Hey, was that a dream or what?

[amyrising]

I woke up early this morning to the feeling I was pooping myself. Without going into details, I could feel it happening. I wanted to grab my rear end and jump out of bed but I couldn't move. My whole body was in this fuzzy stage of almost being paralyzed. It was the strangest thing. I was feeling a bit of anxiety too because I was thinking I might have pooped in bed. While I was laying there in this fuzzy cocoon of paralysis, images were flashing in front of my eyes. They were like snap shots or old photos that flashed in random order all over the place in front of me. It was almost like random blinking Christmas lights, only it was generic photos. I had to will myself to move and I was able to first move my arm and then the rest of my body. I feel like I was awake but was I really sleeping?

Thankfully I didn't poop in my bed. I'm just a little confused by the whole situation. What do you think?

[amyrising]

I forgot to mention I do have sleep apnea...not sure if that has anything to do with what happened.

[Seasha]

Amy - It sounds like sleep paralysis and here's an article I found about that and MS http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9352423

"This report suggests that MS may be associated with deficient REM sleep inhibitory neural mechanisms leading to sleep paralysis secondary to the intrusion of REM sleep atonia and dream imagery into the waking state."

Have you ever had this happen before? That must have seemed scary!

[amyrising]

I have never had this happen before. It was very worrisome.

[Seasha]

I'm sorry Amy. You might want to let your Dr. or Neuro know about this. I know my son used to have these episodes (maybe 6 times?) when he was little, but it eventually passed and never happened again.

If you have an appt coming up, make a note about it and be sure to let them know.

[msgijo]

me too

Hi Amy. I am sorry to hear that you had this happen to you. I know how frightening it is to suddenly find that you HAVE to move and not be able to.

Several years ago I had similar episodes of feeling paralyzed and not sure if I was awake or not. I was going thru a stressful divorce, so I kinda chalked it up to that, but I would "wake up??" 'knowing' that somebody was in my house. I couldn't move. I was unable to hide, call for help, or even defend myself .

Thankfully, none of it was real. Over a period of maybe 4 months this occurred 2 - 3 times, and then went away.
I agree with Seasha, please let your Neuro know about this.

[amyrising]

Thank you all!

[Thinkimjob]

I often have a dream where the duvet is smothering/ strangling me.
I'd swear I was wide awake but just can't move to disentangle myself. It is a scary experience.

Usually it's because I've left the electric blanket on, and I got way too hot.

But then you do wake up in a cold sweat.
I'd hate to have the bowel- moving dream.

[palmtree]

Every day when I wake up I am paralyzed for about an hour. You are lucky it was only a dream. Whenever my bowels are moving it's in my sleep. It was so humiliating and disgusting the first time it happened. The clean up is horrendous.

But once i get up I can still walk and drive and take care of myself. It's strange how MS affects everyone differently.

[BadAttitude]

I woke up early this morning to the feeling I was pooping myself.
Thankfully I didn't poop in my bed. I'm just a little confused by the whole situation. What do you think?

I think poop happens.

[Seasha]

Hey Amy - Have you been sleeping better these last few days?

[amyrising]

Yes, I have been sleeping much better. Thank you for asking.