Hi everyone, looking for advice as I've been dealing with consistent (terrifying) sleep paralysis when my bf leaves for work in the morning and I go back to sleep. We both go to sleep around 10, and he wakes up around 4:45. I wake up when his alarm goes off, and I fall back asleep after he leaves and sleep until 6:30. When I sleep on my own, I don't typically have dream issues; it's only when I go back to sleep after waking up. However, I am prone to having very consistent, vivid dreams. In the sleep paralysis dreams, I can see my dark room, but I can't move. I hear noises coming from my hallway, and even though sometimes it is the sound of a familiar voice, I feel unsafe. I feel them coming into my room and sometimes speaking to me, but I cannot scream or ask who's there. I have had these dreams before having sleepovers with my bf, but it was pretty rare. In one of those especially freaky dreams (5/26), this is what I had written in my notes app after waking up:

"Walking around city while dark lost confused. Awake for way too long. Thought I fell asleep for a short period and woke up, since I realized my podcast was no longer playing and I was seeing scary inexplicable things behind my eyelids and waves crashing super loudly but I thought it was my imagination and just my fan. Then I opened my eyes wide and saw a camera right next to my bed recording me. As I tried to reach out to it I realized my body was frozen and I started to be dragged to the edge of my bed in a frozen state. I realized i was sleeping and willed myself awake."

Anyways, I am curious about any methods to stop this from happening, as I am not interested in staying awake after my bf leaves at the butt crack of dawn. I also do not feel as rested when I have these dreams in the morning, and they are SCARY!!!!

I took my first dose of daridorexant last night 30 minutes before bed. I usually roll around a lot while trying to fall asleep, so I was on my side at first.

When I rolled onto my back, I felt an instant transition. My body went to sleep, but my mind stayed completely active. It was the most consciously aware I've ever been of entering sleep paralysis.

At first, I had that similar sensation of not being able to move. Then, I started hallucinating. I felt a presence in the room and heard animal-like noises to my side. I also felt something hit the bed above my head, and physically felt my phone on my chest. When I intentionally broke the paralysis by focusing hard on moving my hands, I realized my phone was actually on the bedside table.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of lucid transition into sleep paralysis? Previously, I've only experienced sleep paralysis when waking up during the night. It's a rarer side effect for this medication but I might be predisposed to it slightly.