Loose Keyboard Input when phpStorm and IntelliJ are running simultaneously

Hey.  I'm not sure what I'm doing that triggers this behavior, but there becomes a point when I'm coding in IntelliJ and the following happens:

1) Lose keyboard shortcuts
2) Can't use back/forward arrow keys or delete

but the alpha numeric keys still work.  

I have to restart IntelliJ in order to fix the problem.  But then it only lasts for about 30 minutes until I lose keyboard functionality again.  And then I have to restart....

I'm using a MacBook Pro.

I would also love to know if I'm doing something to exacerbate the problem or if this is just a bug.

Thanks,
stringa