karloff
03-07-2003, 08:15 PM
Anyone suffer from Old Hag Syndrome or Night Terrors? If so give us your story and what you do to cope with it.
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Pfretzsch
03-09-2003, 09:42 PM
I used to wake up in the middle of the night totally paralyzed, unable to do anything more than just try to grunt. I had a feeling like somebody was in the room and was going to get me.
By accident, I came across an article (Readers Digest, I believe) that referred to this condition as a "Night Terror". Understanding this condition gave me a lot of consolation. Our body protects us from getting hurt at night by suppressing our ability to thrash around in our sleep. Sometimes we become awake mentally before our body has fully woken up. We are actually paralyzed temporarily, but our mind is fully awake (a pretty scary condition).
Now here comes the good part, I read that this mostly happens when people are sleeping on their back. Sure enough, when I made sure that I fell asleep while lying on my side, the Night Terrors stopped.
[This message has been edited by Pfretzsch (edited 03-09-2003).]
By accident, I came across an article (Readers Digest, I believe) that referred to this condition as a "Night Terror". Understanding this condition gave me a lot of consolation. Our body protects us from getting hurt at night by suppressing our ability to thrash around in our sleep. Sometimes we become awake mentally before our body has fully woken up. We are actually paralyzed temporarily, but our mind is fully awake (a pretty scary condition).
Now here comes the good part, I read that this mostly happens when people are sleeping on their back. Sure enough, when I made sure that I fell asleep while lying on my side, the Night Terrors stopped.
[This message has been edited by Pfretzsch (edited 03-09-2003).]
LSspine
03-10-2003, 11:50 AM
Ugh, I have had these and they are scary indeed. As a matter of fact, I had one just this morning and although my mother used to tell me to always avoid sleeping on my back and that usually works, I was on my side this morning when this happened. I was sure there was someone in my house trying to get to my children and I was paralyzed. No matter how hard I tried to sit up and open my eyes to get to them, I couldn't. It was a horrible feeling. Then I would wake up and be lying on my side just as before and of course no one was in the house. I recently had back surgery and am taking medication so I attributed this episode to that but I have had similar episodes when I wasn't taking any medication at all. One time I was sure I saw someone looking in my bedroom window and I couldn't move to get help. It seemed so real!! Until I read about night terrors, I thought for a long time that someone really HAD been at my window!!
tony123
03-11-2003, 09:27 PM
The condition is called sleep paralysis. I was haunted by this for years - not knowing what it was. However now that I know what it is - it does not bother me nearly as much. It seemed to occur much more when I was younger. If fact it is pretty rare for it to happen anymore. When it does happen it is usually when I am sleeping at an odd time i.e. in the middle of the day on a Sunday. Now that I am no longer afraid of it, I sort of wish it would happen more so that I can explore the experience without the associated fear.
karloff
03-12-2003, 02:09 PM
You sooooooooo crazy!
Lev
04-16-2003, 07:03 PM
I used to experience similar issues but my fear was around a White Indian tribal mask with white flowing hair. I would wake up at night frozen and see it about 5 inches away from my face with my eyes wide open! I could not move or scream. It scared me half to death time and time again. Turns out that the root of this problem was an old folklore that was told to me when I was a child. It was about a scary crazy white "HAG" or Witch that would ride your back while you slept and if you were to wake up while she was on your back you could not move but felt her on you. I know now that it was all in my head. Some think it only happens when you are on your back others on your belly. This alone proves that its just all in your head. It all depends on the story or dream you come up with that to make it compatible with the position you sleep in. Reading about sleep paralysis and thinking back to those old scary stories made it all go away. Actually, I wish it would happen again so I could have some fun with it... Hope this helps.
P.S. - I tried the folklore with my wife one night and sure enough she woke me up with fear one night and told me about her bout with sleep paralysis. She hated me for my experiment and I was in the dog house for a few days afterwards... Science can be cold blooded soemtimes..LOL!
[This message has been edited by Lev (edited 04-16-2003).]
P.S. - I tried the folklore with my wife one night and sure enough she woke me up with fear one night and told me about her bout with sleep paralysis. She hated me for my experiment and I was in the dog house for a few days afterwards... Science can be cold blooded soemtimes..LOL!
[This message has been edited by Lev (edited 04-16-2003).]