my problem was that after i had received sedation for a widom tooth, i
started experiencing infrequent problems with "waking up". ie,
whenever i overslept, or forced myself to sleep when i didn't need to,
i would awake paralyzed(not all the time). my body was not
awake,,,eyes are not open,,,NOTHING moved. i would awake MENTALLY, my
mind was aware, but i could not move my body,,,as if my mind were
alert in a body that was still in a slumber state.

in order to "wake my body up", i had to force focus a part of me, like
a hand or foot, to jerk my body into moving and i would then be awake
from this odd slumber state. it gradually eased, and after 5-6 years
it was gone.

i have since been wary of any sedation procedure for fear that it
might instigate another series of incidents. anyway,,,, my doctor
didn't know of this, but one person did. she had been born with this
and it was much more severe. she had a name for this affliction.
unfortunately, i never noted the name of the condition. what is this
condition that had? thanks

Hi bruin70,
Strangely enough, I experienced this at least three times in the past
year and wanted to post a question in this service about what it is. 
However, I performed some research on it myself some time ago and am
happy to share what I found out with you.
The condition that you have described is known as "sleep paralysis" or
more accurately "sleep paralysis with hypnagogic and hypnopompic
hallucinations."  It is a condition in which "someone, most often
lying in a supine position, about to drop of to sleep, or just upon
waking from sleep realizes that s/he is unable to move, or speak, or
cry out" [1].  Sometimes the person experiencing this can feel a
presence of something "malevolent or evil" and feelings of dread and
terror is common.  These episodes can last from several seconds to
several minutes.  In my experience, I have tried to scream out but was
unsuccessful.  After the episode, the victim is suddenly released from
the paralysis but is often panic-stricken.
This condition seems to be benign, aside from the experiences
associated with it.  A survey found about a quarter of the population
reporting that they have experienced this at least once and about a
quarter of them have experienced it on several occasions[1] while
another survey found 6% and 1%, respectively.  It seems that
adolescents experience this more often than adults.
This condition is five times more likely to happen to people taking
anti-anxiety drugs.  Sleep deprivation is another cause for this
condition.  Sleep paralysis occurs during the transition between
dreaming sleep (known as REM sleep) and being fully awake. During REM
sleep, your body keeps you safe from acting out on your dreams by
temporarily paralyzing you.  Sometimes the brain forgets to switch off
the paralysis when you wake up, and that would explain the frozen
feeling associated with sleep paralysis[2].
I hope that this shed some light on your condition. Please note the
standard disclaimer at the bottom at the page that Google Answers is
not intended to substitute for professional medical, psychiatric, or
psychological advce.  Experiencing something like that is undoubtedly
an unpleasant experience, but you shouldn't worry too much about it. 
If you need clarification to this answer, please request for a
clarification before rating it.

Thanks,
secret901-ga

Resources:

[1] http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P2.html
[2] http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/sleepparalysis990411.html[3]
http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P.html

Search Strategy:

dream paralysis
sleep paralysis

---

Clarification of Answer by secret901-ga on 23 Jun 2003 00:54 PDT

Sorry, the resources link was formatted incorrectly, here's the correct formatting:

[1] http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P2.html 
[2] http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/sleepparalysis990411.html
[3] http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P.html