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[Vespulan]

Well concerning sleeping positions, like I've said I always sleep on my back but seeing as it's the holiday my sleep pattern has been blown into the far horizon, which is just great when I have to get up at 06:15 to go to school tomorrow   I'm hoping it's just a one-off thing: after reading a bit more about it, it looks like isolated incidents are quite common if you've had a particularly restless day or been under lots of stress. 

[Andrew425]

I had it once and it freaked me out.

The only thing I can recommend when it happens is try to go back asleep. I found that it helped me.

[scrdest]

Sounds like a hypnagogic jerk.

Hey, no name calling! </badjoke>

[PyroDesu]

1: That is a terrifying-sounding hallucination. Thank you for providing my unconscious mind's eye with more material to freak my conscious mind's eye out with. Damn you, overactive imagination, go back to your mildly disquieting electric arcs, for the love of my sanity.

2: Not really had sleep paralysis before (if I have, then I don't remember, usually I just wake up normally for a few minutes, and just that is rare for me.), but I occasionally hypnagogic jerk and I think I lucid dream... or I'm just very good at being conscious within a dream while still having no control (Not getting to the whole "I know that this is a dream" part, just being aware more than usual).

[Remuthra]

What you can try is to control your dream, just like in a lucid dream. Some scary thing trying to freak you out? Imagine yourself the ability to kill it. Summon a nuke out of thin air. Anything is less threatening when you have godlike powers.

[PyroDesu]

Except my dreams, oddly enough, are hardly ever terrifying or containing of freaky things. The last one that I remember contained freaky things also gave my dream-self the tools to either A: Get rid of it, or B: Get away from it.

[DeKaFu]

I think I had a sleep paralysis episode once. It wasn't scary, just...weird and silly in retrospect. I also didn't have my eyes open during it, which probably helped. It was a tactile hallucination.

Spoiler: My story (click to show/hide)

Pretty much, I'd been cramming for a Parasitology exam before going to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night with the sensation of a tapeworm crawling out of my mouth and across my neck, heading under my blankets. The funny thing was my reaction was a rather calm but urgent "Oh heck, I'd better catch that now, I don't want it in my bed, that's gross". So I tried to move to grab it but my arms wouldn't respond, and I was going "Aw man, it's getting away..."
Then I guess I went down a mental list and determined it had actually had a mix of tapeworm and roundworm characteristics that don't actually exist in any real animal, therefore it was a figment of my imagination. And immediately went back to sleep.

The funniest thing is this came after years of me being extremely paranoid of getting sleep paralysis, because I have an extremely active imagination that's been fed a steady diet of horror fiction for over a decade. I'm also a lucid dreamer. My brain would probably consider the kind of thing described in the OP as a mere starting point for a spiraling self-oneupmanship for the most terrifying thing I could see in the room with me.

Anyway, in regards to the OP: I've at least read anecdotes to the effect that sleep paralysis episodes are most likely to be scary when you don't understand what's happening. Now that you do, try to keep in mind that they're just like dreams, and can be either scary or benign. Since dreaming is tied in heavily with your state of mind, recognizing when it happens that: A) It's not real and B) It's utterly harmless and there's no reason to freak out... might go a long way towards making the waking dream hallucinations manifest as silly or commonplace instead of scary. If you stress out or panic while it's happening it's more likely to go south.

I obviously don't have much experience with sleep paralysis, but speaking as someone who routinely lucid dreams without entirely taking over the reigns: Dreams come from your brain and will match your expectations, even if you're not consciously aware of them. The stuff I've read suggests to me that this extends to sleep paralysis episodes as well.

[Vespulan]

Anyway, in regards to the OP: I've at least read anecdotes to the effect that sleep paralysis episodes are most likely to be scary when you don't understand what's happening. Now that you do, try to keep in mind that they're just like dreams, and can be either scary or benign. Since dreaming is tied in heavily with your state of mind, recognizing when it happens that: A) It's not real and B) It's utterly harmless and there's no reason to freak out... might go a long way towards making the waking dream hallucinations manifest as silly or commonplace instead of scary. If you stress out or panic while it's happening it's more likely to go south.

I obviously don't have much experience with sleep paralysis, but speaking as someone who routinely lucid dreams without entirely taking over the reigns: Dreams come from your brain and will match your expectations, even if you're not consciously aware of them. The stuff I've read suggests to me that this extends to sleep paralysis episodes as well.

Yeah, I think I knew it wasn't real and it wasn't really the horrifying face that got me, more the fact that I couldn't move any of my limbs or even shout at it (which is basically my way of forcing adrenaline to be pumped into my blood).  I haven't had it since so it may have just been a one-off case after the terribly sleeping sessions I'd been having, and after reading more about it it sounds like people have had much worse experiences than mine - like being impregnated by a flaming Satyr with their brothers face.  I think I got off pretty lightly.   

[Jo]

You were dreaming? I mean, if you were awake then you wouldn't be seeing monsters.

EDIT: As an FYI this crap happens to me all the time, I have major breathing problems so wake up in the middle of dream states quite a bit. You don't remember dreams unless you wake up during them. Wake up a lot, or only half wake up, and you remember.

[IronTomato]

I'm also a lucid dreamer, but oddly I've never had a sleep paralysis episode. Sometime last year I got into trying to induce lucid dreams, so I haven't had many. Stories like this make me want to stop, mainly because of the scary-as-hell hallucinations that for some reason come with it, and because I'm afraid that if it happens to me, that I won't be able to breathe. Can you breathe during the paralysis, and how long do they last?

[penguinofhonor]

I got sleep paralysis like a week ago. It was terrifying. I couldn't move or say anything, and I thought one of my roommates was in the room behind me, so I tried to get their attention but the only thing I could do was breathe more heavily.

After like 15-20 seconds I could move again and there was nobody there.

This is the only time it's ever happened to me, so if it's not common for you then I just recommend hoping it never happens again.

[DeKaFu]

I'm also a lucid dreamer, but oddly I've never had a sleep paralysis episode. Sometime last year I got into trying to induce lucid dreams, so I haven't had many. Stories like this make me want to stop, mainly because of the scary-as-hell hallucinations that for some reason come with it, and because I'm afraid that if it happens to me, that I won't be able to breathe. Can you breathe during the paralysis, and how long do they last?

My understanding is that you never stop breathing during the paralysis. Your body is still breathing exactly as if you were asleep (that is, very slowly). What happens is that you don't have the ability to manually control your breathing at all, so when you try to breathe harder (usually because you're freaking out) you can't, thus giving you the false impression that you're suffocating/not breathing.

So it's 100% harmless physically, but obviously can be scary when it's happening to you.

[Leatra]

I get the occasional sleep paralysis too. It usually goes like this: I'm in a nightmare and wake up with sleep paralysis. I can lift my eyelids but it's too difficult. Then I either fail at lifting my eyelid long enough and succumb back into the nightmare or manage to push myself far enough to make my muscles move. If I can resist long enough (like 15-20 seconds) I can move again. If I give up and close my eyes, nightmare continues. Even if I manage to wake up, I feel an incredible tiredness and sleepiness. If I immediately fall asleep right after I manage to wake up, I have sleep paralysis again after having the same nightmare.

One time, I woke up with sleep paralysis and slept again for 5 times. Sleep paralysis. Five times. In a row... In a single day. I think I don't have to explain how scary was that.

I also had two hallucinations because of this too. Both were scary as hell. A sleep paralysis without hallucination is scary enough.

I'm more in control in the event of a sleep paralysis now. It's been months since I had a sleep paralysis and even if it happens I don't get too much scared like I used to. You just have to accept that this might be mentally exhausting but it can't have physical effect on you.

[Vattic]

I get this a few times a year. The main reason is that I work long night shifts and I miss a lot of sleep getting my hours back to normal for the weekend.

Here's two posts I made in the dream thread about my experiences:

I woke facing the wall and unable to move. This panicked me as it always does. After what seemed like a long time I managed to turn my head some only to find a large dark shape looming over me between me and the ceiling. I got the impression that it was filling the room. I turned my head away sharply in total panic and found myself paralysed again. It passed reasonably quickly and I calmed down straight away. I've felt a presence in the room before and felt things but it's the first time I've ever seen anything.

I woke facing the wall with my back to the room with a constant screeching noise. It was very loud despite wearing earplugs. I couldn't move anything but my eyes. The usual sense of horror rose in me but I calmed some realising it was just sleep paralysis. Then I could feel someone close their hot breath on my ear which panicked me. I realised it was my dad and then he spoke saying "If you don't turn around your mother is going to die" but it was not a threat but a warning. He said nothing more but I could still feel his breath. Slowly this all faded away, I regained control of my body, and calmed down.

Sleep paralysis induced hallucination check list:

visual (sight) auditory (hearing) olfactory (smell) gustatory (taste) tactile (touch) proprioceptive (position and force of body parts) equilibrioceptive (balance) nociceptive (pain) thermoceptivechronoceptive (temperature) chronoceptive (time)

■ Yes ■ Unsure ■ No

Visual - I saw a huge black shape looming over me.
Auditory - I've heard screeching, someone else breathing, and speaking.
Tactile - My dog bit me on my arm, and had the feeling of someone breathing on my ear.
Thermoceptivechronoceptive - I could feel the warmth of the breath.
Chronoceptive - It seems to go on forever but I know it doesn't. I've heard family perform simple short tasks while it's happening but it still seems to take ages to pass.

I'm not sure about proprioceptive and equilibrioceptive hallucinations. The first ever time it happened I woke thinking I was crushing my dog under me. I could feel him bellow me panicking. He bit my arm. I felt like I was falling onto him crushing him in slow motion. There was nothing under me and I was flat on my back so it could count but I'm not sure.

One missing hallucination, who's name I can't find, is where you get the feeling someone or something is there in the room without any other indication of their presence. I haven't had this but I've been told this one is really common during sleep paralysis.

The only advice I can give you is to try and keep your sleep schedule regular and to avoid missing sleep. Alcohol and other drugs can cause it.

Folk in New Guinea have this to say about it:

In New Guinea, people refer to this phenomenon as "Suk Ninmyo", believed to originate from sacred trees that use human essence to sustain its life. The trees are said to feed on human essence during night as to not disturb the human's daily life, but sometimes people wake unnaturally during the feeding, resulting in the paralysis.

[Shakerag]

Narcoleptic reporting in.  I get sleep paralysis ALL THE GOD DAMNED TIME.

The first few times were pretty scary, admittedly, but after it happens dozens of times you just start to get really annoyed with it.  I'm not a lucid dreamer (once every few years or so), and I've never actually had hallucinations or bits of dreams still affecting me while I'm 'stuck'.  Mostly it's just weird because you can feel yourself breathing, but can't actually control the rate at which you are breathing.  And, for me at least, if I try to move a part of my body, it *feels* like it's being moved, and it *feels* like my hand is moving over whatever it is resting on, but I can *see* that it's not moving at all.  Pretty much my eyes are the only thing I can move until it passes. 

All I can say is to try and recognize it when it happens and just tell yourself that it'll pass in a few seconds.