Do you mean you awake, feeling paralyzed for a few moments after waking?

During REM sleep the body is literally paralyzed. If the body and the brain are out of sync - disconnected - and you wake up on the very verge of going into or out of an REM sleep cycle, you will experience the paralysis -- an experience which, while scary, is not harmful or serious.

Are you under stress during the times this happens to you? Do you have insomnia or any other sleep problems? Did your doctor mention doing a sleep study? It might be helpful to you.
[Edited 4/30/06 14:31pm]

An obvious question would be how do you know you're paralyzed if you're asleep.

But seriously, i've heard this subject discussed on a few Art Bell shows.
http://essays.jinwicked.com/sp/


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

WillyWonka said:

stress.. at times but who doesnt. i dont really have any other sleep problems thou. it mostly happens just as i am falling asleep i feel like i can't move and have to concentrate to get out of it.

isthisdadawn said:

You can get a sleep study done. Go to a cardiologist and they will be able to set you up. They monitor you as you sleep and get all sorts of data. That might help figure out what is going on.

This has happened to me before. I cant open my eyes or move. I just have to wait till it's over...I usually fall back to sleep during this.

I dont know why this happens. I've heard several things like..

- aliens
- ghosts trying to steal your soul
- your soul leaving your body while you're sleeping
[Edited 4/30/06 14:42pm]

The university I used to work for did studies on this...


WSU School of Medicine to study sleep paralysis, panic disorder in African Americans

Imagine waking up from a night’s sleep and being unable to move. Your body is paralyzed. For a few terrifying seconds or minutes, you can’t call for help.

That’s sleep paralysis, a relatively understudied phenomenon that seems to occur more frequently among African Americans.

“It’s commonly referred to as ‘being ridden by the witch’ in the African-American community,” said Orlena Merritt-Davis, MD, a Wayne State University School of Medicine assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences.

Dr. Merritt-Davis is part of a larger effort at the School of Medicine led by Thomas Uhde, MD, associate dean for research and graduate programs, to better understand the link between panic disorder and different types of frightening arousals from sleep. Panic disorder is characterized by sudden episodes of overwhelming anxiety (panic attacks) that often include a number of physical symptoms such as sweating, racing heart and shortness of breath. During an episode, individuals often believe they are having a heart attack or going crazy. Attacks may occur during sleep and, like sleep paralysis, may be extremely frightening.

“Right now, we’re trying to learn more about sleep paralysis and its relationship to panic disorder,” said Dr. Uhde, who is recognized worldwide for his work on panic disorder. “Sleep paralysis in African Americans is remarkably understudied.”

In one study, 15 percent of African Americans who experienced sleep paralysis also had panic disorder, Dr. Merritt-Davis said. “Unfortunately, African Americans are significantly underrepresented in mental health research,” she said. “Reasons cited include mistrust of research, stigma associated with mental illness and the lack of African-American researchers.”

The study seeks to recruit 100 volunteers. Half of the group will be African American.

For more information on the study or to volunteer, call (888) 362-7792.

No, but do you ever have them dreams whereby you either fall, trip or jump off something and you actually physically jump?!

JDINTERACTIVE said:

Yes!! Those scare me.

Have u ever laughed in dream and its so funny,you laugh while sleeping



lol edit
[Edited 4/30/06 14:45pm]

I've woken up in the middle of the night and found that my arm was totally numb and barely able to function because I had slept on it and cut off the circulation, but that's a little different.

ThreadCula said:

Cant say I have although Ive farted in bed so loud that it woke me up and I laughed.

JDINTERACTIVE said:

ThreadCula said:

Stuff has made me angry in dreams and I've screamed and woke myself up. I also kicked my couch really hard because I was kicking something in my dream. It was the same foot I'd just had surgery on. It hurt like a mf the next day.

ThreadCula said:

Both of those have happened to me! Sometimes I have very funny dreams.

CarrieMpls said:

Stop eating cheese then before bed time.

u2prnce said:

I wish for you only happy dreams in the future.

I quite often wet the bed!

fathermcmeekle said:

I think I've mis-judged this thread!

When I was a child I used to sleepwalk sometimes.

Luckily I grew out of that.

JDINTERACTIVE said:

You're the one with gas problems.

WillyWonka said:

Thanks. I felt so stupid. No serious damnage was done, though, since I had a preliminary cast.

CarrieMpls said:

At least they smell of cheese so everyone's a winner.

JDINTERACTIVE said:

applekisses said:

this has happened to me many of times even when i was little.

I've had that when I was little...I use to feel like I had a pressure put down on my chest...I felt I was being held on the bed...I remember that specifically cause it happened to me when I was four...and I remember I came out of the room screaming and crying cause I couldnt move.

Also...sometimes I dont know if its the same but I dream with my eyes open...I can be completely asleep but when I open my eyes I see stuff....usually a spider coming down ontop of me and I'm trying to move away from it but I can't until I blink and snap out of it...but I'm still convinced its there...I usually wake up screaming. And there has been a few instances I've fallen asleep so deep that I wake up....my mouth is open...but I'm not breathing like...I'm trying to breathe throuhg my mouth and I cant...and I end up coughing....weird.

yeah, it's called sleep paralysis. I had it almost every night, then I changed my sleeping position. Sleep paralysis can lead to other amazing things. Sometimes if I stay up very late and I'm very tired, my body will fall asleep first.
[Edited 4/30/06 17:48pm]
[Edited 4/30/06 17:49pm]

theAudience said:

you wake up, and you're not able to move...you're in an in between state.

isthisdadawn said:

Look up Sleep Apnea and stuff like that. It is a serious condition that you have to have a sleep study.

I wake up and parts of me are stiff sometimes.

Yes, I used to get those all the time as a teenager.

I think they are called sleep terrors or "bag lady syndrome".
Your mind think's it's fully awake, but in reality you'r actually in some form of in between state where you're more fully aware than in a dream, but not yet capable of moving your body.

I found that after bouts of insomnia it happens the most. Or if I'm suffering from alot of stress, etc.