Night madness - What is this?

Several times in the past year I have woken from intense, confused nightmares only to find the irrational madness persisted. I was awake with my mind reeling as though being whipped in a tornado, unable to hold a thought, or even focus on what was going on for more then a couple seconds. There was no theme or story to the preceding nightmare, or the waking anxiety at all. It was just as though my brain had come completely unglued. Through force of tenuous will alone I did not physically react and was able, oddly enough, to return to sleep to escape. When waking in the morning I felt more or less ok, but there was a bit of lingering confusion that quickly disappeared.

This has happened with no known cause with the exception one time of a dinner of a large rare beef steak. In that case it was as though I had acquired a dose of the animal's last seconds of extreme, end of life fear hormones because that is how that episode, and the others, have felt to me.

I am clueless what this could all represent. Has anyone else had this happen and discussed it with a professional?

PS: This did not feel like an anxiety or panic attack. I don't recall the signs of an adrenalin hit. It was like the brain computer had crashed and was 95% dysfunctional. The anxiety experienced came with the realization my mind was out of control and did not know what to do, or even grasp the concept of doing anything. Picture looking into the window of a tumbling clothes dryer. All the things being tossed about were like my thoughts, nearly impossible to follow or even identify.

Sounds like night terror?

http://www.nightterrors.org/

I read this. Thanks. My experience does not fit these descriptions in several ways. I have had night mares and terrors. The recent episodes were vastly different in character. It was like my brain was stumbling through a major malfunction where even mis-cognition was impossible. I would guess it might have been something like an extreme bad LSD trip, but there were and have been no such drugs involved.

"Night terrors are rare in adults, yet Papolos and Papolos cited a 1999 study by Dr. Maurice Ohayon which found that bipolar disorders and depression with anxiety were the most common factors associated with adults who reported night terrors."

If you don't think it was a night terror, has anyone else seen you have one of these "spells"? Maybe someone else could describe it from the "outside" so it makes sense to a doctor or something? The symptoms you describe though, the "non-sense" and difficulties sound like night terrors to me.

"In both adults and children, night terrors may be caused by unresolved psychological conflicts, traumatic events or fatigue. In children, traumas such as the loss of a favorite toy, overhearing a loud argument between parents, watching scenes of violence on television or listening to frightening stories could trigger a night terror.

"Particularly among adults, prescription drugs such as antihistamines, decongestants, levodopa, reserpine, beta blockers, and antidepressants, as well as withdrawal from addictive drugs, all can provoke sleep disturbance."

Any changes in your meds or anything right before the events happened?