Night Terrors and Sleep Paralysis

[MrsReiver]

Anyone else get this? I am a sleeptalker and a sleepwalker prone to occasional night terrors and sleep paralysis, which seems to get worse when I'm pregnant.

This morning I went back to bed about 10am for a wee nap, my son was in the room playing Moshi Bloody Monsters on the PC. In that sort of twilight sleep phase, I was struck with sleep paralysis. It takes the same format everytime, my heart starts pounding as if it's going to burst out of my chest and I can't move or utter a word. If I'm in bed with my DH he can usually tell as my breathing changes and he will hold me or talk to me which snaps me out of it.

I tried to whisper my son's name, or even knock a book off the bed to get his attention, but I could move a muscle. I knew what was happening and knew it would pass but it doesn't stop it being terrifying. And all the time I'm thinking "stress hormones are harmful to the baby" which was just making me worse. I don't know how long it lasted - probably less than 30 seconds, but it is horrible and I couldn't relax enough to doze off after it.

Does anyone else suffer from these? How do you "snap" out of it if you do?

I do but it stopped when I was pregnant. Thankfully, I hate it!

When not pg I started sleeping with an eye mask and it nearly stopped them altogether. I think for me it's triggered by seeing vague shadows and shapes and the eye mask removed this.

If I do get one now I focus on wiggling a toe or finger and that snaps me out of it

Sympathies, though - they're horrible

I have this occasionally, it is horrible. I get a 'suffocating' sensation as well, which is probably just panic, but it's really terrifying and feels like a lot longer than the few seconds it probably is :(

I do the wiggling my toes thing as well, it seems to work. For prevention, some people say sleeping on your side is better than on your back. And try to relax and get enough sleep, because stress and tiredness can make it worse.

I do get sleep paralysis and hate it. It's always terrifying. Vivid dreams too. And also sleep talk and sometimes scream. Not too often nowadays thank goodness. Never sleepwalked as far as I know. Don't remember suffering when pregnant though. There was a thread about it a while back.

Thank you for your replies, it's good to know I'm not alone in this. It really is awful isn't it?

I have noticed that if I'm on my back it's a lot worse, so I do try to sleep on my side but that didn't stop this morning's events.

I do try the wiggling my toes thing, it gives me something to concentrate on other than the pounding heart and terrifying sensation. It works sometimes, but not always. DH has tried to reassure me that 30 seconds of stress isn't going to brain damage our baby - but that's not going to stop me worrying.

I get it too, I always try to shout and alert Hubby who then wakes me, I find that I THINK I've shouted a few times but eventually manage to get one out, lol, it's such a weird thing.

Oh and the once he heard my murmuring, thought I was having a sex dream and left me alone to enjoy it, lol.

I find that I THINK I've shouted a few times

Yes!!! I asked DS just now - "you know how Mummy talks in her sleep? Did I make any noises when I was having my nap this morning?" and he replied with a very disappointed "No you didn't say a word, and I really wanted you to cos it's funny"

In my head I was screaming at him! I was sure I'd got at least one of them out and he was just ignoring me!

Usually I find I'm frantically 'shouting' to myself 'wake up wake up!' but I don't think I actually make any sound .

I think your DH is right about it not harming the baby - severe prolonged stress maybe can have an effect, but a bit of a panic now and then is not going to do any harm. It's not as though you can help it anyway, so pointless to worry about things like that (easy to say, I know!)