Old Hag Syndrome Sleep Issue

Does anybody here suffer from Old Hag Syndrome.  I have had this happen a few times, and it is very very scary!

For anybody who doesn't know - Old Hag Syndrome is when you wake up in the middle of the night and you are paralyzed, and you feel like someone is sitting on your chest.  When I get it, I feel like a cat is walking from the bottom of my bed, up the centre of my body, then sits on my chest.  I don't open my eyes or try to move because I know that it will cause me more panic.  I just concentrate on relaxing, and waiting for the "cat" to leave.  It usually only takes a minute.  (p.s. - I don't have a cat). Alot of reports of Old Hag Syndrome describe an evil presence in the room, hearing voices, scratching, etc., and sometimes even seeing  shadowy figures.  I have not heard or seen anything (hense why I don't open my eyes!)

I know this is caused my sleep paralysis, and that is the only thought that keeps me calm when it happens.  But I still find it extremely scary and am wondering if anybody knows how to prevent it?  I have been under alot of stress lately, and had an episode last night.  I know stress can result in disturbed sleep.  Do you think regular exercise would help with sleep disorders? I have been trying to not sleep on my back, but sometime after I have fallen asleep, I roll onto my back without realizing...

I have sleep apnea, and I sleep really heavy in the mornings.  Sometimes when the alarm goes off, my mind wakes up before my body does.  That is what happens when you wake up suddenly from deep or REM sleep.  During REM, the body shuts movement down, otherwise we'd be walking around, acting out our dreams!

If you have more trouble when you sleep on your back, this could be a sleep apnea thing, and that is worth going to the doctor about.  In the meantime, I know just how scary it is to wake up and not be able to move, but it won't hurt you.  When it happens, try to relax and take a few deep breaths and give your body a chance to catch up with your brain.

I can also tell you that losing weight has helped my sleep apnea, which has helped me sleep better.  I haven't woken up unable to move in a long time.  So keep getting healthy, and hopefully that will help you!

Hey Htracey,

I actually suffer from this as well, though I didn't know what it was! (you've educated me as well today!)

I went to wikipedia.org, and it says that stress definitely brings on attacks, as well as sleeping on your back (which is something I do, and am trying to get out of the habit of). Here's the link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Hag_Syndrome

I personally am an avid runner, especially outdoors running, and it TOTALLY de-stresses me! So much in fact, that if I get a little cranky for no reason, my boyfriend says, "Maybe you should go for a run, eh?" :-)

Good luck!

Colleen

In order to avoid sleeping on their backs, some people attach tennis balls to the lower back region of their pajamas - when they go on their back they get "bumped" and reflexively roll onto their side. Old snorer's trick.

Might help?

oh this happens to me all the time(altho some times it realy is a cat on my chest), anytime i have a nighmear or wake up to an alarm particularly when school is in session. just take in slow deep breaths. and once your head figures out whats happand try working on makeing your body relax, move slowly streach etc. also try to go to bed earlyer. that helps me most of the time

ohh I like the tennis ball idea!  I wonder how I am going to go about securing a tennis ball to my back?? Might look a little funny, but definatly worth a try!  I think I stress myself out a bit to becasue before I go to sleep I start thinking about it, and hoping it doesn't happen!  A vicious circle!

If you can't sew it to your pjs, maybe sew it to a snug tube top or something and put that on? Or at worst a tensor bandage around your middle? (but that might be uncomfortable)

Look for stop-snoring tips on the web - you will find loads of ideas to avoid sleeping on your back because that is how people snore the worst too.

I used to have sleep paralysis.. although I mostly just woke paralysed and felt like something was watching me / about to kill me / heard voices. I was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia which sucked because the meds they put me on only made things worse. I read something that said more than once a week was considered a very severe case... I had anywhere between 15 to 40 episodes a night. which means some nights I woke up almost every 5 minutes like this, or sometimes I wouldn't even be quite back to sleep from the last one.

I tried a billion and one meds to keep me asleep but none worked.

So finally I figured out how to lucid dream. This is how I do it: Whenever you wake up like this, sink deeper into it. Don't resist just let it take you no matter how scared you are, then fantasize. Think about flying, but more than just thinking... picture the sky around you and feel the wind on your face, feel yourself floating.  Or sexual fantasies work too, and they can be even more powerful, lol... either way it is an exhilerating experience. After awhile you start crossing your fingers hoping you will have anoher episode of SP just so you can fly again. Its totally realistic when its happening.

Now that I know how to cope with it, I only have it like once every few months.

oh my god Sarah, I am so sorry that happened to you! The few experiences I have had were stressful enough, I could never believe how horrible that would have been for you! I will try what you suggested next time it happens, but sometimes when you wake up like this you arn't thinking clear enough to gear your brain like that before you start panicing, but I will try.

if you sew pockets on the back of your pyjamas or a tee shirt, the balls will stay in place.

This is going to sound esoteric, but....I think you had an out of body experience. When my husband and I first met we were very interested in such things and it was always exciting to talk about our experiences, now that we have children, it rarely if ever happens. Try reading some Dan Millman books or check out this website on Out of Body Experiences.

I used to get this, too. Now I always sleep on my side and I've not had it since (about 5 years).  

hi, yes i suffer from this, i just wanna say one thing.. the old hag doesnt have to sit on your chest to make you immobile, im only 17 years old and i've been haunted by this since i was 15 years old. yes the old hag is definitely an evil force ive been attacked by it, (chocked, grabbed on the back and and on my sides and squeezed, i even felt like i was picked up, i'm finally able to move certain parts of my body to fight it off, my hands thats it, i cant scream, i cant move theres nothing i can do, im finally able to control my own thoughts but i still do hear things like static, radio stations, the TV, footsteps and other things and its geting out of control, when its finally over i feel like theres tons of electricity going through my body, i have prayed and yes it does work but then it comes back. today was the last time it happened to me.

one more thing the reason i say she dont have to sit on your chest is because when it happend to me i saw her but she was on the side of me, and yes the name does fit because its old the hair is white and the face is disgusting. before i only saw shadows they were tall and black thats all.

So finally I figured out how to lucid dream. This is how I do it: Whenever you wake up like this, sink deeper into it. Don't resist just let it take you no matter how scared you are, then fantasize. Think about flying, but more than just thinking... picture the sky around you and feel the wind on your face, feel yourself floating.  Or sexual fantasies work too, and they can be even more powerful, lol... either way it is an exhilerating experience. After awhile you start crossing your fingers hoping you will have anoher episode of SP just so you can fly again. Its totally realistic when its happening.

Now that I know how to cope with it, I only have it like once every few months.

 Great advice Sarah!  For me, learning how to lucid dream was a total necessity.  Many times, I can't wake myself up at all, so the only other option is to fall deeper into my sleep and think about/imagine very positive things.  This only happens to me once every few months.  It was really scary when I was younger and I was afraid to tell anyone about it.  I felt like I had some kind of supernatural power or something.  It's still a very surreal experience.

Schizophrenia never crossed my mind.  I'm very sorry to hear about your misdiagnosis.

Original Post by marialan:

one more thing the reason i say she dont have to sit on your chest is because when it happend to me i saw her but she was on the side of me, and yes the name does fit because its old the hair is white and the face is disgusting. before i only saw shadows they were tall and black thats all.

 Gosh, that almost sounds like possesion.  I'm always in a terrified state when I experience this, but I've never heard or seen anything that was ghost-like or "hag-like".  Sometimes I pray, and that helps for me too.

I have learnt alot about this over the past couple of years, and while some people simply expereince the paralysis and the weight on their body (such as myself) others actually have hallucinations.  Its because your kind of caught in a state half way between REM sleep and being awake. Your brain is starting to wake up, but your body doesn't. So, when people see and hear things, it could be because they are still dreaming a little bit.

I can't fall asleep on my back, or this will happen to me. Good thing I'm normally a stomach sleeper anyway.

Like htracey said above, it's caused by different parts of your brain not all receiving the "wake up" signal at the same time, so while you may feel awake, you still can't move your limbs, because they're still "disconnected" from your frontal cortex by normal sleep inhibition. Some people also have some dream-like experiences superimposed over it too. 

Try googling "parasomnias" or "hypnogogic hallucinations," which is when you start "dreaming" right as you're falling asleep/ not quite asleep, so it seems like you're dreaming while still awake.

A book on lucid dreaming, if you can get your hands on a copy is "Conscious Dreaming" by Robert Moss.

oh, sleep paralysis is absolutely fascinating. I experienced it for the first time when I was in college and had been pulling all-nighters. It was such a phenomenal experience; I felt that I was awake, couldn't move, and actually 'heard' conversations taking place around me in my room and 'saw' the figures of people. Something told me that their presence around me was extremely malevolent. It was absolutely terrifying....and I don't think  it can be aptly described to anyone who hasn't experienced it. 

At the time I had no idea what it was but did some googling and realized this was sleep paralysis. I learned that it was absolutely safe and I was NOT going to die even if I felt like I was at the time. I also learned that it's the leading cause of people believing they've been abducted by aliens or that they've had a mystical out-of-body experience...and although these beliefs seem silly, I can now 100 percent understand why people would think these things. What a bizarre, ineffable experience.

I still experience it occasionally. I don't know how to prevent it, but knowing it's safe helps me to not freak out (or, I should say, freak out less) when it happens.

I've also discovered a way to wake myself up: I try to move my tongue. It may take a while, but it does eventually work when nothing else does. It may work for you too.

Sleep paralysis puts you in such a weird space between consciousness and unconsciousness and I'm  actually thankful that I found out what it was like....even though it was among the most terrifying things EVER.

I used to suffer with this in my teens and could virtually guarantee I'd wake up at exactly midnight thinking there was some kind of malevolent presence in my room. I stopped it in my teens by having my dog sleep in my room and never allowing myself to fall asleep before midnight, and I'm sure it was partly some kind of self-fulfilling fear that triggered it.

I didn't find out it was so common until it returned in my late 20s and I googled it; once I knew what it was I didn't have the feelings of a presence any more, only floating above myself or weird hallucinations where I could see and feel my arms move, only for them to snap back to where they were because they hadn't actually moved at all ... more frustrating and sorta like groundhog day, but I could usually force out of it once I realised what it was. It seems to happen when I'm overtired, jetlagged, or after taking certain asthma medications in the evening (I switched to a different type of inhaler after realising that was a trigger).

Hello. I am 15 Years old and I have once expirienced Old Hag Syndrome. I saw a shadowy figurine walking out of my room and then I woke up. I never had expirienced it before but Its really terrifying , I was thinking about it and it happened to me..I cant sleep much too. Thanks for the post