DixieKGirl

I do have another boyfriend now (100% improvement over my ex!!!). :) I can talk to him about anything and everything that bothers me, and that is a big help. I just still feel like both of us deserve to live with a happy me instead of a stressed out *****y me who fusses and cries and complains all the time. Has anyone heard of the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety? (They have a website at http://www.stresscenter.com) I was wondering if anyone knows whether or not they are reputable. They offer a self-help program that is supposedly great, but I'm a REALLY POOR college student right now, and I can't afford to spend that much money on! I saw an infomercial on it a while back during the wee hours of the morning that kind of caught my attention. It looks pretty authentic, but it's not hard to forge info, and companies do it all the time to make money. If anyone's heard about it please let me know what you think or if you would recommend it! Thanks! ~Katrina

I glanced at the site on night terrors, and the whole deal with having open eyes reminded me of something that happened nearly 6 years ago. I don't think I have night terrors (at least I hope not), but thought yall might find this funny or scary. I think it's funny until I think about a child of my own doing it to me someday, then it seems kinda scary. Anyway, one night during the wintertime I was all bundled up in my bed in a sweat suit type gown and a comfortor and blankets, etc. My mom woke up hot, so she came to ask me if I was hot too (it was just the 2 of us) so she could turn the heat down. She said that she came in my room and shook me to wake me up, and when I moved a little she said "Aren't you hot?". She said that I then rolled over to face her, opened my eyes and said "I am the earth", and then simply closed my eyes and rolled back over. I shared a bedroom with one of my brothers until I was about 11, and he told me all kinds of strange things that I said in my sleep (once I recited different cominations of the numbers which made up the # of the highway that ran near our house - every combination but the right one), but this one definitely takes the cake! ~Katrina Oh, and for those who may be wondering... I actually took a diagnostic stress test at my university's counseling and wellness center about a year ago; a few months after going through a major breakup I felt like I needed help. The tests say that I have extreme anxiety and severe depression, so I started seeing a counselor with the university (since it's free to students and confidential). In all honesty she only made me feel worse about everything that had happened, and put negative thoughts into my mind that weren't previously there, like "why do you think he didn't find you lovable enough for him?" when I had never said or thought about me not being lovable. I was like thanks a lot! I just never went back after that, and haven't talked to anyone (as far as a doc) about it since. I just moved here a couple of years ago for college, and my doc back home left family practice to work for a private company doing workers' comp or something, so I don't really have an established doc that knows me anymore. Any suggestions?

I have had many problems in my sleep, and I always thought I was alone and must be crazy! I'm just a pre-nursing student, so I'm probably a good bit younger than most others here. I was just reading the forums because they're so interesting, but after reading this one I HAD to reply. I have the twitch before I fall asleep almost regularly. It's been a while since I've had the sleep paralysis though. The most vivid one I can remember happened my first year here at college (about a year ago). I was in my room trying to go to sleep, and all the lights were out (I didn't have a nightlight at the time). I heard the door creak open and then close, and when I opened my eyes it was still dark in the room. I could only see shadows, but I heard someone breathing, and I could also hear clothes swishing like someone was walking towards me. I tried to scream for my roommate (we had separate bedrooms) but nothing would come out. I started hyperventilating and my eyes filled with tears, and I pinched them shut out of fear - I just knew that an evil man was in my room and had a knife and was going to kill me. I felt cold metal against my neck, and suddenly I could move again. I screamed, grabbed my neck, and shoved myself into the corner of the bed/wall. My roommate of course came running, and my bedroom door was still locked. It was so real to me at the time, but afterward it was obvious nothing had happened. I just told her I had a nightmare, but similar things have happened since - I'll feel bugs crawling all over me and when I can move again I start slapping myself all over trying to get them off; usually I just sense an evil man in my room. The only time in years I've actually gotten a good night's sleep has been when I stayed at my boyfriend's house - even though he's way down the hall on the couch (b/c his parents are there ). It's like I rest easy because I know I'm protected and that no strange evil men can get to me? Maybe I should marry him to ward off evil spirits! Just a couple of months ago I went on a retreat with about 20-25 other girls. We stayed at a classic camp with bunk beds, and I was VERY tired, but I couldn't go to sleep. I just knew that something terrible was going to happen and I would need to be awake. I wasn't paralyzed, but I layed there worrying about whether the doors had been locked and if the windows were safe. But of course I couldn't get up and check - I'd be wondering around in the dark and the boogieman would get me anyway! I've also had dreams that came true. When I was very young (like 6 or 7) I would dream about regular every-day things. I remember one night I dreamed that I helped my dad put up a new white bird house with a red roof. The next week he comes home with a bird house - white with a red roof, asking me to help him put it up. When I was 9 I dreamed that I was thrown off a horse, I even remember telling my brother the next day that I had flown across the dirt "like superman". When I was 14, I was riding a horse (running for the first time) and he threw me off - when I landed, my reflexes threw my arms out in front of me to protect me from whatever I may slide into (other than horse poop), and it was like deja vous (sp?) - I was sliding through the dirt like superman. Even as it was happening, before I stopped sliding, the dream I'd had was running through my mind. One Thanksgiving I was at my grandmother's house, and before I fell asleep I felt the urge to write a poem about death from the point of view of the dead person - the next day we got a phone call that my grandmother's sister had passed away. Stuff like this kinda freaks me out when it happens. I've never actually told anyone because I'm so shy. I suppose in a way I still haven't told anyone since none of you know me, but I wonder sometimes if I'm crazy and should be receiving medical treatment! Do you think stress is what causes the "strange man in the room" paralysis stuff? How DO you bring up something like this to your doctor? I really like your quote Jeri, because in fear I really am only half-living my life.