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    Thread: Panic symptoms

    1. 10-03-2011 10:52 PM #1
      Thisisausername
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      Panic symptoms

      So about an hour ago I discovered that I'm one of those people who experience panic when entering sleep paralysis. This was my first attempt at WILD and I did it during the day so it would be less scary. I've read a lot about sleep paralysis and how it causes hallucinations if you open your eyes. This seriously freaks me out!! Even though the logical part of my brain knows it's irrational to be afraid of hallucinations and they could never harm me the thought of it still gives me the chills. Anyways, I figured I'd man up and give it a shot. I grabbed my laptop and pulled up an hour long delta wave video on youtube to help me sleep and layed face up, hands by my side, and began to breathe slowly as I closed my eyes. At first it was very relaxing and enjoyable. I tried to ignore random thoughts and just focused on my breathing and visualizing my third eye. After a while my body got really numb and I suddenly heard a noise. When that happened my body went from calm and relaxed to panicked and anxious. I've never had a panic attack before but I imagine this was a similar experience. My heart began to beat vigorously and my eyes involuntarily twitched(REM sleep maybe?) I was kind of excited because I thought I was about to enter a lucid dream but also really scared because it felt like someone was shaking my bed. I tried telling myself it wasn't real and to stay calm as I continued to breathe deep but It didn't seem to work. I though I had already entered sleep paralysis so I did want to open my eyes for fear of seeing a hallucination. I tried to move my fingers to check if I was in SP and they still worked. Once I knew I wasn't fully paralyzed I opened my eyes. I checked the duration on the youtube video and it was at 21 minutes and from what I've read SP is suppose to kick in at around 20-30 minutes of laying completely still. I know the feeling of a shaking bed is normal because I googled it after the experience, but my question is this - Is it even possible to do WILD if you experience these panic symptoms? Would it have worked if I had just kept my eyes closed a little longer or should I just stick to other methods of LD? I'd also like to hear from anyone who had a similar experience with WILD or any advice on staying calm when these symptoms arise.
      Thanks in advance,
      -Jesse
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    2. 10-03-2011 11:59 PM #2
      Puffin
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      Hi Jesse and welcome to Dreamviews.

      Fear, strange feelings of awareness, paranoia, rapid heartbeat, REM (rapid eye movement) the sensation of being watched... All are known symptoms of sleep paralysis. I'm actually not sure if there's anything that won't occur during it.

      SP can be a pretty weird, and sometimes random, experience. I've gone through things like seeing fluffy pets sitting on my bed, to extreme fear/pain, to floating feelings. But it's totally possible to WILD, no matter what the type of hallucinations you get.

      If you get a sensation that you're uncomfortable with, the best thing you can do is ignore it. Sure, that may not be the answer you were hoping for, but there it is. If you just can't seem to ignore it, try incorporating the hallucinations into a scenario that you're imagining. Visualize a scene, imagine sounds and pretend the hallucinations are a part of it. If you feel like someone is watching you, passively pretend that they're a friend who's just come into your room and didn't know you were asleep.

      Also, never open your eyes during a WILD attempt until the SP symptoms completely quiet down, because if you end up opening your real eyes, the visual stimuli (or even just the movement) could bring you out of it. If your eyes have a tendency to open because they start moving rapidly (which is normal; that happens to many lucid dreamers), try wearing a sleep mask. And be sure to keep the lighting in your room as dark as possible.

      Sometimes you can get hallucinations before the onset of SP, so it's best not to try testing if you're in a dream until things do quiet down.

      There's no set "time" it takes to enter SP; the majority of my WILDs took a good half hour or more just to make it to SP. It depends on a great deal of factors, such as whether you're in REM (4-6 hours after falling asleep at night, or 4-6 hours after waking in the morning). Tiredness and comfort also plays a role in how fast you can get to SP.

      I hope that helped; if you need clarification or have other questions please let me know!
      We all live in a kind of continuous dream. When we wake, it is because something,
      some event, some pinprick even, disturbs the edges of what we have taken as reality.
      Vandermeer

      SAT (Sporadic Awareness Technique) Guide
      Have questions about lucid dreaming? DM me.
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