Sleep paralysis. Does anyone get this?

Are you on any meds?  Sometimes certain medications can cause this.  My brother-in-law had this condition when I first met him, although he did not describe leaving his body or looking down on it. 

Yes, Bird. Stress of any kind is one of the major factors in sleep paralysis, at least in the sense that a difficult day can bring on attacks over the next few nights. But I don't think it actually gets worse overall because of mental illness. I've had it for 50 years. It was very bad when I was young, then again when I was in my early 60s and coping with my mother's dementia (also without help from social services, in reference to your posts elsewhere, so I know what that one feels like too). You may have read my long post made just a few hours ago under a thread called "I keep hearing loud sounds as I wake up?" started by Simon08890.

It's to be expected that you'd have a flare-up of the condition after an upsetting experience. Although talking about how you felt was probably helpful, it would still have stirred up all kinds of emotions in you. I had a particularly bad go of it one night only about two weeks ago, not having had any serious episodes for several years. I had at least six back-to-back attacks, and in the early part of the night too, when I was very tired, so less able to recognise what was going on. Early-night attacks are always the most scary for me. I normally get it towards morning, when I'm only sleeping lightly and can immediately figure out what's happening. I realised next morning that I'd had a rather difficult conversation with a friend the evening before, which had upset me more than I'd admitted to myself at the time. Well, that and the fact that I'd eaten half a lobster, so it might have been the poor crittur's revenge!

I gather from your post in the forum mentioned above that you've had this for some time, so I expect you're used to coping with it in general. You'll probably be aware that worrying about getting an attack is a pretty good way of provoking one, so you need to let go of the anxiety if you can. Easier said than done, as I know only too well, but you will find that things will get better over the next few nights.

Do you have a mild sedative you could take? When I've had a bad night I take an absolutely minute dose of the anti-histamine Phenergan a couple of hours before going to bed the next night. Not last thing as it doesn't work then. And I'm talking really minute - I cut a 10mg tablet in four to make 2.5mg. (For reference purposes, you can give a five-year-old 5mg several times a day.) I once mentioned this to my GP - though not in the context of sleep paralysis, which I've learned not to discuss with doctors - and she laughed and said it was practically homeopathy! I'm sure it doesn't have any chemical effect but it's usually enough to reassure me, so I don't get another attack.

I know it can be a terrifying experience. I get tactile hallucinations (i.e. I can feel them and they hurt!) which I'd never describe in an open forum as suggestion plays a big part in the phenomenon. However, you need to remember that you're not being "attacked" by anything scarier than your own unconscious - though that's quite scary enough, I know! If you can just trust yourself and get through the next couple of nights as best you can, you'll find it will go away again. And maybe it won't come back at all, even tonight. I'll send you some good vibrations from across the English Channel!