Wakeful Nightmares but Unable to Move or Speak

Here and there I have nightmares and wake-up from them but cannot move or speak until I put forth great effort to do so. Eventually I can jerk myself into movement and can open my eyes.

I know that I'm awake though, just immobile.

It can be frightening.

Any idea what this is???

 

Sounds like sleep paralysis. I get it very very mildly but my friend used to get it like you describe. Evolutionary hang over from sleeping in trees apparently.

 

Interesting. Thankyou for relpying.

 

I have a friend that gets this and she has said it really is scary when it happens however she has said she does not get it too often. It's sleep paralysis, very scary from what I understand however I have never experienced it myself.

 

I have had it happen once and it was terrifying.

 

Happened to me 2 houses ago, in a house that was rumored to be haunted....and lady ghost was walking towards me while I was in that state...and she was pure evil...I did manage to jerk out of it before she touched me....which she was coming toward me to do..I slept with lights on ever after that happened and got the hell out of there......eventually....It was pretty terryfying.

 

These are called imprints and can result from many reasons before and after being born. Arthur Janov discusses all this and has a remedy if you are up for it and have the help required. PRIMAL THERAPY discussed here:
http://www.primaltherapy.com/

 

Yes, your body shuts down your system while you're dreaming so you don't thrash about in bed. I've had the same experience myself, where I can't move right after waking from a dream. There are people who don't have this automatic shutdown when they sleep.

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

 

Wow this is crazy the same thing happened to me about a year ago... I was dreaming but it was like I was completely clear headed and awake and I saw 4 or 5 large shadows approaching me and it was definitely something evil and I could feel my goose bumps but I couldn't move or speak...

 

A lot of people recall the presence of evil, too - a common one is the sighting of "The Old Hag". I had something like that once. It was odd for me, though. I woke up, couldn't move, and saw this ancient, shriveled figure, very imposing and menacing... and laughed. It was all horribly amusing for me. Don't know why. It's only ever happened once