Sleep Paralysis? Anyone?

[Belinda Barfield]

If you suffer from sleep paralysis and have any tips/tricks for how to deal with this, please share. I haven't been sleeping more than three hours or so for a couple of weeks now, and I know that this is causing me to experience sleep paralysis more frequently. I wake up and just can't seem to go back to sleep. I almost always have sleep paralysis when I take a nap, dang it, so naps are out of the question. I also have cycles of nightmares and, unfortunately, I'm in one of those now, too. That makes the sleep paralysis really fun! Any advice appreciated!!

[Prashun Patel]

My THEORY is that could be diet related.

A few years back I had bouts of sleeplessness - less serious than yours - I experimented with omitting foods, and concluded that sweets close to sleep time (particularly mangos, and milky desersts like ice cream or cereal) caused me to have nightmares and to sweat.

That's not medical advice, but if you are truly at your wits' end, you might try eliminating certain foods from yr diet for a little while and seeing what happens.

Also, do you consume a lot of caffein? They say that eliminating that helps. I drink a cup or two of coffee a day for comfort reasons, but I do notice that on days I don't drink it, my energy level is much more even in the pm, and I do sleep better. But that's just me.

Good luck. I feel yr pain. If you can't sleep well, nothing else seems to matter.

[John Pratt]

I am not a doctor, have never played one on TV, and haven't been to a Holiday Inn Express in a while, but when I experienced the same thing it was stress. I had to evaluate how many things (stressors) were going on in my life at that moment and eliminate the stress they causing/I learned to deal with them.

[Belinda Barfield]

Stress is the most likely culprit. Right now, other than changing every aspect of my life, I'm not sure what do to about the stress.

[Prashun Patel]

In that case, you might want to do the exact opposite of my advice:


Eat MORE ice cream.

[Wayne Watling]

Regular exercise at a gym, like an hour a night 5 nights a week is not only good for the body it can help with sleeping problems.

Best,
Wayne

[Belinda Barfield]

In that case, you might want to do the exact opposite of my advice:


Eat MORE ice cream.

Maybe that's my problem, Shawn, I don't eat ice cream at all! I don't really eat any sweets.

Regular exercise at a gym, like an hour a night 5 nights a week is not only good for the body it can help with sleeping problems.

Best,
Wayne

I try to get in three to four days/nights a week at the gym. My body gets really tired, my brain just won't shut down.

[Norberto Coutinho]

Here in Brazil people use to drink a juice of a fruit named maracuja. Very good for sleep.
Take more information =
http://www.google.com.br/images?hl=p...ed=0CDUQsAQwAw
. Some fothos are from english language sites.
.
Maracuja is also Passion Fruit ( in english )
.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passiflora_edulis#Uses
.
Maybe you can find this fruit in States. Or the concetrate juice. I hope that help you

[Jim Rimmer]

Lots of good advice - exercise, less caffeine, diet change. I would add, talk to your doctor. I wanted to quit drinking Irish whiskey to put my brain to sleep so I talked to my doc. I told him I didn't want a sedative because if I was going to drug myself out I would stick with the whiskey since I liked it. He put me on Rozarem, a melatonin exciter. It worked - got off the whiskey (except when I just want some) and eventually got off the Rozarem. I don't know how it would work for waking up in the middle of the night or the nightmares but it helps with getting to sleep initially.

[Jim Koepke]

Stress is the most likely culprit. Right now, other than changing every aspect of my life, I'm not sure what do to about the stress.

Back when my life was more stressful one thing that helped was a tea from Celestial Seasonings called Sleepy Time tea. I would drink this then go to bed immediately upon finishing the cup. No sugar or sweeteners were used.

It is a blend of calming herbs.

That is one of my side interest, the use of common culinary and medicinal herbs.

I will PM you their page with information.

jim

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

your Brain is waking up from REM and your body is not awake with the brain so it remains paralyzed?
Mostly it's a stress thing from what I've learned.
If I recall correctly, you've had your share of stress in the last few years. Maybe its catching up to you.
Consult your MD and see if you need a referral to a psych.
It may also be something that a xanax can fix too so you really ought to be looking to your doctor.

[Belinda Barfield]

Thanks all. My only caffeine intake is two cups of half caf/half decaf before work in the morning, so I've eliminated excess caffeine as the cause. I take melatonin about once a week and that helps. I don't really like to take anything to keep me asleep because there is not much worse than not being able to wake from a nightmare. (I wonder if one is eaten by a bear in a dream if one really dies.) I guess I'm going to have to give my doc a call as several of you have suggested.

That is one of my side interest, the use of common culinary and medicinal herbs.
jim

On a side note Jim, I went on a guided nature walk a couple of years ago. The subject of the walk was native medicinal wild flowers. It was fascinating.

[Belinda Barfield]

your Brain is waking up from REM and your body is not awake with the brain so it remains paralyzed?

Yep, that sums it up. I also get hypnic jerks. When I'm falling asleep I have the sensation that I am falling and my whole body jerks and I wake. Yesterday morning I had sleep paralysis. When this happens everything seems very, very real. I could hear someone walking very quietly across the carpet. I knew someone was in the room and that I absolutely had to wake up. Then I heard this voice in my ear, literally it sounded like someone was talking inside my head, and I felt the sheet tightening around my legs, then my hips and moving upward. I tried to scream and couldn't and I couldn't move. I finally woke up, screaming. Of course there was no one in the room. No wonder no one ever invited me to a slumber party when I was growing up.

[David Weaver]

I still get hypnic jerks (never saw them actually defined) but no longer much sleep paralysis. I had the "monster" on my chest sleep paralysis when I was young, as well as multi-level dreams (one where you wake up from a dream, but you've woken into another, and by the time you really wake up for real, you're not sure that you've peeled enough layers off the onion to really wake up).

The sleep paralysis went away on its own, so I don't have any suggestion. Still have the multi-level dreams, though, fairly often.

[Belinda Barfield]

I still get hypnic jerks (never saw them actually defined) but no longer much sleep paralysis. I had the "monster" dreams when I was a kid, and sleep paralysis, as well as multi-level dreams (one where you wake up from a dream, but you've woken into another, and by the time you really wake up for real, you're not sure that you've peeled enough layers off the onion to really wake up).

The sleep paralysis went away on its own, so I don't have any suggestion. Still have the multi-level dreams, though, fairly often.

Interesting David. I have multi-level dreams as well but never thought of them as that. All of these things must components of a larger sleep disorder. I've always blamed the hypnic jerks on things that happened in childhood (don't we all) and being afraid to let myself fall asleep. Can you think yourself into a dream? For instance, if you are imagining yourself on a sandy beach do you dream of that when you fall asleep?

As I said before, this must all be related to stress, compounded by lack of sleep - sort of a vicious cycle. When I am getting adequate sleep I rarely have the sleep paralysis unless I take a nap on the sofa.