Hello, my name is Adam. I am 16 years old and I live in Sweden.
I was diagnosed with tourette's syndrome when I was 6 years old. I haven't had any symptoms in many years now, so everything has been going quite well for me. I never had any extreme symptoms in the first place. Only some minor habits like tapping tables with my fingers and having my schoolbooks in a strict order etc. And even those have faded off. Or so I thought until recently.
In the past 7-8 months there have been 3 occasions when I had woken up from sleep and I have been completely paralyzed from head to toe. I've ignored it so far, as I could start moving after about 10-20 seconds of trying. I thought it must have been my sleeping position or that's what I wanted to convince myself anyway. I also thought I may have some problems with my spine but I didn't want to believe it.
What made me post here is this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voWvGM1WIU4&feature=related 2:54
The person there has Tourette's syndrome and he has had same kind of experiences of paralyzation. I had not associated the problem with tourette's syndrome in any way, and I found the video by accident. In my case it's not like I couldn't feel my body or that I couldn't move it, it's more like I didn't know how to move it. Like losing your ability to move any part of your body. I couldn't talk either. And like in the video, the only thing I could do is move my eyes and control my breathing.
My question is: can it be a symptom of tourette's syndrome or is it something else? Additionally is there any possibility of it being normal? Normal as in it not having anything to do with a mental illness or spinal oolumn. I have not had any symptoms of tourette's syndrome in over 5 years. Other than possibly this.
So far I haven't even told anyone about it as it has only happened 3 times in the past 7-8 months and for such a short period of time.
You should google sleep paralysis. It's a common enough occurence where you are at the edge of sleep. You are aware but your motor functions are still asleep.
So it's normal? Thank god. I've been worried sick over it.
Thanks for the quick reply.
edit: I read about sleep paralyzation and also about narcolepsy. I wonder why those guys in the video are connecting the paralyzation to tourette's syndrome. I haven't heard of other cases where there is a symptom of paralyzation in tourette's. Couldn't it as well be narcolepsy if he just gets paralyzed when awake? I did think his symptoms were a bit weird.
Anyway I got my answer and I'm glad for it.