Sleep Paralysis

[WILDFIREequestrian]

Who goes through this? AND WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU? I have different little stories. Sometimes I see a black figure holding me down, sometimes I see nothing and feel someone pressing me down. I wake up and can look around but cant move a muscle.

[HorshamMalc]

It's a natural brain function to stop us acting out our dreams and injuring ourselves. I get it sometimes, like most people, it usually passes in ten seconds or so.

[Lybra]

I too have these turns, see people, hear running footsteps, voices and it makes me afraid. Fortunately I have found that if you surrender , do not try to struggle, just go to sleep. When you waken in a few minutes, all is normal. It is I think caused by extreme tiredness, and really nothing to worry about.

[RAGurl1]

Oh my gosh - That is really scary... I am amazed that you are so calm..

[maaslider]

I wish I could say I behaved as calmly and thought as rationally as those that posted here! I haven’t had an episode in some years but it’s really terrible when it’s happened. It’s always the same. I wake up, I can see my room exactly as it is, my husband and dogs, cats on the bed. I realize I can’t move and try to speak and cannot. Then I feel if I yell loud enough to wake up my husband or my dog it will be ok! I feel as if I’m going to burst my vocal cords I am sure I’m yelling with so much force but no sound comes out. I’ve even moved to a different bedroom- dog and cats in tow and had it happen again the same night. I don’t see or feel anyone physically holding me down, that would make it much worse.

HorshamMalc is correct about the inhibitory function in our brains that keep up from acting out while dreaming. But with night terrors, it doesn’t bring much comfort while it’s happening! I did have some emotional things going on the last two times I’ve had this. I wish I had taken more time to really reflect on what was going on in my life each time I’ve experienced an episode. Perhaps someone or several people here could keep a journal and see if any commonality exists between them? Thanks for reading my long reply, I do try to keep them short- haven’t succeeded yet,but keep trying! M