"please keep me updated about oximeters "
Sleep Apnea Forum Bringing Power to the Patient
New? Free Sign Up
Then check our Welcome Center to a Community Caring about Sleep Apnea diagnosis and Sleep Apnea treatment:
CPAP machines, Sleep Apnea surgery and dental appliances.
CPAP Supplies
Latest Activity
S.U.N.D.S
Encyclopedia of Death and Dying :: Sh-Sy
SUDDEN UNEXPECTED NOCTURNAL DEATH SYNDROME
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ads by Google
Has Your CTCL Relapsed? - New Study Recruiting Find a Clinic Near You - clinicaltrials.gov
Info on Syndromes - Find Info on Causes, Symptoms, Treatments & More - Faster w/Bing ™ - www.Bing.com
Trouble Sleeping? - Looking for Relief? Get Answers to Your Sleep Questions - www.GetSomeSleep.com
Treat Klippel-Trenaunay - Non-surgical KTS Treatment. Find a doctor near you. - www.VeinClinics.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since 1977 more than a hundred Southeast Asian immigrants in the United States have died from the mysterious disorder known as sudden unexpected nocturnal death syndrome (SUNDS). SUNDS had an unusually high incidence among recently relocated Laotian Hmong refugees. All but one of the victims were men, the median age was thirty-three, all were apparently healthy, and all died during their sleep. Despite numerous studies of SUNDS, which have taken into account such varied factors as toxicology, heart disease, sleep apnea and other sleep disorders, genetics, metabolism, and nutrition, medical scientists have not been able to determine its exact cause. Medical opinion appears to favor an impairment of the electrical pathways and specialized muscle fibers that contract the heart. It is widely held, however, that some type of intense stressor is likely an additional risk factor.
The medical folklorist Shelley Adler postulates that a supernormal nocturnal experience that is part of Hmong traditional beliefs can trigger the fatal syndrome. The experience is referred to as a "night-mare," not in the modern sense of a bad dream, but rather in its original denotation as the nocturnal visit of an evil being that threatens to press the very life out of its terrified victim. Hmong refugees in the United States experience a culture-specific manifestation of the universal nightmare phenomenon. The Hmong Nightmare (known as dab tsog) causes cataclysmic psychological stress, which can trigger sudden death. Although the Dab Tsog attack in Laos is related to the worldwide nightmare tradition, the peculiar stresses of Hmong refugee experience transformed its outcome. The power of traditional belief in the nightmare—in the context of the trauma of war, migration, rapid acculturation, and inability to practice traditional healing and ritual—causes cataclysmic psychological stress to male Hmong refugees that can result in SUNDS.
See also: CAUSES OF DEATH
Bibliography
Adler, Shelley R. "Ethnomedical Pathogenesis and Hmong Immigrants' Sudden Nocturnal Deaths." Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 18 (1994):23–59.
Hufford, David J. The Terror That Comes in the Night. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982.
Parrish, R. Gibson, Myra Tucker, Roy Ing, Carol Encarnacion, and Mark Eberhardt. "Sudden Unexplained Death Syndrome in Southeast Asian Refugees: A Review of CDC Surveillance." Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Review 36 (1987):43–53.
SHELLEY R. ADLER
User Contributions:
1SherieJan 23, 2007 @ 12:00 am
Can SUND be related to sleep paralysis? A lot of the folklores that I've heard about the "Dab Tsog" it seems to have similiar symptoms as SP. People who claimed to have experienced it said it was like they were awake but could not move their bodies no matter how much they tell themselves too. I accidently stumbled upon this site.. and it got me interested. My mother told me that one of her brother died suddenly in his sleep after they moved to the USA after the Vietnam War. Doctors could not figure out why. He was a healthy man in his 30's, whom was a Dentist back in Laos.2kalvinJan 28, 2008 @ 12:00 am
talking about SUNDS. Here in the Philippines, we call it "OROM". many of us here experienced that and we found ways to wake up. SUNDS is like, you are very conscious of what is going on around you. you can here your relatives passing by, youre eyes are closed but you can move your eyeballs and the more you strugle, the lesser the chance of walking up again. when we experience this sunds, there are there parts that we know that we can move. our hands, thumbs of our feet and our mouth. we either move our toe or grasp our hands if its not enough, we bite our tounge. usually people here experience sunds when they are very tired and sleep. a study has been made about rice. it may be another factor because asians eat rice and many say that sunds were only experienced by asian people. hope this little info can help.3JoshFeb 10, 2009 @ 7:19 pm
I have this and until now thought I was the only one. I am white, healthy and 22 years old. It has been an embarassing thing top talk about, people may think that your talking about alien encounters or something. I have had the dream twice, it doesn't seem like a dream at all, in fact it is very real. I felt and saw a very strong spirit terrify me and put his hand over my mouth, and feeling like he was trying to take my soul. My soul fights back and I win. But I am constantly worried about the next time it comes. Sometimes even afraid to fall asleep. I do not want to die this way, is there any cure??4MimiMar 1, 2009 @ 4:16 pm
Hello. I live in Los Angeles, CA, Afro-American, female and I started experiencing similiar things like SUNDS when I was around 33 yrs. old or younger. Now at 42 yrs. old, I still experience this. Whenever I sleep in complete darkness with everything off in my room. I experience something on my chest like a little being. I am conscious but can only move my eyes, my fingers and toes. When I scream, nobody hears me. And I always wakeup before I'm out of breathe. Like something sucking everything out of you while you look at it helplessly. I can never tell what it looks like, because I alway wakeup. Thanks to Spike TV running a show called " How Many Ways You Can Die", I would have never known about SUNDS. HELP! Can this be fixed? That's my question?5Hope this HelpsMar 9, 2009 @ 12:00 am
Wow I wouldn't have known what my condition was until I watched 1000 ways to die the other week on the spike channel. I must admit I am a little tripped out you always think your the only one who has the experience but am glad only to find out a name of the condition that has plaqued me sense early childhood. This might seem crazy but when this happens to me I am totally conscious in my sleep but yet not awake I fell myself stop breathing and no matter how hard I try I cannot breathe I'm totally paralyzed! Even talking to myself telling me to breathe doesn't seem to help. But as soon as I say in my mind one of the two words God and or Jesus. Then as if like a miracle I can breathe again. Many cultures seem to have this phenomenom I have talked to one another person who has this condtion and says god or Jesus worked as well. My ex boyfriend who was Mexician sayed they called "Diablo sleeping on your chest". I'm blessed I'm still here I must have a purpose. For anyone reading this I pray this helps. God Bless6KathyApr 7, 2009 @ 10:22 pm
I am 21, chinese american and I have the similar experience. I do not know if it is SUND but i have experienced a reoccurring dream for the past 3 years in which, i dreamt about a ghost (kinda like the girl from the Ring) coming towards me and then my whole body would begin to shake uncontrollably. I would feel that my body is undergoing a black out while i am sleeping. I would also see stars. I screamed but no sound came out. are there cures?7RobJun 28, 2009 @ 8:20 pm
Iam 31 from Canada..I kinda get the same but sometimes when I wake up in early morning or just lying down after work..I will go in a deep sleep but Iam still awake inside..the first few times I was freaked out..but now I learned ways to wake up..I move whatever I can..my feet and hands are mainly the 2 that I can only move but one time I was able to open my eye's and look around the room..after waking up..my eye lids were burning fire..
I guess from trying so hard..I learned to liv with this because I went to a Doctor and he says Iam dreaming....but one thing I did learn..that this mainly happens if the room temperature is way to hot and with winter here once of year..you got the heat up and your under problably a few blankets so it was problably 55c +....with the heat and blankets and the sun coming thru the window ...so if this helps keep the heat down...but I also learned that my body somewhat generates alot of heat when I sleep..8franciscoJun 29, 2009 @ 12:12 pm
i have been suferring from this curse for years.i have come to understand that what am experiencing is an atack from an evil entaty.you feal something on your chest chocking you an taking the life out of you.you start to panickthen you get scared of dieing.calling on god an jesus is wen your let free from its retraints but there was one time i laid still an relaxed an i was able to wake up.docters wont under stand this so dont bother telling any.if you are not religious i inply you start bealeaving.9CaseyJul 14, 2009 @ 9:21 pm
The last comment I looked at about sleep paralysis is probably correct. Sleep paralysis is very scary, but if you don't panic you may go into lucid dreaming. You are the creator of this reality and it is amazing. I found that the more you panic, the more you panic. Basically, the only thing to fear is fear its self. It is kind of like when they say not to fight the current if you get sucked in, but swim with it until it eventually leads you to land. The more you struggle, the more you panic. If you have this condition, do yourself a favor and face it. You just have to accept the fact that you are not in control, and for some reason, that is the only way to gain control. It's weird. I induce this myself so that I can learn more about it. Anyone know who the people responsible for 1000 ways to die is? Don't just take their word, find out who they are and where their interests lie. Maybe someone is trying to prevent people from doing this by inducing more fear about it. Who knows...?10OctavioJul 15, 2009 @ 12:00 am
PLEASE HELP!I HAVE SUNDS AND CANNOT RECOVER!I frequently have this nightmare; and afraid I can actually die from it.11OctavioJul 15, 2009 @ 12:00 am
PLEASE HELP!I HAVE SUNDS AND CANNOT RECOVER!I frequently have this nightmare; and afraid I can actually die from it.
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Name:E-mail:Security Code:
SUDDEN UNEXPECTED NOCTURNAL DEATH SYNDROME
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ads by Google
Has Your CTCL Relapsed? - New Study Recruiting Find a Clinic Near You - clinicaltrials.gov
Info on Syndromes - Find Info on Causes, Symptoms, Treatments & More - Faster w/Bing ™ - www.Bing.com
Trouble Sleeping? - Looking for Relief? Get Answers to Your Sleep Questions - www.GetSomeSleep.com
Treat Klippel-Trenaunay - Non-surgical KTS Treatment. Find a doctor near you. - www.VeinClinics.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since 1977 more than a hundred Southeast Asian immigrants in the United States have died from the mysterious disorder known as sudden unexpected nocturnal death syndrome (SUNDS). SUNDS had an unusually high incidence among recently relocated Laotian Hmong refugees. All but one of the victims were men, the median age was thirty-three, all were apparently healthy, and all died during their sleep. Despite numerous studies of SUNDS, which have taken into account such varied factors as toxicology, heart disease, sleep apnea and other sleep disorders, genetics, metabolism, and nutrition, medical scientists have not been able to determine its exact cause. Medical opinion appears to favor an impairment of the electrical pathways and specialized muscle fibers that contract the heart. It is widely held, however, that some type of intense stressor is likely an additional risk factor.
The medical folklorist Shelley Adler postulates that a supernormal nocturnal experience that is part of Hmong traditional beliefs can trigger the fatal syndrome. The experience is referred to as a "night-mare," not in the modern sense of a bad dream, but rather in its original denotation as the nocturnal visit of an evil being that threatens to press the very life out of its terrified victim. Hmong refugees in the United States experience a culture-specific manifestation of the universal nightmare phenomenon. The Hmong Nightmare (known as dab tsog) causes cataclysmic psychological stress, which can trigger sudden death. Although the Dab Tsog attack in Laos is related to the worldwide nightmare tradition, the peculiar stresses of Hmong refugee experience transformed its outcome. The power of traditional belief in the nightmare—in the context of the trauma of war, migration, rapid acculturation, and inability to practice traditional healing and ritual—causes cataclysmic psychological stress to male Hmong refugees that can result in SUNDS.
See also: CAUSES OF DEATH
Bibliography
Adler, Shelley R. "Ethnomedical Pathogenesis and Hmong Immigrants' Sudden Nocturnal Deaths." Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 18 (1994):23–59.
Hufford, David J. The Terror That Comes in the Night. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982.
Parrish, R. Gibson, Myra Tucker, Roy Ing, Carol Encarnacion, and Mark Eberhardt. "Sudden Unexplained Death Syndrome in Southeast Asian Refugees: A Review of CDC Surveillance." Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Review 36 (1987):43–53.
SHELLEY R. ADLER
User Contributions:
1SherieJan 23, 2007 @ 12:00 am
Can SUND be related to sleep paralysis? A lot of the folklores that I've heard about the "Dab Tsog" it seems to have similiar symptoms as SP. People who claimed to have experienced it said it was like they were awake but could not move their bodies no matter how much they tell themselves too. I accidently stumbled upon this site.. and it got me interested. My mother told me that one of her brother died suddenly in his sleep after they moved to the USA after the Vietnam War. Doctors could not figure out why. He was a healthy man in his 30's, whom was a Dentist back in Laos.2kalvinJan 28, 2008 @ 12:00 am
talking about SUNDS. Here in the Philippines, we call it "OROM". many of us here experienced that and we found ways to wake up. SUNDS is like, you are very conscious of what is going on around you. you can here your relatives passing by, youre eyes are closed but you can move your eyeballs and the more you strugle, the lesser the chance of walking up again. when we experience this sunds, there are there parts that we know that we can move. our hands, thumbs of our feet and our mouth. we either move our toe or grasp our hands if its not enough, we bite our tounge. usually people here experience sunds when they are very tired and sleep. a study has been made about rice. it may be another factor because asians eat rice and many say that sunds were only experienced by asian people. hope this little info can help.3JoshFeb 10, 2009 @ 7:19 pm
I have this and until now thought I was the only one. I am white, healthy and 22 years old. It has been an embarassing thing top talk about, people may think that your talking about alien encounters or something. I have had the dream twice, it doesn't seem like a dream at all, in fact it is very real. I felt and saw a very strong spirit terrify me and put his hand over my mouth, and feeling like he was trying to take my soul. My soul fights back and I win. But I am constantly worried about the next time it comes. Sometimes even afraid to fall asleep. I do not want to die this way, is there any cure??4MimiMar 1, 2009 @ 4:16 pm
Hello. I live in Los Angeles, CA, Afro-American, female and I started experiencing similiar things like SUNDS when I was around 33 yrs. old or younger. Now at 42 yrs. old, I still experience this. Whenever I sleep in complete darkness with everything off in my room. I experience something on my chest like a little being. I am conscious but can only move my eyes, my fingers and toes. When I scream, nobody hears me. And I always wakeup before I'm out of breathe. Like something sucking everything out of you while you look at it helplessly. I can never tell what it looks like, because I alway wakeup. Thanks to Spike TV running a show called " How Many Ways You Can Die", I would have never known about SUNDS. HELP! Can this be fixed? That's my question?5Hope this HelpsMar 9, 2009 @ 12:00 am
Wow I wouldn't have known what my condition was until I watched 1000 ways to die the other week on the spike channel. I must admit I am a little tripped out you always think your the only one who has the experience but am glad only to find out a name of the condition that has plaqued me sense early childhood. This might seem crazy but when this happens to me I am totally conscious in my sleep but yet not awake I fell myself stop breathing and no matter how hard I try I cannot breathe I'm totally paralyzed! Even talking to myself telling me to breathe doesn't seem to help. But as soon as I say in my mind one of the two words God and or Jesus. Then as if like a miracle I can breathe again. Many cultures seem to have this phenomenom I have talked to one another person who has this condtion and says god or Jesus worked as well. My ex boyfriend who was Mexician sayed they called "Diablo sleeping on your chest". I'm blessed I'm still here I must have a purpose. For anyone reading this I pray this helps. God Bless6KathyApr 7, 2009 @ 10:22 pm
I am 21, chinese american and I have the similar experience. I do not know if it is SUND but i have experienced a reoccurring dream for the past 3 years in which, i dreamt about a ghost (kinda like the girl from the Ring) coming towards me and then my whole body would begin to shake uncontrollably. I would feel that my body is undergoing a black out while i am sleeping. I would also see stars. I screamed but no sound came out. are there cures?7RobJun 28, 2009 @ 8:20 pm
Iam 31 from Canada..I kinda get the same but sometimes when I wake up in early morning or just lying down after work..I will go in a deep sleep but Iam still awake inside..the first few times I was freaked out..but now I learned ways to wake up..I move whatever I can..my feet and hands are mainly the 2 that I can only move but one time I was able to open my eye's and look around the room..after waking up..my eye lids were burning fire..
I guess from trying so hard..I learned to liv with this because I went to a Doctor and he says Iam dreaming....but one thing I did learn..that this mainly happens if the room temperature is way to hot and with winter here once of year..you got the heat up and your under problably a few blankets so it was problably 55c +....with the heat and blankets and the sun coming thru the window ...so if this helps keep the heat down...but I also learned that my body somewhat generates alot of heat when I sleep..8franciscoJun 29, 2009 @ 12:12 pm
i have been suferring from this curse for years.i have come to understand that what am experiencing is an atack from an evil entaty.you feal something on your chest chocking you an taking the life out of you.you start to panickthen you get scared of dieing.calling on god an jesus is wen your let free from its retraints but there was one time i laid still an relaxed an i was able to wake up.docters wont under stand this so dont bother telling any.if you are not religious i inply you start bealeaving.9CaseyJul 14, 2009 @ 9:21 pm
The last comment I looked at about sleep paralysis is probably correct. Sleep paralysis is very scary, but if you don't panic you may go into lucid dreaming. You are the creator of this reality and it is amazing. I found that the more you panic, the more you panic. Basically, the only thing to fear is fear its self. It is kind of like when they say not to fight the current if you get sucked in, but swim with it until it eventually leads you to land. The more you struggle, the more you panic. If you have this condition, do yourself a favor and face it. You just have to accept the fact that you are not in control, and for some reason, that is the only way to gain control. It's weird. I induce this myself so that I can learn more about it. Anyone know who the people responsible for 1000 ways to die is? Don't just take their word, find out who they are and where their interests lie. Maybe someone is trying to prevent people from doing this by inducing more fear about it. Who knows...?10OctavioJul 15, 2009 @ 12:00 am
PLEASE HELP!I HAVE SUNDS AND CANNOT RECOVER!I frequently have this nightmare; and afraid I can actually die from it.11OctavioJul 15, 2009 @ 12:00 am
PLEASE HELP!I HAVE SUNDS AND CANNOT RECOVER!I frequently have this nightmare; and afraid I can actually die from it.
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Name:E-mail:Security Code:
Views: 42
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Judy on
-
Sure sounds like sleep apnea, doesn't it?
I did experience what you might call "sleep paralysis" once (and only once, thank goodness!). But there was a somewhat reasonable explanation. My husband worked third trick. Our carpeting in our family room was especially thick and comfortable. I had curled up in a sleeping bag on the floor in the family room and was watching Johnny Carson and fell asleep. Sometime later I woke up to the front door opening! It was pitch black. Evidently I had woke up enough at one point to turn the TV off. But our dog hadn't barked or raised a ruckus when the door opened! I panicked! Where was Didi, our dog? Why wasn't she barking? I couldn't move! I couldn't call her! I couldn't speak! I could open my eyes but it was so black I couldn't see anything! All I could do was lay there and LISTEN! Nothing. Eventually I was able to move and quietly got up and peeked around the corner. I could just barely see the door open and the outside. Then Didi trotted back in the house and feeling more brave w/her by my side I went to the door and looked out. Nothing there except STRONG winds and a storm coming up - and the barn light and TV came back on while I was looking out. I closed the doors securely and Didi and I went upstairs to bed. We must have had a short power outage due to the wind storm. I never understood panic attacks or being frozen in fear before - or since, thank goodness!"
© 2025 Created by The SleepGuide Crew.
Powered by
