Waking up during REM/paralysis

ttara123 · 04-04-2008, 01:04 AM

I'm going to sound crazy, at least that's what I thought until I finally admitted this to my friend tonight and she thankfully explained it to me.

Since I moved into my new house last July (alone, except for me and my dog), I've had a few instances where I wake up and I can see around me. The first time this happened, I thought someone was choking me even though I couldn't see them. I tried to yell for my dog, but I couldn't make a noise. I couldn't even move and I felt like I couldn't breathe.

When I woke up the next morning, I figured I just had a nightmare. But it happened about 5 times since then. And after a while I figured out they weren't nightmares, I was actually waking up. I could see things clearly. I'm not a superstitious person, but I honestly started freaking out and thinking about ghosts a little. It doesn't help that I live in the house where my aunt died...alone....in the middle of the woods.

-anyway-

Today I was recounting these experiences to my friend, and she said that I'm waking up during a REM cycle. Apparently your body is paralyzed during REM so that you don't start like, acting out your dreams and everything. So if your brain wakes up and you can look around, you still can't move. I googled it, and it also explains why I felt like someone was strangling me - apparently those kind of hallucinations (or worse) are common. But I also learned that about half of the population has this happen to them about once in their lifetime. Well, I've had it happen about 5 times since July.

Does this happen to anyone else? Is there anything I can do? Google wasn't so helpful in that area. It's enough to make me want to drink myself to sleep every night just so I sleep too soundly to wake up in the middle of it. This is a *terrifying* experience.

Karyan · 04-04-2008, 02:10 AM

This happens to me constantly. It happens a lot when I'm napping next to my bf while he plays WoW. *eyeroll* lol. When it happens I think I'm awake and I think I'm actually screaming for my bf to help me wake up. I know for a fact that its a sleep paralysis thing while its happening, no matter what is going in this "waking dream state." But what usually happens is I have a sense of suffocation and just as I feel like I'm about to die, like my breathing is about to just cease, I shake myself awake and then most of the time I end up being pulled right back into sleep for it to happen all over again. Yes, this can happen more than once in one night. Its terrifying and sometimes I'll wake up crying because of it. I seriously feel like I'm dying when this is happening.

manancraigie · 04-04-2008, 07:00 AM

This happened to me once over 10 years ago.I was just a teenager and I was napping on the sofa and everyone came in and there like whats she doing sleeping and could hear them plain as day and I was like im not sleeping anymore im up now well atleast I tried to but it never came out.I started to scream and everything nothing.I eventually fell back to sleep or something and woke up the right way but it was one of the scariest things that ever happen to me.I didnt tell anyone about that until a few years ago and some of them thought I was crazy and some thought it was normal cause they had it happen to them.Its freaky what the mind can do.Hope yours start to go away.GL

Jashobeam · 04-04-2008, 02:55 PM

It's common to happen at least once or twice to people. A friend of the family used to work as someone who would go around and get people up who never could recover from sleep. She would get their limbs moving and get them out of the sleep paralysis.

It seems when we wake up unable to move the brain starts filling in the why and where, so you think you are being held down, that someone is near going to hurt you, etc. It's all panic on the brain's part.

You might see a doc about this sleep dissorder, but I don't think it's dangerous from what I've heard.

Frenetic · 04-04-2008, 03:58 PM

I've had this happen several times too. Seems like it's always when I would come home and take a nap in the afternoon. I would wake up and not be able to roll over, sit up, or say anything. Then, I'd get all paranoid thinking maybe someone is in the house or something like that. It's not a good feeling at all.

TechLady77 · 04-04-2008, 04:08 PM

I have had this happen as well. I would say about a dozen times in the past two years, but never before that. I had it happen to me 3 nights in a row once...and lasted for what seemed like hours each time. I didn't have nightmares, thank goodness, but it was still scary to not be able to move. More than anything it was frustrating, because I THOUGHT I was just laying there awake. After those three nights I started sleep aids and now it doesn't happen anymore. I am too scared to stop the sleep aids because I know it will start up again. I'm sure counseling would help, if you can afford it.

Yours sound very scary so I would ask to see your doctor asap and see what he can offer you to make these stop. You don't need something like this affecting your life, or making you afraid to sleep.

Maryny · 04-04-2008, 04:27 PM

Hi, just want to let you know you are not alone! This has happened to me on the norm, every couple of months, and a few years ago it happened MANY times within a few weeks. It was so scary, I thought I was going crazy aswell. You have no control and it is just a nightmare. I remember feeling so much better when I found out what it was.

RosieCheeks · 04-04-2008, 04:34 PM

i had this happen to me a couple of months ago. I actually woke up and I could see all the around the room but i felt like someone was holding me down. When I tried to grab my DH, i couldn't move. Then I tried to scream for him but nothing. Eventually i fell back asleep.

In the morning, i remembered everything. It hasn't happened to me since and I hope it doesn't.

Camisado · 04-04-2008, 06:50 PM

This happens to me frequently if I don't get enough sleep at night.....but it happens to me most often if I sleep during the day.

I'll be coming out of a REM state, and I'll be awake, eyes half open....but I won't be able to move. A few times my mother came over to me, covered me up with a blanket, and I wanted to scream "I can't move! I can't talk! I'm awake!" but from her point of view, I was asleep. It's sleep paralysis....

What happens is when you're asleep and dreaming, your body becomes paralyzed on purpose so that you don't act out your dreams or start sleepwalking or something. But, sometimes when your brain wakes up, your body doesn't.

fortunately it usually only lasts a couple of minutes, but it seems like forever.

ttara123 · 04-04-2008, 09:23 PM

I'm glad other people have been through this so I know I'm not out of my mind! Still, it's terrifying. I can remember only one time when I wasn't thinking that I was going to die or didn't think someone was in the room with me. My dog isn't allowed in my room usually, but when she's sick or when there's a thunderstorm, I let her in anyway because it makes her feel better. One time this happened and I saw my dog next to my bed, and I remember thinking "well, if she's here then whatever it is attacking me isn't real or else she would be freaking out, too."

Unfortunately, other times she's been there and it hasn't made a bit of difference (it was even more frustrating because I was trying to get her attention and couldn't) so just letting her sleep in my room every night won't solve much

Gosh, I went to sleep last night TERRIFIED that it was going to happen again. I'm thinking of calling my doctor about this. I don't know if I can live in constant fear of this!

Karyan · 04-04-2008, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ttara123

Gosh, I went to sleep last night TERRIFIED that it was going to happen

Same thing used to happen to me. I would be so afraid to go to sleep and I would make sure my bf went to sleep AFTER me so he could watch my breathing and make sure it didn't stop. That's how real the suffocation felt when I would experience SP.

sapphirepl · 04-04-2008, 11:55 PM

My sister has what she calls "sleep paralysis" frequently, too, and she hates it.
But here's the one little piece of advice I *can* give you: drinking a lot before going to sleep can be a bad idea, because, although it can put you in a deep sleep, what happens is after a few hours, when the alcohol has wore off, your body actually goes through a bit of a withdrawal, and that tends to disrupt the quality of your sleep. I know this because I have alcoholism in the family and my dad just went through treatment!

drama queen · 04-05-2008, 06:58 PM

I am so glad to read of other people having this (not that I am glad y'all are going through it, but glad to know I'm not alone!!). The last time this happened, I was on the couch, my dog was laying at my feet and hubby was watching television. I woke up and was trying to ask him to help me...I felt like I was thrashing my head and arms back and forth...finally, I focused all my energy and accidentally kicked my dog. I think that actually MOVING was what made me wake up. It is horrifying.

JustMe369 · 04-05-2008, 09:34 PM

Yes it used to happen to me all time. It first started when i was using meth (sober now) and after I would be up for days, I would finally fall asleep and keep waking up paralyzed. I couldnt open my eyes or move or make a sound and it felt like someone was holding me down. It would last like a minute and then I'd be fully awake. It was a terrifying feeling. And everytime i fell back to sleep it would keep happening over and over, like 4 or 5 times in one night! I hated it. I dont think u can prevent it. Even though i've been clean for a while, it still happens once in a while.

pfgordon1994 · 04-05-2008, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ttara123

It's enough to make me want to drink myself to sleep every night just so I sleep too soundly to wake up in the middle of it. This is a *terrifying* experience.

I suspect that my daughter may have PCOS. One month ago she told me she wanted to hurt herself so I took her to the hospital. She came home the next day with a safety plan in place. The psychiatric nurse practioner changed her antidepressant. Last week the np told me to give my daughter melatonin for her sleep problems. She hasn't slept through the night for years. The greatest thing happened, not only is she sleeping through the night but she got her period today after not having it for 7 months.
Make sure you check with your dr before trying Melatonin but it is not a drug.