[satans-getawaydriver]

I've recently started to experience these SP's.  I'm actually quite relieved, because i thought i had a clot or something - with the way my head started buzzing.  Then i searched the net and found out about SP - I have had it before, but that was upon waking, and i didn't experience the buzz.  Today I went for a little nap and experienced it three times.  When it happens, i hear voices and see things - I hear voices sometimes anyway, because I'm psychotic.  I saw and heard an evil old man by my bed - which was scary.  Can anyone tell me why there's always a theme of evil during these episodes? It doesn't make sense to me.  The fact i can't scream out or move is very disturbing.

The difference between genius and stupidity is genius has its limits - Guess I'm free as a bird then

[chris]

quote:Originally posted by Andrew K Fletcher

You may think that the circulation in the spinal cord is well understood, and you may be surprised to learn that there is no clear explanation for the driving force behind the cerebrospinal fluid, other than it is posture related and does not rely on pressure from the heart. I asked Dr Wise Young (the Dr that initially cared for Christopher Reeve) how he believed cerebrospinal fluid circulates? I made it quite clear that I was asking about the driving force and not just the route it takes.

I had a long wait for an answer, and eventually, all I managed to squeeze out of him was the pathway in which the cerebrospinal fluid circulates. I.E. From A. to B.

Wise is a good man, and a brilliant spinal cord specialist. But he could not give even a vague explanation of the driving mechanism. Not surprising when one cannot find a clear explanation in any medical book!

CSF flows from source to sink. CSF is formed as an ultrafiltrate of plasma in the choroid plexus within the brain's lateral, third and fourth ventricles. It flows out into the subarachnoid space surrounding the brain via the foraminae of Magendie and Luschka, making its way back into circulation by reabsorption via arachnoid granulations in the superior sagittal sinus in the falx.

Cells lining the subarachnoid space, called ependymal cells, carry hair-like projections (cilia) on their surfaces which beat rhythmically, setting up currents that sweep the CSF along, and both the pulsation of arteries running through the subarachnoid space and physical activity are also thought to assist in moving CSF. The situation is similar to the muco-ciliary escalator in the lungs whereby ciliated cells lining the airways help to sweep mucus and debris out of the lungs up towards the throat.

Chris

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx

[davidh]

im 18 and recently i have had sp at least once in every month. when i was younger it would just be every now and then. the evil presence that some people write aboute for some reason stalks me when i am actually awake through the day. i feel the exact same way as i feel during sp, the only difference being that i have controll over my body. im sure there must be some1 else out there who constantly suffers with sp and has the same scary experiances when they are awake through the day

david.h

[gumby]

Hi Julia,
 I've been suffering from sleep paralysis since I was about 10 years old. I,ve spoken with many people about this,and everyone thinks I am crazy. I have these episodes on a daily basis.The best way I have come up with to end it is to relax completely,as fear and anxiety can make it even worse. When I am relaxed enough, I jerk myself awake. It works every time for me. I hope this will help others. The main thing that I had to teach myself, is that I will wake up,everything will be normal, and,that the fear is only fear.

[simeonie]

F.E.A.R - False expectations appearing real



----------------------
-__- my website!!!!
http://www.simeonie.co.uk
has forums too!
Think about it! lolz

[finchbeak]

This is a fascinating thread; never heard of SP before.  [Of course, when I find myself having trouble moving upon waking up, I usually remember having had a bit too much scotch the night before - certainly not the same as SP ]  I will definitely check out Julia's article.
I vaguely recall learning about a neurological mechanism whereby the somatic nervous system is more or less shut down upon falling asleep.  This makes good adaptive sense as it prevents one from moving around very much while dreaming.  Of course, the shutdown is not complete (as can be observed by watching a sleeping dog "run" in her sleep) and I seem to recall that sleepwalking is essentially caused by a failure of the brain to perform this shutdown.  
Can anybody confirm or deny or correct or expand upon this recollection of mine?

[mightypai]

Hello Everybody,
I one of the SP senior, but before today I tought to be the alone.
No one would believe me when I was a kid.
It started when I was 12, I was in my mother's bed with a broken leg, and suddenly I couldn't move a finger nor lips, not even pronounce a word. I didn't really understood what was going on, then it happened to me many other times, and I really didn't know what was going on, some time go really baaad, with all the shadowing things in the room, pressure of something or somebody on the chest, and difficulties to breath. ****, it was really scary the first times. Even if I tried to fight with all my strengths I still kept beeing frozen. It always happens when I'm almost almost asleep, when it happens.
I think it happens to people who may be more mentally weak. I actually was, or in moments when you are very very tired mentally and phisically, and now that I've grown, I am 25 years old, it happens very seldom (thank god)
1 thing that may usually help me is to pray just before sleeping, maybe it just helps me mentally, but it works sometime.
And actually I also used to pray those times I froze, seconds that seem to last soooo damn long.
Now when it happens I try to fight whatever evil presence is there or looks to be there. Of course I may be scared, but I fight with all my unger and after praying god, I think to myself (because I cannot talk) "Come and Get Me! I 'll fight you Ass....e !"
Almost Everytime I can feel it coming, (just 1 sec. or less before) and I can avoid it by moving my body, but it's not really so easy, but when I did it, it's like to push away an evil presence/feeling.
Did any of you ever felt it coming ?
Another thing: if there was somebody sleeping with me who would push me or move me I'd unfreeze.
Bad for me that most of the times I was sleeping alone
Train your mind to be peacefull and strong, it will help !

[mightypai]

Hello Julia,
I read your article, very interesting, I have a question:
Why during SP do we have these really bad bad feelings of evil spirits, presences, breaths difficulties (we feel somebody on our chest and so on) ?

[coolgirl123]

Hi

This is my second post to this topic. Just yesterday i had another episode of SP and this time it was totally different from my previous episodes.
My previous assumption that this was related to stress is not true as yesterday i was not at all stressed.
Generally during these episodes i feel there is a stranger or a strange thing next to me, but yesterday i could clearly see that it was my dad entering the room. Though it was a familiar figure, i was still scared because i know my dad is out of town and cannot be at home.

In a sense the fear during SP is a fear that you know its not true yet you are seeing it, but can anyone answer why we experience breathlessness and why we cannot utter any words or call out to a person?

My mom says she also experiences these things, could this be heriditary?

[dutchgirl]

I read about SP in many different forums. Many of you believe that there actually is no presence in your room. I don't agree with that, and I'm not the only one. I believe that there really is something in my room. I guess most people dismiss the idea that there could be demons in their bedroom. But what if you're not dreaming? You have the idea you're fully away so why can't that be true? It's not imagination for far too many people suffer from SP.
Fortunately, I don't suffer from SP anymore. The thing that helped me was praying. You might be sceptical towards this but I won't hurt trying! Believe me, demons won't touch you when you pray.
For the ones who are religious or interested in the bible, here are some comforting scriptures: Psalms 25:20 "Do guard my soul and deliver me. May I not be ashamed, for I have taken refuge in you." and Proverbs 18:10 "The name of the LORD (or Yahweh or Jehovah, depends on the translation) is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe."

[ade670]

Everybody,
To say i found this website by chance is an understatement.  Bored, 1am in the morning cant sleep.. need a scare!!  I typed in 'spooky stuff' into google and found old Hag syndrome... Suddenly every hair on body stood on end as i realised... hey wait a minute this has been happening to me for years, actually ever since my divorce, or at least when things started to go wrong.. actually putting my mind to it.. it has always been there.. I have always thought this was a kind of lucid dream.. I have only read a few posts and write my exact experience - is virtually the same everytime.  Ok, not sure what time in morning it is.  I think i wake up but it is as if someone has wiped the ability to moce from my mind.  I lay there briefly for what i think is a blink of an eye and then the pressing starts.. can't explain better .. I sleep on my front and it is as if someone is sitting on my back.. I think i can feel the hairs all over my body stand on end and i realise that something is wrong.. I have tried recently to let-in the pressing feeling rather than fight to wake up .. I remember saying in my mind... Go on then.. as if i was letting someone in.. stupid I know but the pressing increased considerably until I panicked and dragged myslef awake.. To be honest I dont even know how I wake.. All i know is, when I awake I feel totally stressed and anxious, scared even..  Until this day I have always thought of it as a kind of lucid dream , maybe not.. i cant categorically say one way or another.. I am going to read more posts.  I would appreciate some feedback on this.. I write as I think so please take the above as completly honest.  OK.. me.. am a regular 31 male.. relatively high ranking in the military .. am divorved with two 7-year old girls.. Have been under stress at work.. but this goes back a long way.. i think that the frequency of the 'attacks' increases during times of high stress.  

Any ideas??
anyone on MSN .. I'm totally dumbstruck at mo.

[bumblesting]

Andrew K Fletcher's post describes SP as your body being asleep while your head is fully awake. That's exactly how I described it to my GP around 30 years ago when I was in my early 20s and he'd obviously never heard of it. He told me I was suffering from stress which was complete nonsense. I'd suffered from these incidences of paralysis since my late teens when they used to happen pretty regularly, sometimes several times a week. I was in my late forties before I'd even heard of SP by which time they had more or less petered out, I rarely get them now. I used to think they were more frequent during humid weather which someone else has said on here.

The malevolent presence for me was always a large animal, usually a cat, which would lie across the top half of my body and gradually work it's way up to my throat when it would start to suffocate me. I would try and nudge my wife and call out to her to wake her up. But my muscles didn't respond and even though I felt like I was talking quite clearly to her, she said it just sounded like a muffled scream. Fortunately it was just loud enough to disturb her and then she would gently shake me out of it, she said my eyes were wide open and staring straight ahead. I would always be pouring with sweat and gagging for breath when I came out of it. It was quite frightening when it used to happen when I was away from home and sleeping alone. Sometimes I thought I would pass out and people would think I was dead, then I'd be struck with the thought of being buried alive.

Even though I rarely suffer from them now, it would be good to find out for certain what used to cause the attacks. I never heard of anyone else having them and really thought I was the only one who'd ever experienced it. But I didn't talk about it often, didn't want people thinking I was an oddball.





veritas vos liberabit

[Andrew K Fletcher]

I have conducted a lot of research into the way gravity provides a stimulous for the nervous system. It was my beleif in 1994 and is today, that horizontal bedrest helps to shut down neurological function, and that sleeping on an incline helps to maintain neurological function.

Raising the head end of the bed by six inches has certainly helped my wife! Now if she gets an episode of s.p., she is able to take control of her body more easily. Furthermore, there has been a massive reduction in the number of s.p episodes that she experiences and that simply cannot be a coincidence.

The bed is raised at the head end using blocks of wood, bricks or by placing a plywood wedge under the mattress depending on the type of bed used.

Having the legs level or raised is useless and comprimises the circulation in the whole of the body, along with compressing the spine and buttocks, whereas having the whole bed angled from head to toe, actually decompresses the spine.

If you are serious about finding answers, then I suggest you try this method and begin to understand how to deal with S.P.

Andrew

"The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct."
K.I.S. "Keep it simple!"

[Simmer]

quote:Originally posted by chimera

I remember reading somewhere that it's a natural phenomenon that prevents you from hurting yourself (and possibly others) in your sleep...

Yes I thought that was the case too.  This link http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=9806 suggests that temporary paralysis is necessary and experienced by everyone during deep, REM sleep but is recognised as a disorder when it starts to early or ends to late, when in light sleep or even awake.

I would guess that the hallucinations are the dreams of someone in a light sleep trying to rationalise the sensation of paralysis (by associatiion with fear or a physical impediment) but I don't know if any of our experts would agree?

[gavin]

Im hearin people talk abbout how they wish there was a cure for SP and I read somewhere that it can be caused by sleep deprivation

[Andrew K Fletcher]

Place an eel on its back it is it rendored imobile, shutting down its nervous system, same with gators and crocks and even a chicken. In fact many species of animals become totally imobilised when their posture is screwed around with!

Now hold you arm and hand above your head and it will also become numb and useless if you manage to keep it there long enough.
So its not rocket science to presume there may be something seriously wrong with sleeping on a flat bed!

When you tilt your bed so that the head end is 6 inches / 15 cm's higher than the foot end, the nervous system is not shut down as with sleeping flat, However, if you sleep with your arm higher on an inclined bed you cant move your hands, fingers or arm when you awaken, further proof of gravities influence on the nervous sytem?  But I guess you guys are not going to listen so why do I bother?

Andrew

"The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct."
K.I.S. "Keep it simple!"

[Simmer]

quote:Originally posted by Andrew K Fletcher

 But I guess you guys are not going to listen so why do I bother?

Sorry, Andrew, I wasn't ignoring what you said, just that not suffering from sleep paralysis I had no experience to add to your post.  Interesting idea though, I would certainly be interested to know if other sufferers find or have found the same.

[Lisa20]

Hi, I have been having this problem since last year.  I happens when I an falling asleep or just about to wake up, and then i get frozen unable to move or speak or open my eyes...the first time I heard a woman speaking to me in my ear and she rubbed my back as like consoling me.  It felt so real! that happend after I had a big fight with an ex-boyfriend.  The next time i heard a man talking to me and rubbing my hands saying "it will be ok, I am always here for you" but the weird thing was...was it scared the crap out of me and all I could do is cry right after  it.  Keep in mind i was frozen still..it happens time to time and just started back up again,  and I continue to still hear voices, some of little girls, and one recently, just tonight was rambled and fast and creepy like something evil.  Most of the time i pray and just keep praying for it to go away but it still comes up and I can feel it coming onto me ( the paralyzation), but sometimes it doesnt help. One time i even stopped breathing and couldnt even move to hit my man next to me, it must have lasted atleast a min. I thought I was going to suffocate and die..it scares the **** out of me and I hate for it to go as far as me hearing or seeing things, so I just pray but sometimes it isn't enough.  Please feel free to email me or IM me, I would love to know more about this because i strongly believe in spirits and all that stuff so this is why it scares me.[]...

Lisa B.

[robhazes10]

i just had the same type of experience for the first time myself. around 3:00 a.m. i was awakened by what sounded like my fiance` voice saying my name in my left ear. i was laying on my back and when i opened my eyes my fiance` was on my right. i got extremely scared when i noticed i could not move, i tried to yell for her but i was out of breath. i also kept seeing flashes of a blurry figure to my left and what sounded like very loud whispers in my ears. then slowly everything went away and i was able to get up.  i've also heard someone say my name in my ear about 5 mounths ago and when i'm home alone i always feel someone is following me.

[beenthere]

All you can do is open your eyes... and blink. I'm glad I found out its called SP. I didn't even think it had a name. Do you guys ever get those dizzy spells right before "going in"? Like some sort of whooping tickle?? When I barely noticed that I start to feel that "tickle" I turn to my side, that usually helps; then again- I'm usually too tired to move and just let it go. I'm a veteran, so I never worry about it that much, anymore. Exhaustion is my best guess.