I've had sleep paralysis (sp) since I was 12-13 and currently I'm 23. My most sps in a night was 6 and it terrified me even while sleeping on my side, which reduces the chance of sp. I would get the usual ghostly figures and sounds with my sps.

My first lucid moment came from an sp episode. It was during a string of sps that I had one night. I think after 3rd sp, I finally said to myself, "enough is enough." I went back to sleep and of course got in to sp again.

It was so vivid. The blanket that I was in turned into a ghost that was suffocating or smothering me. During sp, you can't move. This time I did and I think it was all in my head or dream. I fought back, strangled the ghost with my hands. It flailed around and it struggled. Finally, the ghost blanket stopped moving. After the ordeal, I woke up with a sense of accomplishment and relief.

Ever since I've been researching connections between sp and lucid dreaming. From then on, if I slip into sp, I don't get scared anymore.