Near-death experience or sleep paralysis?
I’m a cynical and skeptical person, so I never dreamed I would write an article about near-death experiences or sleep paralysis but here I am.
Less than a fortnight ago, I had one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. I woke up at around 6am. I was laying on my back — fully conscious with my eyes open. Suddenly, I felt gravity start to pull. The ‘heaviest heavy’ I’ve ever felt.
I felt like I had a car sitting on my chest. Everything got blacker and blacker until I was in the ‘blackest black’ I’ve ever seen. The only thought I had was: “I am about to die but I don’t want to yet”.
I tried to move my arms and legs but I couldn’t. So I used everything I had to scream and was able to get out of bed and turn the light on.
The worst thing about these types of experiences is they are judged harshly by others. People see you as some kind of nutter who is out of touch with reality.
Sadly, I was locked up for a month when I was 15 (against my will) in a psychiatric ward because I was deemed insane, when in actual fact I had a psychotic episode in response to witnessing brutal family violence.
The shame of being locked up will never leave me. It wrecked my schooling and had massive impacts on my life. So excuse me, if I feel apprehensive and vulnerable with sharing such an experience as this.
I have one particular friend who is open-minded when it comes to experiences that fall outside the norm. He just listens and validates me without judgement. I contacted him within an hour of having the experience. I was panicky and needed someone to talk to.
A lot of things go through your mind when you have an experience like this. Research shows that many individuals turn their lives around because they see it as a wakeup call.
My concerns were as follows:
- Is my expiry date close?
- Was that hell?
- Have I got a problem with my heart?
- Will it happen again?
- Has anyone else experienced this?
Thankfully working as a freelance writer and journalist for the last decade came in handy — I’m skilled at researching. For the next 48 hours, I read and watched everything I could on near-death experiences and sleep paralysis.
When I researched NDE’s, they didn’t feel familiar. I saw no white lights or angels or family members.
But when I watched a video on YouTube called: What is sleep paralysis? My experience was identical — the gravity pull, the blackness and the inability to move.
Sleep paralysis is described as:
“Being unable to move or speak during awakening. It has also been known that one may feel pressure on their chest. These symptoms are usually accompanied by intense emotions such as fear and panic. People also have sensations of being dragged out of bed. Sleep paralysis may include a supernatural creature suffocating or terrifying the individual, accompanied by difficulty breathing.”
Obviously, I will never truly know if it was a near-death experience or sleep paralysis. Apparently they get confused for one another all the time. What makes them even harder to diagnose, is most people aren’t under medical supervision when they have an episode.
I am 100% sure that I was awake when it happened but this can also be another delusion of sleep paralysis.
I wouldn’t wish the experience that I lived through on my worst enemy.
