OK, this is scaring me

Factual Questions
1

About a year ago, I fell asleep in the lobby of a hotel. I “woke up” in a state in which i could see out of my eyes, and even move my eyes…but i was unable to move any other part of my body. I didnt know what the heck was goin on so i tried to say “help” and couldnt get the words out. Finally, i snapped out of this state and everything was normal. I dunno if this was “falling asleep with your eyes open” or not, but if it is, I dont like it.

Last night, the same thing happened while i was asleep. I woke up and could see my closet and move my eyes around, but could not move any other part of my body or speak. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I snapped out of it and awoke fully.

So what is going on here?!?! Is this normal? Has this happened to anybody else? If that is what it’s like to be catatonic, that is a scary thought indeed.

Thanks, Conti

2

Sounds like sleep paralysis.

3

Sleep paralysis is a scary thing, even when you have experienced it a few times.

I asked my wife to shake me if I ever make a muffled noise while asleeep - this is equivalent to me trying to yell with a paralysed voicebox.

Cecil wrote about it here http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_408.html

It is similar to the incubus/succubus thing (nowdays we have hightech version - alien abduction).

4

See Sleep Paralysis at Sleepdisorders.com
Or check these threads:
wondering if there is a medical term for this
Night Terrors, Night Paralysis

5

There has been several threads on this topic. Usually not in GQ, but in MPSIMS, IIRC. And many posters experienced the same thing, some of them do so on a regular basis, apparently). So, don’t worry, you’re not alone. It seems it’s always frightening but not dangerous. It’s a sleep issue, not a catatonic state (beware : I’m not a MD, so don’t quote me on this) : we’re normally "paralyzed " during part of the sleep cycle (paradoxal sleep, when dreams take place), but since we’re asleep, we don’t notice it, of course.
In these cases, which happen just after you awake, you regain consciousness while your body is still paralyzed. Nobody reported it could last long.
I hesitated to write this, since it could frighten you, but I thought it would be better to let you know, in case it would happen to you. Some people also have hallucinations, auditory or visual, which can be frightening, when they awake in this state. Some people also have a feeling of pressure on their chest.
Actually, it sometimes happen to me, but very briefly and only when I’m still half asleep, so it never worried me, since I knew we are supposed to be paralyzed at some moments during our sleep.

6

Just seconding what clairobscur said about somatic hallucinations - they can be very, very frightening if you don’t realise what’s happening; fortunately, the pass very quickly.

7

Thanks for the information people. I feel much better about it all now. It’s good to know i’m not alone, and a lot of those websites had good information about what to do if it happens to you, such as trying to move your eyes or fingers to wake up.

Thanks again, Conti

8

I perused the provided links and didn’t see this piece of info, forgive me if I repeat it.

When you go to sleep your brain has a “switch” that shuts off voluntary movement in your body so that when you dream, you don’t go running around. This theory is generally confirmed by that fact that neural scientists have lesioned the brains of cats in the relevant area and the lesioned cats stalk and hunt during states of REM activity.

The reason you could move your eyes is that because the switch kicks into “motor pathway” just below where the nerves to your eyes & up branc off to go do their jobs. In fact, the reason why you have rapid eye movements when you dream is because that switch is below the motor neurons leading to your eyes.

As to why some people wake while the switch is on and most don’t, well, I don’t recall. I know that it is a symptom of narcolepsy (sp?) which someone mentioned already–but don’t worry! You need more than one symptom to be narcoleptic (sp?).

I have no references to offer you other than suggesting looking up a neural science textbook, which I’m not going to do because you’re not an idiot and David Letterman said that it is rude to draw attention to the obvious. You may want to try one other than Principles of Neural Science 3rd ed. by Kandel, et. al. because I just spent 10 minutes looking for the info and this is the best I got:

Oh, “switch” and “motor pathway” are not the proper terms, but it’s been a while for me…

9

It happens to me occasionally. It can get very scary (but I am one of the few that does not break out into terrors when it happens). When you wake up paralyzed, you are really paralyzed, you cannot even adjust the rate of your breathing and if you start to get frightened or agitated it feels like you are suffocating. I have wondered if it is caused by your brain waking up before your body.

There is not much that you can do except concentrate on a single digit, toe or finger, until you can get that to move it. Then you should be able to quickly progress to moving an arm or leg, then the rest of your body; but if you stop moving at any point, you will be completely paralyzed again and have to start all over.

I just see it as a little annoyance in life and take some pride in that I have never panicked when it happened.

10

I forgot to mention, it usually does not last long, several minutes at the most.

11

Yup, sounds like sleep paralysis. I get it constantly. I had it last night, and twice the night before. My record is about 5 times in one night. The thing is to try just to fall asleep and not panic. However its very hard to remember this. So just relax and in the immortal words of Douglas Adams: “Don’t Panic.”

12

I used to get this a lot when I was in college when I would take naps in the afternoon. It doesn’t seem to happen as much now as I’ve gotten older.

Of course, my “naps” in college were about 2 hours long and now they are about 10-20 minutes.

13

I’ve experienced this about 10 times total and most of those were in my first year in college (1991). It was such a bizarre thing that I even asked my dormmate to wake me up if he heard any “grunting” noises coming from me while taking a nap!

This is going to sound really silly, but the oddest one I can recall is where I felt as if I was floating a bit (but still on my side in a sleeping position) and turning clockwise on my bed, but somehow one of my feet was supporting me. When I finally snapped out of it, I had that feeling one has when one stretches out their leg after being folded for a long time (pins and needles?).

Definitely the strangest thing I’ve ever experienced.

14

I once thought aliens were paralyzing me with a ray gun. I was very scared.

But this ussually happens to me when Im stressed, really tired, and cant find a quiet, comfortable place to sleep for the life of me. Once after being up more than 24 hours I fell asleep on my mom’s couch (where I was sleeping for summer) in the middle of the day. So of course people were all over the place trying to do normal things, while I lay there my body insisting on sleeping while continually waking partially. So I kept waking up paralyzed.

In any case, when this happens to me I just relax and go back to bed - you cant sleep forever can you? well…

15

I have narcolepsy, and experience both the sleep paralysis and the hallucinations (IIRC, they’re referred to as hypnogogic hallucinations). Most symptoms of narcolepsy are the result of the brain attempting to impose sleeping conditions while you’re in a waking state.

For me the sleep paralysis was scary the first couple of times, now when it occurs, I just (mentally) take a deep breath and think happy thoughts :), and I usually snap out of it in a few seconds.

Cataplexy (which, thankfully, I don’t suffer from) is another form of the sleep paralysis, but instead of occuring just on that line between sleeping and waking, can occur at any time, usually after a period of high emotion, like being frightened all of a sudden, or going into a laughing fit watching a screwball comedy. The body paralyzes itself, and the sufferer collapses on the floor like a rag doll. Scary to watch if you’re not use to it.

The hallucinations are a different beastie altogether. They’re like daydreams, except (at least for me) they’re daydreams with 'roid rage ;). As an example, I was standing (actually, sitting :slight_smile: ) a phone watch in the Navy (after I had been diagnosed and was waiting to be processed out on a medical discharge), and was reading a Star Trek novel. All of a sudden, I went from reading the book to actually being on the bridge of the USS Enterprise. I could see the backs of the heads of Wesely and Data, Riker to my right, Troi to my left. I literally felt the padded arms of the Captain’s Chair (my watch chair was basically a barstool with a back to it, no arms), saw and heard the lights and be-boops, and had a magnificient view of the galaxy through the forward viewing screen. The ship started taking fire from an unidentified source, so I told Wesely to lay in a course away from the enemy. He acknowledged the course was laid in, so I shouted “Engage!”… and shouted it so loud, I snapped myself out of the hallucination…and scared the bejeezus out of the other guy standing the watch with me, as I apparently had shouted the “Engage!” part out loud…

The thing I’ve found over the years, is that if I’m doing an activity which actively stimulates my brain (interactively surfing the 'net, performing mathematical calculations, etc) I will rarely suffer the hallucinations, but if I am doing something that doesn’t require a whole lot of brain activity (and, yes, driving is one of those things), I am much more likely to have a hallucination.

critter42

16

Would this be the reason of this famous feeling of pressure on the chest?

17

For most of my life I have been afflicted by a condition known as sleep paralysis, and most people will be affected by it at some point in their lives, even if only once or twice.

It happens when you are trying to get to sleep and parts of your brain fall asleep in the wrong order. You will actually be wide awake with your eyes open but your body cannot move as the brain has already shut it down.

It results in one of the freakiest sensations known to man. There is an overpowering feeling that there is someone else in the room with you, you will hear deep breathing from behind you and it will also feel as if someone is pressing down on your body with some force (this is scary let me tell you).

Sometimes there will be a high pitched screeching in the ears, and quite often your dreams start to kick in while your eyes are still open (at this point you are still mentally lucid, you can still clearly see everything that is in your vision) and this results in unbelievably real hallucinations.
Sometimes I see the aliens from ALIENS the movie walking about my room, and combined with the screeching noise it can be quite alarming.

Sleep paralysis in the olden days was attributed to witches, sufferers believed that a succubus had been sent by the devil or a witch to have sex with them and suck away their lifeforce. I can imagine how people thought this because there is sometimes a sexual feeling that happens (well to be blunt it can feel like there is a woman astride you making sweet sweet love to you).

Nowadays sleep paralysis is attributed to alien visitations. Almost all of alien visitation claims by Americans or any other country are in fact this sleep disorder, but because it may only happen to them once or twice they dont realise what is really going on (obviously when I see H R Gigers creations walking about my room I realise that they are images created by a man so they could not be real aliens).

So if this ever happens to anybody, remember this, the eerie breathing that you hear behind you that raises the hair on the back of your neck is actually your own, because your body is paralysed you dont have control over it, your body breathes for you.

It is not always scary, sometime it can be quite cool if you learn what it is and you accept what is happening it can be peaceful and you can bring on a feeling of floating in mid air (like sigourney in ghostbusters).

This never used to affect me occasionally, it used to happen every single night for years and years. Funnily enough though it never happens when I sleep in a room with someone else. MY girlfriend and I started renting a flat over a year ago and it has never happened since.

Oh and please dont have nightmares.

18

Just a thanks for all the info that been provided here. It happens to me on occaision, and no one I ever mentioned it to had any idea of what I was talking about. I find it easier to just try to relax and drift off, trying to move a finger is too frustrating and seems to take forever.

The reports of the floating sensation are interesting too. That’s happening to me more often now than the sense of someone else being in the room.

I’m just pleased I know what to call it!

19

Just to put it into perspective to someone who’s never had it happen…it kind of reminded me of “Lord of the Rings”, when the character puts on the ring and it makes him invisible. haha i know that’s a weird example but it indeed DOES feel like you are in another dimension when this paralysis happens.

20

It sounds like it might be fun–but then it is only in my head as a hypothetical. I can imagine how when it is real it would be really frightening.