Angel77

Yup! Definitely sleep paralysis and also possibly what's called a hypnogogic hallucination. They can come with several sleep disorders but are most common in narcoleptics. I know how scary it is but there are a few things that you can do to end them more quickly and adjust to them a bit more.


First of all, do you have a dog or s/o that sleeps with you? If you have either, you're in good shape. If you have the dog, or cat for that matter, have them sleep in bed with you. A lot of times if you concentrate on them instead of fighting to come out of the attack, it will end faster. If you have a s/o, tell them that this usually occurs upon going to sleep or waking up and for them to touch you gently to help you out of it. If you're asleep, no harm done, if you're in an attack it will help you.

Also, realize that your autonomic system (what controls all your involuntary movements, like heart, breathing, etc.) is still working. The feeling you may have of losing your air is related to the panic that sets in and not an actual failure in your lungs to breath. You may also have a heaviness in your chest, like someone sitting on you, part of the hallucination. Scary, but not real and most importantly not a physical threat to your life. I know it feels otherwise.

Just being aware of the condition makes it easier to adjust, knowing that you will not die or remain paralized for life. It's part of a screwy sleep wake cycle. What happens is that we all suffer paralysis when we are sleeping. This is supposed to happen during dream sleep to keep us from enacting our dreams. People who don't have this tend to sleep walk and in extreme situations, act our dreams that have a violent end...one man killed his mother in law because he was having a bad dream about her and since he did not have the paralysis, he acted it out with no recollection of ever doing it because his brain was still asleep.

That is an extreme, but what is happening with you is that you are also suffering the paralysis upon going to sleep, not just during dream sleep. Look up sleep paralysis, hypnogogic hallucinations and narcolepsy and you'll see a lot of what you're experiencing and the bonus, you'll know you're not crazy! LOL I did for a long time! Was thrilled to find out that not only was I not alone, I was normal as far as the narcoleptic community is concerned.

Got to run, headed to Wal-Mart! WooHoo! First outing in almost a month! It's sad when this is exciting for me....but, I'll take it where I can get it! Toodles for now and feel free to put all the other weird things out there....guarantee there's more to ya and you're probably hesitant to put it out there for fear of the white coats coming for you! I know I was.....but, turns out that it was normal for narcoleptics too. Not feeling so bad now!

__________________
If you don't experience anything bad, you'll never appreciate the good when it comes around!!!