For the past 5-10 years I have had increasingly frequent episodes of waking up unable to move any part of my body, I'm "stuck". When my husband assists me with moving my limbs they are not limp they are ridgid. It feels as though all mornings not just when I can't move, as if overnight my muscles have been drawn up like rubberbands. The "stuck" episodes seem to most often after I've only been asleep for a short time like between 5-7 in the morning. Since July during the process of getting my muscles moving I've started having full body muscle spasms that fold me into the fetal position. These spasms have evloved to happening even when I'm not stuck but always within an hour of awakening when I am trying to get my muscles to stretch and relax. Sometimes they are set off by some type of startle trigger like a loud noise or sometimes by the slightest touch to my skin.
Before the muscle spasms I was diagnosed with sleep paralysis. I have seen a new neuorologist since the spasms and he says that is incorrect because my muscles are ridgid not limp. He has diagnosed Episodic Dystonia and says that testing won't help with a diagnosis because there are no tests for Dystonia which my research confirms.
I have a couple questions with this diagnosis. 1st when Dystonia has an adult on-set it is usually focal not generalized as mine is. 2nd my research says that Dystonia is usually better when the muscles are at rest. This is not my experience.
This discussion is related to
Muscle spasms/sleep problems/seizures???.