Force holding me while sleeping!

man1

Hi
I was reading a post over on the medicine forum about falling asleep with a shudder just as you are drifting off to sleep and it brought back memories of when I was younger
When I was from about 12 years till about 15 years old I experienced on a number of occasions a feeling of someone forcing or holding me down in the bed as I was drifting off to sleep, not with hands but like a weight all over my body, It was like a semi-dream but I was still very much consious.
I remember I would try to call out to my mum and dad who were in the room next door but as much as I tried to move or call out my body wouldnt move or my mouth wouldnt speak (weird I know!!), In my head I would be thinking "oh ****, how am I gonna get out of this".
I was able to see all around my room and would tighten up my body trying very hard to move until eventually I would move with a massive jolt and I would sit up in the bed and was then wide awake and wouldnt be able to sleep for hours after.
Happen to any one else or am I just a freak?

Goodshape

This sounds like sleep paralysis to me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

Zillah

Yup, sounds like classic sleep paralysis.

I_and_I

It's definately SP, a horrible thing to happen. Once you realise that it happens to most people you can reduce the stress factor, by just accepting its happening.

I remember when I was younger I used to get it real bad mostly in the mornings. It would usually happen like this:
I would wake up, not able to open my eyes or move. It felt like my neck was in an uncomfortable position or something so I would try and move my arm or leg or something, and I would fall out of the bed and movement would come back to my limbs but my eyes wouldn't open and I would crawl around the room looking for the light switch for some reason. Suddenly I would wake up again and realise that none of that had actually happened but I still coudn't open my eyes or move until eventually, it always involved moving my leg at a certain angle, and I would be 100% awake. I thought I was going insane for a couple of months till I asked my parents and at the time they told me it was perfectly ok and from then on it didn't bother me much, still quite annoying.

man1

It certainly was freaky.
I didnt even tell my parents, I thought they would think I was mad (which they already did anyway!!). I thought I was the only one that it happened to.

I told my wife a few months back and she laughed and said it was probably a dream. I was so glad to see that it happens to other people on here.

Black Swan

SP or panic attack? Can you think of any incidents that may have occurred when you were 12 and it started?