How I Dealt with Night Terrors

The Beginning I was 23 when I began to suffer from night terrors.

A night terror is not merely a bad dream. It's a hallucination that arises after waking suddenly from a deep, dreamless sleep.

The first time it happened, Pete and I had just flown for 22 hours to New Zealand and were suffering from sleep deprivation and the subsequent jet lag which interrupted our sleep rhythms. Though he appeared to suffer few ill effects, it opened me up to this bizarre sleep disorder.

I'm not a screamy type of person. Nevertheless, on this night I woke up screaming in absolute terror - seeing a giant six-foot-tall tarantula standing on its back legs in the bedroom. It was in an aggressive attack position, reaching toward me with its front legs beating. I can recall the image very clearly now (and this was 7 years ago). It was like a bolt of lightening had shot through me. And I knew, without doubt, that the beast had malicious intent. I had to escape.

The fight-or-flight response kicked in and I involuntarily stood up on the bed and apparently attempted to jump over Pete and onto the floor. Instead, I trampled the poor fellow.

Pete woke up and to his credit didn't complain about the head-trampling but instead realized something was wrong and tried to calm me down by hugging me. This was a mistake: I merely viewed it as restraint, a hindrance to my escape.

After about 20 seconds of thrashing and screaming, I noticed the spider had disappeared. I was finally fully conscious and back with reality. I was still on the wrong side of Pete and the bed -- but now I was at least coherent.

The episode was scary. I was pumped full of adrenaline and confounded by this bizarre hallucination which had not taken place in a dream, or even a vivid false awakening, but right there in the bedroom.

What the heck just happened?

 

What Happens During a Night Terror?

Sometimes these events happened nightly, or even twice-nightly, and sometimes they didn't happen for months. Thankfully, I've never had one quite as extreme as that first one.

But they are the perfect destroyer of a peaceful night's sleep. Imagine drifting off to a land of dreams, letting your guard down - then after 45-60 minutes (always this timeframe: during the transition from one phase of deep sleep to the next) suddenly awakening to a terrifying threat in your "safe place" - your bedroom.

The fright factor is compounded by an inability to escape. Frequently, I jumped, stumbled or fell out of bed, narrowly avoiding slamming into furniture and walls. I grew increasingly fearful of sleeping near large open windows or balconies in case I accidentally plunged over in my frenzy.

During a night terror, I found it impossible to think logically. I was in fight-or-flight mode, driven by my primitive lizard brain. It was pointless if Pete tried to rationalize it with statements like "it's just a night terror" or "there's nothing there". All I knew was: "I can see it and it's going to get me."

Everything else was just details.

 

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