Sleep Paralysis Chapter 4

Date: 10/14/2018

The SP episodes calmed down for a bit. My mom credits my decision to pray every night before bed. I grew up in a strict Catholic household where saying an Our Father was the first solution to any problem. In high school my faith and I grew apart, and I stopped praying and attending mass. My adult years had been much of the same until I found myself praying to the Virgin Mary after my last episode. I decided to make it part of my nightly routine; wash face, brush teeth, close all doors, pray. The SP and terrifying dreams stopped. That is, until my husband left for a week for a guys trip and I slept alone. My praying didn’t stop, my routine stayed the same, but the SP was back, and the episodes seemed to last even longer. At this time I had a roommate, one of our friends was staying with us and he was across the house. He knew I wasn’t sleeping well, he could see the circles around my eyes. He would stay up late with me and talk, because he knew I was too afraid to sleep. But when we finally decided to go to our separate rooms, I tried to sleep, with all lights on, and music. Each night I got approximately 1 hour of sleep. Nothing helped. Praying, lights, music, nothing. Nothing until I decided to try sleeping upside down on my bed. For some reason this helped, and that’s how I slept until my husband came home.