Does your child get delirious? Come and talk to me..

[jennifersofia]

Our 7 yr old dd gets delirious when she overheats at night, either through temperature or just getting too hot. It is pretty scary because she is clearly not herself, and I would even describe her as not in her right mind - not responding to us, looking right through us, talking nonsensically, eyes wide and screaming intermittantly. (sorry for bad spelling). This goes on for 5-10 minutes, and has happened maybe 10 times in her life.
We get her out of it eventually by sponging her down and waking her up completely. She never remembers it in the morning. She is relatively highly strung as a personality, and is quite sensitive, sometimes I worry a little about her future mental health.
Has anyone else experienced this? How do you approach it? Am I worrying needlessly? Have you ever spoken to a GP about it?
TIA

Think it's a 'night terror'. My DS had one the last time he had a temp (he's only 2.8).

ds3 does it. He's also highly strung!

ds gets deerious with fever... last time he thought the wonder pets were in the room with him and that we were on the way to the park

dd gets night terrors which are a whole differant kettle of fish, much scarier and more like what you describe. the best thing is to interfere as little as possible, hold her and speak soothingly but not try and wake her, allow her to come out of it naturally.

Interesting Pink Tulips - why not try and wake her? She doesn't seem to come out of it on her own - has gone on for 20 min or so.
Specifically how is it different to being delirious?

delerium is usually fever related and happens while they're awake as much or more than while they're sleeping. the child isn't necessarily scared, although they can be, it's more like hallucination. like i said... with ds he sees cartoon caracters and thinks we're doing things we aren't or are in a place we're not (ie, he thinks we're in the park with the wonder pets )

night terrors are when the child is in a extremely scary nightmare and can't wake up by themselves and becomes extremely scared and hysterical. it's best not to wake them as for some people this can lead to the nightmare being constantly recurring and the child doesn't learn to self wake or move on from the scary bit themselves... their subconcious relies on being 'saved' from it by the parent.

by speaking calmly and soothing them while asleep you're teaching them to control the nightmare themselves and how to escape it without being woken... as well as lessening the risk of it being a recurring nightmare.

dd often doesn't wake at all when she calms, and she can be hysterical and screaming up til that pointing at invisible 'things' in front of her. the few times we did wake her before i learned it wasn't advised she became even more frightened and upset and had to be brought out of the room into the light and consoled for up to an hour, and then was very scared when going back to bed. now that we don't wake her but simply comfort and sooth she returns to a normal sleep rythm within a few minutes and doesn't even remember in the morning.

Thanks for that, pinktulips - very interesting. I hadn't thought about the self waking thing. It sounds like it is night terrors as you describe as opposed to delirium. I wonder if it is typical for children to outgrow it..

most do although some people continue it to later life.

there's a history of sleep disorders on dp's side... he, his brother and 2 of his cousins all suffer from sleep paralysis, have had night terrors, sleepwalking, insomnia, etc, etc so he's able to give me a first hand account of what's happening from dd's point of view.

he hasn't had any problems since about 22 years of age so he was late growing out of it but he did grow out of it.

Glad to hear it about your dp - but I do hope that my dd grows out of it sooner than 22!
Thanks again, I do feel somewhat reassured.

I am a 37 year old male. When i was 6-9 years old I would get high temperatures leading to delirious episodes . It was quite terrifying for me and my mother. I would run around the room and scream at myself in the mirror. I can remember having very bizarre dreams and being extremely confused and scared right before losing consciousness then running around and screaming etc. I am wondering if these episodes could have lead to permanent brain damage and/or psychological problems. Ever since that happened to me I would sometimes feel disconnected from reality or just strange in general. I am currently diagnosed with bi-polar depression and anxiety. I've always wondered if the delirium i experienced as a child lead to these disorders. If anyone has any insight on this I would be very interested.