Question
For years, since i was a young girl i would have siezures when i went to bed. I couldn't move or scream. I had very frightning visions of an evil being coming into the room. I could feel its presence. I could feel my bed rise up off the floor. One morning i actually woke up with a cut of a perfect circle on my finger. I don't know how it got there. Of course my parents thought there was something wrong with me because it happened every night i was terrified and afraid to go to bed. So were they. It happens to my son and although it hasn't happened to me for a long time it recently did again this time i felt it pick up the van i was in and drop it. I was car camping. I just found out from my son that there is a name for this and it happens to other people. I thought i was imagining all this, Is it true? it this an actual symptom of some sleep disorder? I need to know I am not alone.
Answer
Yes it can be a symptom of 2 different sleep disorders but only if your daytime wakefulness is bien affected by it, Its called hypnangogic hallucinations and sleep paralysis, symptoms of hypersomnia or narcolepsy and its also normal natural phenomenon. Our bodies and brains are supposed to wake up and fall asleep together however once in awhile one or the other lags back for a nano second so one is dreaming with ones eyes open and cant move and dreams are so vivid , real and frightening that even after a half hour being awake you are still looking for the monster. Why this happens research hasnt figured out, if it only happens once in awhile its normal, its when it happens all the time that one should get a sleep study done at a sleep center. If you have a son who is getting them often he also needs to go to a sleep center however once in awhile is normal. Go to sleepnet.com click on narcolepsy, hypnangogic hallucinations and sleep paralysis, feel free to email again karel
