Night terrors

I know I have a huge imagination and most of the time I consider this one of my best assets. It does have a downside though.

My dreams are as vivid as my waking experiences most of the time. Sometimes I "walk" in my sleep, or actually have been known to run, beat on doors and talk, or even scream in my sleep. The flip side of this is dream paralysis where I start to wake up, but the dream continues and I can't move, or speak and the dream feels like it is now real in the waking world.

Sometimes the dream is a bad one and I am trying to call for help, or get away from a fire, or dogs, or snakes. And sometimes I am just unable to move in the dream and find myself asking whoever is in the dream with me to move my arms, or help me move my feet. Eventually though, I always wake up.

This has been true for as long as I can remember, except for the sleep paralysis. That didn't start until I got married in my early twenties.

Most people call these dreams night terrors and say they start around age six and generally end before you are an adult. Mine started by age two at least and they continue on to today.

Knowledge helps a little, but the dreams can still be terrifying.