Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Finally

Finally! I don't seem to have a headache this morning. I've had one every day for the past 4 or 5 days. Nothing seemed to help.

I haven't had any Sleep Paralysis episodes since my last post on the subject.

Dr. Wu contacted me about the sleep study. He'll be sending me (and my family) some questionnaires and such for the study.

I've got lots to do today.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Tension Headache

Hmm.... I have a horribly bad tension headache today. I was almost in tears earlier. Excedrine Tension Headache only helped for a few minutes. I'm supposed to take it every 6 hours. Well, it's only been 1 hour and my headache is back with a vengence. I don't know what I am tense/anxious over. I wonder if that is why I had Sleep Paralysis last night....

Undercover Research

My dream last night:  I was helping do some undercover work which took me to some shady parts of town where I was ducking in and out of abandoned buildings, spying on drug dealers, and trying to avoid getting shot.

Then, I was going up countless flights of stairs to find several different researchers and retrieve their research binders.  I had my oldest son in tow, but he was only about 2 or 3 years old in my dream.

We stopped for Asian food in the lobby of one of these buildings.  The server suggested some things but then the chef ran out the door.  The server asked if we wanted to come to the kitchen to see how the food is prepared.  We agreed, went to the kitchen, and started preparing our own food.

We received word that someone was looking for us.  It was not someone good, so we quietly and casually left the building.  Once outside on the sidewalk, we tried to act as normal as possible as we were approached by the bad people.  Fortunately they did not know what we looked like, so we were able to walk away after a brief chat.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Just prior to this dream I had two back-to-back episodes of Sleep Paralysis.  They were just small ones.  Very short in duration.  Nothing scary in them.  I was just trying to wake up and I couldn't.  Suddenly I did wake up, but I didn't change position fast enough and fell right back to sleep, back into sleep paralysis.  I was trying to awaken myself from this second episode of sleep paralysis when I heard my husband enter the room, as he had been watching television in the living room.  As he got in bed he touched me and it woke me up from the sleep paralysis.\

Usually I am scared during sleep paralysis, but these were so short that my heart wasn't even racing when I woke up.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Locking him out

I took another nap today.  It was around 3pm I think.  I woke up at 5pm.

Just about an hour prior to my nap, my husband and I had a little argument.

So, my dream:  At first I was on a speedboat in a lake with my sister, her boyfriend, and a few other people, maybe family members.  My sister's boyfriend was someone whom I have never met before, I think I've seen him on television.  Anyway, we stop at a dock in the Caicos and discuss how we had been to the Caicos many times, but never had we taken this particular boyfriend with us.  I laughed to myself and said aloud, "Funny how we get our memories confused... it feels like you've been here with us before, but you haven't."

Then, suddenly, I am inside a house.  It was a familiar house, but I've never been there before.  I was trying to get away from my husband.  I wanted to lock myself in my room, but every time I tried to lock the doors they wouldn't lock correctly or the door itself would fall off the hinges or the actual wall would start to fall in.  I wasn't upset with him though, I just wanted him to think that I was still upset.  Then I woke up.

Been tired for days, but no SP

Strange how Sleep Paralysis hasn't reared it's ugly face lately. I've been so tired for days and just feeling generally "blah." Maybe it's just menstruation that's causing me to feel like this. Maybe my body is giving me a break from Sleep Paralysis while I menstruate. Awww... isn't that nice?

I didn't fall asleep until almost 2am this morning because of that nap late yesterday afternoon. I didn't want to get up at 6:30am though.

Oh, something else strange happened last night. Around 1am I was reading about sleep paralysis and parasomnias when I suddenly started gagging! This immediate, intense nausea overwhelmed me, causing me to gag on nothing at all. I quickly ran to the kitchen and grabbed some crackers to settle my stomach. After a few minutes the nausea died down. I awoke this morning still a little sick to my stomach.

Also, I don't remember much from my dreams last night. All I remember is that I was walking around without a shirt on and kept seeing myself in mirrors. But the reflection wasn't quite right. Strange.

I sent Dr. Wu an email today with regard to the University of Pennsylvania Sleep Clinical Trial that I mentioned in a post yesterday. I'm awaiting a response.

Strange Naptime Dream

I fell asleep on the couch today after my husband got home.  My dream was interesting:

I was at some sort of convention or assembly hall with my family and kids.  There was a man dressed in a strange costume, kind of like Cirque du Soleil, with an extremely long tail stuffed and made of cotton cloth.  It kept falling off and ending up in other places.  He was apparently some part of the performance in the main hall.  To see the performance and sit with the audience, we kept having to go through tiny doorways through which I barely fit.  First I would lift my kids and help them get through the openings.  Then I would squeeze myself through.  In my head, I was thinking how everyone must be so impressed that I could fit through such a small opening, but it appeared that no one was paying me or my impressive-squeezing-ability any attention.

After getting inside I kept having a confrontation with an obnoxious woman because we were "disturbing" the performance for her.  She lost her pen and blamed me.  I kept trying to help her find it and finally just moved to a different seating area, though she kept giving me dirty looks.  I had to go back into the hallway, where we were originally when we saw the man with the extremely long tail.  BUT this time I didn't have to squeeze out through the same opening through which I gained entrance.  There was a door to the side that I hadn't noticed before.  From then on I entered and exitted the seating area(s) through the regular size door.  Sometimes I was carrying the man's cotton tail with me, though it was so long that it was burdensome.  Carrying it through the door proved much easier than through the small opening we squeezed through initially.

I don't remember how it ended because my husband woke me up to ask me a question... so I guess it didn't really have an end.

Familial Sleep Paralysis Study

The Division of Sleep Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania is conducting a clinical trial:

Study on Familial Sleep Paralysis

Patients that suffer from frequent episodes of sleep paralysis.  Sleep paralysis occurs upon awakening or just falling asleep when patient is awake but unable to move.  These experiences are often scary and can also involve unusual feelings. For some patients, these episodes occur frequently and appear to run in families. Adult subjects (at least 18 years of age) who experience sleep paralysis on a frequent basis (at least once/year) AND have other family members who also experience sleep paralysis frequently.  Taking part in this research study would involve a medical history and a blood draw. 

Contact:  Dr. Mark Wu, marknwu@mail.med.upenn.edu

I think I'll explore this further...

Thursday, March 19, 2009

More Interesting Reads

Some links to some interesting sites about Sleep Paralysis and Lucid Dreaming:

World of Lucid Dreaming: Article about how to cause Sleep Paralysis resulting in Lucid Dreaming.

An article entitled: "Sleep Paralysis: If You Can't Avoid its Occurrence, Can You Change the Experience?" from The Lucid Dreams Exchange.

Some questions and answers from Dr. Jorge Conesa at the Language and Cognition Laboratory/NLC in Everett, WA, USA. Here is one that I was particularly interested in:

Is there a genetic link to SP?

SP is definitely FAMILIAL. The fact that SP is familial allows for that probability. Dement observed and reported familial effects while studying narcolepsy in the seventies, and low and behold, today the same team has isolated the chromosome responsible for the syndrome (at least in dogs). But one has to be cautious about drawing causal connections between the occurrence of SP in families and a genetic link per se. It could be that family habits (nurture) and not a gene predispose some individuals more than others. Now that the Stanford team (headed by Dr. Mignot) has isolated the gene responsible for narcolepsy in an animal model, that gives us hope that the same can be done for SP. The gene was located on the 12th chromosome.

There is also a message board on the Sleep Paralysis Information Service web site where tons of people continue to share their experiences with Sleep Paralysis.

Busy, Busy

I was quite the little "busy bee" in my dreams last night. Maybe it was just one dream, but it seemed to go on a long time with different segments. It seemed real, as I was unaware that I was dreaming until I woke up.

I was so exhausted yesterday. I fell asleep on the couch not long after I put the kids to bed. I was awoken by my husband calling on the telephone at mid-night to check in with us. I - almost incoherently - talked to him on the phone for a few minutes as I made my way to our bed. No sooner had I said goodnight, that I fell asleep.

I woke up this morning at 5:59am... 1 minute prior to my alarm clock going off. I sat there and watched the clock so that I could quickly turn it off as soon as it struck 6:00. Of course, both the kids were in the bed with me, which was even more reason to stop the alarm as quickly as possible.

Anyway, my dream: I remembered details as soon as I woke up, but now, about 5 hours later, I can only recall flashes of information. I remember interacting with lots of people and something was right in my face several times, though i don't remember what it was.

I need to log the dreams as soon as I wake up. I just didn't have time this morning. I was rushing around the house trying to get my 5-year old ready for school, my 2-year old dressed, and myself showered and dressed. Plus we all had to eat!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Sleep Paralysis: Hereditary?

This is a great question. A definitive, positive answer could possibly lead to help for those who experience chronic Sleep Paralysis. I'm currently looking for real research and findings on the subject on a hereditary link.

My grandmother (father's mom), father, mother, and sister have all experienced Sleep Paralysis, while only my grandmother and mother have experienced Exploding Head Syndrome.

The Cleveland Clinic had this to say about Sleep Paralysis:
People with sleep paralysis are not able to move the body or limbs when falling asleep or waking up. Brief episodes of partial or complete skeletal muscle paralysis can occur during sleep paralysis. Sometimes sleep paralysis runs in families, but the cause of sleep paralysis is not known. Sleep deprivation and irregular sleep-wake schedules can also cause sleep paralysis. It is also seen in narcolepsy, a disorder characterized by severe excessive daytime sleepiness. This disorder is not harmful, but people experiencing sleep paralysis often are fearful because they do not know what is happening. An episode of sleep paralysis often is terminated by sound or touch. Within minutes, the person with sleep paralysis is able to move again.
The complete page of information on Sleep Paralysis and other parasomnias from the Cleveland Clinic can be found ***here***.

Oh, in case you haven't heard the word "parasomnias" before, here is the definition from WebMD:
Parasomnias are disruptive sleep-related disorders that can occur during arousals from REM sleep or partial arousals from Non-REM sleep. Parasomnias include nightmares, night terrors, sleepwalking, confusional arousals and many others.

Tired

I know I had dreams last night... I remember something happening. The dreams seem to be on the "tip" of my mind. I can't remember even one detail. It's so frustrating. The only thing I am positive about is that I did not have Sleep Paralysis or Exploding Head Syndrome episodes.

I fell asleep around 12:30am again. My husband was out of town last night, so I postponed going to sleep for as long as I could. I always get scared when he's not here. Every normal noise suddenly sounds eerily like someone is trying to break into our house. I don't notice these noises when he's here. He's usually only gone one night per week for work, but this week he will be gone two nights. So, I have another night like last night ahead of me tonight.

Anyway, I woke up at 6am this morning. I woke up extremely exhausted though. This is unusual for me, as I enjoy waking up early and getting my day started with a quiet breakfast while the kids are still asleep. Hopefully I'll feel peppier later today.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

No SP, Just AF

Last night I tried to force myself to have a Sleep Paralysis episode. I fell asleep on my back and tried to think about previous sleep paralysis episodes. (I've noticed that when I think about SP a lot before bed I am more likely to experience it...) But it didn't work. I don't even know if I dreamed last night. I feel asleep around 12:30am and woke up at 4:30am. Been awake since.

The only thing that did visit me last night was "Aunt Flo." We'll see if "she" has an effect on the occurrence of my sleep paralysis.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Exploding Head Syndrome

If you don't know what Exploding Head Syndrome is, click here for a long description from the American Sleep Association. I actually like the explanation on Wikipedia better, as it seems to be more detailed.

I haven't had an Exploding Head Syndrome episode in a couple of months. It has never happened to me on a regular basis, thankfully. When it does happen, though, I hear lots of voices talking at once or some annoyingly loud continuous noise. It gets so loud that I have to wake myself up by making a noise myself!

For any wise-guys out there, the voices are not telling me to do things... they're just talking. Some people speculate that these voices are all your thoughts (prior to falling asleep) jumbled together.

The episodes happen just as I am falling asleep.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy - According to the Mayo Clinic web site:

Definition

Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder characterized by overwhelming daytime drowsiness and sudden attacks of sleep.

People with narcolepsy often find it difficult to stay awake for long periods of time, regardless of the circumstances. Narcolepsy can cause serious disruptions in your daily routine.

Some people mistakenly attribute symptoms of narcolepsy to depression, seizure disorders, fainting, simple lack of sleep, or other conditions that may cause abnormal sleep patterns.

Narcolepsy is a chronic condition that doesn't go away completely. Although there's no cure for narcolepsy, medications and lifestyle changes can help you manage the symptoms. And talking to others — family, friends, employer, teachers — can help you cope better with narcolepsy.


I believe that I suffered from Narcolepsy for a while. About a year and a half ago, I started falling asleep while driving. I was not sleepy/drowsy... but as soon as I started driving, within a couple of minutes, my head would fall. You know the "nod." I'd be singing along to the radio and suddenly I'd be veering back onto the road. It was horribly scary. No matter what I did, or how I struggled, I could not stay awake.

It wasn't only while driving. It was anytime that I sat down for more than a minute or two. I'd fall asleep at meetings, sitting on the couch, at my desk. I tried chewing gum or drinking beverages... that helped a little, but I had to do it continuously or else I would fall asleep again. I started having to talk on my cell phone the entire time I was driving so that I could stay awake.

At the time, I was probably getting 6 to 7 hours of sleep per night. That's pretty good, seeing as how I have two children. At the time, they were ages 4 and 1. I would fall asleep around 9pm, even though I had always been a "night owl," and wake up early (with the help of an alarm clock) to lead a small group exercise class.


Suddenly, about a year ago, the Narcolepsy ceased. I do not know why. Nothing seemed to really change in my routine, except for the early morning exercise class... though I was still exercising in the morning.

Will the Narcolepsy return? I'm worried that it is on it's way...

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Sleep Paralysis Info

Just found a couple of sites with more info on Sleep Paralysis:

Sleep Paralysis & Associated Hypnagogic and Hypnopompic Experiences provides more info about sleep paralysis and has a questionnaire to fill out to help further their research on the subject.

About.com also has some articles about Sleep Paralysis in their Sleep Disorders section. Here is one entitled Understanding the Terrors of Sleep Paralysis.

Sleep Paralysis

Sleep Paralysis - According to the Mayo Clinic web site

Sleep paralysis. People with narcolepsy often experience a temporary inability to move or speak while falling asleep or upon waking. These episodes are usually brief — lasting one or two minutes — but they can be frightening. You may be aware of the condition and have no difficulty recalling it afterward, even if you had no control over what was happening to you.

This sleep paralysis mimics the type of temporary paralysis that normally occurs during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the period of sleep during which most dreaming occurs. This temporary immobility during REM sleep may prevent your body from acting out dream activity. Not everyone with sleep paralysis has narcolepsy, however. Many people experience a few attacks of sleep paralysis, especially in young adulthood.
I have suffered from Sleep Paralysis since I was about 16 years old. I remember my very first episode. I could "see" everything in my room, but I could barely breathe and was unable to make any sounds or movements. I felt as if I had to hold my breath, or at least slow my breathing, in order to store up enough energy to scream or make any noise at all. I was finally successful in my attempts to wake my body up. My heart was pounding.

Since then I have had countless Sleep Paralysis episodes. A lot of times my episodes are back-to-back. This means that I awaken from an episode only to fall immediately back to sleep, back into sleep paralysis... Sometimes this happens 5 or 6 times before I am able to wake up long enough to change positions.

You see, I have found that if I change my sleeping position, or get up and go to the bathroom, etc., that I will most likely not return to sleep paralysis.

Besides trying to force myself to wake up during a sleep paralysis episode, I have also tried "just going with it." This has resulted in even more frightful experiences for me, though many people say they actually control their dreams in this state and quite enjoy it. Rarely have I been able to control my dreams while in sleep paralysis, even though I know I'm dreaming. More often I feel like I'm free-falling for an eternity, wind in my face, stomach-turning and everything. Not fun. Perhaps I need more practice at "letting go" and/or taking control.

The frequency of my Sleep Paralysis episodes is sporadic. I'll have them several nights in a row... and then it will be a week or two before my next episode(s). I'm not sure what causes them.

I have started this blog to try to document my dreams and sleep paralysis episodes to see if I can find any connections between them and what's going on with my self/environment/life.