Speaking of weird awakenings

[[censored]]

Does anyone ever wake up unable to move your arms and/or legs? This happens to me more and more. I will wake up and one of more of my limbs will be completely cold and without feeling. This lasts for a minute or so during which time I use my torso or a moveable arm to shake the non working limbs back to life. Am I alone here?

[Jman28]

Are you skinny?

[[censored]]

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Are you skinny?

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yes, 5'10 150-155

[Jman28]

This happens to a friend of mine who is extremely skinny anytime he doesnt sleep with his arms and legs straight out.

When his arms or legs are bent, the veins get squeezed shut and no blood gets to the limbs. Then he wakes up and can't move them for hours.

[MelK]

Welcome to a wonderful future of gangreene and amputation.

[Matty]

If you ever get any kinds of tingling or numbess while awake you should be worried. Even if not I'd still mention it to your doctor.

[GuyOnTilt]

This is buried somewhere in my brain, so I might be wrong about some of this.

Your brain releases a drug or chemical or whatever during the REM stage of sleep that in essence paralyzes your body to keep you from "acting" out your dreams. Some people have a tendency to wake up during this stage of sleep while the chemical is still at work, and experience what feels like temporary paralysis. It is very often accompanied by an intense feeling of fear or of a presence of someone or something. Also, pressure on your chest like you're being held down. A lot of people also have auditory hallucinations, like an old lady cackling. I believe the brain restricts all sensory functions except sight, so you're still able to move your eyes.

I've never experienced any of this, so I have no clue about this stuff other than what I vaguely remember reading a long while back, so I might be wrong on some stuff and I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of other things.

GoT

[BusterStacks]

The other night I had a dream about something that was not important, yet I had every single detail of the situation. It was VERY WIERD>

[etizzle]

this happens to me about once a month or so

it is quite hilarious

[DukeSucks]

This had never happened to me until a friend mentioned it one day. Now it happens to me quite a bit. Usually it's when I roll over and sleep on my arm, cutting off circulation. Once I use my other arm to pick it up and move it, I can feel the blood coming back and it works fine.
It is very weird, and scary the first time it happens.

[tbach24]

If I fall asleep with my arms under my body or pillow then I can't move them in the morning. It's pretty weird to feel that totally helpless. I usually just swing them over the side of my bed so that the blood will rush to them faster.

[JackWilson]

[ QUOTE ]
If I fall asleep with my arms under my body or pillow then I can't move them in the morning. It's pretty weird to feel that totally helpless. I usually just swing them over the side of my bed so that the blood will rush to them faster.

[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly what happens to me. For some reason nowadays I can't sleep comfortably without having an arm under my pillow. Obviously this is very bad for circulation. I'm a tad worried about this. I imagine it must be possible to cut off circulation for long enough for the nerve endings to die?

[Jazza]

and what's with that dream of having one of my teeth falling out? any of you guys get this dream?

i actually wiggle the tooth loose myself, and then think to myself that's okay another will come in, and then realize that no i don't have any baby teeth left it's gone for good, and then get worried about having a gap in my teeth for the rest of my life.

also, after one comes out i notice 2 or 3 others are a bit loose and if i'm not carefull i might accidently wiggle some of them out

i wake up and for about 5 seconds when i'm awake i still believe a tooth fell out, i get this dream once every couple of months

[Luzion]

You are correct. When you goto sleep, normally your body will paralyze itself so you dont "act out dreams" in real life. It is very possible to wake up conciously, but your body still hasnt "woken up" yet. It's happened to be several times and its really scary. It is also possible for your body to go into paralysis before you yourself have slipped into unconcious when falling asleep. I didn't know what was the cause of these things until I was interested in lucid dreaming techniques.

For some fun, look up "lucid dreaming" and "WILD (Wake Induced Lucid Dream)." When going to bed, you can employ techniques to keep your brain awake the whole time and experience your body going through the steps of sleep and paralysis. Have fun! /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Matty]

I think it should be noted that what you and GuyonTilt are talking about (sleep paralysis) affects the entire body, and isn't what is happening to the OP.

Anyone who has parts of their body go numb while sleeping is probably at increased risk for other vascular (or possibly neural) problems and should mention it to their doctor.

Okay, off the soapbox now.

[GuyOnTilt]

I remember learning about lucid dreaming a long while ago (I research rando topics over breakfast). I remember getting a bit into it and reading about some of the theory behind it and the longer-term techniques designed to train your mind to develop the right tendencies and patterns to learn to lucid dream, but I thought it would be more effort than it was worth for me. I don't naturally lean toward the things required, so I'd have to work at it for upwards of a year to be able to achieve it I think. I have trouble remembering any details of my dreams, even immediately after waking from one, which is a problem, so yeah. It's interesting stuff though.

GoT

[Luzion]

Gahhh... I didnt even read the original post carefully. Yeah in that case I guess its a pretty safe bet its because his body somehow cuts off circulation from being in weird positions during sleep.

[GuyOnTilt]

[ QUOTE ]
I think it should be noted that what you and GuyonTilt are talking about (sleep paralysis) affects the entire body, and isn't what is happening to the OP.


[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I realized that after I made my post and went back and reread the OP. My bad.

GoT

[Evan]

This sounds like the absoulte worst way to wake up ever; paralyzed, afraid, being held down and listening to old women cackling...jeez.

[Luzion]

Ive woken up with sleep paralysis a couple of times before and it is really fcking scary. The worst part for me was that about half the times it happened to me, I couldnt breathe either. I try desperately to move before I suffocate to death and finally I somehow break free.


Supposedly the worst is when you not only can't move and breathe, but you also feel a really scary or intensely evil presence next to you and you totally freak out. The Japanese call this "kanashibari" and they believe that its caused by some evil force choking the crap out of you while you sleep. Ive even asked a japanese transfer student about it and she told me its a pretty widespread belief in Japan.

Anyway if you have time and are interested, check this article out for more info.



Sleep Disorder (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/07/09/MN56310.DTL)

kanashibari (http://www.josephwaters.com/program%20notes/Kanashibari.html)

[[censored]]

[ QUOTE ]
This is buried somewhere in my brain, so I might be wrong about some of this.

Your brain releases a drug or chemical or whatever during the REM stage of sleep that in essence paralyzes your body to keep you from "acting" out your dreams. Some people have a tendency to wake up during this stage of sleep while the chemical is still at work, and experience what feels like temporary paralysis. It is very often accompanied by an intense feeling of fear or of a presence of someone or something. Also, pressure on your chest like you're being held down. A lot of people also have auditory hallucinations, like an old lady cackling. I believe the brain restricts all sensory functions except sight, so you're still able to move your eyes.

I've never experienced any of this, so I have no clue about this stuff other than what I vaguely remember reading a long while back, so I might be wrong on some stuff and I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of other things.

GoT

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That would make sense because many times I feel like I am half a sleep, and after going back to sleep it laters feels like it was half dream half reality. I also experience the thinking someone is in the room, but since my dogs are not going ape [censored], I quickly know that there can't be. Thanks.

[[censored]]

[ QUOTE ]
I think it should be noted that what you and GuyonTilt are talking about (sleep paralysis) affects the entire body, and isn't what is happening to the OP.

Anyone who has parts of their body go numb while sleeping is probably at increased risk for other vascular (or possibly neural) problems and should mention it to their doctor.

Okay, off the soapbox now.

[/ QUOTE ]

Damn, looks like i am off to the doctor.

[chesspain]

[ QUOTE ]
This happens to a friend of mine who is extremely skinny anytime he doesnt sleep with his arms and legs straight out.

When his arms or legs are bent, the veins get squeezed shut and no blood gets to the limbs. Then he wakes up and can't move them for hours.

[/ QUOTE ]

Or minutes, if we want to stay in reality.

[[censored]]

[ QUOTE ]
and what's with that dream of having one of my teeth falling out? any of you guys get this dream?

i actually wiggle the tooth loose myself, and then think to myself that's okay another will come in, and then realize that no i don't have any baby teeth left it's gone for good, and then get worried about having a gap in my teeth for the rest of my life.

also, after one comes out i notice 2 or 3 others are a bit loose and if i'm not carefull i might accidently wiggle some of them out

i wake up and for about 5 seconds when i'm awake i still believe a tooth fell out, i get this dream once every couple of months

[/ QUOTE ]

Holy [censored], I've had this dream recently. I started flossing twice a day because of it.

[jakethebake]

Did anyone else think this thread was going to be about [censored] coming out of the closet?

[[censored]]

[ QUOTE ]
Did anyone else think this thread was going to be about [censored] coming out of the closet?

[/ QUOTE ]

That was a liquid through the nose worthy post.

[Matt Flynn]

Happens to me too. Really just in the past year though. I wonder what it would be like to be too old to roll with your torso only - do you just lie there for 12 hours and then have permanent limb damage?

However, while the situation is not uncommon, I have never heard of anyone losing a limb due to loss of circulation during sleep (excepting clots, a different thing entirely). So if it happens, it is extremely rare. Just hope it doesn't happen when your house is burgled, or you'll have to use the Indigo Montoya bluff a la Pincess Bride.

Matt

[Jman28]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
This happens to a friend of mine who is extremely skinny anytime he doesnt sleep with his arms and legs straight out.

When his arms or legs are bent, the veins get squeezed shut and no blood gets to the limbs. Then he wakes up and can't move them for hours.

[/ QUOTE ]

Or minutes, if we want to stay in reality.

[/ QUOTE ]

He told me it was for a couple hours.

[The Goober]

This has happened to me a fair number of times - usually its the arm that I had under my pillow in a wierd position. Its a very strange feeling to have to use your left arm to pick up your right arm because its completely dead. I disagree, though, with everyone who says that this is because of blood flow. This is almost definately because the nerves have been pinched - same as any other time that a limb falls asleep. Did you ever wrap a rubber band around your finger when you were a kid? The finger goes purple very quickly. I think if you slept the night with the blood flow to your arm so severly restricted that it affected the nerves there, you would know immediately that something was very wrong (it would get discolored, for one) and it wouldn't recover fully in a couple of a minutes.

Am I the only one on here who's experienced sleep paralysis and not been that bothered by it? I've woken up essentially paralyzed a few times - it wasn't exactly pleasant, but I knew what was happening and was able to just wait it out. I think its one of those things that doesn't bother you unless you actively try to fight it - people say they can't breathe because they can't consciously make themselves do it, but if you don't worry about it, you brain won't get any signals that you need air.

[Matty]

[ QUOTE ]
Supposedly the worst is when you not only can't move and breathe, but you also feel a really scary or intensely evil presence next to you and you totally freak out. The Japanese call this "kanashibari" and they believe that its caused by some evil force choking the crap out of you while you sleep.

[/ QUOTE ]With me it's little gremlins that have tied down my chest and neck ala Gulliver's Travels. Freaks me the [censored] out- especially since I know they just killed my cat.