Night Terrors

[sandmangeck]

"A night terror, also known as a sleep terror, incubus attack, or pavor nocturnus, is a parasomnia disorder that predominantly affects children, causing feelings of terror or dread, typically occur in the first few hours of sleep during stage 3 or 4 NREM sleep. Night terrors should not be confused with nightmares, which are bad dreams that cause the feeling of horror or fear. An estimated 1-8% of children have at least one night terror in their life but have no memory of the occurrence.[citation needed]

Children from age two to six are most prone to night terrors. They affect about fifteen percent of all children, although people of any age can be affected. Episodes may happen for a couple of weeks then suddenly disappear. The symptoms also tend to be different, with the child being unable to recall the experience. While nearly arisen, hallucinations occur.

Children who have night terrors are usually described as 'bolting upright' with their eyes wide open, and a look of fear and panic. They will often scream. Further, they will usually sweat, breathe fast and have a rapid heart rate (autonomic signs). Although it seems like children are awake during a night terror, they will appear confused, be inconsolable, and will not recognize others."

My daughter whom is 3 (to be 4 on halloween) suffers from them occassionally. Moreso as of lately, as I believe she is somewhat stressed due to the birth of our son. Also tonight she had a high grade fever, which can trigger them.

Has anyone had experiences with them? It is most troubling to have an inconsolible experience with your child. Tonight she just kept saying "oh my gosh, oh my gosh" and hitting her leg, and face.

[bassteban]

That's awful. I vaguely recall a friend or aquaintence going through this years ago.

[metallicafan18]

I recall having one as a child. I don't ever remember being so scared in my life. I had trouble sleeping for days.

[guitar ed]

My daughter recently started having them, age 10.5 Ugh. And your description is fairly accurate. We have her in therapy to try & deal with this. Going slow, thus far.

edg

[sloasdaylight]

A friend of mine had them. They suck, and there's nothing you can do about it while it's happening, which makes it suck worse.

[Muddslide]

I had them for a time when I was little. Then I morphed into having sleepwalking issues which remained with me intermittently until I was about 20.

My older daughter had night terrors on a few occasions and let me tell you, "terror" is an apt descriptor.

First time it happened she woke up (or we thought she was awake) in the middle of the night. She was not yet three years old. She shrieked, screamed, yelled, looked at me and her mother as if we were complete strangers who were out to hurt her. I will never forget the look in her eyes. My god.

Not knowing what to do, we decided I'd take her to the emergency room at 3AM. She fought and fought. I thought I would end up injuring her trying to get her in her carseat in the van we had. She was stiff as a board, outside screaming so incredibly loudly in the middle of the night. I imagine she woke neighbors.

She screamed and wailed and thrashed all the way to the hospital. It was a panic situation.

The second we pulled into the hospital parking lot, she calmed and was saying "Where are we, daddy?" It was a complete 180. She had legitimately woken up and it was over, but it was horrific. It happened a few other times over the next 3 or 4 years and there wasn't anything we could do but try to rouse her and comfort her when it was over.

[pacojas]

i had them very frequently as a child as well as my youngest son. my parents would interrogate me each morning after an episode. i felt guilty for having them because of their concern. it got so rutine(sp) my mother eventually sought out help from both church people and psychic's.

the things i saw, felt, and heard made me fear the night to this day! the elders called it "The Gift",... it feels like a curse. children are supposed to be very sensitive to spirit energy, although that's not what i'm suggesting in your case. gl.

[Stilettoprefer]

My ex girlfriend had them at the age of 16. Her twin sister was telling me how she would wake up in the middle of the night and see her sister sitting up in bed not responding to anything that she did.

I didn't know it was night terrors until a couple days ago when my psychology teacher covered them in class.

Now for me, I just sleep walk and rearrange furniture in whatever room im in:P

[sandmangeck]

I have had episodes of sleepwalking. Numerous times of waking up in places I had not fallen asleep in. And the most comical of pissing everywhere I shouldn't when I was sober, my favorite being my ladies laptop! Hopefully they will subside soon.

[DigMe]

My son would have them more when he was 3 (now he's 4). He would scream at the top of his lungs and if you went in there he would often have his eyes open but he wasn't really awake.

bc

[Relic]

My wife gets them all the time. They range from terrifying to hysterically funny. I;ll post some more on it later

[giacomini]

Well my older daughter started having night terrors after her little sister was born too...

But it's been a while since the last time, I guess she was having the night terrors due to the otitis that she had a few months ago, as well.

[Muddslide]

Originally Posted by Relic

My wife gets them all the time. They range from terrifying to hysterically funny. I;ll post some more on it later

YouTube clipsies?

[i_got_a_mohawk]

A friend of mine sometimes had them into her early 20s, they sounded horrifying!

I have only had one episode during sleep, I woke up in the morning, but could not move my body at all. It was wierd, I was totally awake, but could not move anything, it took what felt like an age until things started moving. Very disconcerting! (I'm pretty sure it wasn't a dream)

[73jbass]

My ex has them to this day. She is 58 and still has them on occasion. She used to have them about an hour or so after falling asleep. She would sit up in bed screaming at the top of her lungs,and it would take a few minutes to calm her down. Sometimes she would scream out NO! and then go back to sleep. Caused me a lot of sleepless nights. That was partially why we eventually split up. She would not go get help to try to fix it.

[Sublab]

Originally Posted by sandmangeck

"A night terror, also known as a sleep terror, incubus attack, or pavor nocturnus, is a parasomnia disorder that predominantly affects children, causing feelings of terror or dread, typically occur in the first few hours of sleep during stage 3 or 4 NREM sleep. Night terrors should not be confused with nightmares, which are bad dreams that cause the feeling of horror or fear. An estimated 1-8% of children have at least one night terror in their life but have no memory of the occurrence.[citation needed]

Children from age two to six are most prone to night terrors. They affect about fifteen percent of all children, although people of any age can be affected. Episodes may happen for a couple of weeks then suddenly disappear. The symptoms also tend to be different, with the child being unable to recall the experience. While nearly arisen, hallucinations occur.

Children who have night terrors are usually described as 'bolting upright' with their eyes wide open, and a look of fear and panic. They will often scream. Further, they will usually sweat, breathe fast and have a rapid heart rate (autonomic signs). Although it seems like children are awake during a night terror, they will appear confused, be inconsolable, and will not recognize others."

My daughter whom is 3 (to be 4 on halloween) suffers from them occassionally. Moreso as of lately, as I believe she is somewhat stressed due to the birth of our son. Also tonight she had a high grade fever, which can trigger them.

Has anyone had experiences with them? It is most troubling to have an inconsolible experience with your child. Tonight she just kept saying "oh my gosh, oh my gosh" and hitting her leg, and face.

Yep, my son had this about a year ago, he's six now. He'd be upright in his bed, screaming words I could not make out, he'd be sweating profusely and shivering at the same time. He'd be so out of himself I would have to take him next to me in my bed or take him downstairs to sooth him and calm him down. I have no idea where it comes from as there have been no big changes in our household lately.

[sandmangeck]

Originally Posted by 73jbass

Sometimes she would scream out NO! and then go back to sleep. Caused me a lot of sleepless nights. That was partially why we eventually split up. She would not go get help to try to fix it.

From what I've read, there is not alot you can do for them. She also might not be having night terrors, might just be having bad dreams. My lady does similar things now in her sleep where she talks, gets upset, kicks, etc.

But two light sleepers toghether usually is tough. I could sleep through a hurricane, while on a beach.

[fourstringdrums]

I'm 30 now and I used to have them when I was about about 9. At first I would wake up in a panic and not recognize anyone even though I was aware of what was going on. Eventually I was more able to handle it and I knew I was having a night terror and was able to control my breathing to stop it. But eventually it got worse again and I had to go for a sleep study. Eventually they determined that a vp shunt that I had implanted 8 years earlier needed to be lengthened. Once I had the surgery with the exception of one instance, they stopped.

Though from time to time I still have instances of waking up and not knowing where I am or seeing spiders or floating feathers or things in the air that I swat at and nothing is there. But that's not a night terror.

[EricF]

My wife has occasional night terrors. She doesn't handle them well.

[Relic]

Wow I forgot about this thread!

But actually, I'm a moron! lol I was going to post about Sleep Paralysis and not night terrors, two different things.