Thread: Sleep paralysis or am I simply losing my mind?

Hi there, I'm hoping some of you can help ease my mind about what happened to me this morning.

First of all, last night I couldn't sleep at all. Every single thing seemed to act as a stimulant trying to keep me from slumber. Slowly, I turned the wobbling ceiling fan off, then the night light in the bathroom, then I had to hid the cordless phone with its blinking light. Normally, I have no trouble sleeping with any of those things. I'm normally out like a light even with the lights on and people have full conversations in the room. It was nearing dawn as I finally had the room quiet and settled. I fell asleep...

I sleep on my left side. (This is where things get hazy. To me, it all seemed as if I were awake, everything seemed to indicate I was awake for this occurrence.) I felt something behind me holding down, or perhaps laying down on top of my comforter close to my back. I tried looking behind me, but I was paralyzed. Something was stopping me from seeing what was sharing my bed with me. Then my body was pulled (still paralyzed) by some unseen force to a sideways sitting position. I remember opening my mouth to shout "help" but no sound was coming out, there were three bright flashes of light and I fell back into my bed. At that point, I suppose I actually woke up. I was still afraid I couldn't move my head and sat there staring at the wall for quite some time.

There were a few things about this dream that aided in its realistic feel. My room in my dream had the exact amount of light that my room in real life had from the morning, the shade of blue was uncanny. Nothing was out of place in my dream. It was my actual bed, my iPad was seen docked in my view, everything down to the exact way I was sleeping when I went to bed to how I landed in my dream and was sitting in real life when I awoke was the same. I felt something had been there, something that had control over me. It turned out I had the comforter completely tucked under my back somehow...maybe where the feeling of having someone holding it down came from.

My question is, I'm reading that Sleep Paralysis often happens to those sleeping on their backs. I was on my side. It did seem as if there were a menacing presence, certainly something taking advantage of my powerlessness.

I have been on antibiotics, pain killers, and had a recently traumatic health issue this past Monday. I stopped the pain killers on Monday, but have to continue the antibiotics for the rest of the week. I understand stress can cause issues with my REM cycle.

I'm basically just looking for someone to offer a little comfort to me. I am terrified of going to bed tonight. Everything seemed so real to me. And I can't talk myself down enough to make me relax about the thought of going back into that bedroom alone.