Sleep Paralysis

[nailit]

Anyone here suffer from sleep paralysis?
Talking to my son last night about it as he gets it. Unusually though, he gets it as he's falling asleep, I thought it was something that affects you as you wake up??
He says that he knows that its about to occur as he gets a 'grating' sensation in his head. (he finds it hard to describe).
Anyone had similar experiences...paralysis when falling asleep and a 'knowing' that its about to happen? Also, is there anyway to prevent it?
(he's also prone to lucid dreaming, is there any connection?)
Thanks

[ummmm]

I used to. I believe it can be due to stress.

When you go into a deep sleep your brain shuts down the body so it can rest. With sleep paralysis the brain starts waking up but your body doesn't. Your dreams, usually bad ones, feel and sound real but you can't move. So so scary.

[NoMercy]

Yes I've had it during extreme anxiety and I've had associated visceral buzzing. There is also a link between sleep paralysis and clicky jaw but quite how they're linked is not known.

It can be a frightening experience and I've found the more I struggle to move or call out, the more protracted the experience becomes. The only way I've found to deal with it is to totally relax my body and mind and stop fighting.

[Old_Geezer]

I seem to recall having it just the one time, and that was on awakening.

I'd have thought one could experience it at either end of the sleeping period as the body needs to be not thrashing about for the whole duration, but clearly we do still move around during the night.

[Patsy33]

I use to get it a lot. Is very frightening but I told my self it was probably medication I was on and stopped worrying too much about it.

[nailit]

thanks for replies so far, very interesting. Cant imagine what its like.

[jno]

I've occasionally had it while waking up but apparently it can happen as you fall asleep too

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Sleep-paralysis/Pages/Introduction.aspx

[Cloverjo]

It's happened to me twice. Once when I was a student, while going to sleep. Another time more recently on waking from an afternoon nap. It's very frightening. The first time I was terrified and didn't know what was happening. I tried to shout for help but was literally paralysed.

[sunny-dave]

It's appalling - the worst experience I've ever had - the feeling of being awake but completely immobilised and unable to call for help is terrifying.

Only happened to me a couple of times (both when waking after a short doze, rather than a full night's sleep) and not recently, thank goodness.

[pixie374]

I had it a couple of times, years ago. It is supposed to be caused by sleep deprivation or stress, but it is really scary. I couldn't work out if I was awake or asleep. I tried to kick OH to wake me up properly, but couldn't move or speak. Mine was on waking, but it makes sense on falling asleep too.

[Quizproquo]

I get it fairly often. My particular brand has a black goblin type creature sitting on my chest scrabbling at my bedclothes.
I can't explain how I've done it, but I've taught myself to be aware while unaware when it's happening and although it's terrifying, I say very firmly to myself "you're not real!" until it stops.
This seems to work quite quickly.

[Cloverjo]

My first episode also included a feeling of someone or something pressing down on my chest, an evil entity in my bedroom and someone pulling my sheet out from under me.
This was all while paralysed, so very scary.

[jackthehat]

There are two periods of the sleep pattern when S.P. will occur...
hypnopompic - the state immediately preceding waking up,
hypnagogic - the state immediately before falling asleep.

With me, I could feel someone climb on the bed and then crawl up the bed with a knee and hand on either side of my body and they would lower themselves onto me.....the feeling of their weight was terrifying. :o(

[nailit]

Great replies, thank you all.