dh had a "funny turn"

[kando]

This is probably going to be a bit long and rambly, but I think it will do me good to get it off my chest ... please bear with me!

Last week I had to call an ambulance out for my dh - he came to bed and went to sleep as normal (I was already in bed) but about 20 minutes later he started wailing in his sleep (which he does very occasionally - I suppose he's dreaming). I put my hand out to rub his back which I normally do, as he stops the wailing/mumbling! This time, however, he started breathing really strangely. His teeth were clenched shut, his eyes were closed and he was breathing out in short bursts, and not taking any breaths in (I suppose a bit like panting in labour but more forcefully). Anyway, this has never happened before and went on for about, maybe, 5 minutes. His lips were going purple, then I saw blood (found out later it was because he bit his tongue) and when I saw this I immediately called an ambulance (I was going to do this anyway but was trying to wake him up, which I couldn't). As I was talking to the emergency services, he turned slightly on to his back (he was lying on his side) and this seemed to relax the breathing. He started coming round, but couldn't speak properly (I think his teeth were still clenched) and looked really confused. I put my hand out to touch him and he immediately flinched and started waving his arms around. Then I asked him if he knew where he was and who I was and he said no. By this time the paramedic turned up and was asking me questions. DH sat up a little bit and seemed to be coming round but was still a bit confused. To cut a long story short he was taken to hospital (he was fine by then, got dressed and walked out to ambulance) where they did a really thorough check up. They couldn't figure out what had caused this "episode" but whilst having his heart listened to, they've discovered he's got a heart murmur. The consultants/doctors say there's no connection between what happened and the murmur. He's had a heart scan and head scan and has been given tablets to take, and is seeing the GP this week.

As you can imagine, this scared the life out of me. I'm really worried now that it's going to happen again. He's gone back to work today as he is totally back to normal. The hospital seem to have "moved away" from investigating what caused the breathing episode now that they have discovered the heart murmur. I'm really hoping the GP will be able to come up with a reason as to why dh had this strange experience. He does spend a fair amount of time on the pc playing games - I am wondering if this could be anything to do with it? Perhaps a dream which got out of control. Do you think it worth asking the doctor about this?

I'm trying to put it all behind us (or behind me - dh doesn't remember a thing about it) - in a way I'm glad that they found the murmur because it will be monitored from now on, but I still want to know what happened!

Oh, it sounds like an epileptic incident to me. My dh was epileptic in his teens, but grew out of it. Lots of epileptics have nightime fits, but never in the day. What tablets has your dh been given?

Also, huge numbers of adults have heart murmers, which the medics often ignore as the murmer is so slight, so I wouldn't worry unduly about that.

I'd keep an eye on him at night for a while tho, and probably talk to the GP asap about the fit he had.

No, the medics at the hospital said it wasn't epileptic, he didn't actually have a "fit" as such, it was only his breathing which was abnormal. The brain scan didn't show up anything so they ruled it out I think. He's on tablets to "support his heart", given to people with high blood pressure or heart failure according to the leaflet in the packet.

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Sorry you've had such a shock, Kando.

My DH has a murmur too, found in a similar way. He had chest pains and we called an ambulance, he spent 3 days in hospital to rule out MI. The upshot was, he was told he had the heart of a 20 yr old (he was 40 at the time) and the pain was probably muscular, or stress.

Don't hold your breath for them monitoring the murmur, Kando. He's never heard any more about it again. If you do want it monitored, you'll probably have to mither your GP.

Kando

I'm glad, the docs know much more about hearts than brains, so the heart thing is probably more treatable.

Do keep on to your GP for further investigations tho'. The health service now works best for those who shout loudest, if you go quiet, then the hospitals tend to leave you to it.

Kando I agree you should go to your GP.

It is possible to have fits, almost like febrile fits in a child, as an adult. My SIL had one in the back of my car on a very hot day when she had a hangover and hadn't drunk much water. It was very frightening. She wasn't allowed to drive for a year in case it was epilepsy but it has never happened again (that was 10 years ago) and it obviously isn't.

She did used to fit as a child, do you know if your dh did?

Kando..hugs, that must have been realy scary for you.

It does sound like a fit of some sort, especially the teeth clenching and the confusion afterwards. I agree with Easy about keeping on at them regarding further investigations, after all if the heart murmur is innocent then there's no reason for him to be taking tablets so its best to get to the bottom of it. Are his tablets ACE inhibitors? usually called something like enalapril or captopril? my dd takes these.

Thinking of you

Ask if it was possible that he had what is called a 'night terror'. My brother had one of these and it is the scariest thing. I called an ambulance for him as he was flailing about and wailing and breathing strangely. He remembered nothing about it either. If he does play scary PC games there might be a connection perhaps?

Agree about going to the doc. Anyone can have a seizure (and then never have another one) it's the teeth clenching that makes me think of seizures. IIRC it would be very rare for them to be able to pick up anything odd following the seizure- they often can only detect it during the seizure itself.

A trip to the GP would be order anyway to see if he needs to continue with the medication.

I wonder if it was a night terror thing, too. I sometimes have what I think are called waking dreams. The dream is really vivid but I know I'm awake and cannot move except in jerks and spasms. I make little yelping noises and feel like I'm being suffocated. Sometimes I remember them (obviously or I wouldn't be writing this!) but sometimes dh has to wake me or make me move to come out of it.

I do think your dh needs to be investigated further, though.

Luckymum, he's on "perindopril" and has to take a 2mg tablet every morning.

CD, this kind of thing has never happened to him before.

The hospital want to see him again in 6 months time to check it hasn't changed, then he will have a yearly heart check up for the rest of his life. They might be taking it more "seriously" (for want of a better word) because his dad died of a heart-related problem.

Collision - did your brother ever suffer another night terror?

He's got an appointment to see the GP on Friday and I have written a list of questions for him to ask. I'm hoping to go with him but we'll have to see how dds1 and 2 are behaving that day!

Must go and get girls' tea ready. Thanks for all your replies.

Hi Kando, it must have been so scary for you to witness this. It crossed my mind whether it might be a night terror, or waking nightmare too. I sometimes get them quite severely, and I should imagine if anyone were to describe how it looks, it would be really similar to your description of what happened with your husband. Strangely enough, it happens most with me if I'm sleeping alone, rather than with my DH. Over time, they have got much better, and in fact, I rarely get them at all now. When I have one, my breathing is erratic, and sometimes I can't breathe at all. I feel paralysed, and I try to shout or scream, but only manage to get out a wimper, or a gasping sort of whisper. Sometimes they are accompanied by really vivid images or apparitions I suppose you might call them - whatever I'm seeing or imagining is usually taking place in the room I'm actually in at the time. It is scary, but often with relaxation techniques, once I'm aware of what is happening, I can bring myself out of it, though it takes time to come 'round to being fully aware! (Not unusual for me waking up though!) I hope you don't mind me rambling on! It might help if it is what your husband went through though?
My mother has a heart murmer, and it's never caused her problems, the only time it ever comes up is if she needs an op, as far as I'm aware, and then they monitor her a bit more carefully.
Hope you are both ok now. x

I'm not going to be much help at all, but I had an epilectic fit in the day and suffered head injuries as a result.
No one knows why it happened and it hasn't happened since. IMO it was stress and heat related. I am wondering whether the games before bed might be making a bigger impression on his subconcious than he might realise.

It sounds like what happened to dh is pretty much what you experienced Levanna - it started off with quite a loud "wail" which he does very occasionally when he's sleeping/dreaming, and then went into the breathing thing. It just really scared the life out of me because he's never done anything like that before!

I agree with you, Bekki, but whenever I mention this to him he looks at me like I'm a nutter! He has taken some of my advice on board and has stopped playing the game about an hour before coming to bed, so his mind has had a chance to "wind down".

I watched a program on sleep a while ago.
This guy had awful problems with night terrors. He would get up (still asleep) and see all of the monsters from his games. He would attack his gf.
He refused to acknowledge that he had any problem though, men!
I hope you find some answers soon.

i suffer vivid dreams, i woke up with a start the other night convinced we were being burgled. i was screaming in this dream but all i could managed was a small wail in reality. scares me, also worries my dh as i sometimes hit him during these times.

with regard to the meds, sounds similar to what dh takes but he does have heart failure. a murmur on its own is usually nothing to worry about (dd2 has murmur), but can be linked to other problems which is why given the family history they will be keeping an eye on your dh. but it doesnt sound to me like its anything too serious. the meds is a an ACE inhinitor which makes blood flow easier, which is why its used to murmurs as well as illnesses like DCM.
keep on at your gp to make sure his checkups are upto date, if they dont send u an appointment for 6months time phone and ask for one, we have to do this as DH cardiologist has too many patiernts atm and his appointments do end up being 6-8months apart inseatd of every 4months.

Dont think he had anymore night terrors. It turned out he had watched something about planes crashing and was due to fly on holiday somewhere and it freaked him out. I really hope it was a one off for your dh too.

MI'm really worried about DH again. Last night, although he didn't have another "funny turn" (the first one still a mystery to all) he quite possibly could have done if I hadn't woken him up. He'd only been asleep for about 20 minutes when he started repeatedly swallowing really loudly (like he was trying to stop himself being sick or something). He was also wailing slightly (like he was dreaming/talking in his sleep I suppose). I asked him if he was OK but he didn't answer me so I got up and switched the light on. I was still asking if he was OK but he didn't wake up. He was lying on his side, with his back to me, but he turned and lay on his back and woke up (which is more or less what happened after the breathing attack). When I asked him if he was OK, he just looked at me like he was really confused. I was asking him a few questions - that evening he'd just returned from an overseas work trip, and he couldn't remember where he'd been; I also asked him if he remembered being in hospital the last time - he said no.

After a couple of minutes he came back to his normal self and answered all the questions I asked him and went into detail about where he'd been, what he'd been doing etc so I knew he was OK. But I'm convinced something weird is going on. DH says he couldn't remember things because he'd been asleep and was woken up, but he was only asleep for about 20 minutes - can you really be in such a deep sleep so quickly, and can it be such a deep sleep that it makes you forget things and makes you confused?

This has really freaked me out - I spent most of the night shaking with fright, and not being able to sleep as I was listening to his breathing - any slight sound made me jumpy. I'm shaking just thinking about his now. I'm dreading going to bed tonight as I know I'll spend all night listening to his every breath. I told him I wanted him to go to the doctors and talk about this but he insists it only happened because he was alseep. I'm not convinced.

Sorry to be waffling on about this, it probably doesn't make much sense to anyone! But if anyone has any advice to offer I'd be really grateful to hear it.

TIA

My son can be like this- so it may be becuase he's just waking up. However I also worry that my son has epilepsy so I'm not sure. Twice now he's gone into tremors when half awake, and then been very confused. We think its because he is a deep sleeper, but he had a funny turn when awake once (although that may have been water up his nose).

Sorry not being much use am I. My son is sharing my bed at the moment and he swallows repeatedly in his sleep as well. That hasn't worried me though.

I think it would be good if your dh went back to the doctor just to put your mind at rest. FWIW I think you can fall into a deep sleep very quickly - especially if you're tired.

I could be way off but have they considered sleep apnoea? I don't know that much about it (my dad had it though) and it means you stop breathing for a while in your sleep but NOT usually enough to die or anything, it's as if your body almost forgets to breathe. It's treatable so I don't want to worry you but my dad was only diagnosed once he'd been to a sleep clinic and they'd watched him overnight. He didn't have a partner so I can't tell you what it looked like to an outsider but I know they established at the clinic that he wasn't getting proper sleep since it was being disturbed by this wakefulness (which he wasn't aware of at all). It usually occurs in people who are overweight (which he wasn't) and/or smokers (which he was). I know this could be way off but just a thought. It sounds terrifying Kando, how awful. I agree, you need to keep pushing to get to the bottom of it.

kando - this might be helpful
sleep fits
definitely recommends seeing the GP

I thought I'd let you know that after another "funny turn" where I had to call an ambulance - DH has now been diagnosed with epilepsy. So I apologise to everyone who suggested it was and I adamantly said no it wasn't! In a way I'm glad it's been diagnosed (although he's still waiting for an appointment with a neurologist) so at least I know it's not going to have serious repercussions - both times he's had the seizures I thought he was having a stroke (his father died after having one). He's on medication now (sodium valproate), and he's not allowed to drive. I'm still a bit shocked by all this, I haven't quite got my head around around it. I know it could be so much worse but it feels a pretty huge "deal" to me at the moment. I'd be grateful to hear from anyone who's gone through a similar experience as me.

Kando - glad you've got some answers although obviously the dx has thrown up loads more questions. I don't have any experience of epilepsy but hope you and your dh can get some support. All the best.

My friend is an epileptic and she only had fits in her sleep apart from one which occurred when she was driving. They generally occurred when she was "burning the candle at both ends" student nurse doing shifts and being a party animal. Also when travelling very hot/tired and after having her children. Has been fit free for several years now though.