Sleep Apnea Causes

I have chronic insomnia. It started probably 8 years ago. On an initial appointment with a new OBGYN, my doctor asked if I was on the pill. I answered yes, and he advised me to go off of it because over time, the pill interferes with serotonin levels. I did that, and in a week was sleeping like a baby. Then, over the course of time, my sleeping problems came back. It has been years on and off of sleep aids. I have tried Valerian root, melatonin, tylenol pm, and of course the prescription stuff, but then I end up a zombie the next day. I read about 5-htp and was wondering whether or not this might be a solution.

your last statement is your answer, there is no guarantee, this product is not better than the ones you are describing though. on the other hand, if you have gone through so much then it is worth a try, good luck

I’ve never experienced it before and I’m 15, I generally get quite a good nights sleep. If it was to happen, say tomorrow night and why wouldn’t it of happened before? I always sleep on my side, so will that ensure that I definitely won’t experience sleep paralysis? I am very scared of it happening, will my faith in God protect me from experiencing it?

Why are you worried about this. It is not that common. You have more of a chance of getting cancer than experiencing this which is a minor nuisance and lasts for a short duration

I have terrible nightmares, which are likely episodes of sleep paralysis. I am looking for ways to calm myself to lesson the fear during these episodes but I don’t want to do anything which might cause an out of body experience or astral projecting. I am not even sure these things exists, but don’t want to cause my brain to think they do….any thoughts?

Dont worry Out of Body Experiences can never happen if your afraid or anxious.

I have narcolepsy and i always fall alseep on the toilet. last time, i fell asleep and slipped in the toilet. when i woke up, i was all messy. it was a terrible experience. what can i do prevent falling asleep while performing activities, such as using the facilities?

#1 change doctors. Your meds aren’t working. #2 You have to rig up a bar so that if you fall forward, it will stop you. If worse comes to worse, get a wheelchair and cut out the bottom, position it over the toilet, but put the front bar/desk top in place before you begin your business (brakes on).

TX Mom

I have narcolepsy and i always fall alseep on the toilet. last time, i fell asleep and slipped in the toilet. when i woke up, i was all messy. it was a terrible experience. what can i do prevent falling asleep while performing activities, such as using the facilities?

#1 change doctors. Your meds aren’t working. #2 You have to rig up a bar so that if you fall forward, it will stop you. If worse comes to worse, get a wheelchair and cut out the bottom, position it over the toilet, but put the front bar/desk top in place before you begin your business (brakes on).

TX Mom

Sleep paralysis is when you wake up and suddenly you can’t open your eyes, move your body, sometimes still hearing or feeling things and can’t breathing, even though your conscious and awake?
This is sort of a frequent thing for me, believe it or not.

I did once and it was the most frightening experience in my entire life. I woke up from a dream and I felt like there was a body lying on top of me, keeping me down and preventing me from moving. I could barely see anything because it was very dark. I was very scared, I felt like I was in danger, so I tried to scream, but no sound came out. I remember forming the words "MOM!", in my head, but I couldn’t make a sound. Then a hand moved over my mouth, and I felt like I was being suffocated. My next thought was to throw myself off the bed, anything to be out from under the thing that was crushing my body. I don’t remember what happened next because I fell asleep. I did not sleep at all the next night, but it has never happened again.

I had two episodes last night, both were pretty terrifying. Even as a 18 year old, I was tempted to go crawl in bed with my mom after the second one. The first one I hallucinated an out of body experience, but during the second one I was completely lucid and aware of what was going on.

I was just wondering, is there any relationship between sleep paralysis and depression? My depression seems to be worsening and I’m wondering if these episodes are symptomatic of anything.

Studies conducted have suggested a link between Sleep Paralysis and Social Anxiety (usually comorbid with Depression).

Please share… i am considering this surgery for my sleep apnea, and would like to know any experiences u can share. i am currently using a mouth piece especially made by a dentist for my sleep apnea, but it is not effective. BTW, I have had a sleep study done by a neurologist, who determined I have sleep apnea.

no my husband has been on an air pump for the past 5 years and he is a new man.

I have experienced sleep paralysis for the first time ine my life on wednesday morning and last night it happened twice. I was wondering if t here are any dangerous in this. I went to the doctor’s thursday on a unrelated note and told him about my experience and he explained that it was sleep paralysis. I have somethign wrong with my heart (need further tests to know what it is), could a heart defect cause sleep paralysis? Or something like sleep paralysis?

Sleep paralysis i a frequent phenomenon in youg and anxious people.
We call it "parasomnias" (to impress people), and there are several of them
One, the most frequent, is the sleep paralysis ( not a real paralysis but really scares away the wits out of you), and seeing "insects" crawling on the wall when you are half asleep or half awake…another parasomnia, is falling to the floor for some few seconds, after a burst of laughters..
Sleep paralysis is experioenved by 83,6% of all people, in one moment of life or another, however its extremely common in anxious, young people.
The feeling is being awake for some few seconds 10-20, and being unable to move any part of your body, even when you are aware that you are awake, and have the purpose of moving the limbs…and cant do so…until you can move a toe for instance, and the ability to move spreads to the rest of the body in 2-3 seconds….
Its a very frightening experience, to say the least. however it is caused by anxiety, and will dissapear alone or if annoying too much, then mild amounts of antidepressants (amytriptiline 25 mg ate bed tome or imipramine 10 mg) usually resolves the problem.
Is an all too common question of young people in reproductive age, and aven more scared (unnecesarily so) are boys and girls between 8 to 14 years of age..
Nobody has been harmed or diseased by sleep paralysis,….its more annoying than dangerous (it bears no danger in itself, however it expresses daytime anxiety)
Tou will be OK no matter what…

And also while sleeping at night?
I often get sleep paralysis. And I find them pretty scary while I have them. Evey time I have them, almost every time I have them, I fear something bad will happen to me, like I’m dying or something ( which, once I’m out of the sleep paralysis, I see that I’m alright physically).

Thanks for all answers.

From Wikipedia:
Sleep paralysis is a common condition characterized by transient partial or total paralysis of skeletal muscles and areflexia that occurs upon awakening from sleep or less often while falling asleep. Stimuli such as touch or sound may terminate the episode, which usually has a duration of seconds to minutes. This condition may occur in normal subjects or be associated with narcolepsy, cataplexy, and hypnagogic hallucinations. The pathophysiology of this condition is closely related to the normal hypotonia that occur during REM sleep. When considered to be a disease, isolated sleep paralysis is classified as MeSH D020188.

Physiologically, it is closely related to the paralysis that occurs as a natural part of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which is known as REM atonia. Sleep paralysis occurs when the brain awakes from a REM state, but the bodily paralysis persists. This leaves the person fully conscious, but unable to move. In addition, the state may be accompanied by terrifying hallucinations (hypnopompic or hypnagogic) and an acute sense of danger. Sleep paralysis is particularly frightening to the individual due to the vividness of such hallucinations. The hallucinatory element to sleep paralysis makes it even more likely that someone will interpret the experience as a dream, since completely fanciful, or dream-like, objects may appear in the room alongside one’s normal vision. Some scientists have proposed this condition as a theory for alien abductions and ghostly encounters.

The paralysis can last from several seconds to several minutes "after which the individual may experience panic symptoms and the realization that the distorted perceptions were false". When there is an absence of narcolepsy, sleep paralysis is referred to as isolated sleep paralysis (ISP). "ISP appears to be far more common and recurrent among African Americans than among White Americans or Nigerian Blacks", and is often referred to within African American communities as "the witch riding your back"

Sleep paralysis is most often associated with narcolepsy, a neurological condition in which the person has uncontrollable naps. However, there are many people who experience sleep paralysis without having signs of narcolepsy. Sometimes it runs in families. There is no known explanation why some people experience this paralysis. It is not harmful, although most people report feeling very afraid because they do not know what is happening, and within minutes they gradually or abruptly are able to move again; the episode is often terminated by a sound or a touch on the body.

In some cases, when hypnogogic hallucinations are present, people feel that someone is in the room with them, some experience the feeling that someone or something is sitting on their chest and they feel impending death and suffocation. That has been called the “Hag Phenomena” and has been happening to people over the centuries. These things cause people much anxiety and terror, but there is no physical harm.

What else can you tell me about sleep paralysis?

* Some people with disrupted sleep schedules or circadian rhythm disturbances experience sleep paralysis
* A study found that 35% of subjects with isolated sleep paralysis also reported a history of wake panic attacks unrelated to the experience of paralysis
* Sixteen percent of these persons with isolated sleep paralysis met the criteria for panic disorder

How can I stop the sleep paralysis?

In severe cases, where episodes take place at least once a week for 6 months, medication may be used.

You may be able to minimize the episodes by following good sleep hygiene:

* getting enough sleep
* reduce stress
* exercise regularly (but not too close to bedtime)
* keep a regular sleep schedule