM) "deep sleep". And hypnopompic ones conversely transitioning from REM sleep to total consciousness.

And perhaps being most aware of a likelihood of not being able to recognize reality from fantasy in real-time when this occurs. A process that can "tamper" with your ability to recollect what actually occurs. I know personally it can be quite disturbing in hypnopompic hallucinations where your dream state can still collide and mix with awakening to reality to where for a brief time I cannot tell one from the other. Worse still when it's accompanied by temporary sleep paralysis.

With the best outcome being when you are able to recall both states clearly and rationalize what happened, so that the experience becomes much less alarming. I don't have such experiences very often, but when I return to a complete state of consciousness I tend to laugh it off. But yes- for those of you who cannot put it all together it can remain a disturbing experience that can haunt you.

 

[KOZMOZIS @realchrisharold]

I had a dream I was drinking blood from a golden chalice with Rashita Jones and Jamie Dimon. And then Jamie asked me to meet one of his associates: I woke up - googled the guys name I heard in the dream - and sure enough, he worked for JPMorgan Chase

 

[dragonfire42]

I had a dream last night where not only was I “playing” someone else, there was another character who was supposedly “played” by me, but my actual consciousness had nothing to do with