I've had them for the past 5 years or so but in the last few weeks they have been getting increasingly worse. Last night I had one so severe that I was unable to go right back to sleep afterward. My heart was beating so fast it felt like I had just sprinted for miles and I was shaking uncontrollably. Not to mention, the psychological stress of going through one takes its toll as well. I've sprained my wrist due to one before and recently I got this from a night terror (it was actually a giant knot in my thigh that would hurt just from sitting down on a couch):



(I got the bruise from getting out of bed and running full speed into either my dresser or dog's crate, not sure which..)

Does anyone else experience them or know someone who does?? If so, do you know of any helpful treatments whether it be just rituals before bed or something a doctor can help with? Any help would be greatly appreciated I'm apprehensive about going to a doctor because it seems like most treatment is psychotherapy and I'm not sure that's really what I need. At most I think I would need stress management.. but anywho, I'd like to see if there were any at-home remedies before going the doctor route.

Thanks

[Edited on August 30, 2010 at 9:33 AM. Reason : smaller picture]

8/30/2010 9:31:18 AM

those are some strong lookin' legs....did you play soccer growing up?

8/30/2010 9:43:30 AM

no....... dance, volleyball, and weight lifting


anyway, back to the topic

8/30/2010 9:48:57 AM

Quote :

"I got the bruise from getting out of bed and running full speed into either my dresser or dog's crate"

That sounds serious enough to take to a doctor, I would think.

8/30/2010 9:52:41 AM

Well, that's happened before (when I sprained my wrist) so I guess I didn't think much of it...

Still holding out for some advice from others - I guess if it's all saying go to the doc I'll make an appointment...

8/30/2010 9:55:19 AM

Ahhh, cobras.

8/30/2010 10:01:38 AM

If I were in your shoes, and hurting myself during these night terrors, I'd be going to the doctor's office with a quickness.

8/30/2010 10:10:52 AM

I got them when I was younger, usually when I was really stressed out or sleep deprived. I always remembered mine (and was actually aware of them while they were happening), and the only thing that would help calm me down was if I got my mother to come talk with me, even though I knew it was ridiculous that I felt so panicked. With the absence of a person to calm you down, especially if you are hurting yourself, I would go see a doctor.

8/30/2010 10:36:19 AM

I have nightmares about spiders. I once woke up in mid dream and slapped my girlfriend in the face...thinking I was hitting a spider. It did not go over well.

That's all I have to offer on this subject.

8/30/2010 10:39:41 AM

I have the opposite problem. My sleep paralysis is so strong that when I wake up in the middle of a dream I can't move my body at all. Pretty creepy.

Lastnight I had one for what seemed like 10 minutes before I fell back to sleep.

8/30/2010 11:07:58 AM

^2 Mine always involve something I'm afraid of, including spiders... lately it has been cockroaches...

I guess I was hoping for tips and tricks to calm down before sleeping but that seems to be going over like a lead balloon

8/30/2010 11:37:53 AM

could you try like calming noises or something like that? i have an app on my phone that plays white noise (babbling brook, fan, rain etc) maybe relaxing as you're falling asleep would help?

8/30/2010 11:40:20 AM

^^Yeah...I once woke up and started swatting at "would-be spiders"...then got up and ran out of the bedroom. It took a couple minutes for me to realize there really weren't any spider/spider webs draped over my bed before I went back to sleep.

Unlike you, I didn't run into my dresser. And I don't have them very often, maybe once every couple weeks.

8/30/2010 11:45:31 AM

That sounds like a night terror, not a nightmare. I, too, have to check everywhere and make sure there weren't any...

I don't know, it's a weird sensation. I'll open my eyes as if I'm awake (but I'll still technically be sleeping I guess) and I'll have hallucinations. Once I saw thousands of bees coming out of my fan, last night I saw this box of cockroaches floating from my ceiling towards me, one night it was as simple as seeing a rat in my bed. That's when the heart starts racing and I jump out of bed and run for it. Sometimes I run into something and that's what wakes me up... other times I'll just wake up once I get out of bed. Normally I don't really remember the whole event except for what I saw... now the intensity is getting so severe I can describe them in detail


I sound like a crazy person.

8/30/2010 11:55:36 AM

I have one where there's a monster under the bed and I can't step on the floor or he'll grab my legs and pull me under.

I've jumped from the bed to dresser, dresser to desk, desk to bathroom countless times because of this.

8/30/2010 11:57:08 AM

just go get a short course of sleeping pills from the doctor. nightmares happen because of undissolved daytime stress. if you think about what is going on in your life for the last few weeks, maybe you can identify something that has changed to give you more stress recently (wedding planning at the very least?) try to practice good sleep hygiene by only using your bed for sex and sleep (no reading, tv or lounging during the day), keeping your apartment lit with low light in the late evening, invest in some blackout drapes, and getting to bed at roughly the same time every night. you might also want to reorganize your room so there's more space around the bed and get a lamp with the clapper so you don't have to bolt out of bed to find the light switch and run into stuff.

8/30/2010 11:58:36 AM

The sleeping pills might help... I read an article saying they happen about 90 minutes after falling asleep, which now that I think about it, is not the same as mine but I do wake up about 30 minutes after falling asleep, every time. :\

I started school a few weeks ago so if that's what's causing it, I'm in for a long 2 years

8/30/2010 12:12:13 PM

it might just be all the changes recently.. not necessarily just school.

try the sleeping pills and i bet as you settle in down there hopefully it'll get better

8/30/2010 12:14:24 PM

Quote :

"I have nightmares about spiders. "

hahahahaha i'm so glad i'm not the only one.

if i've seen a large one in the house that day, it's pretty much guaranteed.

8/30/2010 12:43:46 PM

Take one of these and call me in the morning

8/30/2010 1:01:50 PM

um.... not sure I'm following

8/30/2010 1:13:02 PM

i have nightmares pretty often but i only have night terrors on very rare occasions....but one of them happened to be about a month ago

it usually involves me thinking i'm getting attacked by a person and fighting back....on two separate occasions i have physically assaulted a person in bed with me because i'm not used to having anyone in my bed...i was just screaming and crying and swinging trying to prevent them from hurting me...even though they were just trying to calm me down

i also have the same issue when i'm home alone (my roommate is gone) since now i'm used to having another person in the house...same scenario..same reaction...just for a different reason...i usually end up hurting myself in this situation....

i feel anxious and sick for days after one of these....to the point where i just won't let myself go to sleep for several nights until i'm exhausted and know sleep won't be a problem...


i guess none of that is answering your question though

[Edited on August 30, 2010 at 1:29 PM. Reason : sdfsd]

8/30/2010 1:29:06 PM

wow. sounds pretty serious. my $0.02: if they're bad enough that you're injuring yourself (on multiple occasions), then you should probably see a doc. if you're worried about the doc prescribing psychotherapy but you think you just need stress management, then tell him. that's an important part of what's going on.

8/30/2010 1:37:35 PM

Could be what you're eating.

I always have bad/weird dreams after eating Mexican food.

8/30/2010 1:43:22 PM

For the spiders thing:
This happens to me quite often (several times a month), and usually I don't realize it. I'll wake up and start swatting at a spider that I am 100% positive is there, or I'll stand straight up on the bed if it's a quicker moving one. After turning on the lights, nothing is there. Well, after reading some strange forums on the web it could be caused by narcolepsy, stress, sleep apnea, a form of sleep paralysis, or just nothing. I always thought it meant I was about to have a severe headache. But regardless, the forums all just call it hypnagogic hallucination

As for the night terrors, I'm not very familiar with it but it sounds like an anxiety disorder more than a sleeping disorder. Have you noticed that you're unusually stressed out recently? Try taking 5 minutes before bed everynight to just think about your day's events/problems/resolutions. If you need to, keep these brief thoughts in a little journal. If you have a night terror that evening, look back over your thoughts that you wrote down and then compare that to any stresses you're feeling after waking up. you may be able to notice similarities between these night terrors and issues in your everyday life.

[Edited on August 30, 2010 at 3:32 PM. Reason : ]

8/30/2010 3:22:53 PM

this is a good website that discusses night terrors

http://www.nightterrors.org/

additional information on the site...

http://www.nightterrors.org/mot.htm

this is what usually happens when i have one...

Quote :

"Night terrors have been shown to appear in stage 4 of sleep. This is just one thing that separates them from nightmares which can occur anytime in sleep. It is possible to make a night terror occur in some people, simply by touching or awakening them during stage 4 of sleep. Why night terrors occur is still a mystery. The mind is supposed to be practically void during the deeper stages of sleep. Most sufferers will awake gasping, moaning, crying but more often screaming. "

it's much more common in very young children so it's not really psychological

8/30/2010 4:00:27 PM

My son (who is almost 2) has these a couple times a month. He's had them since he was a few months old. So I'm having a hard time believing it's a psychological thing. It seems to happen with him when he is overtired and usually occurs within 2 hours of him falling asleep. And there's no waking him up from one (we made that mistake the first time he had one). Someone suggested a sleep study to us once but we haven't done anything about it yet.

8/30/2010 4:13:41 PM

my 2 year old niece had a couple, apparently. pediatrician says lots of toddlers go through a stage where they are common.

8/30/2010 4:14:15 PM

It's not from bad eating habits because it happens no matter what I eat.

It has been linked to hypoglycemia though and I have a history of insulin resistance (causes hypoglycemia)... I think it is mostly related to stress but I have been more stressed than this before yet they're getting worse, which is why I'm worried.

I'm at student healt waiting for a TB skin test so I'm just going to make an appointment while I'm here...

LP, I know what you mean. I am physically and mentally exhausted today because it was so bad last night.

[Edited on August 30, 2010 at 4:35 PM. Reason : .]

8/30/2010 4:34:49 PM

I suffer from these. I don't get out of bed though. My husband will usually move or turn over and I will "wake up" and think I see like bugs/spiders/bats etc in our room. I'll sit straight up in bed and cry out and be like 'OMG TURN THE LIGHT ON OMG OMG OMG BATS ARE ON MY BED...ON MY BED"...then I'll flop right back down and go back to sleep...not remembering anything in the morning. Of course, my husband is wide awake b/c I scared the crap out of him.

Apparently I will carry on conversations with my husband after these incidents right before I fall asleep. One time I apparently invited him over for tea

I haven't found a link between what I eat and when I do get night terrors.


Probably the one that freaked my husband out the most was when I sat straight up in bed and screamed my head off and pointed at the end of our bed.

My poor husband.

8/30/2010 4:51:16 PM

Hahaha I know what you mean. The first time I had one while sleeping in the same bed as Eric he was like WTF... then the second time he tried holding me down - he quickly found out that was NOT a good idea.


Anyway, I made an appointment for Thursday morning. Hopefully I won't have any before then.

8/30/2010 5:14:55 PM

I have these about 2-3x a month sam.

EXACTLY the way you explain them.

ive kicked cody several times but mostly i just scream and jump out of the bed.
cody has to convince me that there isn't a snake or spider in the bed every time because i am SURE it is there....

8/30/2010 5:26:42 PM

Ya know, it's funny.... I've never seen a snake

Looking back, I think the bees was really the worst one for me

[Edited on August 30, 2010 at 5:27 PM. Reason : as far as imagery... last night might've been one of the worst for feeling drained after]

8/30/2010 5:27:20 PM

my worst one i can remember was "waking up" and seeing something on the ceiling. I couldn't make out what it was and i squinted really hard to see.. thats when i saw it was a spider the size of my fucking face, haning from the ceiling.
as soon as i realized what it was-it dropped on my face.


that was the night i kicked cody.,

[Edited on August 30, 2010 at 5:30 PM. Reason : sdvsdf]

8/30/2010 5:30:05 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlskTxyZXN0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_XfarHbV5k&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80u9MGfnDoA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6IV8KrDYTY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4_d-zoIGLM&feature=related

8/30/2010 5:57:08 PM

emce offered the advice i was going to offer

8/30/2010 7:23:04 PM

^^ I was thinking of this one

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantasms_%28Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation%29

freaked me the fuck out when I was a kid!!

8/30/2010 7:26:46 PM

eating too much vitamin B gives me weird dreams (but ive never had a night terror).

You people are crazy.

8/30/2010 7:37:34 PM

8/30/2010 8:12:53 PM

8/30/2010 8:18:28 PM

i havent finished reading the thread, but the hallucinations you mentioned made me think of

risperidone....risperdal.... maybe a low dose of it would help... and a quick google search confirmed my theory.

give it a lot in the icu for: sleeplessness, delerium( they have hallucinations), etc

could be an option for the short term........and ive never seen it turn anyone into a "zombie"

seems to be especially helpful for night terrors that are related to ptsd or acute stress

http://journals.lww.com/burncareresearch/Abstract/2001/05000/The_Effectiveness_of_Risperidone_on_Acute_Stress.5.aspx

[Edited on August 30, 2010 at 8:52 PM. Reason : journal article]

8/30/2010 8:26:23 PM

Sounds like a bunch of women trying to cover up/excuse their domestic abuse in this thread

8/30/2010 8:45:28 PM

Meditate for 10 minutes followed by visualizing yourself before you had night terrors (in any situation/time you can recall - the more vivid the better).

Do this twice per day - Since your stress manifests at least partly as night terrors I'd suggest doing one of these sessions right before you goto bed.

Use any meditation technique that works for you - do alittle research online since there are lots of techniques. The reason for the 10 minutes of meditation is to initiate the body's natural relaxation response (releasing hormones and other chemicals that effect the body in a way opposite that of the fight or flight stress response).

With some time you can counteract the behavior your brain has developed.

[Edited on August 30, 2010 at 9:11 PM. Reason : Check out The Relaxation Response or Brain Lock for technical information as to why this works]

8/30/2010 9:04:08 PM

Quote :

"cobras"

8/30/2010 9:04:09 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqvhNzMcqYo

8/30/2010 9:58:41 PM

^ hahaha at the 1:10 mark... that's exactly how I feel when I wake up and someone is staring at me.. totally try to play it off

once I ran into the living room and my stepdad was all and I woke up at that moment and was like.. um.................... hey......

and LOL at the simpsons skit...


anyway, thanks for the helpful advice I'm gonna ask the doctor on Thursday about the medicine and try the meditation tonight.

[Edited on August 30, 2010 at 11:58 PM. Reason : .]

8/30/2010 11:57:13 PM

I made a thread about sleep paralysis. Used to happen to me a few times a month...

It is no joke either, this thread was very eye-opening for me and many others:

/message_topic.aspx?topic=439702

8/31/2010 12:01:13 AM

i usually have really fucked up dreams, some are interesting and weird, and some are pretty bad. it's just the product of an active imagination in my opinion.

a few days ago i dreamed i was about to go to hell, and i was in the waiting area, trying to scheme a plan to break out. its not cool when you think you're about to go to hell.

also, it seems like the things you guys are describing have the same thing in common. they are irrational fears. i know that may sound obvious, but if you confronted those fears in your waking life, then they couldn't exactly be terrors anymore. we're talking about bugs and snakes here for the most part, and those are things you have been conditioned over time to fear and dislike, not things that are inherently fear inducing. if you are serious about ridding yourself of the terrors, then address that issue and you won't have anything to be terrified of anymore.

[Edited on August 31, 2010 at 1:48 AM. Reason : sdf]

8/31/2010 1:39:00 AM

even if you get over a fear, your subconscious can conjure up a way to make it terrifying

8/31/2010 1:57:43 AM

'tis why I'm awake right now. this one was bad enough that I'm not going back to sleep... though I don't know if it's a night terror or nightmare... but it's the same general scenario, just the details tend to change. scares the shit out of me. then add sleep apnea and sleep paralysis... I don't get the best sleep these days...

8/31/2010 4:20:38 AM