Night Terror

[Dr Diablo]

Night Terror (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_terror) is a parasomnia sleep disorder characterized by extreme terror and a temporary inability to regain full consciousness. The subject wakes abruptly from slow-wave sleep, with waking usually accompanied by gasping, moaning, or screaming. It is often impossible to fully awaken the person, and after the episode the subject normally settles back to sleep without waking. A night terror can rarely be recalled by the subject.

Often times it's extremely dangerous for the person, for this can cause trauma, and even hurting someone (e.g. trying to kill "the murderer" and in fact injuring someone else)

- Wikipedia

So apparently im experiencing something called Night Terror. What happens is that, I basically sleep normal, and suddenly somewhere in my dreams, something very bad and disturbing happens, which i can tell is happening. I happen to react according to it in reality by kicking the bed, screaming and straining my muscles. Like if i dreamt that something dear and precious was unfairly taken away from me and i cannot get it back in the dream, i start screaming and kicking in my sleep. I can feel myself doing it, but i can't wake up or stop myself from doing it either. I also remember everything that happens, since it sometimes hurts when i kick so hard lol.

I wonder if anyone knows anything about this, its really annoying now and if i grow it as a habit, i could seriously injure anyone who sleeps close to me or anything, or perhaps injure myself.

Does this happen to you? Any idea what would the symptoms be generally be? Stress and all?
And finally.. Is there any cure for this? :XD:

[Rock Devil]

All I have to say is try reading Quran before sleeping. They say that's very helpful.

[minerva]

it does happen to me sometimes....i am living a nightmare i can't wake up from..
my husband gets it too, so does my older daughter.
last week my husband got out of bed in the middle of the night and tried to climb the wall...then he proceeded to attack the stand fan in our bedroom.
my older daughter screams and yells as if someone is beating her up....she gets out of bed, sometimes she comes into my bedroom and stares at me all glassy-eyed...i take her back and cuddle her back to peaceful sleep. this thing happens with her (and her dad) during periods of stress and exams in particular.
cures? working towards a restful sleep is the cure i try to give them. in winter, a warming drink and a cosy cuddle before she sleeps...a nice story to sleep with (no horror stuff) , eating well before bedtime and not half hour before lights are out, a good shower and a comfy rub with talcum powder before she gets into bed....these seem to help my daughter quite a bit. but her brain is a bit over active i reckon....until she learns to 'shut herself down' before sleep she won't get a fully restful sleep. she has to help herself more than i can help her.

[Superbia]

And finally.. Is there any cure for this?

I think if you perform ablution before heading to sleep, and sleeping facing to your right side, then you'll be fine. Well at least I've been doing that all my life, and I haven't experienced much disturbing dreams, or fear.

[death rose]

awwwwwwwwwww!!

i heard about this but i dont know anyone who has it...
do you get nightmares alot ?

[Samdawy]

I rarely experience night terror but to be honest I love action and horror dreams ;)

[Giselle]

You must be stressed/tired, etc, that this happens to you.
It happens to me now and then...i scream and stuff. But i do notice that it only happens when i'm really tired/depressed/stressed/pressured, etc.

Just like RockD said...read Quran and also Sorat El-Korsee. Try to relax as well. I mean you're going to sleep so you should be resting!

Hope it goes away...this must really suck!

:cute:

[HITMAN]

First of all, we need to clarify further whether what you experienced is a sleep terror or a nightmare

I am inclining more towards the latter, since you mentioned "in you dreams" which fits with nightmares, sleep terrors are not dreams

Also, is it something common in your family? Do others suffer from a similar condition? If yes, then sleep terror can run in families

It's worth mentioning that a heavy carbohydrates meal late at night leads to reactive hypoglycemia, your sugar drops due to an excessive release of Insulin, and your condition can be associated with that

[Dr Diablo]

it does happen to me sometimes....i am living a nightmare i can't wake up from..
my husband gets it too, so does my older daughter.
last week my husband got out of bed in the middle of the night and tried to climb the wall...then he proceeded to attack the stand fan in our bedroom.
my older daughter screams and yells as if someone is beating her up....she gets out of bed, sometimes she comes into my bedroom and stares at me all glassy-eyed...i take her back and cuddle her back to peaceful sleep. this thing happens with her (and her dad) during periods of stress and exams in particular.
cures? working towards a restful sleep is the cure i try to give them. in winter, a warming drink and a cosy cuddle before she sleeps...a nice story to sleep with (no horror stuff) , eating well before bedtime and not half hour before lights are out, a good shower and a comfy rub with talcum powder before she gets into bed....these seem to help my daughter quite a bit. but her brain is a bit over active i reckon....until she learns to 'shut herself down' before sleep she won't get a fully restful sleep. she has to help herself more than i can help her.

I have never walked out of bed and did any unconcious actions, i would pretty much say that i have wht your daughter faces. The stuff you do for your family is so precious and thoughtful, i need to get me a lovely wife sometime soon to snap me out of all of this XD


I think if you perform ablution before heading to sleep, and sleeping facing to your right side, then you'll be fine. Well at least I've been doing that all my life, and I haven't experienced much disturbing dreams, or fear.

Summer vacation has been going on for around two months and something for me now. I have spent the entire two months praying el fajer prayer before sleeping, except for a couple of days, and i still get these things..


awwwwwwwwwww!!

i heard about this but i dont know anyone who has it...
do you get nightmares alot ?

I think i do get them quite often more than any of those around me..


First of all, we need to clarify further whether what you experienced is a sleep terror or a nightmare

I am inclining more towards the latter, since you mentioned "in you dreams" which fits with nightmares, sleep terrors are not dreams

Also, is it something common in your family? Do others suffer from a similar condition? If yes, then sleep terror can run in families

It's worth mentioning that a heavy carbohydrates meal late at night leads to reactive hypoglycemia, your sugar drops due to an excessive release of Insulin, and your condition can be associated with that

Im positive that whats going on is not a Nightmare, because i have had disturbing nightmares before of fearful events, but i dont react to them. There is something about those certain dreams i see that gets me to react. No one im family suffers from such violents acts in their sleep, i know that my brother talks when he is asleep, but that is nothing compared to how much i flip and act in bed XD
I really dont know if this could be associated to food, but i would pretty much assume its associated to over stress i think?

[MsKnuckles]

i also heard carbohydrates at night are not good.

hitman... if it's not a dream what then would u describe it to be?

[HITMAN]

Diablo, for the mean while you work on the diet part & let's get it excluded, any psychological stressors being it social problems or related to studies or love/relationships can lead to disorders related to sleep, if they do exist then do get them sorted out a well

Otherwise, if it happened more than once then I suggest you get a sleep EEG done, the test will lead to the probable diagnosis

http://www.medgadget.com/archives/img/sleep%20study.JPG

[HITMAN]

if it's not a dream what then would u describe it to be?

If not a nightmare then perhaps night terror or sleep paralysis

In the worst case, a seizure disorder, which of course is not the case here

[minerva]

hitman, with my daughter and husband (and myself) it happens in times of stress. when exams are coming especially. could maybe a camomile tea before or some valerian help?

[HITMAN]

hitman, with my daughter and husband (and myself) it happens in times of stress. when exams are coming especially. could maybe a camomile tea before or some valerian help?

I can't comment on herbal products because that's not my speciality, but if it helps you then why not

Though I always avoid prescribing tranquillizers to young patients, a short (only when necessary) course of them can be beneficial, like Valium