Question - Sleep Disorders Message Board

Kitten1980 · 12-12-2004, 03:36 PM

I originally posted this in the general health forum, but since no one was responding there and this forum seemed more appropriate I have deleted the original post and am copying the text below.

Quote:

I'm not sure where to put this, so I'm going to put it in general health. If it needs to be moved somewhere more specifice I understand

. I've been posting for a while mainly in the heart disorder forum and this might be related to that but it seemed to be a stretch from the topic there.

I don't really know how to explain this so I hope that someone else has had this experience and knows what I am talking about. Sometimes when I am waking it up seems like I get "stuck" somewhere half-way between being asleep and being awake. Like I will wake up enough to notice the sunlight coming through the window or even look at the clock and see what time it is or think to myself that I need to get up and use the restroom or something like that. But I don't totally wake up and the thoughts from my brain don't seem to connect with the rest of my body or something. So instead of getting up I end up laying there half aware of what is going on around me and half in a dream-like state and not really being able to do anything about it, but being aware that I am in this state. It usually doesn't last long and if something interrupts it - like an alarm clock going off or the phone ringing then I wake up.

Does this happen to other people? Is this normal? The reason I post on the heart disorder board is because I have a congenital atrial septal defect; one thing I know is that my heart-rate is and always has been quite low when I first wake in the morning, if I wake "naturally" without an alarm going off or something. So I wonder if it could be related to that? The sleep/wake thing has happened to me off and on through the years but I never really thought about it until I mentioned it to a friend and they looked at me like they had no clue what I was talking about.

yawningdog · 12-12-2004, 04:07 PM

I use the term 'stuck' for how I feel when I wake up but can not move. I can move my eyes but nothing else. I have to think about it and finaly I can move a finger. That breaks the 'spell' and I can move again. This a form of cataplexy, and a very mild form of it. I am awake but my body is in the locked mode of dream sleep. I have narcolepsy. This can be diagnosed with a sleep study, but these are a few of the standard symptoms. Can you fall asleep very quickly? Are you tired after a full night's sleep? Can you fall asleep at any time of the day? even if you slept the night before. Do you dream almost immediately after falling asleep? Do you experience muscle weakness when you are excited, anrgy, or happy?

I hope this helps.

Kitten1980 · 12-12-2004, 06:15 PM

No... my sleep is perfectly normal except for the odd occassion that I have the wierd sleep/wake experience, as far as I can tell. Thanks for the reply though. I'm going to look up cataplexy in further detail.

To elaborate on my issue, sometimes I will be asleep, dreaming, but aware that I am dreaming, and wanting to wake up but not seeming to be able to. Then I "wake up" but actually I have only dreamed that I woke up, and I'm really only dreaming that I'm awake if that makes sense. That will happen to me two or three times in a row before I wake up 'for real' if nothing interrupts me. Does any of this make any sense? I fell kind of silly trying to even describe it.

Thank you Yawning

yawningdog · 12-13-2004, 08:50 AM

Okay, that is even a little weird for me and I have the ability to wake up and go back and finish a dream. Let me know what you find out.

analog2000 · 12-13-2004, 09:33 AM

This sounds to me like sleep paralysis or a hypnagogic hallucination. You could try looking up more info on these and seeing if they fit.

Both are fairly common, not harmful, and probably not directly related to your heart defect.

Good luck.