I'm not sure what forum this would go under, but it has to do with sleep and dreaming so I hope this one works. Two days ago I took a nap after a night of staying up late. I have been able to lucid dream multiple times successfully in the past. It happened this time without me wanting to though. When I realized I was dreaming, I wanted to wake myself up so I tried and then performed reality checks. This had to occur 3 or 4 times before I was successful at actually waking up. Each time I "woke up" in my dream I was convinced that I was actually awake. I was confused and didn't like it. It was a frightening experience because I felt like I was trapped inside my dream. After I woke up I tried my best to forget about what had happened because I didn't ever want it to happen again. I went to bed the next night and it didn't occur, but I woke up frequently. Last night I went to sleep and it happened again around 4 AM. I tried to wake up about 4 times, unsuccessful every time. I began to panic and did everything I could to tell myself to wake up. I was almost in some kind of paralysis at the end because I felt myself wake up but couldn't bring my eyes to open or my body to move. I was awake for about an hour and then got really tired so I drifted back to sleep around 5. Then it happened again! I got scared and started crying. It is a horrible thing and I want to figure out why it's happening. Has this ever happened to any of you?