Constant Problem
I just woke up from one of these incidents. I'm sitting here at just before 5 in the morning, terrified even though I know that nothing is wrong.
For me, they happen anytime I sleep without the light on. I'm not really afraid of the dark, except for when I'm asleep. For some reason, if somebody turns the lights off on me while I'm asleep I get these absolutely horrible nightmares. Usually something like waking up in my house, in the dark and reaching for the light and not being able to get to it because I'm paralyzed and then I fight it and fight it and when I can finally move everything is screwed up and shadows are moving everywhere, but I can never reach the light, dimensions are all out of wack and I go on and on for what seems like forever... before I realize I'm still asleep and go through it all again and again and again. Eventually, I really will roll of the bed and be able to wake up and then I'm sitting up like I am now terrified to go back to sleep. I'm really afraid that I'm going to have a heart attack one of these days from this. My pulse gets insane and I can't catch my breath. It's really weird, because I'm not normally afraid of anything.
But, over the years, this has gotten to where it is a guaranteed event if the lights are out and I fall asleep or if the lights go out once I'm asleep. As long as their is light, I'm okay. I don't understand this at all. I'm not afraid on my way to sleep; it's just when I'm waking up, but I really think that the light going off somehow sets off something in my subconcious that causes me to wake up and go through this.
Anyway, I apologize if I'm rambling here; I desperately need some sleep and instead I'm googling for information on this.
Best wishes to all.