Night terrors or something else?

[longleggedfly]

I am now 22 and for the last 8 years I have been getting what I have called "night terrors". I know that that is not the exact term, but nobody I spoke to could relate or shed any light on what it could be. I asked a doctor once during a consultation for other things but he said it was just stress related and was more interested in the problem at hand.

When they first began, I would wake up after being asleep for sometime completely paralysed. Often there would be a roaring up and down my body, or I would feel as though I was being elecrocuted, coupled with things like frightening hallucinations and noises. As soon as the paralysis passed I would run to the wall and slam on the light, heart racing and sweating profusely. As time has gone by I've become more accustomed to it and I don't think I can be harmed by it.

Reading through these posts has helped put some names to some 'symptoms', for example most frequently these days I get hypnagogic hallucinations as I am falling asleep. They are accompanied by sleep paralysis which is difficult to break out of and I often feel panicked as I cannot breathe.

I am always, without fail tired when I wake up in the morning regardless of how much sleep I get. I have just come to accept that this is the way that I am. It has been awesome reading that other people also experience these things. I saw the mention of sleep apnea and narcolepsy? It had never occured to me that my sleep patterns could possibly be triggered by something like that. My question (sorry it has been so long winded) is that basically I want to know if a person could have narcolepsy without falling asleep randomely during the day? Apart from feeling fatigued on waking up, I don't really suffer sleepiness much during the day, so I don't think it could be that. Has anybody been diagnosed with apnea and have similar experiences? Differences? Anything would be good :)

[Tammy2525]

by Tammy2525


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Tammy2525
Female
Member since Mar 2009  



, Mar 05, 2009 08:39AM
To: All
This is my first post. I've read alot of the posts and Iam having some of the symptoms. Mine started about 7 months ago. At first I was having trouble going to sleep. Everytime I would start to doze off, I would immediately wake right back up and have a racing heart and a sensation that felt like a mild electric shock start at my head and travel the length of my body. I then started having nights that I would wake up and see things that were not really there. Sometimes it would be like distorted people and other times the room would just look different or weird things would be happening in the room. Everyone reading this probably thinks Iam crazy by now. Oh well I have to tell the whole story. I thought maybe I was suffering with sleep apnea and I had a sleep study done but the study said no sleep apnea. The only thing that stood out on the sleep study was the fact that I never did go into the REM phase of sleep. After the sleep study I did seem to get better. I don't have these things occuring as often. I also developed another problem about a month later. Iam now having pressure in my head. I have had an MRI of the brain and cervical spine. The brain scan showed a little bit of sinus congestion and it also showed a small white subcortial mass on the left frontal lobe of  my brain. Whatever that means. My family doctor didn't seem to concerned about it so he didn't explain it to me.
He started treating me for sinusitus. Nasaqort AQ nose spray, Flonaze, Antibiotics. The pressure did seem to get a little better but a few days after finishing the antibiotic the pressure was back in full force again. My family dr. sent me to an Ear, Nose, and Throat Dr. He put me on another antibiotic and told me to use Afrin OTC nose spray but wanted me to have a cat scan done of my sinuses because he was not convinced that my problems were sinus related. Iam not either I told him because Iam not having any other symptoms of allergy or sinus except for the pressure in my head. The cat scan results showed a slight mucusal thickening in the right maxillary sinus but nothing else of significance. My ENT dr. after reviewing the cat scan results doesn't think it is sinuses now. He is now leaning toward allergies and wants me to have allergy testing done. I do not have the money to have allergy testing done I told him. My insurance is awful with a huge deductible so I can't afford any more Drs. I am not having any other symptoms of allergy or sinus problems except pressure. Can anyone out there help me? Can you have allergies that only cause pressure and nothing else?  I still wake up occasionally with that weird electric sensation and seeing things that aren't there but not as often now. In the last few days I have started feeling very nauseated, sick to my stomach. Don't know if this is a new symptom or just a passing thing. Oh I forgot to mention that I have suffered with headaches for about 20 yrs. Sometimes they would last for days but Iam not sure if they were migraines or not. I just know they hurt. Since I have started having this pressure in my head the headaches have been very few. Weird, huh? The pressure isn't really painful, It is very annoying. Iam just tired of living with this weird pressure feeling in my head everday. IT GETS ON MY NERVES!!! By the way Iam a 43 yr. old female. I am hoping someone out there can help. Thank you!  I pasted this from an allergy forum. I don't think anyone there was experiencing the problems Iam having so I decided to post here.

[Jary08]

Sometimes when i doze off i get it actually....last time i only closed my eyes and my body shut down almost immediately and i heard laughing as tho it was right next to me....evil thing it is.

I cant remember what is classed as a lot but i did read somewhere that if its so many times a month or something like that then they can get you medication...ill try find that site but its been a while since i saw it.

And no sleep studys done...i dont think mines severe enough for it...cause i dont have any idea when ill get it next...it turns up when it wants...well...it can turn up somewhere far away from me next time lol...i dont particularly want it back.

[longleggedfly]

Hey thanks for posting back! Yes, the paralysis ***** and is pretty damn scary haha. Happened again this morning as I was dozing on the couch. Sometimes it even felt as though my tongue was blocking my airway but I really don't know. Mostly I get it when I am tired or stressed out, like you said. It doesn't happen often enough anymore to make it worth getting medication for, maybe once every few days? I used to get multiple night terrors every night but for some reason I haven't had them like that for a year now. Have you ever had a sleep study or anything done??

[Jary08]

I dont think i can really help but i just want to say im sorry for what your going through.

I suffer from sleep paralysis and it is terrifying...at first i would just have a nightmare and wake up to find myself paralysed but now i can hear things as i wake from a nightmare as if they are in the same room with me and ive started to hallucinate now.

I still dont really know what causes sleep paralysis (well i know stress etc can trigger it) but it sounds to me like you have a severe case of sleep paralysis...how often do you get this? cause i know for severe cases they can give you medication.

However, thats my unprofessional opinion so it could be something completely different.


I hope you get it sorted cause even tho my SP is mild, its still no less frightening.