scary sleep paralysis/false awakening experience- need advice

**katho** · 07-11-2013 10:31 PM

I had a terrifying night last night which has been on my mind all day and i just need to get it out. A little while after i fell asleep I must of been in some sort of dream which i cannot remember what it was about but suddenly my teeth one after the other were getting wobbly and were coming out my mouth when i wobbled them with my fingers (which by the way feels incredibly real and horrible) this has happened before so after a bit i realized i was in a dream so i tried to wake myself up which is always very difficult (whenever i realise i'm in a dream i just want out as i hate the feeling) Anyways usually after lots of struggling i can get the heck out of there but this time was that much more terrifying. Not only did it take ages to get out of the dream but i kept waking up into another dream which was just like real life with me laying in bed (i believe this is sleep paralysis). This honestly happened about 20 times and i was in such a fit of panic as i really thought i would never wake up and be paralysed and become entombed in my body. I did everything that i had heard of to wake up- screaming, being calm and concentrating really hard to wake up, killing myself in the dream. Every time i would wake up in my bed (which felt so real) i would wobble my teeth to see if they would come out and each time they did. Eventually somehow after this nightmare i woke up and did in fact have to do the tooth wobble test. My body was all tense and clenched fists scrunched up. This was such a long drawn out frightening experience, I know it was just a dream but i felt so trapped with no hope of escape. I would really like to prevent this from happening again so if anyone has any suggestions i would be grateful also would like to hear your story if you've had a similar experience. Thanks

**paigeyemps** · 07-12-2013 12:53 AM

Wow, that sounds horrible indeed. You know, you can try turning the dream around instead if forcing yourself to wake up—use lucidity to your advantage, especially since it seems you are prone to false awakenings. Btw, false awakenings are when you wake up into another dream and you think you woke up for real, when you haven't. (This experience was not sleeo paralysis

) You can try getting up and walking around, do things, fly, etc. I know you mentioned you don't like the feeling when you get lucid, but perhaps it will vanish and you'll feel much better once you start trying things out?

Anyway I don't really know any fool-proof ways to wake yourself up. I've heard what works nicely for many people is closing and reopening your eyes really hard, focusing on waking up.

**joel444** · 07-12-2013 02:43 AM

I had an experience just like that OP, without the teeth removal part.
I even had a similar thought to you along the lines of 'what if I'm trapped in this loop forever?'
a terrifying yet intriguing experience, but it got over it after a day or two so you should be ok.