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Won't Sleep For Days--Hope Anyone Can Relate?

by Jess
(Sydney)

I'm a 22 y/o from Australia, I only recently started having these episodes about 6 months ago and they freak me out!!! I suffered with an eating disorder and extreme depression caused by isolating myself at school when I watched my uncle die of cancer. For the past 4 years I have been medicated on sleeping tablets as I literally won't sleep for days and when I do I'm lucky for at least 1 hr!


I started to get back on track with my life and discovered my career and the sweetest guy found me who was willing to help :) and then I started having my freak attacks. I'm able to go to sleep like normal with my sleepers, then I find myself sweating and then I wake up can't move period I start to freak out and I think someone is behind me I struggle to even cry!!

It lasts for ages and then when I relax and breathe slowly I move one body part at a time and refuse to go to sleep again. I really thought it's weird as I'm on sleeping tablets and I thought that was meant to prevent everything and give u proper sleep? Weird thing is 3 times I have hallucinated and that scares me cause I don't want to go crazy.... I already feel weird about the sleeping !!! Hope that anybody can understand?

Kevin: Hey Jess, thanks for sharing your story. I'm sure some people on this site will be able to relate to it quite well. I couldn't tell from your description if you knew what you were describing about being unable to move in bed was sleep paralysis. In any case, you can learn more about it here, as well as read hundreds of visitor-submitted stories about it here.

Warmly,
Kevin

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About This Site

Welcome! This site is continuously being created by students of Dr. William C. Dement's Sleep And Dreams course at Stanford University.

We made this site as a call to action for people all over the world to live healthier, happier, safer, and more productive lives by learning about their own sleep. We have faith that reading the information provided on this site will motivate you to be smart about your sleep deprivation and strategic about your alertness in order to live life to your fullest, most energetic potential.

In fact, we challenge you to do so! What do you say, are you up for the challenge?

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If you are in any way concerned about your sleep health, don't wait for an answer on here, and don't necessarily rely on them. See a sleep specialist in your area as soon as possible.

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The Stanford Sleep Book

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Dr. Dement's pioneering textbook has been the core text for Sleep and Dreams since 1980, but it has just recently been made available to the wider public for the first time.

In it you'll find a more detailed account of the most important things you need to know about sleep, alertness, dreams, and sleep disorders. Studies, statistics, plus plenty of Dr. Dement's classic anecdotes painting the history of sleep medicine.

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The Zeo

Track Your Own Sleep With Zeo

A revolution in personal sleep tracking, the Zeo is a wireless headband that transmits your brainwaves in realtime to a dock (pictured here) or your smartphone. The result? You can wake up and see exactly what stages of sleep you were in during the night! Unprecedented personalized sleep knowledge.

Sleep Paralysis: A Dreamer's Guide

Sleep Paralysis Treatment Book

Ever woken up paralyzed? A surprising number of us have, believe it or not. But few know the actual causes of this phenomenon, and fewer still how to exert control over it. Dream researcher and sleep paralysis expert Ryan Hurd shares breakthrough insights into how to do just that.

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