At the risk of sounding stupid....

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I know this may sound like a silly question, but I am serious. I believe that there are ghosts, if you will. I had a nightmare the other night that I was with a dead patient and it turned and looked at me. I am only in my pre-reqs, but has anybody ever thought about the less clinical side? I mean does anyone ever think of the spooky side of things? I know it might sound crazy, but I just want to make sure I am not the only possible nurse to be :uhoh3: with the thought.:sofahider

Specializes in NICU/L&D, Hospice.

Ok, so here's something to freak you out even more! My advice...don't read these late at night when you are alone! I made that mistake! The one that freaks me out the most is the guy who died and levitated and spoke infront of a couple healthcare workers. Chills!

https://allnurses.com/forums/f8/whats-your-best-nursing-ghost-story-108202.html

Lisa

It will take you several days to read them all

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Specializes in Med/Surg..

Daytonite, I've had episodes of what another poster called "sleep paralysis" since I was a kid and your explanation of what it is - is the strangest, but the most interesting. It's a very scary thing and when I mentioned it once to my Mom when I was about 10 - she thought it sounded really odd, but told me my brain must have woken up before my body - case closed. She was a no-nonsense kind of Gal - everything could be explained away and I guess the sleep paralysis thing sounded pretty weird to her.

It's happened on and off throughout my life and for anyone who hasn't experienced it - it's so frightening and very hard to describe. Your brain wakes up, you can hear and sense your surroundings, but you can't speak and your entire body is paralyzed. I've yelled for help (no sound comes out), tried to force my body to move - thinking that if I could fall off the bed or couch and make a sound - someone would help me, but it doesn't work, you're totally helpless in that state.

One morning a few months ago, one of my Son's woke up all upset - started describing what had happened to him earlier that morning (he could hear me and my husband talking in the kitchen, but he couldn't move) - so I knew right away it was "sleep paralysis" - or whatever you want to call it, so perhaps it runs in some families. I'm not doubting your explanation about out of body experiences, but I'm inclined to think it's more physical than mental. Five years ago I was diagnosed with sleep apnea - I've had to use a c-pap machine at night since then and since that time, I've never had another "sleep paralysis" episode. Just going by my own experience, I'm leaning towards an oxygenation problem, but I could be way off base - even Doctors I've talked to don't seem to know much about it - so it's anyones guess....

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Specializes in NICU.
I'm not doubting your explanation about out of body experiences, but I'm inclined to think it's more physical than mental. Five years ago I was diagnosed with sleep apnea - I've had to use a c-pap machine at night since then and since that time, I've never had another "sleep paralysis" episode. Just going by my own experience, I'm leaning towards an oxygenation problem, but I could be way off base - even Doctors I've talked to don't seem to know much about it - so it's anyones guess....

You know, a friend of mine who has had these episodes did some research and found that it almost always happens when the individual is sleeping on his or her back. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but snoring and sleep apnea seem to be worse when people are flat on their backs.

Now I'm really freaking myself out. Maybe I'm having such bad sleep apnea that I'm loosing consciousness and therefore losing mind control over my body...

I don't know what's scarier - the paranormal or the physical.

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I believe there is a presence in my home. My dh and I have both had someone yell "HEY" in our ear as we were sleeping. He has felt someone holding him down and I have felt someone put pressure on my hip(all in bed and only when he or I was alone in bed). My mil has seen a figure standing behind her while she was doing dishes (window infront of the sink showing reflection) in our house. I came home one afternoon and my kids bedroom door was shut (it's never shut). I thought it was strange. I opened it and the room was like a fridge! I went in and layed some of their clothes on the bed and I heard the VCR turn on. I turned around to look (I was a little freaked at this point) and the VCR displayed it's startup greeting "HELLO". Um, the clothes can stay on the bed.

I was home alone (dh was out for a run) and I smelt cologne like someone was standing there next to me (I was laying on the couch). I was so afraid to get up and look, but I did. Nothing. About 5 mins later, dh came home. He said he had the most miraculous run. It felt like his dad was there with him. hmmmmm. (his dad died about 12 years ago)

Lisa

Okay, your story totally freaked me out!:uhoh3:

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:chair: Sorry I asked. You guys are totally freaking me out. Not to mention I looked at the past posts on this. Oooh spooky. I should have known I didnt need further info on this particular subject. Note to self.... I can only work during busy daylight hours or else I could end up a psych patient.

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I have never seen a ghost, but there are times where I feel a presence. I was telling my neighbor and she told me of a story where she was a doing missionary work in Korea and she had a run in with one. It was scary b/c this was not a friendly run in. She says that for the most part they are friendly and will not bother you. I am openminded, but it would freak me out if I had an altercation with a spirit

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In one of the hospitals I use to work at we said that there were several ghost. One of the old doctors that was long gone, use to visit the hospital around 1 am every night when he was alive. We had two sets of sliding ER doors before you got into the hospital and around 1 am the first set would open and close then the second set would open and close but no one would be around to set the doors off. We just would say it was him making his rounds. Also in the ICU we kept all of the monitors on in the room and in the third room (when no pts. were in there) a PQRST wave would show up on the monitor all of a sudden then stop.

I always wondered about nurses being the angel of death (not the sick ones that do try and kill their patients :devil: but one that helps them pass on) It never failed that when I was younger and had patients that were dying that they would go after I turned them or soon as I entered the room. I remember on night I had a patient and was getting her meds ready to give and didn't have one so I sent the RN to the pharmacy to pull the medication (small hospital only 3 nurses on night shifts and no pharmacist) but something in the back of my mind kept telling me "she doesn't need it, go and check on her", when I did she had already passed (she was a DNR), I went to the pharmacy and told the nurse to put the meds back that she had already passed.

I have since left small hospitals which are typically med surg, to doctors office and home health, and now post partum, so my patients usually aren't that sick anymore. But when I worked at another small hospital it was always me and another LPN that helped turn each others patients, and it never failed that they seemed to pass soon after. I guess maybe they felt comfortable passing with us, because we always talked with them, even when they didn't respond and if we knew they were close to passing and were a DNR we would talk to them and tell them that it was ok to do what they thought needed to be done. We had one patient tell us and the doctor that she saw Jesus standing in the door calling to her to come home. The doctor told her "go ahead then", few hours later after me and the other LPN turned her, we were walking out of the room and the daughter ran out the door to get us and said "she stopped breathing" when we re-entered she gave her last breath. I believe that Jesus was calling her home and she finially felt that everyone would be ok with her passing (all of her kids came that night and said goodbye) so she went. It got so bad about the turning that some of the other nurses would say don't let P and K turn me if I'm sick, they are the Angels of Death.

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Specializes in critical care transport.
You know, a friend of mine who has had these episodes did some research and found that it almost always happens when the individual is sleeping on his or her back. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but snoring and sleep apnea seem to be worse when people are flat on their backs.

Now I'm really freaking myself out. Maybe I'm having such bad sleep apnea that I'm loosing consciousness and therefore losing mind control over my body...

I don't know what's scarier - the paranormal or the physical.

I always thought that "sleep paralysis" was due to the amygdala in the brain closing the door to body movement (so we aren't walking in our sleep, etc.)

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Specializes in NICU.
I always thought that "sleep paralysis" was due to the amygdala in the brain closing the door to body movement (so we aren't walking in our sleep, etc.)

I really really really hope you are right.

Because if I'm having out of body experiences, either due to the ghost in my home or asphyxia-inducing sleep apnea...:uhoh21:

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This is really weird. I had "sleep Paralysis" from the age of 17 to my early 20's and sporadically beyond those ages. My mother actually brought me to a priest because it got so bad. He just asked if I was on drugs. NO, I wasn't. The scary thing about my episodes was that after the heavy weight feeling and being awake but unable to move I would hear a rushing noise in my ear and then distinctly hear someone say "I HATE YOU!" the only way I finally broke out of these episodes was to scream "GET the F%$# AWAY FROM ME!" in my mind. It is crazy! The weirdest thing about this whole thing was that it happened to my mother when she was laying down with me while this was happening and to my husband when he also was near me during an episode. A psychic once told me that rogue spirits do this to people who have "open souls" and are at a weak moment in their lives. I don't know what the heck it really is, but I get so afraid my children will experience it. It has been many years since it has happened, but sometimes if I am half asleep I feel it try to creep up on me again. It has got to be something physiological, not spirits. I hope.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Nurse Educator..

i had an experience one time, place is icu...that was really scary..

:idea:.a patient was found walking around the area, but the said pt. was announced dead 2 hrs during the time the pt. was found walking in the unit...:uhoh21:....yaiks!!!

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You know, a friend of mine who has had these episodes did some research and found that it almost always happens when the individual is sleeping on his or her back. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but snoring and sleep apnea seem to be worse when people are flat on their backs.

Now I'm really freaking myself out. Maybe I'm having such bad sleep apnea that I'm loosing consciousness and therefore losing mind control over my body...

I don't know what's scarier - the paranormal or the physical.

I've had sleep paralysis while lying on my front, arms crossed with my head on them. It is such a terrifying feeling... mine comes with a heaviness in my chest and the inability to take a desperately needed deep breath... in my mind I'm screaming and suffocating, willing my body to move and trying to take a deep breath... then when I am able to gasp in a breath the paralysis dissipates, leaving only the fear that it will return... I hate it. Fortunately, it only happens once or twice a year.

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