Night Terrors - Advice on Therapy
Discussion
To cut a long story short one of my sons suffers with Night Terrors. ( if you know ,you know)
With hindsight he’s probably had them since being a child ( he’s 24 now )but we just assumed they were nightmares back in the day.
Difficult to say what triggers them ,probably stress related ?
They are totally random in their frequency.
When he was a uni he had to warn his flat mates ( on first meeting them) that he could randomly wake up sleep walking as if being chased by the devil, scream and shouting all sorts of obscenities at the top of his voice…..it can be quite disturbing when he has a bad one.
At first we laughed it off but over the years he’s hurt himself a few times thrashing around in bed, tried to bash his way out of his bedroom or run down stairs sleep walking whilst trying to escape from whatever is chasing him in his night terror. This culminated with a visit to A&E with a dislocated elbow recently.
Most are not as bad as this and just involve shouting or screaming out, sat up in bed, wide eyed( but asleep) and if you lay him down he will be back in normal sleep again with little or no recollection of the nights events.
He really is a bright intelligent, well adjusted happy young man and there’s nothing obvious to be triggering them.
The most recent (dislocation) night terror has understandably worried us..so many what ifs!!
What to be done ?
Dr Google suggests that anti depressants can be prescribed ?( something he’s very reluctant to do)
I’ve heard that acupuncture can help ?
Any PHers had to deal with these ,that can suggest some sort of therapy?
With hindsight he’s probably had them since being a child ( he’s 24 now )but we just assumed they were nightmares back in the day.
Difficult to say what triggers them ,probably stress related ?
They are totally random in their frequency.
When he was a uni he had to warn his flat mates ( on first meeting them) that he could randomly wake up sleep walking as if being chased by the devil, scream and shouting all sorts of obscenities at the top of his voice…..it can be quite disturbing when he has a bad one.
At first we laughed it off but over the years he’s hurt himself a few times thrashing around in bed, tried to bash his way out of his bedroom or run down stairs sleep walking whilst trying to escape from whatever is chasing him in his night terror. This culminated with a visit to A&E with a dislocated elbow recently.
Most are not as bad as this and just involve shouting or screaming out, sat up in bed, wide eyed( but asleep) and if you lay him down he will be back in normal sleep again with little or no recollection of the nights events.
He really is a bright intelligent, well adjusted happy young man and there’s nothing obvious to be triggering them.
The most recent (dislocation) night terror has understandably worried us..so many what ifs!!
What to be done ?
Dr Google suggests that anti depressants can be prescribed ?( something he’s very reluctant to do)
I’ve heard that acupuncture can help ?
Any PHers had to deal with these ,that can suggest some sort of therapy?
I've never heard of night terrors in adults before but my nephew has them when he was younger.
Don't dismiss anti depressants, it could be that a very low dose would help him with minimal side effects, which is surely better than the alternative, and even with high doses the side effects can be very small - I've been on them on and off for years.
Don't make the stigma worse for people who have to take them by believing the fear mongering stories.
I'm sure you wouldn't worry about taking ibuprofen or paracetamol, and the side effects for them can be far worse
Personal view is they're a better alternative than the snake oil of acupuncture, in my experience that only helps the bank balance of the people administering it
Don't dismiss anti depressants, it could be that a very low dose would help him with minimal side effects, which is surely better than the alternative, and even with high doses the side effects can be very small - I've been on them on and off for years.
Don't make the stigma worse for people who have to take them by believing the fear mongering stories.
I'm sure you wouldn't worry about taking ibuprofen or paracetamol, and the side effects for them can be far worse
Personal view is they're a better alternative than the snake oil of acupuncture, in my experience that only helps the bank balance of the people administering it
My wife suffers with night terrors (not nightmares) and has done so for approximately the last 15 years, she is now 70. They started during an extremely stressful period of her life involving close family illness and bereavement.
As the name suggests they are indeed terrifying, not just for her but they also used to scare the living daylights out of me sleeping next to her. She would sit bolt upright in bed and scream at the top of her voice that she was dead! At its worst this would happen up to 4 times a night! We went to our local GP, who was very understanding and who tried to refer her to a sleep clinic in Bristol, unfortunately our local health board turned this down (we live in Wales). We then wasted the next 3 years seeing a psychiatrist in our local hospital who eventually realised my wife didn't suffer from depression.
I can't remember how but she then got a referral to Neville Hall Hospital, Abergavenny to see Dr Jose Thomas, who is a respiratory consultant with an interest in sleep disorders. He arranged for my wife to spend an overnight stay in one of their sleep laboratories all wired up to various machines. After looking at the readings he diagnosed that my wife was suffering from night/sleep terrors. He explained that there is no simple cure for them but there is a link between iron levels in the blood and night terrors. As a result, she now has regular iron infusions at our local hospital neurology department, and these have drastically reduced the number and severity of the terrors; but unfortunately not eliminated them.
I don't know where you or your son live but I would suggest an internet search to find your local NHS sleep disorder centre/clinic; then see your GP, explain your worries and politely ask for a referral.
All the best, I hope this has been of some help.
As the name suggests they are indeed terrifying, not just for her but they also used to scare the living daylights out of me sleeping next to her. She would sit bolt upright in bed and scream at the top of her voice that she was dead! At its worst this would happen up to 4 times a night! We went to our local GP, who was very understanding and who tried to refer her to a sleep clinic in Bristol, unfortunately our local health board turned this down (we live in Wales). We then wasted the next 3 years seeing a psychiatrist in our local hospital who eventually realised my wife didn't suffer from depression.
I can't remember how but she then got a referral to Neville Hall Hospital, Abergavenny to see Dr Jose Thomas, who is a respiratory consultant with an interest in sleep disorders. He arranged for my wife to spend an overnight stay in one of their sleep laboratories all wired up to various machines. After looking at the readings he diagnosed that my wife was suffering from night/sleep terrors. He explained that there is no simple cure for them but there is a link between iron levels in the blood and night terrors. As a result, she now has regular iron infusions at our local hospital neurology department, and these have drastically reduced the number and severity of the terrors; but unfortunately not eliminated them.
I don't know where you or your son live but I would suggest an internet search to find your local NHS sleep disorder centre/clinic; then see your GP, explain your worries and politely ask for a referral.
All the best, I hope this has been of some help.
Unfortunately I suffer from what I now believe to be night terrors and not nightmares. I'm 53 and I am sure I have had them on and off since my 20's at a rough guess. I always thought they were just nightmares and they weren't too bad. It's only been the last few years they have got worse. Not as bad as your son it seems, as I don't sleepwalk or try to leave the bedroom. I know I can shout out, but apparently its incomprehensible. I don't wake up in sweats either. All I know is I am woken with images of ghoulish figures beside my bed and I can lash out, often kicking out and screaming. In December 2020 I actually leapt out of bed and crashed into a chest of drawers at the end of the bed. I hit my head hard on a drawer pull and cut myself badly. Fortunately I woke up, but it took ages for the cut to stop bleeding to the point I was considering A&E.
I have a very stable life with low stress. I have no idea what triggers them. I spoke to my doctor and they recommended a sleep clinic, but I thought, what are the chances of me having a 'terror' the time I actually go. Then I thought what could be done, other than drugs as mentioned. I have simply resigned myself to having them occasionally now. The slightly scary thing is I live alone, so if I were to have a bad one and injured myself, then who knows.
Sorry I can't be of any real help.
I have a very stable life with low stress. I have no idea what triggers them. I spoke to my doctor and they recommended a sleep clinic, but I thought, what are the chances of me having a 'terror' the time I actually go. Then I thought what could be done, other than drugs as mentioned. I have simply resigned myself to having them occasionally now. The slightly scary thing is I live alone, so if I were to have a bad one and injured myself, then who knows.
Sorry I can't be of any real help.
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