Thread: Do you have night terrors?

I've had a couple of night terrors (confirmed by a pyschologist) and was wondering who else on dream views has them. (Keep in mind that a night terror is something completely different from a nightmare)

Night terror: Sudden awakening from sleep, persistent fear or terror that occurs at night, screaming, sweating, confusion, rapid heart rate, inability to explain what happened, usually no recall of "bad dreams" or nightmares, may have a vague sense of frightening images. Many people see spiders, snakes, animals or people in the room, are unable to fully awake, difficult to comfort, with no memory of the event on awakening the next day(www.nightterrors.org)

No, I can thankfully say I have not ever experienced that, or if I have, I don’t remember…

I did have a roommate who had night terrors every once in awhile. Those things are freaky!

My little brother (now 28, I think) has had them his whole life. They are scary as hell (for those witnessing them). He has hurt people (beat the crap out of my cousin, slammed his gf/ now wife into the wall) in his sleep. There's a HUGE difference between this and the worst of nightmares. For one thing, he doesn't remember them (a big indicator) upon waking. I do have a few words that may help IF there is someone who is there when you have them (mother, spouse, sibling); I was able to suggest to him that he was somewhere else. I wouldn't say, "You're eating grandma's cookies" but I would say, "Aren't these cookies good, Daniel? Do you want another one? I like when grandma makes cookies.", etc. It seemed to work when he was little. I'm not around him now when he's sleeping. The last time was when he fell asleep at my house. He also has this thing upon waking that's scary (different than night terrors, I think. It seems like he has PTSD but I don't know why); he jumps up and assumes a fighting stance.... OUT OF A DEAD SLEEP! It's scary as hell! Anyway, it had been so long that I forgot about it so when he fell asleep, I woke him up for a phone call and he jumped up at me. I about peed my pants. He feels so bad after he does it too.

It's good that you've just had a couple. Hopefully it will stop there.

Originally Posted by Butterflies

Night terror: Sudden awakening from sleep, persistent fear or terror that occurs at night, screaming, sweating, confusion, rapid heart rate, inability to explain what happened, usually no recall of "bad dreams" or nightmares, may have a vague sense of frightening images. Many people see spiders, snakes, animals or people in the room, are unable to fully awake, difficult to comfort, with no memory of the event on awakening the next day(www.nightterrors.org)

To those I say *usually*. From what my pyschologist told me, I recalled one. Only one. Every other one has just been a random panic upon awakening.

Throughout my childhood I had them though as I got older they lessened and they are also mostly just a random panic upon awakening now which happens once or twice a year.

I am able to recall one of mine as well.

A-nope.

My mum used to have them when she was very little.

Supposedly after a dog bit her.

Originally Posted by Butterflies

Night terror: Sudden awakening from sleep, persistent fear or terror that occurs at night, screaming, sweating, confusion, rapid heart rate, inability to explain what happened, usually no recall of "bad dreams" or nightmares, may have a vague sense of frightening images. Many people see spiders, snakes, animals or people in the room, are unable to fully awake, difficult to comfort, with no memory of the event on awakening the next day(www.nightterrors.org)

No, I can thankfully say I have not ever experienced that, or if I have, I don’t remember…

I did have a roommate who had night terrors every once in awhile. Those things are freaky!

Yeah you probably should have included in the poll "I don't know, I can't recall". I've read a little on the subject and people don't normally know they have them unless someone is there to witness it and they're just about never associated with nightmares.

On that note, I feel like I've had them but I believe they were only nightmares. Sleep health might have been a good place to post this.

i had them a couple times when i was younger. they are FUCKING INTENSE. i would bust out off my room screaming bloody murder scared out of my mind.

Originally Posted by Butterflies

with no memory of the event on awakening the next day

I don't think it's necessarily no memory, but rather that they are really hard to describe. There are a lot of good descriptions of night terrors in this thread.

http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=29794

My sister has night terrors occasionally.

No. I think I had them alot during depression, but it was mostly breathing really hard when waking and had a slightly panicy feeling in my chest.

night terrors occur in stage 4, while dreams occur in stage 1... somnambulism occurs in the same stage as night terrors

@Cochise Techincally REM sleep (where you're dreaming) has its own stage, which is separate from Stage 1 (where you're starting into sleep). Science tidbit.

Voted too quickly. I was thinking of really bad night terrors where you scream upon awakening. I've had a couple of them where you just feel like you're falling and suddenly wake up. It's only ever happened a few times though. At first I thought there was something wrong with me, then I found out a lot of people get them, then I learned in psychology class that they're just called night terrors and are normal. Also, I've remembered all of mine as far as I can tell.

So, I should be in the "Yes, once or twice" category.

I've had to many for my liking.

Originally Posted by BeyondDreaming

I've had to many for my liking.

\

Well put. It's just embarrassing. I used to but I don't have them anymore thankfully. It was the transition from dreaming to being awake.. it was confusing to say the least lol.

well few times I had a really scary dream, I woke up sweating, heart pounding and scared, will that count?

I don't have them, I have images that would be frightening, but they are pretty neutral, because there is nothing to fear in the universe.

I have been told that I can give night terrors though.

I'm pretty sure I've never had one. They're something completely different than HH, right?

Correct, they are different than HH. They tend to be very short dreams/nightmares. Mine are those of falling, either on ice or from a building or something.

I've definitely woken up sweaty and with an increased heart rate, but I'm pretty sure that was because I forgot to switch the heating off.

I first found out of these after my cousin(12) rose up sitting on his bed screaming.
Then i was like 8< and yelled what crap is he doing.
Then my cousin watched at me like he had seen a ghost and fell back to bed.
Same thing happened two hours later but my cousin had ran out of the hotel already when i was able to get up.
Though my father chased him down outside and brought him back

I can't exactly explain if what happens to me is night terrors. But when I was 12 to like 14 I would wake up screaming, sweating, running out of the room and only being aware of where I am when I get into the hall thinking "how the $@%^ did I get here?" But also I get alot of Hypnopompic Hallucinations (think I spelt that first part wrong) Where I'll randomly wake up BUT not wake up with a beating heart, sweats, or anything.. Then I see images of random things, the most complex shapes and as soon as I see them BAM It scares the crap out of me and I really can't explain why, I know I'm definitely not afraid of a little shape. Idk what this is, maybe it's a mix. Lack of sleep + all this stuff. Scary!

Hello friends

Although night terrors can occur anytime in a persons life span, the most common is reported in children between the ages of three and five. (However more recent studies have turned up showing that many adults as well as children as young as six months experience night terrors on a weekly basis.) Night terrors usually occur fifteen minutes to one hour after going to sleep. I personally experience mine at just about the 45 minute mark. The longer the person is in NREM (the stages before REM) before the night terror strikes, the more petrified they will be when it occurs. Keep in mind though not everyone falls to sleep in the same amount of time as others. This makes a sleep study about the only way of determining what stage of sleep you are in when these events occur.
Night terrors have been shown to appear in stage 4 of sleep. This is just one thing that separates them from nightmares which can occur anytime in sleep. It is possible to make a night terror occur in some people, simply by touching or awakening them during stage 4 of sleep. Why night terrors occur is still a mystery. The mind is supposed to be practically void during the deeper stages of sleep. Most sufferers will awake gasping, moaning, crying but more often screaming.

Breathing rapidly they will sit up in bed with a wide eyed terror filled stare. This panic will often last anywhere from five to twenty minutes. I find the most amazing aspect of night terrors is that it generates a heart rate of 160 to 170 beats per minute. This is much faster than the normal heart rate that can be attained under most stressful circumstances.
Some things that can help bring out a night terror are stress, medications that affect the brain, (It is hard to list exactly which ones) being over-tired or eating a heavy meal before going to bed. Combining all of the above I can usually guarantee an occurrence for myself. Many different medical ailments contribute to the frequency of Night Terrors. (Once again to many and to hard to list, Please do not e-mail me to have one added.) The listed items DO NOT cause night terrors, they just seem to put your body into the state where a night terror can manifest itself. People without night terrors will not have a night terror just by trying the above.

Thanks for all friends
Have a nice day

Lately I've been waking up in the night, sometimes a few times in one night, for no reason really. Does that affect what stage of sleep I'm in at certain times during the night? As far as these dreams go, I usally wake up from them in the early morning ...so it''s a few hours after I've fallen asleep.Night terrors/Nightmares are a part of Bi-Polar. I take Klonopin for sleeping purposes because Seroquel hits me like a mack truck. Plus my legs get all twitchy.