There is a name for it
not sure what. "I'd shit myself if only I could move" would be appropriate.

This used to happen to me occasionally but thankfully hasn't happened for a few years now.

I would wake up and find that I couldn't move any part of my body. Couldn't even open my eyes. The first time it happened, I lay there wondering if I was dead or at least, experiencing my own death. Either that or paralysed or maybe in a coma, none of which appealed to me. I tried to move my hands or my fingers, nothing. Tried to force my body to sit up or roll over, nothing. "Perhaps I can wriggle my toes" I thought and concentrated really hard on making them twitch just a little bit. After a while I succeeded in making a toe move, opened my eyes and sat bolt upright in one big spasm. It was all over, I was fine. And relieved.

This happened to me a dozen or so times but after the first time, though unpleasant, I knew I'd be OK. Just had to focus on wriggling that little toe.
( stopmeandslapme Cometh the hour, cometh your mum, Mon 27 Jul 2009, 10:17, 10 replies)

This has happened to me
and it shit me up for days. When I did actually manage to move after a few minutes of trying - it felt like fucking forever - I flipped myself right out of bed and carpet burned my arse :(

*EDIT* it's called - rather predictably - sleep paralysis.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis
(berk, Mon 27 Jul 2009, 10:27, closed)

Me too
I suffered with this regularly for a while. It was to do with a bad lifestyle i.e. too much drink and not enough sleep apparently.

who knew?
(Eggstrovert isnt patronising you...honest..., Mon 27 Jul 2009, 11:17, closed)

Sleep Paralysis.
It's the body's way of stopping you acting out your dreams. Simple as that. It's a bit disconcerting when it happens though, but now you know what it is hopefully it won't be so bad.
(robbersdog, Mon 27 Jul 2009, 12:03, closed)

Wiggling your toes...
(or trying to swallow) is the best thing to do - it affects the big muscles the most, so toe wiggling is a way to tell your body that you'd really much rather it stopped what it was doing, thank you.

Maybe dangerous if you have a cat though
(teebie jeebie, Mon 27 Jul 2009, 12:20, closed)

REM
only happens during one of the 4 stages of REM.

I haven't had this happen for years, but it's a little strange to say the least.
(dchurch bah, Mon 27 Jul 2009, 12:12, closed)

ex girlfriend used to have that
she used to concentrate really hard on blinking to make herself snap out of it. Used to terrify her
(Super Oaf Petit filous?, Mon 27 Jul 2009, 12:53, closed)

I get this too...
I also have it where not only can I not move, I can't breathe. I can't encourage my lungs to do anything and I lie there with a brief impression of what it must be like to asphyxiate.

It was terrifying at first, then scary, and now it's little more than irritating. I know what's going on, and I know that in about ten seconds (which will feel like two minutes) everything will be alright again.
(annexed, Mon 27 Jul 2009, 13:11, closed)

Blimey
alot of B3tans are also freaks.
( stopmeandslapme Cometh the hour, cometh your mum, Mon 27 Jul 2009, 13:15, closed)

this used to happen to me all the time
back in my 'clubbing' days, it would invariably happen in the days following a particularly heavy night on the drink and drugs. actually found out some years later that irregular sleeping patterns (e.g staying up for two days on coke before sleeping for 15 hours) are thought to cause it. while it was happening i'd also get weird electrical noises in my head like the sound a dial up modem makes when it's trying to connect. really strange!

i recall the first time it happened to me being one of the most terrifying moments of my life; woke up, couldn't move a muscle, just about managed to open my eye lids half-way.. to see a blurred dark figure looming over me. honestly felt like i was being held down by an intruder who was about to do me some serious harm. after about 20 seconds i managed to 'break free' and sat bolt upright, only to find it was infact my wall mounted punch bag that was the would be intruder! didn't stop me from grabbing a snooker cue and searching the whole house afterwards though.


hasn't happened to me for a long time now, probably due to me calming down a lot on the wild nights out. remember it for being a very scary thing every time though.
(TheManWithThePlan cussed your mum on, Mon 27 Jul 2009, 14:34, closed)

Hypnogogia
Very freaky... paralysis and hallucinations.

Never a good combvination.

Especially when you 'wake up' paralysed to see the demonic face of your housemate shining a blue lamp in your face. The sounds of electricity pumping through the walls and an over-whelming feeling of dread.

Just the imagination though.
(mr-lizard Hell's teeth man!, Mon 27 Jul 2009, 16:09, closed)