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I've experienced the common, uncommon, and rare symptoms.
A typical episode begins with me almost asleep with my eyes slightly open, then hearing a whooshing sound not unlike opening a car window at 80+mph. All feeling in my body drains from my body to a spot directly behind my eyes, but I'm still aware of my entire body. Suddenly, 9it feels like something grabs me, my vision goes white, and I experience the sensation of flying through a tunnel at high speed; if I had to estimate the speed I'd say between 100 and 200mph. A few seconds later my consciousness slams back into my body and I awaken with a full-body muscle spasm and am fully awake with my heart racing. My entire body feels like it has been stabbed with white-hot needles. Total time elapsed, under 10 seconds. I've actually come to enjoy this sensation, although it makes me nervous because I know I'm paralyzed.
A few times I have fallen asleep with my eyes open and felt myself float off my bed. I would stay perfectly still for a few seconds, then awaken with the full-body spasm. The first few times I was certain that I had levitated in my sleep and that the spasm was from hitting the bed as I fell. I only realized that it was muscle spasms and nothing paranormal a couple of years ago.
A rare one that I have fortunately only experienced once involved waking up while still dreaming. It has all the marks of a classic night terror. My eyes opened, and I couldn't move. I don't know why, and I don't really want to think about it too hard, but I knew I was about to die. As my eyes focused, I could see several shadow people moving around my room. As if shadow people weren't bad enough, I could see their red glowing eyes. I tried to scream, but my vocal chords were paralyzed. As they closed in on me I started to regain feeling and move slightly, and as I lifted my head they jumped back and faded. Nightmares are bad, but when you can't close your eyes and you transition back to reality, it's impossible to convince yourself that what you saw wasn't real.
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