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Permalink Reply by Lisa Marie Cardillo on January 2, 2010 at 9:28am

Hi Pam, I know what you mean, for years I didn't tell anyone, when I did feel comfortable enough with someone to ask about it, they had no idea what I was talking about, and when I would mention it to different docs, they had no idea what I was talking about, which really made me feel nuts, I would try to make myself feel better my telling myself, well Lisa you have always known you were different, maybe from another planet, joking of course... , keep your eyes on the post and I would like to know about your s.p. it doesn't deserve capital letters. Hugs Lisa

Pam McReynolds said:

WOW! I've experienced this, but had no clue what it was. I didn't tell anyone because I thought they would think I was nuts. I will say though. It seems since I've been getting better treatment for my central apnea this has stopped. At least I hope it has. My prayers are with you Lisa. I hope you get answers and help for this very soon. And thanks for posting. I will be watching this discussion closely. I had no idea this had a name.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Marie Cardillo on January 2, 2010 at 9:39am

Hi Christopher, thanks for responding while feeling so sick, I hope you get rested today, I always thought, that too, about the anesthesia thing, I had a patient in the OR one time who was having trouble comming out of anesthesia, well Thank God when he finally came out of it he told the docs he could here everything we were saying but couldn't move, it scared me to death, and I felt so bad for him because of knowing the feeling, he never said anything about feeling any pain... again, Thank God, feel better, Lisa ps thanks for the websites, I'll take a look at them later and i'll be in touch

Christopher Gilliard said:

Computers are like that Lisa %-) The only answer is frequently saving what you write, or even write it in a word processor program so you can save it often :-) On a PC, pressing Ctrl+A then Ctrl+C will at least keep a temporary copy on the PC clipboard in case of accidents. Even in a web page like this, you can always press Ctrl+Z to undo the last action, sometimes more than once.

I'm stuffed up with a stinking cold at the moment, and even though it's 4am, I'm coughing and sneezing my head off so wearing my CPAP and trying to sleep is not much of an option

I found a quite comprehensive article on sleep induced paralysis on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

Responding to something Rock or you mentioned, I also have been diagnosed with narcolepsy and cataplexy. Strong emotions such as laughing at a really funny joke or just being tickled causes me to literally collapse in a heap like a puppet with the strings cut! My sisters used to think that in itself was hilarious and would tickle me just to see it happen %-)

I too have that "enquiring mind" ;-) and wondered if SP is similar/the same as when patients have told of being anaesthetized and whilst their body is, they remain conscious and aware of their surroundings? When having an SP episode, I also noticed that my breathing is very slow and shallow and although unable to move, if my eyes happen to be open, I can see normally as well as hear.

The greatest relief for me was to just have it identified and labelled! Up to that point, I was having the awful feeling it could be a stroke or worse %-( Incidentally, a Google search for "Meryl Dahlitz sleep paralysis" turned up a few interesting links which you might want to look at.

Well, this has sufficiently dulled my brain to the point I will try to get a few hours of sleep, Happy New Year to all

Lisa Marie Cardillo said:

Hi Christopher,I just wrote this really good post and lost it darn-it, I had a moment of clarity,and was really spillin my guts, i'm to tired now maybe another time it will come back to me, anyway , I do lay there and pray that the cat will walk on me, or my husband will accdently kick me with his leg or put his arm around, like the slightest touch will bring you out of it and allow you to move and breath, I can't even take a breath, just a slight little one, I hate it, my mind is fully awake while this is happening I know it for sure, I'll get into that another time, back to the touch, they never do in all my years no one has ever touched me to get me out of it, but how would they know to, it would just have to be luck, or by accident, if I'm not making any sense don't mind me, it's 9:39PM on New Years Eve and i'm ready to go to bed, talk to you soon. Happy New Year! Lisa

Christopher Gilliard said:

I've suffered with episodes of sleep induced paralysis for over 25 years now, my narcolepsy and OSA only being diagnosed around 5 years ago.

Whilst the experience is initially frightening, now for me it is mostly a frustrating inconvenience!

As a normal part of going to sleep, your body "turns off" your voluntary muscles. Many if not most people experience this. On waking, some people - like us %-) - don't produce the necessary chemical that naturally re-enables voluntary movement. This is usually due to our brain still being in a dream state. Effectively the opposite effect to sleep walking.

It can induce hallucinations known as hypnogogic or hypnopompic, depending on whether your are falling asleep or waking. These are believed to be the explanation for out of body experiences (OOBE) and alien abduction stories.

I am away from my computer at the moment, but can point you to more info if you wish. Two well known sleep specialists on this topic are Merle Dahlitz and Dr. J Parkes.

From experience, I have found that fighting furiously to move seems to build a backlog of nerve impulses to my muscles leaving me with tremors and spasms once mobile. Being gently moved by someone can usually break the "lock" on my muscles and full mobility returns over a short period of time.

I hope this of help to fellow sufferers, feel free to vontact me if I can help further. Happy New Year! :-)

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Permalink Reply by 99 on January 2, 2010 at 9:46am

i read this discussion from its inception but only today have i realised i may have had two episords of this my self during my almost sixty years

yea get your calculators out

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Marie Cardillo on January 2, 2010 at 10:07am

Hi 99, you'll notice the more of us that talk about it and try to describe it, you'll say Oh yea, I know that feeling, there are so many ways to describe it, I just thought of another way it feels like sometime, like someone is throwing their heavy arm across your chest and won't let you breathe, gosh, I hope that didn't sound crazy, but I'm so glad I finally brought it up, I don't feel so alone anymore, thanks Lisa

99 said:

i read this discussion from its inception but only today have i realised i may have had two episords of this my self during my almost sixty years

yea get your calculators out

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Permalink Reply by Sleeping Ugly on January 3, 2010 at 10:01pm

Have you ever talked to your doctor about Xyrem and whether that would help with your sleep paralysis?

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Permalink Reply by Lala on January 7, 2010 at 11:59am

Hi Lisa Marie,
Your not alone. I suffer from sleep paralysis. It is very very scarey, you cant move, you try to move, you try to get up, but your just stuck, your limbs feel like they weigh a kabillion pounds, cant move your head, your arms, your hands, your legs, your feet, nothing! Its like you have on a full body suit made of extremely heavy armor. Your eyes feel all heavy, your in that half asleep, half awake state, trying to get yourself up out of the paralysis. I HATE IT!! My doctor told me that when you have an episode, what usually happens is you fall back asleep and then wake up again without the paralysis. So your not actually shaking yourself out of the paralysis.

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Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on January 7, 2010 at 12:18pm

I have experienced sleep paralysis as well. Most people do at least a few times in their lives.

99 said:

i read this discussion from its inception but only today have i realised i may have had two episords of this my self during my almost sixty years

yea get your calculators out

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