AIBU to think waking up like this is not normal?

[Celestia26]

For the past few months I have been waking up in a panic every night.

I will often wake up and find myself desperately scrabbling to get out of bed in a panic. Usually screaming and sometimes will hit my husband when he tries to calm me down. The panic on waking is usually accompanied by an intense feeling of malevolence in the room, usually standing over me or next to my bed.

This is really starting to affect us, and physically I have hurt both of us on more than one occasion. I sometimes wake up with pain or bruising where I have fallen out of bed struggling to get away.

The thing is that there has been no catalyst for this, no traumatic event or anything.

My husband and I have stresses and difficulties but nothing out of the ordinary.

I went to the doctor and it was brushed off with a recommendation to meditate and try to calm myself before bed. But it's not working, and I'm starting to dread going to sleep now because of the panic of waking.

Not sure what I'm after, perhaps wondering if anyone else has dealt with something similar and what you found helped?

Sounds like night terrors. I’ve had a few when my dd was a baby.

From memory these are the things that can trigger night terrors. I ticked the box for pretty much all of them.

Moving house
Moving room within your house
Having disturbed sleep (thanks dd)
Being recently frightened by something
Having hot feet

I think there’s more but I can’t remember.

Good luck getting rid of them if that’s what it is. It’s horrid.

Sounds just like night terrors. It's a sleep-disorder thus should be investigated. I don't think anything like enough energy is put into investigating, and treating them.

I hope you can get somewhere with this as it sounds distressing and miserable x

I agree with the night terror theory.

How old are you? How are your hormone levels?

Are you feeling hot at all at the same time? I'm having similar turns - waking up with heart racing, horrendous physical feeling of malaise and panic, but no worry in the head, as it were. But in my case its always accompanied, or followed by a hot flush. Does seem to be menopausal in my case, could it be in yours?

I hope you can get somewhere with this as it sounds distressing and miserable

It really is miserable. Am I right in thinking it’s quite rare for it to start as an adult. Mine resolved themselves when I eliminated a lot of triggers - moving rooms, no socks on in bed, no scary films.

Sounds like sleep paralysis as you mentioned the feeling of a malevolent presence. It is terrifying. If you are aware when it's happening try to concentrate on moving on part of your body eg. Little finger to get you out of it. I used to get this when I was over tired.

I hope this helps you; there's a useful resource at www.nightterrors.org

Thanks for your replies.

WillThereBeAdequateFood Only lack of sleep from that list thanks to the kids! When you had yours, how long did they take to go away?

Birdsgottafly I'm 33 with 2 children. No idea about my hormone levels, they've never been tested.

Thanks for the link UpstartCrow will have a look.

I got this in pregnancy so agree it might be worth checking your hormones. I also had gestational diabetes so it might be worth checking for diabetes too

They probably took 12 months to resolve completely (well almost completely). Dd was a dreadful sleeper.

Hot feet was pretty bad with me. I often wear bed socks as my feet are normally like blocks of ice. Getting rid of bed socks helped almost immediately. No scary films helped too but they never really left me until dd started sleeping better (which took 2 bloody years).

I occasionally get them now and they are almost always stress related. But I mean seriously stressed not just usual worries.

Hope it gets better for you soon.

Could be hormonal. Could be your more stressed than you realise?

Dont sleep on your back. I get night terrors and sleep paralysis and was warned not to sleep on my back and its actually true.

Make sure your feet are not too hot and not too cold. It interfers with rem sleep.

WillThereBeAdequateFood thank you very much, that's helpful. I'm glad yours have (mostly) resolved! They're horrible, I hope they're gone soon.

I know this sounds crazy but talk to your subconscious, because thats the part of your mind thats causing the problems.
Your sub concious paralyses you when you are asleep so that you don't act out your dreams, and whats happening is that you are gaining partial consciousness before you are un-paralysed. So you panic. Your mind imagines a deadly enemy in the room to explain whats happening.
You can explain to your sub consious that there is no monster in the room, and to chill out. It really does work.

MarthaArthur I probably am more stressed than I realise!

I will try not sleeping on my back, thanks for the tip!

Thanks UpstartCrow that makes sense.

go have a chat to doctor to make sure its nothing untoward

I watched a film once where someone experienced that malevolent vibe...can't remember its title...err...no.
Can't remember.
It didn't end well though

UpstartCrow

That's fascinating!

I had this when my B12 levels were low - woke up with palpitations in a panic. Definitely worth having some blood tests if your doctor is willing. I also had sky high cortisol levels in the morning (private tests as GP wouldn’t do it) and treated that myself. Haven’t had the issue since. Do look into potetntial hormone/vitamin issues and also address any stress that might be making you anxious too.

I’ve never realised before but with all of the terrors I woke up flat on my back. I’m typically a side sleeper.

Interesting

I used to have this too. Then I watched something on tv about sleep disorders which recommended sleeping on your side; never your back. I tried it and it's never happened since.

To add to the list...anything to with nicotine levels changing can trigger night terrors...so starting or stopping smoking or having a decrease or increase in how many you smoke.

NRT is a common trigger of night terrors and I’ve read stories of vapes having the same effect on some.

I had horrendous night terrors when stopping smoking, I didn’t link that as the cause until months later though.

I agree with your dr about mediation, it’s easy to try. You might not feel that you’re stressed but it doesn’t mean you’re not. When DS was small he would have night terrors as his brain was not switching off at bedtime, even though we had a routine etc. He has def benefited to drifting off to guided meditation (I might have also fallen asleep to it too on occasion .

Possibly sleep paralysis??
I have something similar, sleeping on my side really does stop it.

You haven't sympathies x