'I'm scared to go to sleep': Woman regularly wakes up PARALYSED and can't even scream

This woman is living a nightmare when she regularly wakes up PARALYSED from head to toe.
Kirsty Corbett, from Epping, Essex, cannot even scream for help when she suffers from the unusual
condition sleep paralysis, which leaves her unable to move or talk in her waking moments.
The terrifying episodes can last from a few seconds to several minutes, and often leave sufferers in a state of shock and confusion.

Kirsty Corbett wakes up completely paralysed from head to toe

 "Sometimes, I’m too scared to go to sleep," Kirsty said. "I have to read really late or watch TV hoping I’ll drift off quickly .’ It all started when she was 12 and at a friend’s house for a sleepover.
"I woke in the middle of the night but when I tried to move my hands and legs, I couldn’t," Kirsty said. "It was terrifying. I couldn’t even scream out for help.
"I thought I was dead. But then suddenly, I was able to move again. I was really confused, and just put it down to a bad dream.
"After that, it happened again and again though. I wake up and I am as stiff as a board."
Kirsty spoke to her father, Robert, who revealed he also suffers from the condition for which there is no cure and affects only six per cent of the population.
" My GP said it was nothing to worry about and I might grow out of it, but that hasn’t happened," mum-of-two Kirsty said. ‘I’d wake up feeling paralysed several times a week."

Kirsty says she is sometimes scared to go to sleep in case she suffers an episode in the morning

She told her boyfriend, Matthew, about her problem as soon as they started dating.
"I didn’t want to scare him, but the first time it happened when we were together he was too deeply asleep to notice," Kirsty said.

Over the years, Kirsty has monitored the attacks and has noticed a pattern, which she hopes will help her live with the condition.
"If I’m tired, stressed or somewhere unfamiliar, sleep paralysis will occur more often," she said. "It’s hard to break the habit of not going to sleep but I try to make sure I go to bed at the right time and get a good rest."

Now, if she wakes up unable to move, once the fear passes, she stays awake for at least half an hour.
Kirsty explains: "If I drop off again too quickly, I’ll have another episode. If I stay awake for a bit I have time to calm down and clear my mind before going back to sleep."
Her tricks have helped reduce the number of episodes she suffers, but Kirsty still claims to have an attack every few weeks, and each one is still as petrifying as the last.
"Not being able to move your body is so scary, it doesn’t matter how many episodes I suffer from, it doesn’t get any easier," she said. "But I am finally learning to live with my little night terrors – even if they have become a real nightmare."


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