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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 11 of 11. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by rjlockhart on February 6, 2006, at 21:42:41
I was trying to lay down, and it takes me time to just relax.... i layed down and relaxed ahh....
I took a 2mg clonazepam which helped, but then i woke up in this Paralzed state, i could not speak, i could not move, i just stared at the wall trying to cry for help, i couldnt. And I kept hearing this voice screaming "let me in there, A- A- A - A -A -A (the letter over and over again) "you bastard let me in there" over and over again and again. I was scared to death, i was praying in my mind. I felt a push on my chest being smuthered, and a feeling that i was in hell, a smell of blood in my nose. I felt someting was litterly pressing on me and i was losing cousiouness. I said no, and i moved my legs, i count not move my arms or head or other body, then moved my middle body, but still in this state.
Then finally I "twitched" my head and i "woke up" I was almost in a dream, but it was real with my eyes OPEN. That voice i dont know what was. It kept saying A - A -A -A A over and over, after "you bastard let me in" I thought it was my mom ROFL! it wasnt it was a diffrent voice. Very Errie.
Listen im not a "out there person" here, here is a picture of what i look like:
http://mmcconathy87.tripod.com/matt_mcconathys_photo_album/index.album?i=15&s=1Ok.
What was that.... that was terrifing.
Please post something if you read this.
Matt
Posted by ClearSkies on February 6, 2006, at 22:14:22
In reply to I had a TERROR night terror read please, posted by rjlockhart on February 6, 2006, at 21:42:41
Hey, I have had several bouts of night terrors. They occured after marathon drinking sessions, no psychotropic drugs yet. The main sensations were that
I was awake AND dreaming
I could not move my limbs
my peripheral vision was very good
the episode has strong "deja vue" feeling
I was screaming for most of the time.It easily took me days to recover from these invasions of my brain. Here I was, trying to sleep...er, pass out, and instead had people with knives attacking me, or I was a chairside witness to the Challenger disaster, or my bed had been invaded by biting spiders. All dreams complete with consciousness and hallucinations.
ClearSkies
Posted by Phillipa on February 6, 2006, at 22:44:31
In reply to Re: I had a TERROR night terror read please » rjlockhart, posted by ClearSkies on February 6, 2006, at 22:14:22
Matt it's okay Babblemail me okay? Love Mom Jan
Posted by JenStar on February 6, 2006, at 23:11:10
In reply to I had a TERROR night terror read please, posted by rjlockhart on February 6, 2006, at 21:42:41
hi Matt,
I've had that happen too - the half awake/half asleep paralysis thing. It's HORRIBLE. It's apparently a known phenomenon; I'm not sure why it happens, but it has something to do with parts of the brain being 'awake.'If it happens again, do this: Focus on breathing in and out, regularly and evenly. Remember that it's a temporary paralysis, and that you're going to be OK. Tell yourself that it's OK to go back to sleep, and it's OK to try and wake up, but that you're not going to panic, and that you WILL start moving your arms/legs in just a few minutes. I know it's REALLY scary, but it's a normal thing to happen (if not exactly *fun*).
I'm sorry that happened. It was a mixture of a bad dream that happened while you were trying to wake up.
You can search the internet for exactly what happens in the brain/sleep pattern...but it IS normal.
I hope you're feeling better!
jenStar
Posted by willyee on February 6, 2006, at 23:41:47
In reply to I had a TERROR night terror read please, posted by rjlockhart on February 6, 2006, at 21:42:41
Ive been there,i think actualy what happened is not as complex as you think,.....you were half awake amidst a nightmare,so you feel you literally cant move,or talk.
I remember this happening on two occasions,the first in the day and i tried to knock on the wall to get someones attention.
The second and to date last was more creepy,i awoke in the middle of the night,or so i thought and i hearda voice,i wanted to turn around to confront this voice for some reason very badly,i was scared having my back to it,but i could not move,i was about to freak out,then i somehow pulled logic from my a- and said im dreaming,so like u do with a foot thats asleep,i layed calm for a minute or so and brought myself out of the dream,when i turned around a relaized i either have a demon in my room and im possesed,or i wa in a dream,,honestly either truth really brings any sunshine.
During a recent sleep study this is what i was told,and since they believed it might be due to medication,PERHAPS it may hold true for some other people,.........
My sleep tech told me "Well your sleep is fine,we can tell your on a benzo,thats first,but again he said that is fine,second they said they seen NUMEROUS times where my brain actualy awakens as my body sleeps.This would explain a lot and explain our little thread here"
Perhaps your brain was in the middle of a sleep/wake state.........but ur body was totaly asleep.
Either way unless u start noticing more clearer psyhotic features like voice in the middle of the day,images in the middle of the day,and stuff like this,i would not worry about weird stuff happening in ur sleep.
First you are on medication which greatly disrupts sleep,second your in clinical depression which probuably is active in a sleep state too,hence nightmares,insomnia,early wakenings and a mess of other crapppy sleep problems.
Posted by yxibow on February 7, 2006, at 0:58:59
In reply to I had a TERROR night terror read please, posted by rjlockhart on February 6, 2006, at 21:42:41
> Ok.
>
> What was that.... that was terrifing.
>
> Please post something if you read this.
>
> MattNight terrors are a very common phenomenon of sleep. The body paralyzes itself while it is asleep to prevent excess thrashing. Who knows the evolutionary reason, but that is a part of the stages of sleep. Some medications may potentiate (increase the chance) of night terrors happening. I used to have them as day terrors -- actually I still do, if I lay down for a nap on the sofa, sometimes I find myself viewing an exact picture of the room, but I cannot move.
Fighting it tends to make it worse.. you have to slowly convince yourself that you are actually awake. Time seems to pass very slowly but if you do not fight the sleep paralysis one of two things happen: you go back to sleep and dream, or more likely, you awaken and realize you are in the same place you have envisioned, often.
Its a fascinating part of the human sleep process; I'm sorry that you had such a bad experience. But it is not a pathology, you don't have to worry. Even people you think are "sane" or whatever have night terrors. My gym trainer has them. They're a normal part of the human existence and if you read about them, they transcend cultures and societies as well.
-- Jay
Posted by Squiggles on February 7, 2006, at 16:35:31
In reply to I had a TERROR night terror read please, posted by rjlockhart on February 6, 2006, at 21:42:41
There are names for it: "the old hag syndrome",
"the incubus" among other:Respiratory depression? Hypothyroidism?
- result of too high a benzo dose/and/
or interaction with other drugs, combined
with obesity;my guess -
here is a neat site:
http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/incubus.html
Squiggles
Posted by forgetful mary on February 7, 2006, at 19:06:51
In reply to I had a TERROR night terror read please, posted by rjlockhart on February 6, 2006, at 21:42:41
Today on Drudge report........
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/07/business/07sleep.html?The reported problems include sleepwalking and short-term amnesia. Steven Wells, a lawyer in Buffalo, said he started using Ambien last year because his racing mind kept him awake at night. But he quit after only one month, concerned about several episodes in which he woke up to find he had messily raided the refrigerator and, finally, an incident in which he tore a towel rack out of a wall.
"The weird thing was that I had no recollection of it the next day," said Mr. Wells, who added that he found the episodes frightening.
> I was trying to lay down, and it takes me time to just relax.... i layed down and relaxed ahh....
>
> I took a 2mg clonazepam which helped, but then i woke up in this Paralzed state, i could not speak, i could not move, i just stared at the wall trying to cry for help, i couldnt. And I kept hearing this voice screaming "let me in there, A- A- A - A -A -A (the letter over and over again) "you bastard let me in there" over and over again and again. I was scared to death, i was praying in my mind. I felt a push on my chest being smuthered, and a feeling that i was in hell, a smell of blood in my nose. I felt someting was litterly pressing on me and i was losing cousiouness. I said no, and i moved my legs, i count not move my arms or head or other body, then moved my middle body, but still in this state.
>
> Then finally I "twitched" my head and i "woke up" I was almost in a dream, but it was real with my eyes OPEN. That voice i dont know what was. It kept saying A - A -A -A A over and over, after "you bastard let me in" I thought it was my mom ROFL! it wasnt it was a diffrent voice. Very Errie.
>
> Listen im not a "out there person" here, here is a picture of what i look like:
> http://mmcconathy87.tripod.com/matt_mcconathys_photo_album/index.album?i=15&s=1
>
> Ok.
>
> What was that.... that was terrifing.
>
> Please post something if you read this.
>
> Matt
Posted by tizza on February 7, 2006, at 23:40:53
In reply to Re: I had a TERROR night terror read please, posted by forgetful mary on February 7, 2006, at 19:06:51
Sleep Paralysis, Night Terrors, just a couple of names that it's called. I'm 35 and have been suffering from it since as long as I can remember, maybe from 3 or 4 years of age. The best advice I can give you, which is rather tricky to master, is realise what is happening, try to relax, which is quite hard at first but you'll get the hang of it, and once you do you either wake up or fall back to sleep. I let this problem plague me for years, my parent's thought I had a brain tumor or something. I thought I was mad. When I was young I thought it was ghosts, then as I got older I thought it was aliens. Whatever it is mate, the more fear you feed it the worse the situation becomes, just relax as much as you can and don't fight it or it will feel like it's dragging on for hours and the next few days you will be totally exhausted. I still get annoyed with people that blow it off as a bad dream when you can actually see and hear things in your bedroom and it's not like you just wake up and it's gone. It doesn't go away till you can move again. I saw someone mention breathing in an eariler post, this is an excellent thing to do, just don't hyperventilate. Good luck, Paul :)
Posted by yxibow on February 8, 2006, at 1:11:01
In reply to Re: I had a TERROR night terror read please, posted by forgetful mary on February 7, 2006, at 19:06:51
> Today on Drudge report........
> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/07/business/07sleep.html?
>
> The reported problems include sleepwalking and short-term amnesia. Steven Wells, a lawyer in Buffalo, said he started using Ambien last year because his racing mind kept him awake at night. But he quit after only one month, concerned about several episodes in which he woke up to find he had messily raided the refrigerator and, finally, an incident in which he tore a towel rack out of a wall.
>
> "The weird thing was that I had no recollection of it the next day," said Mr. Wells, who added that he found the episodes frightening.
The Drudge Report will find the worst in life, but that's just my opinion. Yes, its possible to sleepwalk on Ambien.. rare, but possible. Sleepwalking is quite a different phenomenon than night terrors.I once took a long road trip and was so exhausted that I fell asleep finally at my destination like at 3 in the morning. I wasn't in my own house, I was in a friend's -- I woke up and started to try to climb out the window because I was disoriented (mind you I was still asleep). Fortunately it was one of those windows that only half open, otherwise I would have had multiple fractures had I survived. It doesn't take medication to sleepwalk. Ever since then, I've been hesitant to sleep near any window on a tall building. I suppose I could tie a rope to myself :)
Posted by willyee on February 8, 2006, at 8:14:11
In reply to Re: I had a TERROR night terror read please, posted by tizza on February 7, 2006, at 23:40:53
> Sleep Paralysis, Night Terrors, just a couple of names that it's called. I'm 35 and have been suffering from it since as long as I can remember, maybe from 3 or 4 years of age. The best advice I can give you, which is rather tricky to master, is realise what is happening, try to relax, which is quite hard at first but you'll get the hang of it, and once you do you either wake up or fall back to sleep. I let this problem plague me for years, my parent's thought I had a brain tumor or something. I thought I was mad. When I was young I thought it was ghosts, then as I got older I thought it was aliens. Whatever it is mate, the more fear you feed it the worse the situation becomes, just relax as much as you can and don't fight it or it will feel like it's dragging on for hours and the next few days you will be totally exhausted. I still get annoyed with people that blow it off as a bad dream when you can actually see and hear things in your bedroom and it's not like you just wake up and it's gone. It doesn't go away till you can move again. I saw someone mention breathing in an eariler post, this is an excellent thing to do, just don't hyperventilate. Good luck, Paul :)
Id say this is the best advice,it worked for me when it happened to me.Think of it the same when youre foot fallls asleep,learn somehow to realise its part of a dream,then stay quiet,and slowly try to move ur fingers or foot,instead of trying to yank ur body around,just sit still and SLOWLY move like pins and needles in ur toes,chances r you wake up much easier.
Think,when ur foot is asleep,and you try to get out of it by shaking it fast moving it fast walking on it etc that doesent work,what does?sitting calm and still and moving a toe or two slowly until life comes back,use that idea next time it happens.
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