Adult Night Terrors

[DWhittles]

My husband just got back from his sleep test and it turns out that he suffers from night terrors. I thought only kids had this.
Does anyone here know about it or suffer from them?

 

[justhat]

Do you watch the show House (well, probably not now if you did anyway since you're so busy with the 2 babies)? They just had an episode about it. I missed it of course since I was putting my daughter to sleep, but if anyone else saw it maybe they can help.

My daughter had night terrors for awhile but luckily we're done with them (for now anyway). She would wake up during the night screaming hysterically(her face looked terrified, it was scary to watch her) and was inconsolable. I'd pick her up but she wouldn't wake up, or even know I was there. She knew something was, but she'd arch her back and try her best to get away from me, so I guess 'whatever was touching her' she saw in the terror, not as me really there. Sometimes she'd go on for an hour or so, then just stop and go back to sleep. She's too little to be able to tell us, but with older kids they say that they have no recollection of the event when they wake in the morning so I guess that would be the case with your husband.

Have you ever heard him scream and stuff at night and not be able to wake him? Not sure if maybe adults have different symptoms or not though, so maybe that wouldn't even be of use to you.

 

[CEDmom]

I only have experience with them in children but here's a website I found that may help: http://www.nightterrors.org/cgi-bin/config.pl?noframes;read=11360

Good luck. Did the clinic offer any advice?

 

[DWhittles]

He will know more on Tuesday but apparently his brain activity was off the charts in the area in the back of his brain that houses nightmares and stuff.
He says it's like an out of body experience but he can't breathe, can't move, can't talk. It sends him into a huge panic attack which he suffers from during the day. He's also very violent when he sleeps, punching, kicking, flailing about. They said he punched the wall and kicked over the nightstand. (He has no memory of doing either)
Apparently they had to clamp his jaw shut with some sort of machine and force H2O into his nose and that was the only way he could sleep and eliminate the terrors.
They sounds awful and very scary and I hope we can come up with some sort of a solution for them so he can sleep at night!

 

[SeaSpray]

Wow.

Thanks for that link on Night Terrors. I am 44 years old and have been having them for over 20 years, and I never knew it was something with a real name. I just thought it was me, waking up petrified at night, thinking someone was in the house or in the room or in the hallway peering into my bedroom. Had NO idea this was an actual thing. Well...on one hand I'm glad to know it's not just me. On the other hand, I feel sorry for anyone else who has this.

DWhittles: It *sounds* like they hooked your DH up to a CPAP machine which is what they use for sleep apnea. It's a harness that goes over your face, and it holds a mask over your nose and/or mouth, and gently forces air into your nose and/or mouth, so you won't stop breathing while you're sleeping. I have a CPAP machine and so does DH.

If it wasn't a CPAP machine that they hooked him up to, then disregard the above info. I hope he's able to get some help, whatever his situation is!

 

[phamton]

I don't suffer from night terrors but do suffer from sleep paralysis.

SeaSpray, it sounds like you are having sleep paralysis not night terrors. See: http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P2.html With sleep paraylsis, when you are awakened, you vividly remember the halluciantions. With night terrors, you can't remember anything and it is also very hard to wake the person up. When you have sleep paralysis, you think you are awake but just can't move. Everything is very vivid and seems real. With night terrors, you don't remember dreaming or even thrashing about. You wake in a stupor of confusion with no memory of what frightened you. For even more info on sleep papralysis see: http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P.html


I have brother-in-law that has night terrors and is on medication. He used to get quite violent during his night terror episodes.

 

[SeaSpray]

I don't suffer from night terrors but do suffer from sleep paralysis.

SeaSpray, it sounds like you are having sleep paralysis not night terrors. See: http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P2.html With sleep paraylsis, when you are awakened, you vividly remember the halluciantions. With night terrors, you can't remember anything and it is also very hard to wake the person up. When you have sleep paralysis, you think you are awake but just can't move. Everything is very vivid and seems real. With night terrors, you don't remember dreaming or even thrashing about. You wake in a stupor of confusion with no memory of what frightened you. For even more info on sleep papralysis see: http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P.html


I have brother-in-law that has night terrors and is on medication. He used to get quite violent during his night terror episodes.

Thanks Phantom. But I don't think that I have sleep paralysis either. What happens to me is, I'll be sleeping and suddenly wake up with my heart pounding, and I immediately look out into the hallway and think there is, or expect to see, someone standing there. I don't hallucinate, because after a second or two, I can see that no one is there. But at that point, my heart is still pounding and I have the creeps and feel extremely scared, so I usually scoot over to my DH and get as physically close to him as I can. Within a few minutes my heart stops pounding and I'm able to go back to sleep. This sometimes happens several times a night, and it can happen right as I'm falling to sleep, or after I've already been to sleep. And it has nothing to do with dreaming, and I can remember it afterwards. I also don't feel "paralyzed" or anything like that. It just scares the heck out of me, and it's been happening for years. Sometimes periods of time can go by where it doesn't happen at all, but usually it's a regular occurrance. I guess on average, it happens a few nights per week. Any idea what this might be??

Edited to add: I just quickly read part of the link you posted, and I'm surprised because many of my symptoms are described there! I guess I just don't have the actual "paralysis" part of it, because I am able to move immediately when I wake up. Also, I have never hallucinated any actual person, I just "feel" like someone is there and that's what wakes me up feeling petrified. Yikes...is there medication for this??? lol

 

[phamton]

Edited to add: I just quickly read part of the link you posted, and I'm surprised because many of my symptoms are described there! I guess I just don't have the actual "paralysis" part of it, because I am able to move immediately when I wake up. Also, I have never hallucinated any actual person, I just "feel" like someone is there and that's what wakes me up feeling petrified. Yikes...is there medication for this??? lol

It truly sounds like sleep paralysis although you have passed through the paralysis part. I've done quite a lot of research on SP as I have suffered from it for a number of years. With night terrors, even though the person may be screaming, you can barely wake them up and they don't even seem to realize that you are there. They look right through you.. After waking, they have no memory of the event and are confused. Your episodes do not sound like that at all. In fact the type of sleep paralysis you are experiencing is called "the Intruder" and is described on this link: http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/intruder.html

Ambien or other sleep aids can help you with sleep paralysis. I don't take anything but talk myself through the episodes.

 

[PooohBear]

I remember a thread about this a few months back, I wish I could remember the link, maybe someone else does ??

 

[Kallison]

I had night terrors through my teens and my early 20s. My Mom warned my DH that I would wake up, eyes wide open, be screaming and yelling in my sleep, even walking in the hallways and they always led me back to bed. I never remembered a thing. Well the first time I did it when we were married I woke up screaming and kicking the covers, my DH thought someone was attacking us in the bedroom and he WOKE me up. Nobody ever woke me up before, that was the last time I had night terrors.

 

[SeaSpray]

It truly sounds like sleep paralysis although you have passed through the paralysis part. I've done quite a lot of research on SP as I have suffered from it for a number of years. With night terrors, even though the person may be screaming, you can barely wake them up and they don't even seem to realize that you are there. They look right through you.. After waking, they have no memory of the event and are confused. Your episodes do not sound like that at all. In fact the type of sleep paralysis you are experiencing is called "the Intruder" and is described on this link: http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/intruder.html

Ambien or other sleep aids can help you with sleep paralysis. I don't take anything but talk myself through the episodes.

Thanks again, Phantom You know, tonight will be the first night that I'll be going to sleep KNOWING that other people have these weird night things happen to them, and that they are a real disorder or something. I wonder if I'll be able to talk myself out of it. lol The thing is, I wake up and am immediately petrified, so it's not as though I wake up and then become scared. At any rate, it'll be interesting to see what happens, now that I know more about this. Also, I have taken Ambien on occasion and I don't remember having it happen on those nights. When I take Ambien I can sleep through the entire night, which is a rare thing for me. Thanks again for the info, I am finding this quite interesting! And I will discuss it with my doctor the next time I see him. Until today, I had never mentioned this to another person, although my DH does wake up sometimes when I wake up startled, but most times he doesn't wake up.

 

[Aidensmom]

I have them, though they are much less predominant in my adult life as they were when I was a child. Just thinking about the first time after I married DH, and woke him up screaming uncontrollably in bed.....he was one terrified man!

Night terrors are many times caused by some psychological trauma in your life - in my case, lets just say that the episode of House that was mentioned was right on the money - and gave DH a little more understanding. I haven't had one in quite a while, but thinking about certain things tends to trigger them.

If your husband is having them, I would definately try to get to the root of what is causing them.

 

[Beth76]

Sorry, Diana to go off the night terrors topic, but I wanted to chime in about sleep paralysis.....

I think that my husband suffers from that. He says occasionally (I don't know how often) he'll wake up (or think he's awake) and he "sees" someone in the room. He can't move or talk and it's absolutely terrifying. I don't know how long it lasts or how it ends (if he wakes up). I'd have to talk to him about that. I might look into the Ambien thing, because I know he's tired a lot even though (I think) he should be getting enough sleep.

 

[phamton]

Ambien works great for sleep paralysis. I've used it off and on through the years. I just haven't taken anything in about a year. Sleeping on the back seems to bring it on most often. It is terrifying when it occurs and you actually feel like you are about to die or be killed. It feels nothing like a dream or nightmare but seems absolutely real when it is occuring. It is simply an abnormal REM cycle and is a type of sleep disorder. There are lots of sites about sleep paralysis but those I linked above are the best.

 

[off to neverland]

I've had night terrors for 20 years. I'm 34 now.

Night Terrors are much more common than many people know.

I have found that sleeping with a night light on helps, since the brain has a hard time distinguishing shadows from reality when one is asleep. A nightlight eliminates shadows.

Also, I do not personally drink, but my neurologist told me that if it is imperative that I NOT have a terror, (if I'm at a hotel or something) to have a drink or two before bed.... Night terrors occur in the phase of sleep one does not enter when they are tipsy or drunk, (is that stage 4? I can't remember...) so it is nearly impossible to have a terror when under the influence.

They tend to be worse when I am very tired or stressed.

Speaking of tired..... Because the sleep patterns are all screwed up to begin with to cause the terror, many people with NT's need more sleep than the average person. When I finally figured this out and realized why I felt so tired all the time, I made an effort to get more sleep than normal. NIne hours is my target time. When I do get 9 hours or more, I am more rested, and as a result, have less terrors. It's a win-win situation.

Hope this info helps. I've done ALL sorts of crazy things, including a call to 911 in my sleep, jumping out of bunkbeds and hurting my legs, putting all the plants in the house in the shower, etc. etc. etc. The list goes on and on.

I long ago told all my friends and family about it so they would all know why I had been so goofy in my sleep for so many years.

 

[off to neverland]

Thanks Phantom. But I don't think that I have sleep paralysis either. What happens to me is, I'll be sleeping and suddenly wake up with my heart pounding, and I immediately look out into the hallway and think there is, or expect to see, someone standing there. I don't hallucinate, because after a second or two, I can see that no one is there. But at that point, my heart is still pounding and I have the creeps and feel extremely scared, so I usually scoot over to my DH and get as physically close to him as I can. Within a few minutes my heart stops pounding and I'm able to go back to sleep. This sometimes happens several times a night, and it can happen right as I'm falling to sleep, or after I've already been to sleep. And it has nothing to do with dreaming, and I can remember it afterwards. I also don't feel "paralyzed" or anything like that. It just scares the heck out of me, and it's been happening for years. Sometimes periods of time can go by where it doesn't happen at all, but usually it's a regular occurrance. I guess on average, it happens a few nights per week. Any idea what this might be??

Edited to add: I just quickly read part of the link you posted, and I'm surprised because many of my symptoms are described there! I guess I just don't have the actual "paralysis" part of it, because I am able to move immediately when I wake up. Also, I have never hallucinated any actual person, I just "feel" like someone is there and that's what wakes me up feeling petrified. Yikes...is there medication for this??? lol

SEASPRAY,
This is exactly what my night terrors are, though I often do see things and hallucinate. Sometimes I lay there and peer into the darkness until I realize nothing is there, and at other times I react to what I think may be there.

I was only paralyzed by my terrors early on. As I grew older, I react to people who talk to me, and I will even argue with my neurologist and husband and tell them I am awake when the brain wave machine clearly shows I'm asleep.

I could swear at those times that I am awake, and remember them perfectly when I wake up.

Night terrors occur early into your sleep pattern rather than late in sleep.

Hope some of this info helps.

Oh yeah, one more thing. My doctor described my night terror pattern to me as this: For some pysiological reason, my sleep patterns are messed up. As a response to this, my heart will start beating very fast. My mind, being normal and healthy, will recognize the racing heart and think, "Racing heart means fear" and will find something I'm afraid of to make sense of the racing heart. That's when I open my eyes and see people in shadows or whatever. It's all a bit phsiological issue rather than a psychological one.

 

[justhat]

They tend to be worse when I am very tired or stressed.

Speaking of tired..... Because the sleep patterns are all screwed up to begin with to cause the terror, many people with NT's need more sleep than the average person. When I finally figured this out and realized why I felt so tired all the time, I made an effort to get more sleep than normal. NIne hours is my target time. When I do get 9 hours or more, I am more rested, and as a result, have less terrors. It's a win-win situation.

I totally agree with this. When my daughter was having them, they started when we went on vacation (she was 13 months old) and consequently her schedule was upset and she was in a strange surrounding, making it harder for her to sleep. Well she'd sleep less, get more terrors, which gave her less sleep, etc. Bad cycle. It was so bad (we were away a total of 3 weeks) that the last week of our trip (we were in WDW) we were afraid someone would call CPS about the screaming child in our room. We thought for sure they'd think we were either beating her or we'd left her alone in the room cause screams like that for as long as she'd do it (up to an hour) were not normal. Luckily we decided no one must have been next door cause we never got a call from the front desk nor a knock or the door or wall. There was literally nothing we could do to stop it, she'd just scream till the terror was done and then fall back to sleep.

A few days after we got home and she was back in her own bed, in her own home, on her normal schedule the night terrors stopped. We've had 1 since then, and it was after we'd stayed out at a friends house past her bedtime (she fell asleep on the way there so we thought we'd be okay, but she woke up as soon as we arrived and stayed up). That's when we caught the connection between her bedtime and the night terrors.