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5 to 8 Hours of Sleep Paralysis a Day

by Alan Lance Andersen
(Roland, Iowa)

Most of the articles I've read about Sleep Paralysis (falsely) assure the reader that the inability to move doesn't last very long. Mine may run only a half hour, but more often 5 to 8 hours are typical. Last week, I awoke at 8:00 am (I could tell because the wall clock chimed). I was totally unable to move. A couple of hours later, my health worker arrived to take me to two doctor appointments. She was unable to bring me out of the paralysis. It was finally 1:00 pm when I was able to move. That's 5 hours. I missed both medical appointments and had to re-schedule. I cannot work any job where I need to be there at a certain time because there's no guarantee that I will be able to move in the mornings.

Sleep Clinics and Mental Health professionals have no clue how to help. Any suggestions??

ALAN

Kevin: Hey Alan, that sounds like some seriously abnormal REM processes. I had never heard of sleep paralysis lasting that long but I talked to someone with more experience and he said that he has heard of it on a few occasions, but only as a symptom of narcolepsy. Does anything in our article about narcolepsy sound familiar or relevant to you?

My one suggestion that I couldn't stress more would be to keep searching for a sleep doctor, but specifically one who has experience and knowledge about narcolepsy. A lot of doctors don't and they won't be able to connect the things you are telling them to the things you actually should be doing.

All the best,
Kevin


(Please keep in mind that I am a student of sleep science and not a medical doctor. Please take any thoughts I give with my background in mind.)

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