Sleep Paralysis, SILD

This has now happened to me twice, so I decided I wanted to post something about it. Every once in awhile, I have one of those nights where I'm just entirely unable to fall asleep, keeping me up for hours and hours. For example, last night I went to bed at 10:00 and was tossing and turning every few minutes until I probably fell asleep at almost 4 in the morning.:whyohwhy: That's completely unusual for me, but once in awhile I do have one of those nights where falling asleep just feels impossible.

But anyway, those are the nights I seem to feel myself drifting into sleep paralysis before my mind falls asleep, once enough hours have passed. The first time that I recently had one of those virtually sleepless nights, it was probably past 3 in the morning when I'd just suddenly feel that tightening up sensation in my head and mind, which I just assumed was sleep paralysis. Not feeling particularly brave at that hour of the night, I began clenching and unclenching my fist to avoid falling into sleep paralysis. This "tightening up" sensation in my head happened multiple times from that point on, and each time I deliberately avoided sleep paralysis with my hand movement, and eventually drifted off into sleep without any conscious paralysis.

Last night, it was basically the same thing, except I think I was laying on my back instead of on my side, which might've been the reason that I'd feel myself getting vibrations instead of any other sensations, signaling sleep paralysis (and again I'd make sure the vibrations would stop before trying to fall back asleep). Again, it happened multiple times before I fell asleep. I probably could easily have entered sleep paralysis if I'd wanted, especially considering how the vibrations started naturally on their own without my intention, after hours of trying, but failing, to sleep. So, I have a few questions...

First, has this ever happened to anyone? On one of those sleepless nights, do you ever feel sleep paralysis coming over you after 5 or so hours of tossing and turning?

And, I thought it was funny that this is just about the amount of time needed to WBTB, except in this case, without the sleeping part of it.:huh2: If I really wanted, I could probably now coin the SILD method - the Sleeplessness-Initiated Lucid Dream. But it's unfortunate that I've even come to the point on two occasions where I could coin such a term. So, trust me. This method ain't fun.