wake up not being able to move

[goldie262]

I am 29 yrs old and since I was about 15yrs old, I wake up during a nap or in the middle of the night not being able to move, I can only move my eyes, I can see whats going on around me but I can't move a muscle, not even my head only my eyes.  Too make it stop its like I have to break free from myself, its really weird and it scares me really bad.  When I break free from it if I try to go back to sleep it immediately starts back as soon as I close my eyes and when that happens I always feel in my head some sort of tingling sensation.  It really freaks me out and I would like for it to go away for good.  What do you think it could be?  I had someone tell me one time it might be a panic attack but that is completely not true.  Something is wrong and I need for someone to tell me how to make it go away.  Also, it does not happen but maybe once a month, it use to happen almost every night when I was younger.

[bas994]

Ok this happend to me juts last night i kept waking up scared for some reason dont know why?  i had a movie on and it was a comedy but kept starting if over and over cause i though it was a scary movie haha but once i woke up and i could not move a muscle and i was sleeping on my back with my neck turned to the side i could only move my eye's did not pay attention to how long it was for but id say about 2 to 5 minutes that i was lying there not able to move a muscle or talk

[Steven Y Park, MD]

You're describing sleep paralysis. If the problem persists, see a sleep medicine doctor.

Do these events happen when you're on your back? Do you normally like to sleep on your side or stomach?