Scary Sleep Paralysis

So, until last week, I hadn't had any sleep paralysis episodes since my last post on the subject. That's a long time!

Anyway, About 7 days ago I had my first Sleep Paralysis episode in weeks (maybe months?). I hallucinated that my husband was trying to choke me. Several times I woke up from the Paralysis, but I didn't move quickly enough and fell back asleep, back into the same episode... It was exhausting. I felt like I could barely breath as I hallucinated his hands around my neck. It was scary, even though I knew it was the Sleep Paralysis.

The next night I had another episode. This time my husband was again wrapping his hands around my neck, but he wasn't trying to choke me... he was whispering things in my ear. I don't remember what he was whispering, but at the time I thought to myself that he was whispering "evil" things. I fought and fought to wake up from this episode, and perhaps I did wake up once, but it seemed to go on for an eternity! I kept trying to get away, always failing though.

Last night I had another episode. This time it was just my regular Sleep Paralysis stuff: Wake up; can't move; can't scream; can't get a good breath of air; struggle; struggle; struggle... Same old, same old.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.