Night terros with freaky grimacing and hand clapping in ds1, 5.5yrs. What could it be?

[suzywong]

OK, for the second night running ds1, 5.5yrs has woken within half an hour of going to sleep with night terrors. But accompanied by shaking, grimacing, tears and this really weird tic where he claps his hands. He has his eyes open but seems to be still in the dream.

It's freaking us out, the tic element.

Any advice? Does it ring any alarm bells with anyone?

thanks batters

it is very freaky, he's never done anything like this before. I was worried it was some neurological awfulness.

Seeing as we pay for doctors' visists anyway here, we've asked to doc to come around (I mean it's not like on the NHS where you feel guility for time wasting)

God you're right! I just searched archives and it seems to be a very common phenomanon.

Well I never.

My DD went through a phase of doing this and a friend suggested I lift her out of bed and put her on the loo!! I thought this was a bit odd but decided to do it and she had a wee (half asleep) and calmed down instantly, whereas during previous episdoes it took me ages to calm her.

that's very interesting, that it could be wee related.

Ds is on his third night of them now

Last night the doc took a look at him during a mild episode and said we should take him to the GP to get blood tests done to rule out any underlying organic infection.

Poor wee man

its not...worms?

not unless you mean the worms from Dune.

well they would account for the grimacing

seriously though have you...checked?

my dd used to have night terrors,she'd sit up in bed,talking,crying ,laughing,shouting,eyes wide open,it was so scary as it was like she had someone with her!we used to just sit with her till it was over and she laid back dow to sleep.i cant remeber name of booki read at time but it said it was very common.

he's had them once before and duly reported the itchy bum. Nothing at all this time. Also worms wait a bit longer before coming out.
TBH he's in such a state of distress I think a request to peer up his jacksy would be just not cricket, but I do appreciate the idea as it is something we could consider asking him.

To check for worms-wait til he is in a deep sleep and look with a torch without waking him up. If you are quick you will so them before they run(so to speak)Gross but effective. Or just buy the remedy over the counter as the little pill.
I know people who prophalacticly worm their kids every year.

Mine have all done starnge things in sleep from shouting to having almost normal conversations with us , going downstairs in middle of night etc etc.
Dont wake him just make sure he knows youre there by talking to him and stroking his hair.
Hope that helps abit?!

Message withdrawn

DDs night terrors used to involve sitting or kneeling upright and pointing at her pillow as if something terrifying was on it -she would be crying and babbling incoherently. Really scarey to see and it seemed to take forever to calm her down.

On a positive Suzy she could never remember it in the morning so I bet your DS won't either.

just to echo sandyballs - my dd sometimes starts shouting inthe night and lashing and crying and is unable to say what is wrong. Would not describe as night terrors but pretty upsetting. Once she did a little wee so I put her on the loo and she needed to go. Now when it happens that is the first thing I do and she wees and goes back to sleep perfectly normally.

thanks for all the replies
He's been dry at night or getting up to wee for himself when he needs it for 18 months now though

We have had an episode 4 nights on the trot now - is that normal?

right, this has been going on for 5 weeks now, virtually every night but to a lesser degree of intensity.

Tonight DH asked MIL to perform a traditional Chinese/Borneo ritual that takes away malaise and unrest from an afflicted person. It involves saying a chant over and dangling and item of clothing belonging to the afflicted in water. So she used ds1's t shirt and the bath water. Apparently it has to be performed for three nights.

Worth a try I suppose, will let you know how it goes.

My DS is more prone to this if he's mildly dehydrated.

the ritual has been stepped up to brushing out any unwanted influences out of the house with a broom.
I wonder if it will work

my family gets these, particularly if we are too hot or dehydrated. good luck with the broom, hopefully it's just his cunning way of encouraging you to do housework.

so hydration you say, we will look in to that

it's not me doing the sweeping, it's MIL.

even better, obi-wan.