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Original poster

so-night terrors-still going on

26 replies

filchthemildmanneredjanitor · 22/07/2007 23:43

ds1 has been having night terror things for about 12 months now.

they come and go-but are frequent usually.

he goes through phases where he's ok and i think it's over and then they start off again.

tonight he's been up twice. he crys, he talks gibberish, he paces around, he wanders from room to room-he sobs for me-even when i'm there.

the next day he remembers nothing.
went to the gp months ago and she was going to look into getting some info on latest 'treatments' and then ring me. she never did. when i phoned to chase it she apologised and said she would chase it up.
we have never heard anything .

i am finding it quite distressing really.it's been going on so long-it can't be good for him?

what next?

OP posts:
Original poster
filchthemildmanneredjanitor · 22/07/2007 23:47

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Original poster
filchthemildmanneredjanitor · 22/07/2007 23:55

ok-final bump. will check back in the morning. really worried about him.

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suzywong · 23/07/2007 01:28

mine too, filthy.
he's just turned 6, been at it since November.
We are very blase about it now, just hoik him out of his top bunk and chuck him in our bed til he calms down and then move him back when go to bed.

Oh, and we always take him for a wee and have got it down to a fine art, helping him aim and take a slash while the terror is still in full swing.

It is harrowing, but sadly one gets used to it. You could go back to gp and demand urine tests and rudimentary blood tests just to eliminate anything ......else....from your list of worries.

Good luck

vino · 23/07/2007 07:18

my dd1 had this, homeopathy really helped.

Original poster
filchthemildmanneredjanitor · 23/07/2007 08:27

what kind of homeopathy?

that sounds prety much like us us suzy-but last night as i was sitting with him for the 2nd time that night while he sobbed and shouted 'i want to go home now', it all just got to me and i thought'he shouldn't have to go through this night after night'

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Original poster
filchthemildmanneredjanitor · 23/07/2007 08:58

quick bump-am very interested in the homeopathy idea.

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totaleclipse · 23/07/2007 09:01

Dont know if it helps, but my sister used to have night terrors, then we discovered it was medicine setting them off (benelyn I think) the night terrors totally stopped.

Original poster
filchthemildmanneredjanitor · 23/07/2007 09:01

he doesn't have any regular medicine. they 've been going on for ages...

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Original poster
filchthemildmanneredjanitor · 23/07/2007 09:21

.

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BettySpaghetti · 23/07/2007 09:34

I read a tip on here (never had chance to try it out though as DD had "grown out of them" by then) -you should apparently wake the child up an hour after they go to bed to break/interupt the sleep cycle.

As its been going on so long for your DS you might have already tried it though.

suzywong · 23/07/2007 09:36

I've tried monitoring and changing his evening meal's components but to no effect.
I really really think it is something to do with the juvenile brain processing things and hopefully it will sort itself out. I mean I can't think of any external factor.

Scary though, isn't it when they go barking on you in the night

Original poster
filchthemildmanneredjanitor · 23/07/2007 09:39

it's really upsetting suzy!

last night he was crying his eyes out, this look of abject misery onhis face, sobbing ' i want to go home now mummy, i want my mummy, i want to do something different!'

what is he dreaming about?
he wanders around like mad, gets all agitated....

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TaLcYo · 23/07/2007 09:47

same here, dd1 had them since ab baby.
It wasn't till she was about 3 that i realised she was having night terrors.
[Could be coincidental, but she always went for a wee/and or had bad wind...[we used to pop her on loo before putting her back to bed]

It used to be every night...sometimes up to 3 times a night.

Used to make me cry!!.....she never remembered it though, which is a blessing i spose.
She will be 9 in november...they havr become less frequent...but still intense.
Like suzywong, we have become very laidback about it.

It does put prove difficult for others to deal with though....grandparents etc..

Sorry, i raambling

Spink · 23/07/2007 09:53

Filchy - they are horrible things to witness, maybe especially because it is so difficult (impossible?!) to console and comfort the person having them. BUT. They are not the same as nightmares, in that the person having them does not tend to remember them (unless they are woken from them, and then usually it is the distress of the person waking them that often upsets them more than the terror). This means that it may be that they are actually more distressing for you than for him.
Usually children do grow out of them, and there are no treatments as such. You can try breakng the cycle of terrors by first of all working out when they tend to happen, and waking ds before one is 'due', and then putting him back to sleep. Terrors tend to happen in the first few hours of sleep... if that's true for your ds, and if you can find a pattern to when they happen, that might work for you? Another theory is that they are more likely to happen if your ds is overtired when he gets to bed? But it might be that all you can really do is help your ds get back into bed, talk in a calm voice (not waking him) and wait it out til he gets back to a calm sleep. There is nothing to say that terrors do cause any harm/ are a sign of something being wrong, so although they look horrid, they are not necessarily a problem for him.
I hope this helps..

Spink · 23/07/2007 10:43

I meant to say as far as I know, there are no treatments (sorry, didn't meant to sound so know -it-all-y)

TaLcYo · 23/07/2007 12:23

lol, spink.....i thought your post sounded really concise and professional.
You said all the things i wanted to say...without rambling...twas very eloquent

suzywong · 23/07/2007 13:57

the thing that is so upsetting is that they have this aspect of expression already in their young minds. I mean it's dramatic on Shakespearean proportions and it hurts to think that they are imagining such distress and anguish to make them behave the way they do. One would hope one's child never expresses themselves on such a desparate level, but there they are large as life doing it weekly.

When ds1 had his first episode, dh got a right bee in his bonnet and started worrying that ds1 had been sexually abused annd this was the manifestation. WTF. It really is dreadful to witness though, on a what-is-going-on-in-their-dear-little-heads kind of way.

Spink · 23/07/2007 14:02

I know, and you can't help wondering what they have experienced in order to look so terrified in the terrors.
But weirdly, there is evidence to show that terrors happen during deep sleep, which means that the person having them isn't actually dreaming about ANYTHING, it is just the brain doing strange and random firings...
I guess it is important to tell the diff between terrors and nightmares, cos nightmares can reflect real fears and problems

katelyle · 23/07/2007 14:12

My dd had night terrors - it was really scary. She used to push me away and scream "No - go away - I want my other mummy!!!!!!"
I don't think there's anything you can do - it used to help a bit if we could get her out of her room and into the living room.

It lasted about a year, I think, then stopped and never came back - although she still has very vivid dreams and ocasional nightmares.

It does go away - and it doesn't seem to do them any harm - it's just awful. I do feel for you.

BettySpaghetti · 23/07/2007 14:48

Does anyone know - if one child in the family has night terrors, are their siblings more likely to get them too?

DD used to get them regularly until she was about 5-6. Recently DS (just 3) has had 1 or 2 incidents that I think might be night terrors. During one he was walking up and down on his bed hysterical about something and in true night terror fashion I couldn't rouse or comfort him. Just wondered if hes more likely to get them as his sister did?

Mumpbump · 23/07/2007 14:57

I don't think there is much you can do for them. I think most children just grow out of them, although I seem to get them in early pg which is bizarre...

Spink · 23/07/2007 15:34

there is some evidence that they are hereditary. Boys are much more likely to have them than girls tho...
My brother used to have them when he was a boy, and dh still does (once put his hand through a window in the middle of one - luckily the curtains were closed so he didn't injure himself, just scared me to death). So I am hoping ds lucks out, but I know he has a higher than usual chance of getting them..

BettySpaghetti · 23/07/2007 15:38

I'd better brace myself then......

vino · 25/07/2007 15:39

Took dd to see a homeopath who gave her a remedy specifically for her. Can't remember the name but it worked. HTH

Tatat · 25/07/2007 19:05

DS has these, I agree with you lot is awful to witness. And makes me feel a complete failure as nothing in my Mum toolbox works.

It always co-incides with him needing a wee/pooh, like someone else has said. We rouse him enough to use the potty before we go to bed now, and if he does a wee/pooh then it normally follows that he doesn't have the screaming abdabs in the middle of the night. (although last night he just said "noooo mummy I don't want a wee" and so woke up at 2 and 4 Yawn