Question
I've had this 'thing' ever since I can remember and it scares me to death. When falling asleep I go from being awake to dreaming before actually falling asleep if that makes sense. It starts with a horrible sensation over all my body, with the loudest noise in my head which is like a deafening buzzing. Then I get images of my dream along with sounds. At this point I'm desperately trying to wake up, but can't move a muscle. It can happen anytime and does so quite regularly, but especially if I've had a nap in the evening(even if it was for a half hour or so). It's always terrified me. What is it?
Thanks.
Answer
Relax, this is normal phenomenon, its called hypnangogic hallucinations and sleep paralysis, normally we are born to have our bodies and brains fall asleep at tthe same time, but for some reason science doesnt know there is a nano second lapse so one is still dreaming, dreams are so frightening and you are unable to move, because your body is still asleep and paralyzed which is how we sleep, if we werent paralyzed when we slept we would be sleep walking, if when this happens which can be so frightened you can remember to try and move your eyeballs from right to left it will break the cycle, Now if this happens so so much and your daytime alertness is affected by it then it can be a symptom of narcolepsy. also never nap after 3pm and only for 20 min if you do as napping after 3pm could be whats making it happen more because the nap is lapping over into your normal sleep cycle. You can also visit a sleep center and have your sleep monitored for this, they will give you antidepressants in baby dosages which hold back the dreaming and this for awhile, but as stated before the dreaming must break thru as dreaming is the way our bodies and brains rest at night without them we would be depressed, and even cause physical and mental illness. go to sleepnet.com click on disorders narcolepsy read about sleep paralysis and hypnangogic hallucinations. in your case if not sleepy in the daytime its just normal perhaps knowing this can alleviate your fear. I suffer from narcolepsy and get them often they are so frightening that even after im totally awake after an hour im still looking on the bed and around the room to see if the thing i was dreaming of is still near me. feel free to email again, relax your normal but only if the daytime alertness is not being affected.feel free to email again karel you can also go to sleepnet.com click on the forums and search sleep paralysis
