does anyone know what causes or what is sleep paralisis........i have experienced it but know nothing about it...........im in the same position i fell asleep in and think im awake i can open and move my eyes but not any other part of my body........i cant speak and no matter what i try i cant move.........it lasts about a minute then i wake up in a totally different position............its always as i fall but i think before ive fell asleep.

squinting cat.

It looks like you are not alone in this problem.


Narcolepsy?


Posted by Kristy on November 23, 1998 at 00:23:15:
Hello
My name is Krisy and I am a 19 year old college student. For the past few years I have had increasing episodes of sleep paralisis. This occurs usually when I am taking a nap and less often when I go to bed at night. I loose the ability to control any part of my body except breathing. Though fully concious, I cannot even open or close my eyes or twitch my fingers. Once I finally "snap out of it" it can occur 2-3 more times before I actually fall asleep. I also hear sounds such as footsteps or shuffling upon the onset of sleep. Also, I wake up many times during the night in a confused manner, thinking I have to be somewhere or thinking I am talking to someone else in he room. Finally, I often feel tired and have a hard time staying awake in class. I don't know if this is a symptom or if I just don't get enough sleep. I have never had a sudden attack of sleep however, so I don't know if I have narcolepsy or just some of the symptoms. My sister has some abnormal sleeping problems too. She often halluciates and talks in her sleep.
I was just wondering if narcolepsy is a genetic disorder. Also, because of my busy schedual, I often need to nap and don't really get a chance to have a normal sleeping routine. Are there any other ways to get over these symptoms if you don't get regular sleep. Is sleep paralysis currable? When it first started happening I was terrified but since I learned that it is something that actually happens to others, I have learned to calm myself down when it happens. But it would be nice to not have it deal with it anymore.

If anyone has any helpful information or "tips" I would greatly appreciate it. Personally, I find that if I sleep on my side rather than my front or back, I'm less likely to experience loss of muscle control.

Thank you .




Posted by kay on January 05, 1999 at 11:05:22:
In Reply to: Narcolepsy? posted by Kristy on November 23, 1998 at 00:23:15:

Hi, Kristy.
You don't have to go right off to sleep like in the middle of a sentence to have narcolepsy. You really should be checked by a neurologist and sleep specialist. You must have the sleep lab study (staying overnight and the following day for 20 minute naps every 2 hrs). This was how I was diagnosed 1 month ago. I remember college....I smoke packs and packs of cigarettes,,really not b/c I liked them but b/c they helped me stay awake while I was studying. I have vivid memories of the hallucinations(sp) that I would have at my parents house when I was younger. I could hear the man's footsteps clearly and couldn't move a muscle! It gives me chills even now.
The best thing for me has been having an answer. I have had a very rough year trying to find out but knowing is much better. My nuerologist says I've probably had this since teens but have been fighting it, etc. The cataplexy really started this year.



Posted by Eileen on December 31, 1998 at 11:31:42:
In Reply to: Narcolepsy? posted by Kristy on November 23, 1998 at 00:23:15:

Reading your post was too weird... I could have written it a few years back. I started having sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucinations (which is probably what you are experiencing when you hear things upon the onset of sleep) freshman year of college... I blamed it on stress, and everyone thought I was just being overdramatic when I described my experiences... the thing was, I knew I was awake, because I could see things in the room, but I couldn't move or speak, and frequently there would be something or someone in the room that shouldn't have been (i.e. an intruder, an animal, spiders, etc.)... many a night was spent searching for the spider I SWORE was on the wall next to my bed. As for the sleepiness... that was a big joke among my friends... we were always joking that I "must be narcoleptic... haha!" I fell asleep in class ALL the time... in fact, I once began writing a note to a friend sitting next to me in class and fell asleep while writing it... ironically, what I was writing was "I swear I must be narc...." never finished writing the word "narcoleptic" because I fell asleep! It wasn't until I started having cataplexy in my senior year that I was diagnosed... The cataplexy started out mild (knees buckling while laughing) and increased to the point where I would collapse to the floor if I was angry or surprised. I went to a neurologist who happened to be a sleep disorders specialist... he asked me several questions, and after describing things I thought were completely unrelated, he told me that I was a classic narcoleptic. I laughed... I'd been joking that I was narcoleptic for a couple of years now! Anyway, 3 years later, I'm on medication for both the sleepiness and the cataplexy... and I've read a LOT about it... to answer your genetics question: they have found strong reason to believe that narcolepsy is genetic. It's also possible for a doctor to verify whether or not you are narcoleptic by having a sleep study done... I don't know where you live, but there are some very good doctors out there, and there are some pretty shabby ones, too! You might have to go to two or three doctors before finding one who knows very much on the subject. You're not alone! Good luck.



squintingcat.

I actually experienced the paralysis you are talking about once when i was a kid.

It scared the hell out of me, and just like the post above , i saw the spider on the wall as well.

I was only 12- years old at the time, so it wasn't alchohol or drugs that did it. LOL.

Aparentlly we have a built in physialogical function in our bodies that paralyses the muscles in our bodies while we are in REM deep sleep.

That is for own protection, so that when we are dreaming or having a nightmare, we don't physicaly act out our dreams.

Try to strangle the person in the bed next to us.

Or start thrashing about and do ouselves an injury.

ive not experienced falling asleep during the day not while doing something....when it first started i did think there was something in the room with me after a while it was no longer there......i moved about a lot when i was younger and i noticed it took around a week to happen whenever i did.......i laughed at the thought it was following me........ive also when in this state been lifted off the bed....i once hung on to the headboard while asleep because i was floating,i knew i was going to float out the window.....because i was aware people do things for real while sleeping i wouldnt let go........i actually thought i was going to jump out the window while i was asleep.....im no expert on sleep states but i did think deep sleep happened after a few hours.......this happens instantly.

ive experienced it 2 times a while ago but it always happened when i dreamt of a UFO, in another case I would dream that i was paralyzed, couldnt talk, move... and also have a UFO in that same dream

i started to suffer with this in my adolescent years but its continued into my thirties........it wasnt really an explanation of the condition i wanted i wondered if anyone knew what caused it........i dont need a cure i dont see it as a problem........i learnt how to come out of it when i wanted too a long time ago.........i didnt know it was common the only other people i knew of who experienced this were my sisters i know they looked into it but apart from spirits trying to contact you got no real answers............we experienced it on the same days as well we found..........i never met or saw them i only saw what was around me.......they did see each other when they shared a bedroom but not when we all lived apart..............one of them was also told narcolepsy but it didnt explain the same days.............or the fact that my sister was floating 3 foot above the other one who was herself paralysed and watching........i at the same time was in a similar state trying desperatly but unsuccessfully to nudge my girlfriend so she could see what i was on about..........i know all about the condition and cant really see why people need tablets for it...........its very easy to come out of and is more of a nuisance than a problem i thought the sleep clinics would of found the cause of it which is why i asked...

this is the first time ive asked about this subject...........the only other times ive talked about it have been with my sisters or my girlfriend of 20 years..........their 2 husbands like my girlfriend thought we were a bit weird when it happened at the same time............i also cant understand the no clear explanation.........you conscious mind is awake while your bodys asleep...........this is why you appear to be in the same position you fell asleep but wake up in a different one and is also the reason you cant move..........your conscious mind does not control your body while sleeping............it cant send signals to any part of your body............if your body moves during this experience as it does normally while sleeping your not aware of it until you come out of it.........this probably means your body and unconscious mind are carrying on as normal............holding on to the headboard and my sister floating involve movement so although the conscious level is the same the paralysis isnt...........two parts of the brain operate independantly of each other at the onset of sleep...........or rather the conscious mind detaches or is detached temporarily from the unconscious one not as it normally is whilst awake but at the exact moment you fall alsleep............this is the opposite of its normal function so has to be in my opinion something to do with the conscious mind off switch thats triggered when we sleep............it becomes a nuisance when after 7 or 8 times of it happening if your paralysed knowing your going to have to wake up and try and fall asleep again.