sleep paralysis

Has anyone had this?  Its right before you fall asleep or right when you wake up, you can't move, speak or do anything!  It is really scary, I'm 17 female and have had this a few times.  I'm afraid of them but my boyfriend thinks im just dreaming.  Had anyone had this, tell me your experiences.

[Jade59]

This has happened to me a couple of times in my life and it was completely terrifying!  I guess it could be written off as dreaming, but it sure didn't feel like it at the time.  About 20 yrs ago I woke up only to realize that I was dreaming, but would swear I was awake and this scenerio played itself out 4 times before I REALLY woke up and by the time I did, I was afraid to move for fear I was still dreaming.  This was the scariest thing to ever happen to me.  Now within the last 8 years what you describe has happened twice where I am awake, but paralized and can't speak.  This came straight out of the blue and I have no explanation for it.  I'm sorry this happened to you, I know just how you feel.  Check out the sleep disorder forum for some really horrifying stories......I'm just an insomniac and feel lucky this is all that's wrong.  

Take care, sweet dreams!

[MMomma]

I do the same thing and its scary as hell..Its like u try to wake up and u can't...I kno excatly how u feel, Belive me...But it makes me feel 100x better that someone has expiernced it..Not that I would ever wish it upon anybody..
good luck, god bless

[Darwingirl]

Don't be scared.  I haven't experienced what you have but I recently saw a sleep apnea specialist a few months ago and he asked if I had ever experienced what you are describing. Don't quote me exactly but he mentioned something about a chemical or hormone that is released when we go through certain cycles in our sleep. The chemical or hormone is produced to protect us whilst we are sleeping. It basically stops us from physically carrying out what we are dreaming. For example if we are dreaming about hitting someone, it stops us from waving our hands about and hitting the person sleeping next to us. When some people wake suddenly during this period it may take a few minutes for them to be able to move. I will have a search and try to find some more info.

Cheers
Shaz

[JSGeare]

Yeah, that's right in there with sleeping with your eyes open. Sort of like being a fish in a bowl looking out at what's going on around you. I always thought it was kind of cool but I can understand why it might be scary. The important thing is to know that you are not at risk -that nothing is physically wrong with you. Take care.

[Darwingirl]

Here's a little more info. Having read into this a little more I think this does happen to me also, I've had the hallucinations and thought I was wide awake....but now I think I must have these experiences also.

"Sleep paralysis occurs in 30% of the general population. In it you wake up in bed, feel paralyzed, and tend to sense a terrifying presence in your room. Sometimes you see something; sometimes you hear noises or even feel electrical shocks throughout your body. I have personally seen a small humanoid during one occasion of sleep paralysis; during another, more recent one, I saw what looked like a dog in my room. Others see ghosts, vampires--whatever they have in their minds or are particularly afraid of. Deceased relatives and loved ones are particularly good candidates for showing up during bouts of sleep paralysis".

"But what's really happening here, according to Harvard psychologists Richard McNally and Susan Clancy, is nothing out of the ordinary. Rather, REM sleep--the phase of sleep in which most dreaming occurs--is simply malfunctioning. In a phone conversation McNally even likened the situation to getting a case of the hiccups".

"Our bodies are paralyzed while we undergo REM sleep, and for good reason (lest we act out our dreams and injure ourselves). But in some small number of cases we can actually start to wake up before paralysis wears off, and yet still remain in a dreaming state. What results is hallucination, often of some extremely scary stuff. It appears that humans have always experienced sleep paralysis and sought to explain it, resulting in well known stories of incubi and succubi--demons thought to sexually attack people in their sleep--as well as related tales from other eras and cultures".

http://csicop.org/doubtandabout/sleep/

[suzi-q]

Yes...I have experienced that. Like you can't wake up...like you are frozen!  Don't know what it is, but it seems a lot of us get it.