Posted , 2 users are following.
Hi everyone!
I’ve been having nightmares lately that I don’t wake up from unless someone hears me moan in my sleep because I can’t scream since my mouth is closed while I’m sleeping and wakes me up. What kind of sleep disorder is this and how do I wake myself up by myself when I’m having them?
Thank you...
0 likes, 4 replies
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lily65668 r71792
Posted
This has all the hallmarks of sleep paralysis. Your not being able to scream is the giveaway. That's not because your mouth is closed, btw, it's because your larynx is partially paralysed in this state. I know quite a lot about sleep paralysis as I've had it myself for more than 50 years and am also a former neuro nurse.
It's absolutely nothing to worry about. It's something practically everyone experiences once or twice in their life, but about 5% of the population gets it on a regular basis. And you don't need to worry about what would happen if there was no one else there to wake you. I've lived alone for more than half of my adult life, and I always come out of attacks spontaneously, as do all sufferers. They usually last a few seconds, but I've been reported as making croaking sounds during an attack for more than five minutes (during which time I couldn't be woken even by shaking, although I was aware of it). One way or another, you'll always come out of it spontaneously in the end, with no harm done - except for a nasty scare.
This happens because of a very minor brain glitch that tends to be hereditary - though these things always have to start somewhere of course. My father and at least two other members of his family had it. It can start at any time in life, but the most common age of onset is 15-25.
During the REM (dreaming) phase of sleep, everyone's brain secretes a hormone that paralyses all the voluntary muscles of the body, to stop us jumping up and acting out our dreams. This doesn't paralyse the muscles of the autonomic nervous system, that control things like breathing, heartbeat, automatic swallowing, digestion etc. In some of us, the brain goes on secreting the hormone for a few seconds or minutes after we wake from a dream, or - less commonly - starts pumping it out before we're fully asleep.
It can sometimes help if you concentrate very hard on moving the last joint of your fingers or the tip of your tongue during an attack, but usually there's very little you can do about it, other than let it run its course.
A better approach is to try and identify what triggers your attacks. If you can identify your triggers, you can usually reduce the frequency of attacks. My main trigger is getting too warm when sleeping. I sleep under just a sheet for most of the year, with a light blanket at the foot of the bed. I also have more attacks if I'm sleeping too much - e.g. sleeping late in the morning or taking an afternoon nap. However, some people find the opposite - they have more attacks if they're sleep-deprived. Stress and anxiety usually make attacks more frequent and more severe. Some people find that eating certain foods late in the day can provoke an attack. Over-indulgence in alcohol and recreational drugs can also trigger attacks. For some reason, cannabis seems to be a particular culprit here. Sleeping too close to electronic equipment can also be a trigger - which is not really surprising when you consider that our brains function via electrical impulses. It might therefore be a good idea to switch your phone off at night, or at least leave it on the other side of the room.
The above list is by no means exhaustive. Everyone who has sleep paralysis tends to have their own set of triggers. You need to identify yours.
There's no cure for sleep paralysis, which isn't an illness anyway. It's a completely harmless phenomenon that people just learn to manage and cope with over time. The good news is that it tends to decline with age, though I still get a couple of episodes a month even now, in my 70s.
If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to post them here.
r71792 lily65668
Posted
lily65668 r71792
Posted
Thank you for your kind concern - but there's really no need. This is something that's easy to live with once you understand what's going on.
I was indeed terrified when it first started back in 1967, in the run-up to my general nursing finals. (There's the stress element for you.) I've always hallucinated during my episodes, which was particularly scary. Only about half of those who experience SP actually hallucinate, btw. I'd never been taught about SP in my training, and there was no internet in those days, so I was in the dark. My father only told me about his family history 20 years later, having been forbidden to talk about it by my mother, who thought it was a sign of madness! I somehow managed to pass my exams in spite of the sleepless nights, and went on to do a specialised neuro nursing course during my intern year. That was when I found a single paragraph about the phenomenon in a neurology textbook, and was finally reassured.
Once I started figuring out what triggered these episodes I felt more in charge, even though they didn't stop happening altogether, and the whole thing eventually became just a minor inconvenience. You can get used to anything. Think about people who are born with physical disabilities.
r71792 lily65668
Posted