[4mygrls4ever]

I've had this happen a few times to me lately & don't understand what is happening? I have very vivid, disturbing dreams. I often wake up in the morning with one of the first words to my husband is I've got to tell you about these dreams i had last night. Anyhow, something odd has started occuring lately. It's happened a few times. In the morning when i'm alseep & dreaming, i start to wake up but I seem to be paralysed. I can't get myself to fully wake up & get out of bed. It's like i'm stuck in the dream. I'll try to wake myself up but i can't. I then just give up trying & fall back to sleep. It's like my body has no strength to get out of bed. I've never had this happen before in my past. This has now happened a hand full of times in the past few months. It's really scary because i wonder if there was an emergency going on in the house would i be able to respond? Has anyone else had this happen to them? Is there a syndrome or name to this?

[ladyluciferous]

Hi, I too experienced something similar to what you describe, and from researching about it I believe there is nothing to worry about. It has been linked to the sleep disorder, Narcolepsy however, but only when it's at the onset of sleeping not when you're waking up. When we sleep we we are usually paralysed anyway to prevent us from acting out our dreams in REM sleep. You are waking up before the hormone that numbs our muscles has has worn off.
They just term it sleep paralysis, although it was termed the 'Old Hag syndrome' initially, as some people experienced hallucinations during this period and attributed it to paranormal phenomenom before science could explain it. With regards to being able to respond to an emergency - as you're just becoming conscious before your body's ready, your response to an emergency is the same as if you were actually sleeping.

If it is starting to interfere with your sleep though, it's worth just checking it out with the doctor.

[InTherapy]

I think you're referring to sleep paralysis? It's our bodies natural defense mechanism against us acting out our dreams. For instance, if you dream you're walking across a forest, but you live in a 17th floor apartment, that could end very badly, unless your body takes steps to paralyze us while we dream. It sounds like some wires have gotten crossed! I think it's not unusual for this to happen occasionally, but if this has happened several times recently, you might want to get it checked out.

Have you taken a new medication within a month of this new phenomena?

[-jimi-]

In otherwise healthy people, sleep paralysis can come from stress and sleep deprivation.

[4mygrls4ever]

well, stress in my life is at an all time high that's for sure.