Mog the Dog here.
Count me in! I have experienced sleep paralysis since I was 3 or 4 years old, and yes, my episodes sometimes last between 30 – 45 minutes. When I learned that it is simply a conscious awareness of being in REM sleep (in which we are normally paralyzed to avoid acting out our dreams), I began to experiment with relaxing and then bringing on pleasant dream content. This works in relieving the horror of feeling like someone is sitting on me and not letting me move.
Daytime napping makes sleep paralysis more likely to occur. Waking up in the middle of the night and getting up for awhile before going back to sleep is another trigger for me.
You should consider getting a sleep study done (so should I!). Sleep paralysis can be associated with narcolepsy. I have not yet found any research linking it directly to any other disorders (other than sleep disorders).
MTD