I was in a bar just now walking around, a few other patrons ignored me. Something was wrong and I tried to call out to them for help. I figured I was drunk, but that was weird since I don't drink really. Like most of these types of events I was trying desperately to communicate but couldn't get any sound to come out. People kept leaving and eventually I was alone in this old smelly bar. I couldn't hold my head up and I still couldn't call for help.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw my old boss and I tried to yell to her for help... thats when I became un-paralyzed enough to make a sound and realized I was "asleep" sitting upright in the chair at the kitchen table where I had been working. Luckily my yell for help was not enough to wake anyone in the house.
Finally realizing what was going on, I set my mind at ease and relaxed as I very slowly got "unstuck" and was able to fully return to mobility and other aspects of consciousness again and wait till they where all in sync as they should be.
Its an over simplification, but night terrors are caused when you are more lightly asleep but the mechanism of deep sleep that keeps you immobile fails to switch off. As the name implies, the experience can be quite disconcerting, even downright horrifying as your brain struggles to explain why you can't move when you should be able to.
Its funny the "stories" your still dreaming mind will make up to explain to you why you can't move and can't talk even though you are becoming partially awake. Crossing that threshhold has become commonplace for me now and I have that moment of panic before I realize whats going on but then I "figure it out" and treat it like its old hat... but man I remember when it was still something I didn't understand... Good lord they suck.
I have to say, I don't know what dying feels like but it must feel like a night terror.
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A few years back I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't move. All I could do was open my eyes. I was able to see the clock, and time didn't seem to pass at all. It felt like hours that I was stuck there, but I know it was only a few minutes. It also felt like someone was standing on my chest and watching me. I tried desperately to lift my arms and push it off. Apparently its such a common thing that in some cultures they talk about it as a little old woman or a goblin sitting on your chest. Sleep paralysis is a good thing, though, I guess. I wouldn't want to go running into a wall every time I dreamed I was being chased by something!
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