BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Dreams These dreams really freak me out.

These dreams have no pattern as to when they occur. Its been about a year since the last one before last night. Summer 07 was when I had the most (nearly every day/night or two) but they have been happening since february 2005. They dont only happen at night, most of the ones in 07 were during naps in the middle of the day. Oh and except for the first one they never happen alone, once I have one I will have at least one more right off Last night was the first time it has happened with someone else in bed with me. I was dreaming about something but in my dream I went to bed (this happens in all of them I dont remember most of the dream until the point where I go to bed) and started dreaming. I "wake up" in bed/couch/tent wherever I actually went to bed and everything is exactly the same. Except I have NO control over my body (which is very very heavy in the dream). I try to roll over and cant. I try to scream but I cant. I can make small noises and can move kind of but really have no control over it. In last nights dream I was trying to check on the baby who was in bed with us (which he really was we bedshare) but I couldnt touch him, my hand kept coming down by him but not on him. So somehow I made enough noise to wake my husband who just held me as I tried to scream and tell him how scared I was. Then he told me I was just dreaming so I tried to wake up and tried to scream to wake myself up but couldnt. I was so scared. I "woke up" in my dream and screamed. Then I really woke up. I was in the same position I was in when I went to bed and the baby was fine thank goodness. DH was fast asleep. This bothers me a lot because in 07 when I went through that summer of them I was to the point in the dreams where other figures would be around me when I was out of control. It was more scary every time I had the dream. I had a couple of these dreams in the beginning of my pregnancy but not since, so its been at least a year since the last one and before that it was at the end of the summer 07. The first one I had was at my grandfather's house in 2005 In my dream I would go to bed and then go to bed and dream that i was going to bed (and so on) each time losing more control. Finally I couldnt even move and I was hit with a sense of dread so strong I had to get out of it. But, I had to wake up in each "layer" (there was about 15) in order to wake up for real and by the time I was awake I was so scared i was literally shaking and covered in sweat. In the ones since then I skip the whole "layer" thing but go straight to one of the levels of not being in control of my body. Sorry this was so long and probably confusing but I dont want these dreams anymore, especially with my baby in bed with me! At the very least I want some insight so I can prepare myself for them and not be so scared of them.

Hi Marchmarie,

I've had dreams like that, and I know what you're feeling, they're terrifying. But someone explained it to me, which made sense and haven't had them since. This was waaaay back in my late teens. I can sometimes tell when it will likely happen and I can prevent it now.

So, forgive me if I don't word this accurately or if it isn't scientifically correct but what I was told, was that when you're body goes to sleep and you're in REM to dream, there's a part of your mind telling you you're dreaming and not to act it out. It keeps you're body still. And so when you're sleeping it's like your mind wakes up but the other part where your body is being told to sleep and you're feeling paralyzed is still working. I used to feel like I was trapped inside my body and no matter what I did, I couldn't get it to move/work/wake up. And I'd have to calm my mind, take deep breaths (although you can't really because you're asleep.) and then let my body wake up on it's own. So now, when I'm really tired but my mind's awake, like if I'm exhausted but have had a lot of caffine, I try to move around so I won't fall asleep because I can tell that my body will stay asleep but my mind will be awake and it will happen.

Sorry, I realize this sounds strange but it really used to scare me, and I'm a person that's pretty aware of my dreams. I think it's a mind body connection thing. Hope it helped in some way.