Thanks! Yeah, it's definitely unpleasant. When I first got it I thought I might be dying, which was why the OP made me think of it. I actually used to get it frequently as an older teen, when I had really bad sleep habits. Fortunately I've learned techniques for minimizing it - not sleeping on your back, having a regular sleep schedule (I have noticed it seems most important not to sleep at the same times, but just to make sure that you get adequate sleep), and making a clear "sleep environment" - eliminating lights, comfortable sleeping clothing, going into a different room, performing pre-sleep rituals like reading, etc. I used to get panic attacks, too, and I sort of wonder if the two don't have underlying anxiety connections, even though it seems like the dominant theory is that sleep paralysis is a sleep cycle regulation disorder, maybe something wrong in the pons. The shared similarities do make me wonder, though. Clearly there is often some connection to stimulation of the fight/flight fear response.