Sleep Paralysis--Diagnosed by a Novel

In November, I started experiencing what I thought of as episodes.

The first time I was having a nightmare, I was being chased, and was terrified.  I tried to wake up, my heart was pounding, I felt like I was in danger,  and my body felt really heavy. I fell back asleep, was in the nightmare, tried to wake up... I'm not sure how many times I repeated this process. Finally, I able to stay awake.

The second episode happened a few weeks later and followed the pattern of the first one, but at the end when I woke up I realized that I couldn't move. I couldn't turn over or raise my arms. I thought maybe I was  having a stroke, but dismissed that idea because strokes usually present on only one side.  Needless to say, I was terrified. After a minute or so, I was able to move again.

The third episode I again was dreaming, couldn't wake up, couldn't moved; but this time Tom was home!  I tried to call his name... I couldn't speak! I tried and tried and finally got out a growl.  After several growls I could say Tom's name and even got out a few words: help me, I can't wake up, I can't move.  Unfortunately, Tom was in a pretty deep sleep himself.  He rolled over toward me, patted my arm, and was going back to sleep.  I had to call to him several times. Finally, he woke up and helped me wake up.

Over the next months, I had a couple more episodes. The feelings of fear seem to increase...I felt like something evil was in the room and that it was holding me down.

Enter the novel! I love to read and mostly the books are romance novels. I was reading "Sleeping Beauty" by Elle Lothlorien. The story is about a women who suffers from sleep disorders.  These  are excerpts from the book of her describing her symptoms:
   
          "I started to notice that it took a long time to wake up."

         "I would be awake in my mind, but I wasn't always sure I really was awake."

          "... I couldn't move.  Well, sometimes I could open my eyes, but not much else."

          "And I would have these, uh, visions."

          "I would see things...people and colors and things in the room with me, around my bed."

The doctors explanation:

          "When a person enters deep dreaming REM sleep, the brain paralyzes the body so the dreamer
          doesn't act out the dream and hurt themselves while they are unconscious...Hypnopompic
          Paralysis like Ms Beau is describing happens when you wake up while you're still in REM. The
          person will be largely unable to move and may even continue to dream while awake.

Needless to say, I stopped reading the novel and got on the internet.  My first stop was webmd.  When I typed in hypnopompic paralysis I was directed to sleep disorders/narcoleptcy/sleep paralysis. The article stated: "The sypmptoms involve the temporary inability to move or speak while falling asleep or waking up. These episodes are generally brief, lasting several seconds or minutes.  After episodes end people rapidly recover their full capacity to move and speak."

Next, I went to Wikipedia. The article there was much more indepth. Describing signs and symptoms, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, prognosis, history, and folklore. It was interesting to read and reassuring.  Sleep paralysis is a fairly common disorder. Although scary, there is no damage done physically. If the episodes become too frequent or last a long time there is medicine that may help.

I have continued to have the occassional episode, but I have to admit that I feel a lot better knowing what is happening.

Meeting the Coop Keeper

I finally got to meet Jayme, the Coop Keeper!

Almost two years ago, I found talefromthecoopkeeper@blogspot.com and from the very first post I read I was hooked.  Jayme's bio reads, "I'm a 51-derful year old wannabe farm girl, living in NW Indiana, renovating and decorating an old farmhouse built in 1869.  I'm smitten with chickens, gardening, beekeeping, vintage campers, fitness, cooking, baking, and all things home. I live in an apron. I've recently lost 100lbs and have a few to spare. Welcome to my world."

It's funny, but that is exactly what reading her blog has done-- it let me into her world.  Many bloggers invite you to read about their lives...like reading a magazine or watching a tv show-- you can learn about who they are, what they do, and where they live; but you are not allowed to participate.  Jayme invites you to share her life. 

So, for the last two years, I have gotten to know Jayme.  I have laughed at her antics: walking to a neighbor's house in a snowstorm, tucking chicks in her bra to keep them warm, making movies with Aaron, and of course there is Helene! I have cried when she experienced loss: Aaron going away to school, her cat Jinksie and her banty hen Sissie passing away.  I encouraged her on her weight loss journey. She encouraged me to join her for "Boot Camp" and was still my friend when I quit the program. We have talked through comments on her blog, email, and even telephone calls...but we hadn't gotten to meet face to face.

Finally last week we got our chance.  Jayme hosted a open house on Saturday.  As soon as I read the
invitation on her blog, I wrote back that I would be there unless there was a snow storm and I couldn't find a snowplow to follow, or sled dogs to pull me, or a helicopter to drop me in.

Thankfully, Saturday arrived and the weather cooperated. I drove to Crowne Point, which is about two hours north of Indianapolis. Typical of me I had her address, but didn't get directions. It took me about 20 extra minutes to find her house, but finally I was there.  I recognize her house, her yard, and her vintage camper from her blog pictures!  I knocked on the front door, Jayme's friend open the door I heard her laugh coming from the kitchen, and a few more steps and there she was: all smiles and laughs and big hugs! 

I spent the next few hours meeting her husband and a few of her friends, touring her house, snacking, sipping tea (with honey from her bee hives!), sharing our lives, and of course laughing.  The time went by too quickly and it was soon time for me to head home.  I left with two rabbit figurines,
Spring Chicken Serum and lip balm made by Jayme, a vintage tablecloth, a dishcloth, some Easter candy, and plans to return in the summer! 

I encourage you to read Tale from a Coop Keeper. You will laugh, shed a few tears, and make a new friend... then maybe you can take a drive with me this summer to Crowne Point!

The Great Baby Book Snafu

Yesterday, was Matt's 26th Birthday. As part of celebrating Matt's or Andy's birthday, I look through their baby book and reminisce. So yesterday afternoon, I got out Matt's baby book, turned pages, and started oohing and aahing:

there was the copy of Matt's birth certificate with prints of his precious little feet...

there was the first pictures of Matt: the nurses cleaning him up, the first time I got to hold him, Tom rocking with him, the sweet expression on Andy's face when he first saw Matt...

there were the statistics of his birth:  weight 7 lbs 9 ozs,  height 19 3/4 inches, light brown hair, born at
1:44 pm...

there were pictures of his first Easter, his first 4th of July, his first Halloween, his first Thanksgiving, his first five Birthdays, his first five Christmases...

Wait! The picture for Matt's second Christmas (top left hand corner) didn't look quite right:

The picture was kind of blurry, but his hair seemed a little too dark and wavy... And I didn't think those were the curtains we had in the living room of the house on Jasper Way...And the tricycle is the one we got Andy not Matt....

Oh my gosh, the picture was of Andy's second Christmas not Matt's!  Then, I realized that the picture I had in the spot for his third Christmas was actually his second Christmas... and yes the other Christmas pictures were also off.

Now, here are the issues I have with this little snafu:

1.  How did I not notice all these things when I was putting the pictures in his book? And how did I miss the little date stamped in the corner that was read "1983", six years before Matt was born?  And how did I overlook the writing on the back of the picture that read "Andy, Christmas 1983"?

2.  How in the world have I looked at Matt's baby book at least once a year and never caught the mistakes? (Although really, I have been on some powerful drugs over the years for my depression!)

3.  How could Matt, Andy, Tom, family and friends have missed it all these years?

I guess the good news is that it was easy to remove the picture of Andy, move the other pictures into their correct places, and because I organized all my pictures last year...it was easy to find a picture of Matt on his fifth Christmas and to correct my mistake!