Paralysed When Waking Up

[Helliepig]

This happened to me too. I think sometimes when we experience some things it is the brain going through a re-experiencing what happened during the trauma - being too afraid to move. Literally frozen by fear.

I get a recurrent thing about waking up not able to breath, and we think I was smothered. The body finds a way to reenact, in dreams, what our bodies and minds cannot conciously remember, trying to bring it out, trying to intergrate it. Even from very very young.

 

[Mayday]

A few times this year, I've woken up from dreaming that I'm suffocating, to find myself face down on my pillow, struggling to breathe but unable to move, I panic and struggle until I can force myself "awake" enough to move my head and catch my breath...it's quite scary.

Being unable to fight back or scream when being attacked, has also been a common theme in my dreams. How messed up is that, that even in my dreams I blame myself for what happens because I can't defend myself? I have woken up crying, or talking out loud or panicked, but don't always have a clear memory of the dream, except for some dreams that have always felt "clearer".