I am 29 years old and have had night terrors since I was five. In the past 10 years, I have 2-3 awakenings a week due to night terrors. Most often I will see people in the room, coming out of the wall, spiders, cats, and movement under the covers.
Often times my fiance will tell me what I said or did because I don’t remember what happened at all. He will hear me talking (when he’s in the TV room) and come in. Like another letter I read on your site, the light coming on awakenings me. But, it also serves as a preventative measure. When he is supportive and calmly agrees with me and is not challenging, I readily go back to sleep.
I have had many embarrassing situations related to my behavior during a night terror. I awake frightened and shaking, sometimes insisting that it was real. Other times I don’t recall it at all. I have slept walk into other rooms and gone back to bed and had no recollection of it.
Is there a book that you would suggest I get for added information regarding night terrors? It is such a strange phenomenon and I would really like to learn more about it. Another note that you may find interesting, I fall immediately back to sleep about 90% of the time. Only a few times have I had to calm down to go back to sleep. These usually occur withing the first 20 minutes of sleep.
I could go on and on and share stories with you. Please keep up this web page as it adds “normalcy” to those of us who deal with this sleep disorder.
— Kim, Age 29, Female, Engaged, Baldwinsville, NY, USA
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