To ask what this thing is that happens to me every night?

[strandedabroad]

Every night I go to sleep and I wake up suddenly 20-30 minutes after. I am usually very drowsy and convinced that something terrible has happened. I never quite know what but I’m filled with terror for a few seconds - things feel different around me, I can sense tragedy and doom.

Then I seem to snap out of it and go back to sleep. I usually sleep ok at that point - although I’m a very light sleeper, I usually need the toilet at least once and I hear every single noise the children make.

Has anyone else experienced this? It’s not really a recurring dream, I don’t think. It doesn’t seem to matter if I read/watch a series/go to bed early or late. I’ve got a busy life but I’m not hugely stressed. A job, a few kids, a house renovation. There isn’t anything that bothers me a lot in the daytime. So why this? I don’t drink other than the occasional one, don’t smoke, I’m relatively fit and healthy. This has been happening on and off for years but it’s every single night since I’ve had kids.

English isn’t my first language, apologies if any bits aren’t clear.

Sleep anxiety/night panic attacks or terrors. I get them and sometimes feel like I stop breathing when it happens.

Sounds like sleep paralysis. Where you're stuck between awake and asleep, and often have hallucinations or a sense of dread. Google it - it's very common. Are you very tired? Or sleep on your front? Those are both triggers for me.

I’d get your heart checked. I am not an expert so don’t worry. I have no idea but that’s what I’d do.

Following- no panic sensation but feel totally out of it and like I’m watching myself from far away

Oh gosh sounds like sleep paralysis, I used to get it terribly, at the really extreme end as well where I thought there were goblins in the room coming to get me. Had it for years, moved in with my boyfriend (now DH) and it stopped, don't ever really know what the trigger was.

Night terror. I used to get it a lot, still do but much more occasionally. Big triggers for me were drinking caffeine in the evening and light changes, such as car headlights passing in the street and shining into the room, so blackout curtains or a back bedroom help.

Agree it sounds like a night terror/sleep paralysis. They can be very scary!

Also, your English is perfect.

Weirdly, I only get this when I have a specific decaf coffee brand! Cafetière style decaf coffee. Sense of doom and terror, fleetingly as I'm drifting in and out of sleep and then nothing. Weird!

This happens to me! It’s always about 30 minutes after I initially drift off, and I bolt up in bed and think something awful has happened. It takes me a few moments to come back to reality, but for those moments there’s a sense of dread.

I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. It’s not sleep paralysis as - the clue being in the name - you’re not paralysed when it happens (I experience both and with sleep paralysis you wake up but can’t move your body).

I think it’s just a manifestation of anxiety. Since I’ve become pregnant my sense of doom in those moments is related to having a vague sense that something awful has happened with my pregnancy but I’m not sure what. I then drift easily off to sleep once I realise everything is ok.

Something similar happened to me a few times, never got a concrete answer but my vitamin D levels were on the floor and it stopped when I took prescription high strength vitamin D, so I blame that.

Welcome to the menopause.

Alcohol, caffeine, illness, tiredness, hormones (and definitely menopause) all affect me. Especially tiredness, I've had it since a teen in varying forms, I wake and don't know where I am, or feel this paralysing sense of dread, or sometimes wake but can't move any part of my body. I've learnt to focus on my breathing whilst thinking it will pass, telling myself it isn't real. Bloody horrible.

Night terrors - a total pain. I find that when I’m stressed I get them most, even if I think I am coping fine.

My first thought was also menopause. I don't know how old you are but I was unlucky and started going through it when I was around 28 - 29😔I didn't realise it at the time, but one of the first symptoms was night terrors, like you I thought it must be caused by subconscious stress manifesting itself when I was asleep, but menopause is well known for disturbing sleep cycles.

How did I not think of the menopause! I'm 40. No other obvious signs but it's got to start somewhere I guess.

Thanks for all the stories, some of your experiences are word by word what happens to me.

Do you snore? Do you suffer from tiredness in the morning because you feel you've not had a good night's sleep? Has anyone suggested sleep apnoea? A partner you sleep with would probably notice something - like when you sometimes stop breathing for quite a long period of time.

Could be the beginnings of sleep paralysis. I've had it all my life and it comes with a sense of dread.

I get this too about 30 minutes after I've drifted off. I wake up and just feel panicky and think about death. And then I fall back to sleep. I think it's just plain old anxiety.

@strandedabroad You say English is not your first language. I wonder if you are living in UK and are from a sunnier, more outdoor lifestyle country?

Could it be a Vit D deficiency?

And agree - your English is perfect!

I heard a really interesting interview on the radio a few years back and apparently it's thought that it is night terrors that are the cause of belief in alien abductions. It totally resonated with me - feeling of terror, feeling of a "presence", sometimes a sensation of lights.

Is it similar to when you’re drifting off to sleep and wake up with a jerk because you think you’re falling?
(I’m assuming other people get that too?!)

Can you move when this is happening? What is your sleeping position - back/side/front?

Like others have suggested, sounds like it could be sleep paralysis. I had chronic SP from age 12 through to around 25, until I discovered my trigger (sleeping on my back). So long as I don't sleep on my back, I can almost guarantee it won't happen.

Is it similar to when you’re drifting off to sleep and wake up with a jerk because you think you’re falling?
(I’m assuming other people get that too?!)

I get that - it's a strange feeling.

@ExistentialApathy yep that's correct! Could well be!

I get this too (exactly as @StolenCookie describes). I have had it for years and it tends to pop up during periods of stress. Strangely i very rarely get it in bed, only when I am lightly asleep on the sofa.

Another fun stress related thing I get is kind of waking dreams when I see scary things in the room (usually snakes or spiders) and for a few seconds I’m half awake and 100% convinced they are there and trying to convince my husband too. That’s quite rare too thankfully or none of us would get any sleep!

Sometimes stress is subconscious and your body knows about it before ‘you’ do. X