Hello!

My name is David, and I am the founder of the Sleep Paralysis Information Service. I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you a warm welcome to the website. I hope it goes some way to answering the questions you might have about this condition.

As a sufferer of Sleep Paralysis myself, it wasn't until 2003 that I knew it had a name, or was even a recognised condition. Other than myself, I was only aware of one other person who had ever suffered a Sleep Paralysis event, and even they had only had one occurence.

My Sleep Paralysis began in my childhood - and has always been irregular. In my late teens it seemed to stop, but then came back in my twenties. It is still irregular - possibly occuring once every 3-4 weeks. Having had it come back, and not being able to fathom why, I set about finding what this condition was, whether I was really "ill", and what I could do about it.

Sadly, there was very little I could find out. So, realising other sufferers might be in the same situation as me, the Sleep Paralysis Information Service was born - to round up all the information I could possibly find about Sleep Paralysis, and to present it to other sufferers, and build awareness of this unusual condition.

To this day, I only suffer from the hypnopompic form of Sleep Paralysis (that is, I suffer when waking up rather than when going to sleep), but there are other variants and I hope to be able to help you find out about them all. I cope very well with my condition - it still gives me a fright when it happens, but I have learned to live with it. It doesn't affect my life in any way - sufferers of Sleep Paralysis are not ill, they are not disabled - I live my life to the full. This condition does not affect my conciousness or awareness at all.

Above all, we at the Sleep Paralysis Information Service would love to hear from other sufferers, and for that purpose we invite you to get in touch with us.

Best wishes,

David.
Founder, SPIS.