what you two are discussing are hypnagogic hallucinations, and as I mentioned, they are actually quite common.
they are also highly-related to sleep paralysis in that they are both caused by lag in the brain's expectation of sleep and the complex break-down of hormones released upon sleep.
hypnagogic hallucinations occur slightly before REM and just after the brain synthesizes tryptophan into serotonin. upon release of serotonin, blood pressure increases and the brain begins to hallucinate.
serotonin then makes it's way toward the gut where it is
again broken-down to become melatonin.
melatonin enhances REM and controls yr circadian rhythm (ie: when it's time to wake up/sleep).
so, with hypnagogic hallucinations there is a lag between when serotonin pops off and when it's finally synthesized (telling yr brain to "go deeper"), while sleep paralysis most likely results from decreased melatonin production
during the night.
A POTENTIAL NON-PHARMACEUTICAL SOLUTION:
get a light box. make sure that it's natural-light spectrum and bask in it for
as long as you can in the morning. this will stimulate yr skin cells to request that more melatonin be made.
studies were done on transatlantic "red-eye" flights. 30 minutes of a light applied to
the back of the knee significantly lowered jetlag (a circadian rhythm disorder).
Quote:
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Originally Posted by ni'k
i can remember a few when i was on ssri's but it only got extreme after i was off them.
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I'll admit to asking a trick question in order to troubleshoot for histrionics (
it's not you, it's everybody).
SSRIs block the ability of cells to reuptake serotonin (thereby keeping more available as a precursor to melatonin). SSRIs mean more serotonin (which means more melatonin and
less sleep paralysis).