Night Terrors

I've discovered the possibility that I'm having the occasional night terror. Maybe only once every couple of months, but its enough to freak out my wife.

In some cases, she has actually gotten up and left the room to potty or get a drink of water and when she comes back to sleep one of these episodes is happening. Is almost as though her getting up disturbs me enough to make me paranoid in my sleep.

Basically, while I'm dreaming of something scary (home intruder, shadow creature, something grabbing me), I'm also grumbling loudly in my sleep. This is what initially starts spooking her, enough that she wants to wake me up.

When she does, I tend to sit up in full-on attack mode. I don't know if its her tone or what, but usually she says my name like she's scared, and that combined with the dream make me think there is someone in the house.

I rarely ever dream, or at least I rarely ever remember dreaming, so these events are not common enough to really adapt to. I'm not ex-military or suffer from PTSD, nor have a history of psychopathy.

Anyone else ever experience something like this?

No, but if you could videotape it we would all appreciate the entertainment.

I never have, but my sister used to. Kinda same as you - about every 3-4 weeks or so. Her doc told her not to eat before bed, make sure her sleep cycle is regular (dont go to bed at 8 one night and 11:30 the next), and empty her bladder before bed.

That was what I remember from just before I moved out at 19, so she was 15...dont know she still gets em, or if doc gave her any new instruction/medication. It seemed to work from what I remember. Closest thing for me is that I all the time am partially asleep, and dream Im climbing stairs, or kicking a ball, and I will kick the crap out of my wifes leg, or kick the dog clear off the edge of the bed (where he usually sleeps).

I will say that I was uncomfortably full last night when I went to bed.

I have nightmares every now and then.

They freak me out, but nothing serious.

My wife sometimes dreams that somebody is chasing her. She makes little wimpering sounds that are fantastically cute. I usually wake her up by touching her hands gently.

usually the dog wakes me up when I am having nightmares. For some reason, he doesn't freak me out when he does it. When people wake me up during one of those dreams I respond the same as you - ready to start swinging.

Good luck!

The advice that 4cylndrfury gave is spot on.

I get the full-body jerk/spasm probably..... 8-10x a night. Super awesome.

My daughter had those for some time. Then they just went away. We think they were triggered by some life event going on at that time. Birth of a brother or moving.

couple times a year i will dream that i'm in some kind of fight-or-flight situation and am unable to respond appropriately. the panic of my inability to fight-or-flight in the dream is what wakes me up, and when i open my eyes i'm yelling and punching and kicking the E36 M3 out of my blankets! my wife sleeps through all this...

I don't get night terrors persay.. but I do get some really weird wake you up with a pounding heart dreams. I wish I could keep a regular sleep schedule, but for instance, this week I was in yesterday and today at 5am.. tomorrow and sunday at 4pm, Monday will be 7am Makes it very hard to keep any sort of a normal life or even normal hours of sleep

I still occasionally have nightmares related to a job that I had back in the nineties. It was dangerous and stressful by nature, and made worse by a plant manager that was a real life Mr Burns. I've honestly wondered if I have mild PTSD.

I smacked the E36 M3 out of my wife the other night, in my sleep. I was having a weird dream (my meds make me dream berkeleyed up a lot... like a LOT a lot) and she was doing her weird sleep crap and she reached out and touched my back for some reason, and I turned around and decked her. No permanent damage, and she didn't even know it. I woke up as soon as I did it, and that was the only reason I knew it happened.

I will have a dream where a loved one is killed and when I wake up I know it did not happen but emotionally I still feel like it happened......it sucks and contributes to depression.

My son used to get them. He'd be fast asleep, but climbing up the headboard, and literally climbing the walls. Scary as crap. He never knew they happened.

My wife totally couldn't handle it. I would hold him, talk with him, try to wake him, try to keep him from hurting himself. I don't believe he ever knew.

He outgrew it. Not sure I can give you any constructive ideas.

I don't get night terrors anymore, but I have four cats that sleep with me and that's almost the same thing.

I used to sleepwalk when I was a kid. I remember waking up one time, holding a half full glass of milk and staring out of the sliding patio door. I didn't remember any of my dream, and that wasn't a night terror moment at all, but it was definitely strange.

If you get them regularly, keep a daily journal of what you eat, your work hours, and sleep hours. You may stumble across a pattern. I would also consider the things that you consider to be the most stressful things going on in your daily life, and see if there is a correlation there. Once a month the bills come due, and I don't generally sleep as well that week.

I've been getting more often. Its weird, sometimes I can feel it about to happen and suppress it, others I can't even though I know it's about to happen. Then its forever to get back to sleep due to the adrenalin. Good thing I'm alone.

I think you all could benefit from a thorough psychological analysis.

1988RedT2 wrote: I think you all could benefit from a thorough psychological analysis.

No doubt I could! But the lingering effects it would have on the psycologist have kept me from going.

My son has had them several times. He screams like nothing you've ever heard before. We try not to wake just try to keep him in his bed. He never remembers any of it. I'm prone to having extremely vivid dreams and recurring dreams that I'm aware I'm dreaming and interact with people and things in the dream world, it always picks up where it left of and in my dream I remember the entire thing from the beginning like a movie but when I wake the memory if what went on quickly fades.