Medical From sexual sleepwalking to dying of nightmares

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The discussion centers on the mysterious phenomenon of Sudden Unexpected Nocturnal Death Syndrome (SUNDS) affecting primarily healthy Hmong men in the U.S., particularly in Minnesota, since 1977. Over 100 cases have been reported, with victims typically found dead in their sleep and no identifiable cause at autopsy. Postmortem toxicology tests have shown no poisons, leading to speculation about potential underlying genetic factors, such as the SCN5A gene associated with cardiac issues. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some victims experienced sleep paralysis and hallucinations, which may have contributed to their deaths. The conversation highlights concerns over the thoroughness of medical investigations and the cultural context surrounding these deaths, including local perceptions of the Hmong community.
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...The surreal deaths of more than 100 healthy adults in the U.S., primarily in Minnesota, are perhaps the most mysterious of all. Since 1977, more than a hundred Southeast Asian immigrants in the U.S., primarily ethnic Hmong from Laos, have died from a mysterious disorder known as Sudden Unexpected Nocturnal Death Syndrome, according to reports by the U.S. Center for Disease Control. The victims were mostly men in their 30s or older, who were apparently in good health when they died in their sleep for no apparent reason.

"The victim has no known antecedent illnesses, and there are no factors that might precipitate cardiac arrest," the Cambridge History of Disease notes. "At autopsy, no cause of death can be identified in the heart, lung or brain. Postmortem toxicologic screening tests reveal no poisons." ...
http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/23/medicine-sleep-biz-healthcare-cx_wp_1223sleep.html
 
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i dunno, I've heard anecdotes that the hmong are considered a nuisance by some of the locals up there. got to wonder about poisoning.
 
Proton Soup said:
i dunno, I've heard anecdotes that the hmong are considered a nuisance by some of the locals up there. got to wonder about poisoning.

Postmortem toxicologic screening tests reveal no poisons.
...
 
Ivan Seeking said:
...

that just says they don't know anything

hypatia said:
I first heard of this several decades ago. Heres a link that may explain more.
http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition=brugadasyndrome

odd that the story says they don't know why they died, and doesn't mention the SCN5A gene. kinda sounds like they didn't bother to test for it, and just assumed SUNDS. makes you wonder if the tox screen was thorough, too.
 
It actually just seems like the author William Pentland, didn't really research the subject as well as he should of.
 
The surreal deaths of more than 100 healthy adults in the U.S., primarily in Minnesota, are perhaps the most mysterious of all. Since 1977, more than a hundred Southeast Asian immigrants in the U.S., primarily ethnic Hmong from Laos, have died from a mysterious disorder known as Sudden Unexpected Nocturnal Death Syndrome, according to reports by the U.S. Center for Disease Control. The victims were mostly men in their 30s or older, who were apparently in good health when they died in their sleep for no apparent reason.
This was going on back when I used to live in Minneapolis (1980's) and there were stories about it in the papers. The details were that Hmong men were waking up in the middle of the night to find themselves paralyzed, unable to move, with a hideous old hag sitting on their chest attempting to suffocate them to death.

Clearly that's classic sleep paralysis with hallucinations.

The men were instructing their wives, the story said, to wake them once an hour during the night. Possibly the worst course of action because the more sleep deprived a person is the more prone to sleep paralysis they become.

The interesting anecdotal contribution I have to make is that I, too, suffered four bouts of sleep paralysis when I lived in Minneapolis, and I haven't had any since I moved here, to San Diego. In my case two of the instances consisted of me waking up paralyzed, which is frightening enough, and the other two included hallucinations. The last one was incredibly frightening and realistic.

It never occurred to me till now my experiences with sleep paralysis there might be related to that area or to the Hmong (There were two Hmong employees where I worked, and I was friendly with them).
 

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