Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Night Terrors, What Do You Want From Me?


~A NIGHT TERROR, also known as pavor nocturnus, is a parasomnia disorder characterized by extreme terror and a temporary inability to regain full consciousness. The subject wakes abruptly from slow-wave sleep, with waking usually accompanied by gasping, moaning, or screaming. It is often impossible to fully awaken the person, and after the episode the subject normally settles back to sleep without waking. A night terror can rarely be recalled by the subject. They typically occur during non-rapid eye movement sleep.~


A little departure from the usual post - I'm dedicating this one to all the NIGHT TERROR VICTIMS around the world. ~_~ ...zzzzz

Last night I had a night terror. I woke up to this slice of a man (think - a man sliced into thin slivers like a piece of balogna, but cut so thin that you can see right thru him) hovering over my side of the bed. I was a little grossed out, but pretty sleepy, so I just kinda scooted the covers away and I knew he was so thin he'd blow away. He did, but then I woke up again when he finally made it up and floated down onto my legs. That's when I freaked out and made a fuss. The other night, I had another one, but this time, I was scared because our bathroom (which is closest to me) was a bloody meat locker. I woke up and flipped out because apparently, I had already told my husband that I didn't want to sleep over here next to all the sides of beef. I hated it.

When I was younger, I would wake up in the middle of the living room, trying to convince my mom that there really WAS a styrafoam spider doing a jig on my pillow - next to my head. (She never believed me...???) But more recently, when stress is really a problem, I've woken up screaming - paralyzed and terrified - my heart pounding on my ribcage, shaking like I'm about to be massacred, starring WIDE-EYED at the white-nightied bum lady, head down, shuffling across the room. Or the freaky ghost being floating in the corner of the ceiling. Or the spiders scurring out of the huge spider egg hanging in my face. I've hurt myself on occasion, trying to get the hell out of my husband's grip, him telling me it was okay and there were NO Lincoln heads popping up on the side of the bed. Bruised and blundered, bonked and scratched, I've had quite a time with it. So has he.

If ANYONE knows what I'm talking about, knows someone that has them, or has them yourself, what's up? It's a wretched pattern, and I'd love to hear from you... :( Good night, sleep tight, don't let....well, just try and get some sleep.

9 comments:

Daslav Vladilo said...

thanks you for your comment on my blog haha you have a nice blog :D cool

maruluarca said...

I just wake up every night, always at 3:00 am. And could not sleep again. But, besides a couple of times, I never see ghosts or popping heads at bed side. Hope you find a cure soon!

Thea Schultheiss said...

Oh Brandi, that sounds terrifying, I've never experienced anything quite like that but I do understand the state of sleep that you mean... it takes me a long time before I wake up properly, I am in an almost paralyzed state where my body does not work for a good half an hour after I wake up, and it's during that time that I cannot recall what was a dream and what is now reality.

When I was younger, particularly when I was ill and had a fever I had a recurring dream of being in a tiny room, no larger than 4 x 4 ft, but really tall with bright light shining down from above, and bright white walls. In the center of the room was a shiny metal bar, about half a foot wide, attached at each end to the opposite facing walls. Suddenly a figure would appear, flopped over the bar, as if lifeless - it would start to spin, curled around it, it would spin faster and faster, and soon the crisp white walls were no longer white, but they were being splashed with a dark liquid, as if sprayed from the figure, spinning at the speed of light around the central bar. The space was so small that I couldn't get far enough away to feel safe... and then I'd just wake up.

I've not had it for years, but I'll never forget it.

I hope your nights get calmer and salami man disappears like mine did.

BRANDI MILNE said...

Judas Priest, what a nightmare!! I hope we all sleep like babies for the rest of our lives, eh?

cat said...

i just read this now......i get the spiders too! and dripping honey for some reason....also the nightmares...i think it's stress related. no big help...but at least it's kind of re-assuring to know that you're not the only one!!!!!......oh and @ maru luarca....3:00am is the witching hour!!!!!

Unknown said...

I always mean to tell you this in person when i see you but always forget, i dont get the night terrors as intense as you but i do get something similar. This past summer my mom and I were in Mammouth and I had a dream someone was breaking into our hotel room. He was comeing closer and closer to my bed and i couldnt move or scream... and then i screamed and woke up. Also 80% of the time when I go and take a nap during the day I fall into this dream state where I cant move and the scary things start to come at me, monsters, or faceless ghost etc...but i cant move...so ive taught myself to just take in the fear and fall asleep eventually.

And lastly I was takeing a nap in my car right before work one day and I started to dream i was drowning. So I ended up wakeing up with my arms flailing in the air...two seconds later my friend walked past my car. He missed my car swimming show.

But I can lucid dream pretty easily, control my dreams and what I want to happen in them. And since I can, my nightmares over time have decreased in severity. Have you ever tried to control your night terrors? Start practicing on the fun nice dreams, change the scenery or what a person is going to do. Its fun and might help.

Love Bekka

david said...

"Night terror" is another name for hypnogogic hallucinations which is a very common symptom of narcolepsy. Essentially, it's what happens when you start dreaming before you're asleep... see your doctor!!

Atónn said...

I haven’t had nightmares since such a long time. Here is the deal: I have a big imagination, and I also am a very thoughtful person. So I had a fantasy where I was very powerful. Therefore, anytime that something pretty ugly seems to happen, as it’s is absurd, the same absurdness somehow convokes my absurd powers, as though they only can make sense in the same plane, the later cancelling the first. As fear is not trained –as if it were a muscle- I don’t have nightmares. In my daily life I’m not afraid. Afraid stems from not facing certain thing, giving them a potential that they don’t have.
As a child I really was scared of spiders. And they could be in a nightmares too. Being a teen, once a college friend show us a giant spider –those that are shaggy- and he lifted her from the waist, showing that in that way there was no danger, etc. I was the only one who dared to lift her up. Not because I had to overcome some frightening moment, but because I understood there was not real danger. Once you get to face certain things, you know them, therefore weakening or vanishing whatever fear you could have on them. Obviously if you are a person prone to feel disgusted or scared during the day hours I don’t think this would work, cause your perception is mostly tainted.

BRANDI MILNE said...

Yikes people!! CAt, I wish I dreamed of dripping honey, and sparkley sugar drops. ...you too, i'm sure. Spiders suck.

Bekka, I can't believe you were flailing in your car in a parkinglot and no one saw. I wish I had seen you, then...I would have all the power. mwwaaahahaha!!!

David, do I really have to go to the doctor? Am I a narcolept? (i know i spelled that wrong.)

atonn, shoot. I'm scared during the day, so I think I have no shot. The other night there were balloons (like 10) floating up just above my bed, and my husband woke up to me talking to them. When he started to say it's okay, there's nothing there, I got really mad, and started arguing with him because I didn't want him to make the balloons mad - sending them into a frenzied rage and creating problems for me. I wish it was funny, at the time, I'm super scared and into it.