the last time it happened to me i kept waking up and every time i fell back asleep it kept happening and i thought i was going to die. i went in the bathroom and cried uncontrollably and my mom had to hug me. i thought i was never going to be able to sleep again. ever since then it hasn't happened. it was about a year ago.
It's just when your brain wakes up before your body.
We are all paralyzed during REM sleep and our brains are active because we're dreaming. If something startles you or your dream wakes you up you could wake up paralyzed. It's still scary though. It can happen to you as you're falling asleep too. I've experienced both.
This happened to me like 4 or 5 years ago and I was TERRIFIED! I tried screaming for my mom but all I could do was move my eyes and I started sweating like crazy and my heart was pounding, I just forced myself back to sleep and when I woke up it was over
