Sleep apnea and evil spirits

[johnc]

Hello,
Recently, I heard about unfortunate people claiming to be visited by a spectre, or dark witch, or hag at night that attempts to do them in by sitting on their chest to stop their breathing. Nuts, I thought when I first heard these stories. Well, I recently was diagnosed with sleep apnea, and I think I know what is "visiting" these people!
I have not had any devil, witch, or whatever sit on my chest, but more than once, I have been shaken awake by someone after they claimed I was gasping for breath, or cursing something or somebody.

[Goofproof]

How many cats sleep on your bed? Jim

[Xney]

This is a symptom of a sleep disorder, often narcolepsy.

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

[johnc]

No cats sleep in the house. I find it interesting that some programs ("Coast to Coast" ), or personalities perceive explainable things like this as something supernatural.

[chunkyfrog]

ET, please go home; and put that probe away before I make you EAT it!

[zoocrewphoto]

Several years ago, I went to an event that was held in a facility that had been entirely flooded several months earlier. It had been cleaned out, but I could tell quickly that there was still mold somewhere. My asthma started acting up. My inhaler was expired, so it helped, but not as much as it should have. I had to go in for a doctor's appointment. I complained that my asthma felt worse than normal, like I had an invisible cat sleeping on my chest. I have cats, so it felt like my heavy one sitting there, except he wasn't there.

It turned out that in addition to my asthma, my heart was experiencing an irregular heartbeat and sometimes people will complain that it feels like an invisible elephant.

I've head dreams before cpap treatment where I was being followed or chased. I believe our sleep brain uses our personal experience to come up with a visual for the physical experiences we are feeling as we sleep.