Have you fallen asleep at times and places that may be dangerous?

You may qualify for a clinical trial of an investigational medication if you think you have a sleep problem or you know that you have
• Narcolepsy
• Shift Work Sleep Disorder
• Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Call this number to see if you qualify or if a study site is located near you
1-866-283-3565. Also you can check out www.myexcessivesleepiness.com for more information. Please pass this on to friends and family that might benefit. Good Night!

So this all started at about age 12-13 I woke up in the middle of the night like everyone sometimes does, but I quickly noticed that I couldn’t get up, as a matter a fact I couldn’t move a thing. I immediately thought I had been paralyzed. I cried out for my mother and father but no one seemed to hear me. I then thought I was dreaming, but I could see the clock out of the corner of my eyes and it was moving and the time seemed right 2-3 in the morning. Then when I started to notice it was just too real to be a dream I tried to think rationally, I went to bed completely fine, there is no reason for me to be paralyzed, so I began to start fighting it, I concentrated on my fingers and after a few seconds I did it! I moved two fingers and as I started to move my hand completely BOOM! I "wake up" and I am able to move again, I was a bit confused and when I looked at the clock the time was around the same time I had seen in the "dream".

That was the first time, I tried to describe it to my parents but they just dismissed it as a bad dream.

It didn’t happen again until I was 15-16 but then it started to happen 2-3 nights in a row, and then didn’t happen for 3-6 months. this would continue until age 17-18 I think I only had one episode during that time, but now I am 21 and it just happened at 3:56pm 10/03/2004, all this time I have been debating with myself and others whether it is truly a dream or truly real.... well this time it was different, not the experience but the situation, I have a girlfriend now that lives with me. so tonight I worked on my computer until late at night, I was really tired, so its 2:00 am and I go to bed, my girlfriend is already in bed, so I lay and fall asleep, next thing I know I am looking straight at my sleeping girlfriend and I cant move! So I immediately get scared, but I calm a bit and try to move something, anything! I start to move my foot, and I feel that the bed shakes so I assume that the movement is real, and then I try to yell Angela! Angela! No use, she can’t hear me, I notice that my mouth didn’t really move, my screaming was in my head, I continue to move my foot as hard as I can. AND THEN! The moment of truth! My girlfriend Angela wakes up gets up slightly and looks at my foot. and I can see her doing it, I see her getting up, this can’t be a dream because she is reacting to something I am doing (my foot movement) so I shake my foot harder and harder to try to get her to see that something is wrong with hope that she will wake me up... and just as she notices that something is not right I snap out of it and I jump up from the bed and take a huge gasp of air, Did you see it! Did I move my foot?!? I immediately asked her with a frightened voice. Yes, she said, What is wrong? What is wrong?.... so I take a deep breath with relief that I finally after all these years I know its real, the things I see are really happening. its not a dream its real!.... once I fully understand what I have just found out I got scared, maybe this is a brain or nervous system disease, maybe one day I wont be able to snap out of it!! 3:56 am and I couldn’t go back to sleep from the fear, excitement, and confusion that had just occurred. So I get up and get on the computer, I goggled and yahooed all the possible sleeping disorders and related things I could think of until I found this!

http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P.html

I had finally proven it to be real, and now I had found a wealth of information about the condition/experience it isn’t dangerous and it will most likely end or diminish dramatically around age 27 (great 6 more years to go!) but I also find it to be completely fascinating, to be able to control these episodes and have "lucid dreams" and "OBE"

If you are reading this click that link, you will find a lot of information about these odd & frightening experiences.