The first time I was having a nightmare, I was being chased, and was terrified. I tried to wake up, my heart was pounding, I felt like I was in danger, and my body felt really heavy. I fell back asleep, was in the nightmare, tried to wake up... I'm not sure how many times I repeated this process. Finally, I able to stay awake.
The second episode happened a few weeks later and followed the pattern of the first one, but at the end when I woke up I realized that I couldn't move. I couldn't turn over or raise my arms. I thought maybe I was having a stroke, but dismissed that idea because strokes usually present on only one side. Needless to say, I was terrified. After a minute or so, I was able to move again.
The third episode I again was dreaming, couldn't wake up, couldn't moved; but this time Tom was home! I tried to call his name... I couldn't speak! I tried and tried and finally got out a growl. After several growls I could say Tom's name and even got out a few words: help me, I can't wake up, I can't move. Unfortunately, Tom was in a pretty deep sleep himself. He rolled over toward me, patted my arm, and was going back to sleep. I had to call to him several times. Finally, he woke up and helped me wake up.
Over the next months, I had a couple more episodes. The feelings of fear seem to increase...I felt like something evil was in the room and that it was holding me down.
Enter the novel! I love to read and mostly the books are romance novels. I was reading "Sleeping Beauty" by Elle Lothlorien. The story is about a women who suffers from sleep disorders. These are excerpts from the book of her describing her symptoms:
"I started to notice that it took a long time to wake up."
"I would be awake in my mind, but I wasn't always sure I really was awake."
"... I couldn't move. Well, sometimes I could open my eyes, but not much else."
"And I would have these, uh, visions."
"I would see things...people and colors and things in the room with me, around my bed."
The doctors explanation:
"When a person enters deep dreaming REM sleep, the brain paralyzes the body so the dreamer
doesn't act out the dream and hurt themselves while they are unconscious...Hypnopompic
Paralysis like Ms Beau is describing happens when you wake up while you're still in REM. The
person will be largely unable to move and may even continue to dream while awake.
Needless to say, I stopped reading the novel and got on the internet. My first stop was webmd. When I typed in hypnopompic paralysis I was directed to sleep disorders/narcoleptcy/sleep paralysis. The article stated: "The sypmptoms involve the temporary inability to move or speak while falling asleep or waking up. These episodes are generally brief, lasting several seconds or minutes. After episodes end people rapidly recover their full capacity to move and speak."
Next, I went to Wikipedia. The article there was much more indepth. Describing signs and symptoms, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, prognosis, history, and folklore. It was interesting to read and reassuring. Sleep paralysis is a fairly common disorder. Although scary, there is no damage done physically. If the episodes become too frequent or last a long time there is medicine that may help.
I have continued to have the occassional episode, but I have to admit that I feel a lot better knowing what is happening.
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