night terrors

saintly_2

im 27 and have suffered with these for 15 years, never sought help because i was emabrrased. Well after a weeks holiday with my fiance he witnessed them 1st hand and found it difficult to deal with it as they can get quite scary. at the moment i still live at home and my folks can deal with them but movng out in jan so needed to get some control

so i have been to the GP and she diagnosed the parasomnia and had blood tests, ECG etc. she put me on a course of anti depressants which havent worked so she took them off me and give me some sedating antihistamines for anxiety. going to start these tonight.

i can find loads of information on the net about kids with night terrors but not much for adults. i was just wondering if anyone on here suffers from it or done so in the past and how you dealt with it, also how your OH half deals with it

choille

Sorry to hear that - there was something on the TV recently about someone who suffered from this condition - It must be scary for you & OH.

Would hypnosis be of help?
What, if anything, started it? Did you have a trauma that kicked it off? You don't need to answer that - I'm just interested.
Could you ask to see a specialist as I would think you would need to.
All the best.

tandraig

its a cliche - but perhaps you need counselling. but - I would look on net for a uni or research project into sleep probs you could volunteer for.
my bro had night terrors almost until he was in his teens. its awful hun, feel for you.
have you tried meditation? not watching the news after a certain hour? if you are sensitive that can trigger nightmares. I dont watch it after six - or one if I can help it! too much doom and gloom and i cant do a thing about it!

mrcow

I know someone who suffered from these and had cranial osteopathy which stopped them - but it was a child, I don't know how effective iit s on an adult, but it may be worth looking into.

peachyprice

I have suffered in the past and still do from time to time, always at times of extreme stress. Fortunatley they pass, usually when I acknowledge the cause and deal with it.

They are frightening, both for me and anyone who happens to be there at the time. I remember when I was younger I had one while sleeping over at a friends parents house, her poor mother thought I was murdering her

My OH usually just strokes me and tries to calm me down, it did totally freak him out the first time it happened though, especially when I told him the bed was about to fall through the big hole in the floor.

caevans

Hi
I was quite shocked to see the title 'night terrors' - not often I hear of anyone who has these!! I started getting night terrors when I was about 17/18 (now 33years old). I have found like one of the other posters that I tend to get them when I am stressed, so always try and make sure I have some chill out time before bed. When I was pregnant and worried a lot the night terrors were out of control! I would have 3 or 4 a night and be exhausted, not to mention having severe throat ache from screaming!
As for how my husband deals with it - he is just used to it. Your fiance will get used to it too. I find that I am able to remember during night terror (ie. I have an element of control) and know that if I switch a light on during it, the night terror will go away. that works really well for me. Not sure if its the same for everyone though? I know that most research shows that most people do not remember their night terrors, but I do. I have had a whole variety of interesting night terrors over the many years.
I am not sure that any medication will help, although I did think about seeing the dr when I was at Uni as I was having them so frequently. Mine are so clearly linked to stress that controlling stress as much as possible works best for me.
Hope that helps and if you want to share night terror stories let me know :-)

merlin68

I know how you feel, i had a really scary experience one night where i woke up and felt something sitting on my chest, i sat up and felt hands go round my throat but there was noone there, myy dd was in bed with me at the time.
The gp said it was sleep paralysis

saintly_2

thanks guys

the doc mentioned hypnosis and counselling if these meds dont work have to go back at the end of January.

i have been keeping a diary the thing is i cant remember having them so if i dont scream or cry (as sometimes i dont) then i have no idea.

From the ones i can remember I have them about spiders, flies, men climbing through the window.

my brother recently had a camera down his throat and the last few terrors have been about an old man in a wheel chair sat next to my bed. he has a mcdonalds straw in his mouth, falls out of his wheelchairs and the straw is stuck down his throat, then his face is right by mine screaming which brings me round. my folks have been there for these ones and i have told them what i saw whilst having it because i was screaming and cryin.

i wish it was tv which was the trigger but i think its real life and stuff that i hear from friends. ie, there was a charity collector in our highstreet for malaria nets and that night i had a terror about mosquitos eating me.

i saw a hedgehog scuttle across the road and that night the terror went along the lines of the hedgehog climbed in through my window and was running around the floor

people call me a psycho and at times start to believe them.. going to see what this doctor says at the end of jan if not i have private health care with work so may get reffered to them but its the excess of £100 you have to pay which is putting me off!

tandraig

I think you are oversensitive hun - you say its stuff you hear from friends. dont listen to it. ask them not to tell you things. counselling may help here actually - as you can talk about things which you wouldnt to friends or family.
sympathise as i had some real wowsers after i had first son - I dont know why but they went when i got pregnant with second son. I can remember one really bad one and nearly decked my OH when he tried to calm me down!

caevans

You are NOT a psycho!!!!!!!! You just have vivid night hallucinations. I know they are hellish and when I first started getting them I thought I was going mad, but you aren't! I don't know if there are night terror forums that might help? If you are really keen to get rid of them go for the options your Dr has given you, but maybe if you accept them as part of you and stop worrying about them you might find you get them less and less?
Also, don't know if it will be the same for you, but the older I have got the milder they are getting. I used to have very vivid hallucinations of men in my room, but now, thankfully, they tend to just be things falling on me from ceiling or insects/snakes etc in the bed.
Chin up, don't let it get you down. Get your fiance to understand what they are and what they are like so that you aren't worried before going to bed about having a night terror as this will probably just cause you to have one! (if you know what I mean)

tiamai_d

Do they happen at the same time every night, or at the same length of time after falling asleep? I know in kids one way that works is to disturb the sleeping pattern, no idea if it would work in adults.

I've only ever had these on medication for high blood pressure during pregnancies. Some scary (worm monster coming up the stairs), some weird (pregnant ladies crawling though toffee and smarties like their bellies were ice creams) and some just strange (the blonde man telling me everything would be ok and not to worry oh and the virgin mary looking for her donkey). It's not nice at all, you have my sympathy.