Anyone Have Paralysis After/during A Flashback?

[Tinyflame]

Myself personally it's not during sleep.

 

[Sussa]

I have experienced the same thing many times. It usually happens after I have had a really bad nightmare. I wake up but I can't move. I get a horrible sinking feeling and the only thing I can do is let the tears flow. After a few minutes I can move again. When I have flashbacks I freeze most of the time and the tears flow. I did not know anyone else experienced such things until I joined this forum.

 

[BlueOrange]

Paralysis when you're not asleep is probably (especially likely if you have PTSD) because you're in a cortisol response, which is an automatic system that kicks in after the adrenalin response. Adrenalin gives you the strength and power for fight or flight. If you can't win, and can't run away, the body goes into the cortisol response, which locks up all the muscles. The survival advantages in the wild are that it makes you very quiet and still, and therefore it's possible that the threat won't detect you, or will ignore you. Muscles that are locked up are also harder to injure, and consume less energy than muscles that are mobile. I've found that over time & with desensitization, the paralysis and muscle cramps have become less severe.

 

[Tinyflame]

I'm not sure how someone can desensitize to what they do not recognize as coming, such as a FB, or unidentifiable triggers.

 

[Springer80]

Oh my, I'm so glad I've found this. I've been doing this for years. I think I might be starting to come out of it slowly? Or at least I am aware of it. The way I describe it which is best for me is that I become immobilised. When I've used paralyzed people don't get it. Also its not a permanent physical state. Immoblised seemed to fit with the feeling it was related to dissocitaion and/or freeze response.

I say to people I can't 'gather' myself. It's like all my faculties and abilities are still there, but they've drifted beyond my reach and I can't get any agency on them. It's like being in neutral and no amount of wishing I could move the gear stick does anything.

It is definitely different from time loss while experiencing flash backs and night terror paralysis.

Whoever mentioned the medical terminology above thank you. :)

I've often wondered about the learned helplessness/passivity connection to this physiological/neurobiological aspect. Soldiers in the two world wars were accused of malingering! It must be related. I also wonder if it's to do with the prolonged hijacking of your nervous system. Anyway...thanks.

 

[Loveneverfails]

I don't know if anyone has said this already, I didn't catch it if they did. But isn't this considered a form of Catatonia?

 

[Springer80]

I don't know if anyone has said this already, I didn't catch it if they did. But isn't this considered a form of Catatonia?

I think that's the old name for the branch of inquiry this would now come under. I've just looked up physco-motor impairment too, as suggested above.

TBH, it hacks me off that medicine attempts to diagnose every thing as a stand alone condition. I got told I have burn-out, chronic fatigue etc I suspect that it is quite natural after 13 years of physco-motor overload. Everything has an equal and opposite reaction....

 

[InHell11]

This has kind of happened to me, but usually no longer than a few minutes to a 1/2 hour. I've missed getting off the bus at the right stop because of it. Its like some how rather than flight or fight, my freeze effect comes into place.

Then I am stuck sitting there re-thinking/re-living whatever it is that happens to be plaguing my mind at the moment. Sometimes I am afraid of being sucked into it all, more than once people have had to get my attention when I space out that way.

 

[poeticprincess88]

I haven't found anyone talking about this yet. I experience full body paralysis, I can't move any part of my body for a period of time.

I had this happen. At first they thought they were trans ichemic attacks (TIA's). Then they later said it was a conversion disorder.

 

[Anna]

The other night, I had a flashback. I sat up on my bed, put my feet on the floor and just started shaking. I could not move, it was like I was frozen with fear. Was a very nasty experience.

 

[Inwardly_Broken]

Wow, I'm so glad to know that I am not the ony one struggling with this kind of stuff. I find that I get "paralyzed" when something is done to remind me of the past events; not a flashback exactly. Here's an example... When one of my guy friends come over to give me a hug I become stiff and cannot move, I tell myself to move but I can't, sometimes my breathing becomes real abnormal too. There are times where I am left standing there for a few minutes not being able to do anything except for blink and then there are times where as soon as they let go I sprint away and try to collect myself. Most of the time I don't even remember running away from them. It freaks people out and it scares me too.

 

[Draiocht]

I've had this - I feel frozen to the spot and although I'm aware I'm not physically impaired it's like the message from my brain to my limbs to move gets lost in translation. It usually happens when running away isn't an option after being triggered.