Scary sleep

Last night I fell asleep reading on the couch, and the next thing I know I wake up in a complete panic. I can't move my arms or legs - I feel completely paralyzed. I know TBF is nearby but I can't get his attention. My heart was racing. I can barely breathe. I can't even open my eyes. I lay there motionless, desperately struggling to get his attention, to make a noise, to get help. I tried to scream, to even whisper, but not a sound would come out of my mouth. I was scared to death.

What seemed like an eternity later, probably only moments, I woke up. I heard myself yelp as I was coming out of my dream. My heart was still racing and I had to check all my limbs to make sure they really worked. What a weird dream. After my mini-scream, I had to explain to TBF what was going on. He asked me about some Freudian interpretation of being trapped, but I laughed it off.

I was reading A Million Little Pieces right before I fell asleep. I had just started the book, the character (who thanks to the Smoking Gun we now know is more a fictional mish-mash of experiences than a autobiographical memoir) had just arrived in treatment, was doped up on Diazepam and Librium, and couldn't even keep his ass in a lazy boy without dripping out of it. I was reading about him lying face down on the carpet, unable to move, but aware of what was going on around him... So I blamed the dream attack on the book.

But just for kicks, I looked up dream analysis and paralysis online, and found some very interesting stuff. Mind awake, body unable to move, plus hallucinations. Although in the Southern US people call the phenomenon the witch riding your back, I find the Chinese interpretation much more interesting: a spirit or ghost is sitting or lying on top of the individual while they were sleeping, causing the sleep paralysis. This is thought to be a minor body possession by the forces from the dead, and usually doesn't cause any harm to the victim.

Oooh. I hope that was the last sleep paralysis experience ever. Way too scary.