night terrors!

[sheena6292]

I am 25 years old and still have episodes (like tonight) of these horrid vivid night terrors. I wake up moving and screaming. Its a genetically passed deep sleep issue. My dad who is 47 still has episodes too. And I so kindly passed it to my oldest and youngest, aren't I wonderful. Does anyone else suffer from this and what do you do to try and stop it?

 

[SarahFair]

Are they bad dreams or just unsettling feelings?

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

I have dreams, about twice a month, that are SO bad, that I can't even tell you what they are about. I physically Cannot bring them into speech. I usually start screaming in my dreams, and it's like screaming through glue, painful and SO HARD. Eventually, I manage to wiggle out of the grip of the dream, just enough to wake my husband up, who in turn, shakes me awake. He's deployed now, and I've discovered that without him, it takes a LOT longer to wake up... which is terrible, and I wake up moving and sort of gurgling, since for some reason, i can't scream enough to wake myself...

anyway, I am sorry you're going through it, if it's anything like my situation, i wouldn't wish it on anyone... i just don't really think about it that much. I try to forget the scenarios as quickly as I can, and nap in the day if I can, because in the day, i don't have nightmares...

 

[SarahFair]

Really???!
I have dreams that are unsettling and I cant go back to sleep for an hour or so but nothing like that

Sorry you guy go through something like that!

 

[allthings'g']

I had them as a child. Like you said...you can't even put it into words. I eventually out grew them and only have had one as an adult. Maybe one or both of your kids have a chance of out growing them...I know it runs in your family but there is always a chance.

 

[klf73]

my son had them but had them nightly around the same time. Doctor told us to disrupt his sleep pattern, wake him up 30 min before he usually started screaming and let him go back to sleep. It worked

. Not sure what you could do if it happens irregularly....

 

[sheena6292]

Ours are so bad we usually sleep walk some and fight and scream. Its like your awake but can't get entirely out of the dream. I have gotten better it happens about once a week but I have some awful episodes every couple of months. Last night I woke up the kids cause I was checking on them and found them dead and started screaming. Even after they woke up I wasn't fully awake I scared myself that time. My seven yr old started when he was about 9 mths old waking up screaming and sleep walking at about 14 mths. One time I called the cops cause he wandered off at 3 in the morning. We found him after an hour curled in a ball wrapped in a blanket under his baby sisters crib. And she's getting to where she's in bed with me about every other night after waking up screaming. The only medication for night terrors is antidepressants and anti anxiety pills no way am I putting those into my babies growing brains. We installed dead bolts they can't reach so I don't have to worry bout them getting out at night. It does get less frequent with age apparently daddy(yes I'm 25 and still call him that) only has them about 3 or 4 times a year. My oldest is starting to control the scary parts by reminding himself that it isn't real and says his bedtime prayer repeatedly but of course it doesn't always work. 9 times out of 10 all four are piled into his bed when he's been having issues. It comes in waves or cycles. Unfortanetly my hubby has some deep sleep issues too so there was very little chance none of the kids would get it. At least its the two with a lot of strength if it was my oldest daughter instead of youngest the other 2 might have never been born. Lol. We wouldn't have been able to get her out of our bed. Lol

 

[sheena6292]

Well I downloaded a white noise app. Heard this helps sure hope so. At least its probably past the worst even if I have another couple of nights of it. I hope last night didn't set off Bub's cycle. I think the two worst is when I have the ones like last night with the kids being dead and the vampire ones are the worst. Once I woke up from one of those and let's just say it was so bad. Had a bloody nose so I could taste it while dreaming. It was so awful! Anyways wish me luck.

 

[WriterofWords]

I suffered through night terrors for several years after finding three members of my family murdered. Check this book out, it might help you:

http://books.google.com/books?id=ze...resnum=13&ved=0CGEQ6AEwDA#v=onepage&q&f=false

These are some links to information on night terrors in adults you might find interesting:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...snum=0&ct=broad-revision&cd=6&ved=0CGoQ1QIoBQ

 

[highcountrychickens]

Hi Sheena -

I started having them when I was a child - truly terrible... My poor DH has to put up with awful stuff - I have stood up in bed and started shaking the covers - trying to get the spiders out of the bed (eyes wide open and aware that I'm talking with him telling him what I'm seeing, though he calmly tells me that they're not there) I see things from unbelievably beautiful to terrifying (he has to keep a light on his side of the bed so he can turn it on when I have these things - a thousand legged spider once made it impossible to turn on the light next to me) (funny that consciously I have no problem with spiders... even read that to dream about them means it foretells of a prosperous future

)

What I found is that they are quite remarkably linked to stress, and deep seated worries. I would never think that I'm a worrier, I have a great life, I'm tremendously pragmatic and expressive with generally everything that goes on with me, so that truth was a tough pill to swallow. It may sound strange, but I have had a lot of success with dealing with it through meditation, stress management, simple nutrition and consistent exercise, and by working to wake up when I have them, and say out loud that it was a dream. Somehow recognizing it earlier and earlier in the terror (as you know it is SO much different than a dream) that it isn't real... even trying to identify what led up to it - has started to be the norm. Mine have a lot of symbolism. For instance, the other night I woke DH insisting that he had to see the beautiful thing a bird was doing with it's wings for us... (I wish I could describe it - was sooo beautiful...) We have been going through financial woes lately, and I had just started a new job...
that kind of thing.
Even if you can't identify why you're having the dream - if you can recognize it at the time it's like your mind can 'stamp' it, and sort of work on working it out on it's own... Again I wish I could explain it better - but the thing happens in our subconscious, so I suppose it's supposed to be tough to explain.

good luck with this.