Night Terrors

[Duigi-Luigi]

Fuck! I just woke up hearing myself screaming.

I have been having these night terrors for a few weeks. I have been under a bit of stress so that may be contributing to the problem. Often I go to bed with all the lights out in my bedroom then wake up with them on. Apparently, I turned them on while I was asleep. My father has night terrors so they might be hereditary.

Any suggestions??

 

[JayQueer]

Yes, night terrors do sometimes have a genetic link.

Night terrors can occur during periods of stress. How has your sleep been for the past few weeks? Getting enough sleep at night (at least 7 hours uninterrupted) is important.

How does your father deal with his night terrors?

If this continues, you may want to go see your doctor.

 

[rareboy]

Definitely see your doc.

 

[oldchild]

I was waking up at night in screaming angry rages and was diagnosed with Sleep Apne. Your situation could just be a breathing problem which interferes with oxygen saturation.

 

[Kulindahr]

This was a thread last month, and since then I actually incurred one of those episodes in which one awakes, or seems to mentally, but cannot move.

I had never heard of them before reading about them on JUB, much less experienced one. It did not seem long, more like a minute, but I distinctively had the sensation during waking of being paralyzed and being unable to speak. When it finally broke, I cried out, not a scream, just proof I could speak.

It felt like a post-hypnotic suggestion, or at least the way they are depicted in film. I figured my mind had fixated on it in the intervening month since I had read about it.

To be fair, I have recently changed jobs, so stress may have been a factor.

When a child, I experienced the full-blown night terrors described by the O.P. They involved sleep-talking, sleep-walking (climbing the walls), and a recurrent dream that I was being crushed. I would wake up crying, only then to be chided and scolded by my mother and her boyfriend. It was directly caused by the stress in the household from my mother's alcoholism, plus the rejection by her.

To the OP, get counselling.

I've had both the waking screaming and waking frozen. The night frights stopped after I got anointed with oil and prayed for at church. The frozen episodes stopped after a change of location and some medication.

I used to have dreams where I was getting crushed, too. The way I dealt with those was learning to take charge in dreams, maybe not complete charge but at least of myself. I assigned myself the dream powers of shrinking as much as I wanted and of flying. When the crushing didn't seem to have a cause, I decided what was behind it -- something I could escape from.

I won't say it was foolproof -- I got nightmares of escape after escape, but with confidence those became like games. Guess what? When the dreams started to beome fun, they stopped.

 

[Kulindahr]

Burn incense before you go to sleep. Nag Champa is the best.

The effectiveness of that depends on whether one finds incense pleasing or relaxing. When I've tried to sleep in places where incense has been burned, I sleep very poorly -- with one exception, some Greek stuff that was like a hundred bucks an ounce.

 

[Enduster]

Night terrors are much different than the nightmares most people have, as you have them in an entirely different phase of sleep than dreaming occurs in. You need to have a sleep study done to ascertain your condition, pronto. Talk to your doctor for a referral. Good luck, and keep us informed!

 

[Kulindahr]

Night terrors are much different than the nightmares most people have, as you have them in an entirely different phase of sleep than dreaming occurs in. You need to have a sleep study done to ascertain your condition, pronto. Talk to your doctor for a referral. Good luck, and keep us informed!

Help is a good idea. When I had night terrors, it got to a stage where I thought I'd woken up screaming, and tried to get calm. But I was dreaming I woke up screaming, and when I realized it, the terror was just worse. I woke up from one of those once and woke up forty out of fifty guys in the house.

Talk to your doc, say

 

[Enduster]

Help is a good idea. When I had night terrors, it got to a stage where I thought I'd woken up screaming, and tried to get calm. But I was dreaming I woke up screaming, and when I realized it, the terror was just worse. I woke up from one of those once and woke up forty out of fifty guys in the house.

Talk to your doc, say

Too often, young boys / young men are told that their terrors are from "God", which is utter bullshit! Night terrors are quite normal and usual for young boys aged 2 to 7. However, night terrors afflict many grown men that never outgrew the condition as most boys do.

My boyfriend/partner suffers from night terrors at age 33.

Please find help and don't feel ashamed or guilty! It's no different than diabetes, high blood pressure, or arthritis. It's hereditary!

Check out: http://www.nightterrors.org/