stiffness

i have woke up twice now in the middle of the night unable to move i tried to wake my husband but couldnt rouse him its a very frightening experience. is this something to worry about. i am 54 yrs old & have arthritis in my right arm & right knee but apart from that consider myself fairly fit i work  30 hrs a week through the day with a lady with learning disabilities, &  four evenings a week in a bar.

[Caryopteris]

It is hard to say what's going on.  Have you ever had your alarm go off in the morning and you could not get your arm to move to shut it off?  Like you were paralyzed?  This can happen because you are in a certain stage of sleep (REM I think) where a protective paralysis sets in.  It is to keep you from acting out your dreams and sleep walking.  When people get up and walk around at night while asleep, this has failed to happen.  So it is possible that you woke up during this phase of sleep and it scared you.  I hope that's all it is, but have your husband check you for stroke symptoms.