Sleep Paralysis

I had recently started taking a new medication, and it had only been about a week since I started it. I remember I went to bed and I usually put some relaxing/meditation videos on my phone to help me sleep. After I fell asleep, I started having this dream that I was in my childhood bedroom. I tried to look around, but I couldn’t move my head. Eventually, after trying to move for a minute I was able to move my arms and my head, but everything felt heavy. It was difficult to lift my arms and I could only move my head slowly. I managed to look to the other side of the room but everything was so dark. I tried calling for my parents, but my voice only came out as a whisper. I managed to roll myself out of bed and onto the floor. I tried to drag myself across the floor to get to the door and the light switch, but it was very difficult. It seemed like the door kept getting farther and farther away. I managed to get to the door and when I tried to stand, I couldn’t. I reached up and grabbed the doorknob to pull myself up enough to turn the light on. No matter how many times I flipped the switch, the would not turn on.

I remember slowly waking up from that dream, only to find myself in another dream like state. I could hear the video from my phone playing in my ears, but when I tried to look around the room, everything was wrong. I couldn’t see my room, I could only see a psychedelic pattern everywhere. I remember it was bright pink and swirling everywhere, and I could not fully wake myself up. The audio from the video was still playing in my ears, but I could also hear a faint woman’s voice talking to me. This voice was not part of the video, since it was overlapping with the video sounds. I couldn’t make out what the voice was saying, but all I know is I wanted it to stop. I tried moving my fingers and squeezing my hands, but once again, I couldn’t move. I was stuck in this psychedelic world and I couldn’t escape. After trying to move for a minute, I managed to just barely move my fingertips. I continued trying until I was finally able to move and reality started to come back to me.

I woke up crying, scared out of my mind. I got my mom and told her what happened to me. She offered to sleep with me so I could wake her if it happened again. I fell asleep pretty quickly with her after that, but once again I was struck with sleep paralysis. This time, I was in bed with my mom, but I could just tell something was off. The room was weird and darker than normal, and I just had a sense of fear wash over me. I tried to wake my mom, but she didn’t react. I screamed and tried to reach out to touch her, but I was unable to move and no sound came out. After trying for another minute, I was able to move and wake her.

I didn’t sleep the rest of the night, and every time I dozed off, I would repeat the same process. Immediately after that, I switched medications and luckily it hasn’t happened again since.