To ask if I need help it if this is an isolated incident?

[HarleyQuinn21]

Good evening,

I was wondering if you all could help in regards to whether I need to seek help or if this could be an isolated incident:

My DH works a late shift and usually gets home after I've gone to bed, last night I woke up with him on top of me, I was very confused and shouted for him to get off and pushed him off of me but my memories very hazy. When I woke up my DH had already left for the doctors with DS and I felt really uncomfortable and confused. When he got home, I sat him down and asked why he did that? And he said he hadn't been anywhere near me that he came home and me and DS was in bed so he'd slept on the sofa as not to disturb us and he genuinely didn't know what I was talking about and honestly I believe him, we've been together seven years and he's never done anything like that.

So I must have been hallucinating, it wasn't sleep paralysis as I felt fully awake and could move, it felt so real but thinking back I can't remember him hitting the bed when I pushed him etc so an hallucination makes sense, I have been under a lot of stress recently I had a baby earlier this year via, one of parents passed away after being unwell for three months and me looking after them, I'm in my second year of university and stressed about the work load, I've applied for a job I really want and because of all this I haven't been sleeping very well - would you seek help due to this or would you put it down to stress and just try to unwind etc I don't know if I have PTSD from the family members death as we were close and I was there, I cannot go to the doctors or hospital due to panic attacks etc etc obviously the expirence was very scary as I genuinely thought it had happened but I don't know whether I should wait and see if it happens again before seeking help and if I need help who do I need to speak to, would it just be my GP? Sorry for the rant, I'm just a bit shaken and questioning whether I'm losing my mind.

When you woke up was your DS still in bed with you?

@CoRhona

When you woke up was your DS still in bed with you?

No, he sleeps in a next to me cot but my husband had already took him for a doctor's appointment.

Nightmare? Night terror?

@Hankunamatata

Nightmare? Night terror?

Quite possibly, I've never had one before a night terror I mean, Ive had sleep paralysis but I've always known what that was and this felt different, can night terrors feel like hallucinations?

I know all this must seem stupid, it's just really shaken me, I guess with everything going on my beds felt like my "safe place" and feeling unsafe in bed was awful, but It was probably just a night terror and I'm over reacting.

Sounds a bit like sleep paralysis? It can be quite scary and you sometimes "feel" someone there with you, touching you, sitting on you etc. Definitely could be caused by stress.

Sorry missed your last post!

Sleep paralysis feels VERY real. I have "physically" walked across the room and then a split second later I'm awake in bed.

They are called hypnagogic hallucinations.

I get them a lot - last night I woke up DH trying to pick ‘worms’ out of his hair. He sleepily batted me away and told me I was having another hypnagogic hallucination, but I refused to believe him and kept on fiddling with his hair until he hid his head under the duvet, at which point I sighed irritably and went back to sleep, leaving the poor bastard awake 😅

I can remember it in the morning. It feels incredibly real at the time.

Does it make sense he would choose to sleep on the sofa? Has he done that before?

Night terrors and sleep paralysis can be absolutely terrifying. Given how upset you were by this, if it had been real I think there is a good chance you wouldn't have been able to go back to sleep and would have been very suddenly widely awake. They do definitely manifest at times of stress too.

Could it have been when he was getting DS you half asleep caught a glimpse of him hovering and went back to sleep and your brain continued it as a nightmare?

Sounds scary but I don't think you need to see anyone, maybe take it as a sign that you need to relax before bed a bit and need more sleep.

Are you taking any medication like amitriptyline? I had the most vivid hallucinations when I was on it and had to stop taking it.

Oh gosh I have nightmares like this and it’s truly frightening. Can you remember physically touching him and pushing him away? To me that wouldn’t be just a dream? If it is then it sounds like you need to relax in whatever way you can and sleep a lot more. I have horrible dreams when I’m stressed or my anxiety is playing up.

My mother suffers from sleep paralysis and she's always said that the things that happen to her feel so real. It could truly have been a sleep paralysis episode and stress can cause them.

Would he usually sleep on the sofa?
Would he usually take baby out in the morning without you waking? Particularly after he has worked a late shift?
If he’s never slept on the sofa before then I would be doubting him.
Otherwise some sort of nightmare? Very odd.

I get this sort of thing. I once imagined something almost exactly the same with my DH and thinking he was on top of me. When I woke up in the morning I remembered he was in the US on a business trip! For me its stress triggered.

Put a CCTV camera up in your bedroom, it will catch any repeat incidents like this (if they actually occur). I had one during my sleepwalking phase just so I could keep an eye on what I was doing (I didn't actually believe I was doing it until I saw the evidence).