Paralysis

I am new to the site, so forgive me if this is in the wrong category. Anyway, my sleep schedule is always a little odd, so I am usually not in bed until some time after 1am. This morning (16Mar11) I was up particularly late, reading a few articles on lucid dreaming, which I have always had a passing interest in. At around 5, I finally settled in to sleep, and was not really trying for any lucid dream. I was laying on my back, with my arm wrapped around my dog that shares my bed with me. In the back of my mind I was thinking "I will have a lucid dream tonight" over and over, but I was pretty positive the chances of me having such a dream were low. Anyway, after a few minutes I apparently fell straight into a dream. I was talking to a man who resembled an ex-boyfriend of mine, a man who causes me great stress and anxiety. In the dream, I remember thinking he looked like my ex, but not being sure, so I spent a while trying to get a good look at his fingers, since my ex was missing a finger, and this is something I do in waking life to almost all men subconsciously now. After a minute I saw that he had all fingers, and was relieved, and able to take in my surroundings. I was in a large room, with cement floors, and some form of clutter on the walls, though I cannot remember what it was. The man was sitting on a four-wheeler, a green "Bear Tracker" to be precise, which is the same kind of four-wheeler I had a few years ago. Some how, we ended up fighting, and as he was begining to yell at me, I was suddenly back in my room. I felt like I was looking through my eyelids, like my memory of what my room looked like was allowing me to be in my room, while still asleep. I remember feeling like one hand was holding my phone, which it was not, and I was holding my dog, just as when I fell asleep. Lights were flashing, and I felt pressure on my chest, and a tingling sensation in my neck and face, and had no ability to move any part of my body or cry out. I remembered reading about Sleep Paralysis, and that it was important to just calm down. I was fine, until my dog started shaking in my arms, and I was powerless to stop it, lying there feeling useless. I had the thought to press my forefinger and thumb together, and somehow that must have woke me up because a moment later I was in my bed, dog sleeping perfectly fine, scared out of my wits. That was about an hour and a half ago now, and I am contemplating trying to sleep again, with the lights on this time. I am usually pretty brave, but that one scared me a good deal, and the whole ordeal lasted only 20 minutes, from 5:00am-5:20am. Anyway, that is all I have got for right now. -HaelynnRae