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How do you prevent 'night terrors'?

Kenjie

Senior Member
Messages
208
Location
New Zealand
How do you stop night terrors from happening?

You know.. waking up middle of the night your heart either too fast or too slow with what feels a bit like adrenal rushing through your body or chest and almost like impending doom or death.. having to remind yourself to stay calm cos if you let it freak you out your head will end up spinning.. breath slow... and wait for it to pass before you go back to sleep..

Do you experience this? How do you deal with it?

Or could it be caused by a regular slow heart rate?
 
Last edited:

belize44

Senior Member
Messages
1,662
Yes, I get that a lot; sometimes I yell out and wake people. :redface:Or else I just abruptly wake to find that my heart is racing away and an pulse oximeter reading will give my oxygen as being low and my pulse as quite high. I wish I knew how to stop these!
 

Never Give Up

Collecting improvements, until there's a cure.
Messages
971
@Sushi is right. The question is, what is causing the tachycardia? Is it dangerous? Is it treatable? A sleep doc can figure that out for you.
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
Did you find out anything useful?
Interesting, but it didn't lead to anything clinical . I didn't have sleep apnea or low O2 saturations. My heart rate is controlled by drugs, so nothing unexpected there. But it would have showed if there were either tachycardia or bradycardia and would have showed the O2 saturations that correlated with them. I half woke up quite a bit, but that didn't surprise me.
 

Never Give Up

Collecting improvements, until there's a cure.
Messages
971
Interesting, but it didn't lead to anything clinical . I didn't have sleep apnea or low O2 saturations. My heart rate is controlled by drugs, so nothing unexpected there. But it would have showed if there were either tachycardia or bradycardia and would have showed the O2 saturations that correlated with them. I half woke up quite a bit, but that didn't surprise me.
It's good to rule out sleep apnea.
 

ChrisD

Senior Member
Messages
472
Location
East Sussex
@Kenjie This may sound like an irritating thing to suggest and you may have tried it but sleep music and meditation just before bed help me to go to sleep in a peaceful way that makes terrors less likely, although they still sometimes happen. This is likely to be the subconscious speaking combined with flight or fight in my opinion, so I guess working on adrenals could help a lot
 

Kenjie

Senior Member
Messages
208
Location
New Zealand
@Sushi is right. The question is, what is causing the tachycardia? Is it dangerous? Is it treatable? A sleep doc can figure that out for you.

Doesnt happen all the time but has certainly happened on several occasions over the past few months.. it is awful.. still waiting to get my heart checked out
 

Kenjie

Senior Member
Messages
208
Location
New Zealand
Yes, I get that a lot; sometimes I yell out and wake people. :redface:Or else I just abruptly wake to find that my heart is racing away and an pulse oximeter reading will give my oxygen as being low and my pulse as quite high. I wish I knew how to stop these!

Could it be anxiety?
 

PatJ

Forum Support Assistant
Messages
5,288
Location
Canada
You might be having a blood sugar drop during the night. Low blood glucose can lead to adrenalin release and all the associated symptoms. Eating a small meal before bed can help to maintain blood sugar throught the night.

I sometimes (but rarely) wake with a feeling of dread and of not having enough oxygen. I think it always happens when I've been sleeping on my back (I alternate between back and side through the night.) I recently got a pulseox monitor (CMS50i) to record my heart rate and blood oxygen through the night to see what happens when I sleep. It's similar to the device shown in Sushi's post.
 

Never Give Up

Collecting improvements, until there's a cure.
Messages
971
You might be having a blood sugar drop during the night. Low blood glucose can lead to adrenalin release and all the associated symptoms. Eating a small meal before bed can help to maintain blood sugar throught the night.

I sometimes (but rarely) wake with a feeling of dread and of not having enough oxygen. I think it always happens when I've been sleeping on my back (I alternate between back and side through the night.) I recently got a pulseox monitor (CMS50i) to record my heart rate and blood oxygen through the night to see what happens when I sleep. It's similar to the device shown in Sushi's post.
What does your device tell you?
 

PatJ

Forum Support Assistant
Messages
5,288
Location
Canada
What does your device tell you?

When used in realtime it shows current blood oxygen level and pulse rate along with a small pulse rate graph. Using the provided software (which I haven't used yet) it provides a graph of those values over time as recorded by the device. It's useful for finding out if blood oxygen drops or if heart rate changes significantly during the night (or day if a person wears it while doing other activities.)
 

Never Give Up

Collecting improvements, until there's a cure.
Messages
971
When used in realtime it shows current blood oxygen level and pulse rate along with a small pulse rate graph. Using the provided software (which I haven't used yet) it provides a graph of those values over time as recorded by the device. It's useful for finding out if blood oxygen drops or if heart rate changes significantly during the night (or day if a person wears it while doing other activities.)
I was wondering if your heart rate increased and your oxygen saturation dropped during sleep. If they did, that would most likely be caused by obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, for which there are effective therapies.
 

Kenjie

Senior Member
Messages
208
Location
New Zealand
Had trouble getting to sleep lastnight. Up too late talking online and then I lay there a few hours worrying about my heart and scared to sleep in case i had the night terror again. At one point i got up for the toilet and on the way down the hallway i had to stop and lean on a wall as i got dizzy and my heart was racing...

So i dont know whats happening with my heart or what to do next. I already feel as though doctors have been little help.

Eventually i fell asleep after trying to relax and get rid of 'anxious' feeling in chest. I keep thinking i need to go to the hospital for help but i ready tried that couple months ago and they sent me home.

The first 'night terror' i had was in december.. i woke up to what actually felt like my heart 'jumpstarting' itself... felt a bit like electric shock to the heart.. was dizzy.. had to wait til things calmed down then went back to sleep.

Im being treated for bacterial infections at the moment finally but i cant help but think something else is going on.
 

PatJ

Forum Support Assistant
Messages
5,288
Location
Canada
The first 'night terror' i had was in december..

Did you start any medications at the time, or change dose of an existing medication?

on the way down the hallway i had to stop and lean on a wall as i got dizzy and my heart was racing...

If it's related to hypoglycemia then you can try eating a small meal to increase your blood sugar and see if you feel better. Some people use a couple of slices of cheese, others need something that contains carbs, fat, and protein.

If this starts to happen consistently when you get up then it might be related to POTS.
[POTS] Signs and Symptoms
While the diagnostic criteria focus on the abnormal heart rate increase upon standing, POTS usually presents with symptoms much more complex than a simple increase in heart rate. It is fairly common for POTS patients to have a drop in blood pressure upon standing, but some POTS patients have no change or even an increase in blood pressure upon standing.1 POTS patients often have hypovolemia (low blood volume) and high levels of plasma norepinephrine while standing, reflecting increased sympathetic nervous system activation.3 Approxiamtely 50% of POTS patients have a small fiber neuropathy that impacts their sudomotor nerves. Many POTS patients also experience fatigue, headaches, lightheadedness, heart palpitations, exercise intolerance, nausea, diminished concentration, tremulousness (shaking), syncope (fainting), coldness or pain in the extremities, chest pain and shortness of breath.1,3,4 Patients can develop a reddish purple color in the legs upon standing, believed to be caused by blood pooling or poor circulation. The color change subsides upon returning to a reclined position.
 

humanrising

Senior Member
Messages
155
When i read the topic i thought you meant you had "night terrors" as in nightmares on 10. I had them when i was young. i would wake up in the morning curled up the floor covered in sweat or i would wake up while clawing at the walls trying to escape from whatever hell is happening to me.
I grew out of it but always had very vivid dreams . After my health got worse and my sleep got worse my dreams got more severe usually bloody and scary. I spend a lot of time ( more then you should ) in REM probably because I never get into a deep restorative sleep cycle.

I have tried everything for sleep and nothing has helped with getting a full night rest.

There are a number of problems i have now that i didn't before and one is the feeling that I am pressed down, like someone is sitting on my chest or holding me to the bed its always super scary and leaves me struggling to wake fully up. I know that this is from being in REM... you are paralyzed on purpose so you don't act out your dreams. I think because i am in and out that i am not fully in REM either which makes me more aware that " i am paralyzed".

i am pretty sure that i read that vivid wild terrible dreams are not uncommon with us folks.

The other thing i have had is the racing heart beat like i ran around the block. If i get up and walk the 8 steps to my bathroom i hit the bed with a racing heart no matter how slow i go.... I believe this is POTS.
I am not over weight or seem to have sleep apnea but i also can't sleep on my back like I use either that can also lead to my heart racing and waking me up which i feel is a kind of apnea event that my heart starts pounding to wake me up and breathe. I will never have this tested since i can't have anything on my face so its rather pointless and its not severe enough for me to worry about it.

I have been having horrible hot flashes making the few moments of sleep i got before them impossible. I ve been looking at what i could do for them. I spoke to my doctor and she agreed to let me try Clonodine. Since, I started it my hot flashes decreased by 75 % that is HUGE difference. I also noticed that I no longer have nightmares. period.
I also don't have the racing heart rate and the strangest thing, i am not aware of my heart beat anymore. I know that sounds weird but i didn't realize how much i felt my heart and felt it pounding in my chest until i no longer had it anymore.
I was hoping it might help with my pain but the downside has been increased fatigue so I couldn't take the dosing necessary for pain.. It did make a tiny difference in my sleep but i can't take a higher dose or take it during the day. I ve been taking a small dose 100mcq at night. not too late because it will affect me the next day. I do seem a little more "stupid" not sure if its the med or i am just more out of it from the ongoing lack of sleep.
hope i didn't get too far off topic. Do think like others that POTS is something to look at. hope it gets better for you
 

Belgiangirl

Senior Member
Messages
108
How do you stop night terrors from happening?

You know.. waking up middle of the night your heart either too fast or too slow with what feels a bit like adrenal rushing through your body or chest and almost like impending doom or death.. having to remind yourself to stay calm cos if you let it freak you out your head will end up spinning.. breath slow... and wait for it to pass before you go back to sleep..

Do you experience this? How do you deal with it?

Or could it be caused by a regular slow heart rate?

omg i'm so shocked reading this ...

For years and years, since I was 18 I experienced this!!
I "wake up" at night, usally containing three ingredients: lack of sleep - stress - heat !!! then I get feeling a bit dizzy, but I drift off asleep as everything is feeling very heavy.

All of a sudden I "wake up" and find myself with a RACING heartbeat like 200 b/min. I'm 31 and still alive is this may give you hope. Although often though I wouldn't surviv, especially in the beginning. In this moments I can't move!!
Not thing ... The strange thing is I want to move badly (especially since I'm very hot and scared!!), it feels like lead and impossible - much like the astenia which I might have by day when awake - so in my head I feel like i'm moving. So my brain actually makes me think I'm moving ... but I am not .... and i actually feel like i'm making myself ready for whatever and starting my morning ritual, then realising something is not right...
this episodes ends with the idea that i can move a finger very very slowly which asks extremely much energy. All the sudden I can really move it and I freak out of bed .... pulling my duvet up in one movement and breathing like an idiot, my heart still racing too fast but the extreme racing stops then.

A key ingredient to prevent this for me, is coolig my room down as much as possible, a lot work since my body temperatures always seems on the rise at night even though freezing outside and my windows right open...
Secondly I sometimes even take lormetazepam if i feel i cant escape, to avoid this from happening.

Lately I also get this sleeping paralysis without the heart racing, having me wondered it was jst a panic reaction. But I'm sure it is not. Because it is too fast for any normal panic reaction and since i'm used to getting them i'm not always panicked anymore (unfortunately you only wonder: will they stop, and why? read: will i still be alive then).

This is so strange that I almost never told this to anyone. Never a cardiologist could see them. But in 24 hr monitoring report i noticed that my heartbeat was extremely varying at night. Of course no "terror episode" during the monitoring.


btw never someone saw me getting these, imagine...