strange reaction to someone else's night terror

[broodneach]

Hi everyone. I'm going through a breakup and have found some of the forums about Coping interesting. I'm here to ask a mental health question about something that happened during the relationship, though.

 

One night my ex started mumbling loudly in her sleep. It woke me and for some reason I felt it was really urgent to wake her as well. I started shaking her and the mumbling got louder until it gradually turned into screaming. This set off some sort of awful reaction in me: I started crying and moaning a little, saying her name, and I felt like my face was melting.

 

After she woke up I started freaking out thinking there were other people's faces in reflective and semi-reflective surfaces (mirror, television, windows). I had to turn the lights completely off and pull covers over my head. When I looked at her I kept expecting her face to change into someone else's face, for some reason. When she made a weird expression I'd get a jolt and start crying again.

 

I've never really experienced anything like that before. It seemed like a kind of traumatic or post-traumatic experience to me. I'm wondering if anyone has any insight into it.

[Buddhist]

One night my ex started mumbling loudly in her sleep. It woke me and for some reason I felt it was really urgent to wake her as well. I started shaking her and the mumbling got louder until it gradually turned into screaming. This set off some sort of awful reaction in me: I started crying and moaning a little, saying her name, and I felt like my face was melting.

 

My guess is you weren't fully or actually awake but were sleep walking too. Since you had an hallucination that felt real to you and the lights were on I think you were at the very least partially asleep. I'm a sleep walker and I used to roam around my house with my eyes fully open and even noticing the environment but I wasn't awake. The house became part of the dreamscape. When you are in a subliminal state of consciousness you can believe yourself to be awake but actually the external reality and your internal dream one are both real to you and blend in that exact way. I have this experience from time to time seeing both my dream scape and the room as if they are one and the same. It can result in me seeing people/dream monsters etc that aren't there for a short period of time before I came back into full consciousness. The illusion only lasts a few seconds.

 

I've also interacted with a sleepwalker before. It's freakish and unsettling to see someone sleepwalking because they are animated but you know they are not conscious. There's a very weird kind of vacantness to it that's haunting.

 

I've never really experienced anything like that before. It seemed like a kind of traumatic or post-traumatic experience to me. I'm wondering if anyone has any insight into it.

 

I'd say in your dream you imagined your GF next to you to be in trouble, so you tried to wake her while you were sleepwalking and then experienced a short period of subliminal consciousness where you were able to see the dream contents in the room as I have done before.

Edited June 11, 2016 by Buddhist

[ChocolateRain]

Hi everyone. I'm going through a breakup and have found some of the forums about Coping interesting. I'm here to ask a mental health question about something that happened during the relationship, though.

 

One night my ex started mumbling loudly in her sleep. It woke me and for some reason I felt it was really urgent to wake her as well. I started shaking her and the mumbling got louder until it gradually turned into screaming. This set off some sort of awful reaction in me: I started crying and moaning a little, saying her name, and I felt like my face was melting.

 

After she woke up I started freaking out thinking there were other people's faces in reflective and semi-reflective surfaces (mirror, television, windows). I had to turn the lights completely off and pull covers over my head. When I looked at her I kept expecting her face to change into someone else's face, for some reason. When she made a weird expression I'd get a jolt and start crying again.

 

I've never really experienced anything like that before. It seemed like a kind of traumatic or post-traumatic experience to me. I'm wondering if anyone has any insight into it.

 

Sounds like a case of Sleep Paralysis ... many people experience this phenomenon

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

Edited June 11, 2016 by ChocolateRain
ETA

[Justanaverageguy]

Sounds like a case of Sleep Paralysis ... many people experience this phenomenon

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

 

It's not exactly sleep paralysis because as the name implies you can't move when this happens. When your falling asleep your body releases chemicals to freeze your body to prevent you movingbwhile asleep and in dreams. People have been known to wake up still frozen when this hasn't worn off. I've played around with this as part of my meditation practice and it's freaky .... You can trick the body into thinking you are asleep whilst still conscious and you can no longer move. When the paralysis comes on its very unnerving, The brain then releases other chemicals and you then get the effects of dreaming whilst still conscious - or lucid dreaming. You get full on visual hallucinations essentially but with practice can direct these unlike a normal dream.

 

Yours sounds similar but without the paralysis. Sounds like you were partially still asleep so the chemicals that induce dream state were still active.

 

Also there is what's known as the 3am phenomen that may also play a part in the anxiety you felt when waking. You can google it - many people will typically wake at 3am and feel a huge sense of anxiety they often feel like there is another presence in the room. Lots of people into the paranormal call it the "witching hour" but Biologists have studied this and it's related to your liver and adrenal glands. A process kicks off in your body at approx this time every night where the adrenals dump adrenalin (stress hormone) into your body to assist with liver cleansing - if your adrenals are out of whack you can get too much adrenalin and you wake in a state of stress feeling very anxious and panicked. Experiences like you describe are common and many people think this is the trigger for nightmares.

 

If you get this consistently there are herbal remedies to help rebalance your adrenals.

[Satu]

You had a Hypnopompic hallucination.

 

 

"Hypnagogic or hypnopompic hallucinations are visual, tactile, auditory, or other sensory events, usually brief but occasionally prolonged, that occur at the transition from wakefulness to sleep (hypnagogic) or from sleep to wakefulness (hypnopompic). The phenomenon is thought to have been first described by the Dutch physician Isbrand Van Diemerbroeck in 1664.[1] The person may hear sounds that are not there and see visual hallucinations. These visual and auditory images are very vivid and may be bizarre or disturbing."

 

 

Source here.

[Haydn]

After 7 beers and Chicken Madras?

 

Vivid is not the word....

 

Seriously though. Bad dream.

 

Sweet dreams for the next night.

[katiegrl]

OP, I used to experience this all the time when living back east in my small studio apartment.

 

I mean almost every night! As soon as I moved out, it stopped!

 

I won't go into it, but very similar to what your gf experienced and what you experienced.

 

This was just about the time my Bipolar was developing but that could have been a coincidence.

 

What is really startling tho is when I was moving out, I told my landlord of my experiences and he told me the tenant before me, a woman, had committed suicide in the apartment.

 

Again as soon as I moved out, they stopped and I have never experienced it again.

Edited June 12, 2016 by katiegrl

[ChocolateRain]

It's not exactly sleep paralysis because as the name implies you can't move when this happens. When your falling asleep your body releases chemicals to freeze your body to prevent you movingbwhile asleep and in dreams. People have been known to wake up still frozen when this hasn't worn off.

I've played around with this as part of my meditation practice and it's freaky ....

 

May i ask what kind of meditation you practice ?

 

 

You can trick the body into thinking you are asleep whilst still conscious and you can no longer move. When the paralysis comes on its very unnerving, The brain then releases other chemicals and you then get the effects of dreaming whilst still conscious - or lucid dreaming. You get full on visual hallucinations essentially but with practice can direct these unlike a normal dream.

 

Yours sounds similar but without the paralysis. Sounds like you were partially still asleep so the chemicals that induce dream state were still active.

 

Also there is what's known as the 3am phenomen that may also play a part in the anxiety you felt when waking. You can google it - many people will typically wake at 3am and feel a huge sense of anxiety they often feel like there is another presence in the room. Lots of people into the paranormal call it the "witching hour" but Biologists have studied this and it's related to your liver and adrenal glands. A process kicks off in your body at approx this time every night where the adrenals dump adrenalin (stress hormone) into your body to assist with liver cleansing - if your adrenals are out of whack you can get too much adrenalin and you wake in a state of stress feeling very anxious and panicked. Experiences like you describe are common and many people think this is the trigger for nightmares.

 

If you get this consistently there are herbal remedies to help rebalance your adrenals.

 

interesting .... can you give a link pls ?

[Justanaverageguy]

May i ask what kind of meditation you practice ?

 

I have practiced a number of different types of meditation. Most of your more well known types- mindfullness, zen and mantra (transcendental) meditations and also some linked with yoga traditions like Kundalini. When I was playing around with the sleep paralysis I was meditating whilst laying in my bed and listening to some specific binaural beats audio tracks designed for this.

 

interesting .... can you give a link pls ?

 

Sure you will find dozens of links regarding this phenomena online. I've added a couple of the first ones I found when googling below for reference.

 

Dissecting the 3AM phenomenon | Health And Family | Philippine Star

http://ezinearticles.com/?Nightmares-Associated-With-Adrenal-Fatigue&id=1923801

https://nicolakirk.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/the-legend-of-333am/

https://adrenalfatigue.org/sleep-disruptions/

Do Your Adrenal Glands Wake at 3am? | DrDeborahMD.com

What really causes waking in the middle of the night | Dr Kate ND

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witching_hour

 

I know about it purely because when I was heavy into Kundalini meditation - I started waking at 3am every night and having very weird stressful experiences similar to what you had. Seemed my meditation and eating habits at the time had thrown my body a bit out of wack. I think the effect jolts you out of your deepest REM sleep state suddenly so you are still kind of dreaming but awake at the same time and now filled with a bunch of stress hormones thus the freaky effects. I reduced the frequency of my practice, started taking a herb called Ashwagandha which helps with regulating adrenals and haven't had an issue since.

Edited June 13, 2016 by Justanaverageguy

[ChocolateRain]

I have practiced a number of different types of meditation. Most of your more well known types- mindfullness, zen and mantra (transcendental) meditations and also some linked with yoga traditions like Kundalini. When I was playing around with the sleep paralysis I was meditating whilst laying in my bed and listening to some specific binaural beats audio tracks designed for this.

 

 

 

Sure you will find dozens of links regarding this phenomena online. I've added a couple of the first ones I found when googling below for reference.

 

Dissecting the 3AM phenomenon | Health And Family | Philippine Star

http://ezinearticles.com/?Nightmares-Associated-With-Adrenal-Fatigue&id=1923801

https://nicolakirk.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/the-legend-of-333am/

https://adrenalfatigue.org/sleep-disruptions/

Do Your Adrenal Glands Wake at 3am? | DrDeborahMD.com

What really causes waking in the middle of the night | Dr Kate ND

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witching_hour

 

I know about it purely because when I was heavy into Kundalini meditation - I started waking at 3am every night and having very weird stressful experiences similar to what you had. Seemed my meditation and eating habits at the time had thrown my body a bit out of wack. I think the effect jolts you out of your deepest REM sleep state suddenly so you are still kind of dreaming but awake at the same time and now filled with a bunch of stress hormones thus the freaky effects. I reduced the frequency of my practice, started taking a herb called Ashwagandha which helps with regulating adrenals and haven't had an issue since.

 

Thank you for the links and the name of the herb ...i will have to check it out !

i used to be heavy into Qi Gong but decided to stop it some years back because certain phenomenon got more intense .

 

i suffer from SP's at least three times a week and experience all whats mentioned above ... great articles ...

 

i definitely have to look into these Herbs