paralized in sleep

[aweb]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hey all,
I am new to SDN but have been browsing for ages...I am a hopeful pre med student.
Anyway...I have a question that may be somewhat irrelevant to what this wole forum is designed for, but I haven't been able to find much relevant information on the matter..so any onfo you guys might be able to give or similar experiences that you want to share would be great.
Basically, this morning I was a awake anf fully aware of my surroundings but I was paralised and I couldn't open my eyes...as I also cannot move my mouth (which is the wy I breath when I sleep) I start (or felt as thogh I am suffocating)...this places me in a stage of high alert in which I try to break myself out of this paralysis but it is to no avail. My fiance was cuddling me at the time and I could hear is breathing and everything else that was going on around me. Luckily he woke up to go to work and his movement against my body broke me out of it (this had happened to my a couple of time before and usually the only thing that will bring me out of it is someone else moving me.....once I was trapped in a dream...but aware of my surroundings and couldn't get out of it...I knew my boyfriend of the time was there and I was able to yell 'help help' so he woke me up)....today i was not asleep though but awake and paralized with my eyes closed. It really really disressed me. I knpw some of you may think 'go to a Dr'......but from what I've heard it is a common thing...so just wanted to hear your ideas...and if there ever is danger of suffocating this way.
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!😱

 

[smartreader]

I'm not a neurologist, but you might want to look up information on narcolepsy.


Regards,
Smartreader

 

[GoodMonkey]

see a doctor!

 

[chicamedica]

Actually the same thing happened to me twice when I was about 15 or 16. The one time it was the middle of the night and I felt like I couldn't breath, and I also started hearing a voice, which i thought was my late maternal grandmother. I don't know if it was a hallucination or part of a dream, but I vividly remember it. I was scared and I was trying to call for my mom but like you said I was paralyzed and couldn't move my lips or get enough breath to shout.

The second time it was more that I was almost awake. I was taking a nap and I think I had awoken, but I couldn't move, and I think I was hearing a voice again.

First let me just say, I am NOT psychotic. And these things never happened to me again so far. It does seem a little like narcolepsy, with the hallucinations and paralysis before awakening, but I have no other symptoms of it and those were the only 2 times I experienced that, many years ago.

If anyone knows what this is, speak up!!

 

[emedCleo]

I know someone who has this problem. Frequently, he wakes up paralyzed (in REM sleep we are normally paralyzed to protect us from hurting ourselves in our sleep.)

Initially, he panicked at being paralyzed, but over time he realized it wasn't dangerous. He copes with it 2 ways: 1) goes back to sleep, 2) tries to rock himself slowly. He comes out of it and now does not get scared.

A doc said it is related to narcolepsy...his mind and body are out of synch. Sorry, don't know the fancy medicalese term for it.

Naturally, see a neurologist about it because a general MD might not be familiar with the condition. You probably won't get a good answer for why it happens, but you will get reassurance that you are ok.

Cleo

 

[ac808]

The "disorder" is called sleep paralysis. It is extremely common affecting close to 20% of the population. It has nothing to do with narcolepsy (although narcoleptics can also have sleep paralysis). I have heard that there are a number of ways to release yourself including rocking back and forth or making yourself cough.
If you are worried about it, look up "sleep paralysis" on google and find a discussion forum. I dont think you should see a doctor unless you are falling asleep during the day or while driving, then a workup for narcolepsy might be warranted.

 

[rxfudd]

Originally posted by ac808
It is extremely common affecting close to 20% of the population.

That can't be right. Maybe 20% of people with sleep disorders, but not the whole population.

 

[GeddyLee]

Yeah...this is not a disorder or anything to be concerned about. I have the same thing happen to me somewhat frequenly. I knew about sleep paralysis and assumed that it was happening to me. Back in 2nd year of med school, I talked to one of the docs who did sleep stuff and he said that it was nothing of concern. It is quite distressing though. It is the feeling of being "locked in" for a few seconds, and no matter how often it happens, it gets no less frightening.
From my understanding, it is caused by a chemical that the brain releases during REM sleep that paralyzes the body. This is why you don't act out your dreams, and say, beat up your sleep partner when you dream your are in a fight or something. In some people, the chemical lingers, and when you awake from REM sleep, you have some paralysis. It's actually kind of cool when you think about it.
I think it happens more often in narcoleptics, but if you don't have excessive daytime sleepiness or fall asleep a lot during the day, then you don't have narcolepsy, and you don't need to waste time or money seeing a neurologist.

Geddy

 

[lattimer13]

it's due to the stuff the aliens inject you with when they abduct humans. researchers have found these "drugs" have similar, but not identical, functional properties to the knock-out and paralytic drugs anesthesiologists use during surgery...only the alien version is more potent and has a longer half life...that's why you it stays around in your system long after they've finished inserting their anal probes and have returned you to earth from the mothership. there's really nothing you can do, because the aliens will find you one way or another. you see, that little scar on the back of your neck is where the aliens insert their intracranial tracking devices. they can find you anywhere in the milky way. even if the other weaker alien nation gets to you first, the more powerful aliens can track you to at least beta-sintar galaxy. so my point is...resistance is futile. just go with the flow and everything will be alright. scientists have found that this continues for a period of 30-45 years on average in about 97% of these cases that you describe. so, in other words, don't worry because it will be over before you know it.

Hope this helps!

🙂

 

[aweb]

thanks all.....i don't think i'm narcoleptic...i don't fall asleep mid sentence or anything like that! Your thoughts were great though...did some research on it this morning...just wanted to hear other experiences because it really is such a horrible feeling.
ew...

 

[Wrigleyville]

This sometimes happens to me when I'm sleeping on a plane or car -- especially when my neck is resting at an odd angle or not being supported properly.

 

[RedBlanket]

Sleep paralysis. Had it happen once or twice to me in my life. I do vaguely remember this being discussed in the preclinical years as a relatively common and generally not significant finding.

Something along the lines of "hypnogogic jerk" which I still experience occasionally, when you are falling asleep and have a sudden flailing spasm associated with a sensation of falling. One of our professors described this as due to the fact that the musculature of your body relaxes into a deeper level of sleep slightly before your mind has fully slipped into the deeper level. Your brain triggers on this unusual sensation and you flail back awake briefly.

I wonder if the two are in any way related.

And I have no other sleep disorders.

 

[16846]

This sounds alot more like Cataplexy to me rather than Narcolepsy...?

-Mike

 

[Da Vinci2]

I experienced this a few times before too (all in medical school though, strange coincidence). The way I remember it was explained to me was that there is a dissociation between the CNS and the motor system as you wake up so you end up with the CNS being active and the motor system still paralyzed (one of the natural mechanisms to keep us from acting out our dreams and walk off a cliff when we sleep). Only now the motor system remains paralyzed a little longer than its supposed to. I don't remember which area or which neurotransmitter (if I have to guess, I will have to guess increase in GABA or decrease in dopamine).

 

[phllystyl]

Originally posted by RedBlanket

Something along the lines of "hypnogogic jerk" which I still experience occasionally, when you are falling asleep and have a sudden flailing spasm associated with a sensation of falling. One of our professors described this as due to the fact that the musculature of your body relaxes into a deeper level of sleep slightly before your mind has fully slipped into the deeper level. Your brain triggers on this unusual sensation and you flail back awake briefly.

That happens to me way too often in lecture this yr. I know the exact feeling you are describing.

 

[....]

THe jerk happens to be every week or so...

I experimented with some drugs i shouldnt have and for about a year after i stopped I would be falling asleap or waking up and regain nearly total consciousness but no control, not able to open my eyes or anything. it would last for at least 10-20 seconds utill i woke myself up through sheer terror. I thought i had screwed my head up or somthing and iwould happen over and over...3 times or so as a feel asleap over and over....i was literaly scared to sleep. Anyway...it stoped about 2 years ago...and i stopped taking any drugs...

 

[Goofyone]

This happenned to me once when I was driving. I was working a graveyard shift, and when I drove home in the morning it happended. Very scary. I could see everything and I was awake but my body just went limp. It only lasted a couple of seconds and I snapped out of it. Glad I wasn't near any intersections.

I have a similar thing happen all the time but I am more in the sleeping state than the awake state (mentally). I'm not really aware of what's going on around me, but I know I am waking up. I try moving my limbs as hard as I can (like running from someone in a dream and your legs turn to lead) and after several seconds of doing this I get tired, and as soon as I give up, I wake up. It happens when I have been not getting enough sleep for several days. The only thing that worries me about it is that I think I do a pretty hard valsalva when this happens. I don't want to blow out an O-ring or anything.

I thought I was a weirdo, and maybe I am, but at least I'm not alone. 😀

 

[Adcadet]

Originally posted by RedBlanket


Something along the lines of "hypnogogic jerk" which I still experience occasionally, when you are falling asleep and have a sudden flailing spasm associated with a sensation of falling. One of our professors described this as due to the fact that the musculature of your body relaxes into a deeper level of sleep slightly before your mind has fully slipped into the deeper level. Your brain triggers on this unusual sensation and you flail back awake briefly.

If I take 75 mg of diphenhydramine HCl (Benadryl) I will often have many "hypnogogic jerks" while falling asleap that keep me awake despite being very tired.

 

[Scrubbs]

I've gotten sleep paralysis my entire life. I usually get it during nightmares though... which sucks, b/c I know I'm awake, and I know I'm in a nightmare, but I can't wake up or get out of it. It used to freak me out as a kid, but I've gotten used to it. Mine actually seems to last for quite a while... several minutes. I've trained myself to be aware of it, and try to either direct my dreams (which is pretty cool... actually) or rock myself out of it.