Dreams, followed by strange sensations once awake ?

Hi Simone,

Those dreams are simply part of the sleep paralysis (SP) phenomenon - especially the ones where you're falling rapidly through the air. I've had SP for more than 50 years, and this type of dream actually preceded the onset of my full-blown SP by about 10 years. My "speciality" was being sucked backwards at great speed - like being caught by a giant vacuum cleaner. I'd get a terrible feeling in my stomach, like being in a plane dropping into an air pocket, and would often wake from these dreams into an episode of SP. I still occasionally get the dreams, but they started to fade once real SP set in (when I was 23). Now I'm in my 70s I don't get this particular dream any more, and the SP attacks are growing less frequent and less severe. I still have vivid dreams though, and they can be very frightening on occasion.

There is absolutely nothing neurologically wrong with you. As it so happens, I'm also a former neuro nurse, as well as a lifelong SP sufferer. The dreams and the SP are part and parcel of the same, perfectly harmless, brain glitch which affects up to 5% of the global population.

Lucid dreams are also a known part of the entire SP phenomenon. I used to have a lot of them, and often had incredible transcendent experiences, though I've sadly lost the ability to lucid dream with age. I really miss it!

It's interesting that you mention the occasional attacks of déjà vu. I've always had them too, and have often wondered whether there might be a link. Meeting another SP sufferer who has the same thing tends to confirm this theory. It would actually make perfect sense, as both arise from the temporal lobes of the brain. A significant majority of SP sufferers (like me) also tend to hold esoteric spiritual and philosophical beliefs, and may be prone to occasional transcendent experiences even when awake. This is also true of those who have temporal lobe epilepsy, of course, but in that case there would be a lot of other, more noticeable symptoms. (You can google them.)

Interestingly, I've suffered minor attacks of vertigo all my life, even as a small child. They often wake me when I turn over too quickly in the night, and when I was young I had frequent dreams about earthquakes (even though I'd never experienced one then). I really don't know whether there's a link, but vertigo isn't normally associated with the temporal lobes. In my case, I seem to have a slight vulnerability of the inner ear, as I've had three attacks of BPPV in the past 25 years, two in the left ear, one in the right. This is the one where the crystals in your inner ear get in the wrong place, and start sending wrong information to your brain about the position of your head in space. BPPV is easily fixed by a manoeuvre performed by a vestibular physiotherapist, and has no neurological connotations at all. I personally think this is a bit of a wild card, and it's just a coincidence we both have vertigo, but I'm mentioning it anyway.

My personal feeling - like many other SP experients - is that this is something to be welcomed and cherished, rather than feared.

On a practical basis, you should be able to reduce the number of unpleasant dreams in the same way you can reduce the incidence of SP attacks. The trick is to figure out what triggers these attacks - either "falling" dreams or SP. Once you've done that, you should be able to at least partly avoid the triggers, which will reduce the attacks. Have you started doing this yet?

The triggers vary widely from one person to another, so you'll need to observe yourself carefully and try to figure out your own correlations. Here are a few suggestions, but they're by no means exhaustive.

My principal trigger is getting too warm while sleeping. I keep my bedroom as cool as possible and sleep under just a sheet for most of the year, adding a light blanket in winter. No snuggling under a cosy duvet or quilt for me - that's bound to trigger an attack! I also have more attacks if I'm sleeping too much, e.g. having a lie-in or an afternoon nap. However, some people find the opposite: they have more attacks if they're overtired. Some people find certain foods or drinks taken too late in the evening can provoke an attack, and recreational drugs - especially cannabis - are known to trigger attacks of SP even in people who don't routinely have them. Drinking too much alcohol late in the evening will do it for me, though I suspect this is mainly because it causes overheating in my case. Electromagnetic influences can also play a part. This isn't as surprising as it sounds when you realise that the brain functions entirely via electrical impulses. Try to avoid sleeping too near the electrical box in your house, and especially don't keep your phone switched on next to your bed.

This is just a small sample of possible triggers. The important thing is to identify your own, and then avoid them as far as possible. You won't be able to prevent SP attacks altogether, but you should be able to get the SP and the dreams down to a more manageable level.

The hypnic jerks and adrenaline surges are nothing at all to worry about. These are simply produced by anxiety - especially anxiety about what will happen when you fall asleep. And you don't need to be running around in a state of panic to be anxious. Anxiety often occurs at a deeper level, where we're not even conscious of it, but that doesn't mean it can't affect us.

I hope the above helps a bit. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions, either by posting here or sending me a private message - click on the envelop icon next to my name. PMs via this site don't expose the email address of either party and don't carry viruses. However, I'm about to leave for a few days' holiday so won't be available in the coming week.

Just in case you're wondering why I'm so keen to help - it's because I really suffered  when I first started having SP. I've always had very bad hallucinations with mine (like about 50% of SP experients) and I was absolutely terrified. Although I was in the run-up to my nursing finals at the time (stress is often the trigger that brings on the first attack) I'd never heard of anything like this. There was no internet in those days of course, and it wasn't till I started a post-grad neuro nursing course a few months later that I found a single paragraph about it in a neurology textbook. I don't want other young people to go through the same torment as I did.

Finally, did you know this whole syndrome is strongly hereditary? (Though it has to start somewhere, of course.) My father, a couple of his siblings and my grandmother all had it. It might be worth enquiring around in your family. However, if they think it's a mental illness (like my family did) they may be reluctant to talk about it.

I have been suffering from Sleep disorders and for the past 6 months everyday my sleep pattern changes.  The result would be known on the next day.  Many nights with vivid dreams. My brain has shrinked with CSVD.  Im 55 male and  dreaming and sleepless nights.  I can't explain.  Even during day time dreaming with speaking goes on.  Today  I lied in the bed and immediately I started speaking  like Hmm... That was heard by me itself.  I am taking many medicines including clonazepam 0.5 & Elesert 100.  When will it end?