The Fourth Kind – Alien Abduction

The Fourth Kind – Alien Abduction

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The movie trailer states, “it started as a sleep disorders study”.

Have you ever had a patient who claims to have been visited by or abducted by aliens? I had one who claimed both but he also talked to GOD, and I mean the shaking hands pat on the back carry on my son type of GOD, not just the spiritual one….anyway.

What can you, as a sleep technologist, expect to see in the lab during a sleep study? As it may relate to “outer body experiences”.

Insomnia is the subjective complaint of insufficient or inadequate sleep. It is subjective because it is defined by the patient’s experience. Insomnia is classified into three main types: delayed sleep onset, impaired sleep continuity, and early morning awakening. Many people with insomnia suffer from anxiety. Depressive illnesses are almost always associated with a sleep disturbance.

Sleepiness. When sleepiness is chronic and severe the patient may fall asleep without warning. These episodes are called sleep attacks. Chronic or excessive sleepiness is accompanied by lapses of attention and by impaired motor and cognitive abilities, particularly those required by boring task, like performing sleep studies.

Morning headache. Morning headaches are a complaint of about 20% of patients with OSA and about 25% of patients with other sleep disorders. Hypertension, depression, tension or muscle contraction, migraine, brain tumor, sinus disease, COPD, and alcohol consumption can also contribute to morning headaches.

Cataplexy. Cataplexy is a sudden spell of weakness due to a decrease in muscle tone. The most common trigger is laughter. Complete paralysis is uncommon but dramatic. The patient may stagger and fall to the ground. If the episode persists for a minute or more, the patient may enter REM sleep.

Hallucinations. Hypnagogic hallucinations occur at sleep onset. Hypnopompic hallucinations occur at the end of sleep, or when waking up. The hallucinations may involve feelings of weightlessness and loss of balance or support. They last seconds to minutes and often terminate with a jerk.

Sleep paralysis. Characterized by flaccid paralysis of skeletal muscles, usually occur at sleep onset or at the end of sleep. The difference between sleep paralysis and cataplexy is by its timing and the absence of a trigger factor. When sleep paralysis overlaps with hynagogic hallucinations, the patient may experience illusions or hallucinations of people in the room or sensations of impending death or suffocation. Events so frightening, the patient may maintain a vivid recollection of them for years.

Automatic behavior. Refers to episodes of purposeful but inappropriate behavior occurring in sleepy people. It is associated with impaired attention. Example: flying a plane 150 miles past its intended destination.

Parasomnias. Movements and behaviors occurring during sleep. They may be normal or abnormal. The most common is hypnic, myoclonic jerks occurring at sleep onset. Several types of abnormal movements and behaviors are associated with partial arousals from sleep: sleepwalking, sleep-talking, sleep terror, and confusional arousals. Other parasomnias such as periodic leg movements, head-banging and bruxism may occur with or without an associated arousal.

Now, add all this together and what do you get? A patient who wakes up in the morning and swears you did an anal probe on him. Ummm, I’m not talking from experience here or nothing like that. It’s just a joke, you know, a Hollywood movie…yeah. Not me. Nope, no aliens in my lab. No probes either, none.

Later J

All of the sleep related information contained in this note was taken from the Principles and Practices of Sleep Medicine, Third Edition.

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