Sleep Paralysis

Image: Wikipedia.com

I've suffered from sleep paralysis since I was a little kid and it's awful. It's generally considered disrupted REM sleep, but it's like being caught in a dream and not being able to escape.

I can go years without having an incident but last night I did. I was in the middle of a dream and suddenly I was aware but couldn't move. I felt like screaming but I couldn't do that or even move. It only last a minute and I was finally given back control of my body.

I'm always really sleepy when I finally shake off the paralysis but I should know not to because it always happens again right away. It did last night but it always doesn't last as long as the first time. But then I have to get up and do something for a few minutes to wake up enough to not slip into the sleep paralysis.

Because I've dealt with this since I was a kid, I'm terrified of being actually paralyzed. When I had my c-section with Emily, I was numbed from the waist down. I nearly had a panic attack because I couldn't move. I felt so relieved when I got feeling back.

I'm feeling a bit groggy today because of it. But I'm feeling very lucky that it was just sleep paralysis and not something worse.