Sleep paralysis?

Ashahada · #1 (**permalink**) 03-10-2005, 11:48 PM

Hi everybody.

I have been suffering from sleep paralysis for years now.I'm 25. Sleep paralysis, in short, is when you are not really asleep but you can't move or speak or open your eyes in most cases. Anyway, the other night I had an episode of this. I was(in REAL life) sleeping with my 9 month old baby right next to me.In my dream, I was also sleeping in a bed with my baby.It wasn't really my really my bedroom though.I could feel an evil presence in my dream and in my real conciousness, it was pulling at mysoul.The weirdest part of this is that I can really physically feel what is happening and I try to wake up or scream but it won't work.Anyway, the evil force in my dream then started to pull me off of my bed by my feet away from my son and I screamed in a really scary voice,"YOU CAN"T TAKE ME!" Next thing I knew I was able to open my eyes and wake up. I was sooo scared and at that very moment of waking up I heard my 2 yr old scream from her room. She often does scream right after I am able to break free from one of these episodes.I know this all seems ridiculous and untrue but I swear this really happens to me. It also happens to my dad and my 2 sisters.Can anyone tell me what the heck this is all about? Thankyou!!!!

Marcia · #2 (**permalink**) 03-11-2005, 01:56 AM

Hi Ashahada. I have experienced sleep paralysis, too. It is very scary. Normally, when you sleep, your brain temporary paralyzes you so you don't act out your dreams, which could be dangerous. (For example, if you sleep next to a window and you dream that you're an Olympic diver.) With sleep paralysis, what happens is that you mentally wake up before your brain sends the signal to stop the paralysis. It is the opposite of what happens to people who sleepwalk--they don't get paralyzed when they are asleep, like they are supposed to.