[meccorad]

I've been under an unusual amount of stress lately and feeling extremely depressed, so much so that I've been having panic attacks. So last night, I had what I think was a night terror (not just a nightmare) but I wanted to know what others might think it was.

I had one of those dreams where no matter what you can't wake up. You think you're awake only to find that you've awoken from one dream into the next dream and so forth. But eventually it lead to what I think was a night terror. I was still very much asleep and in a dreamy state, but fully paralyzed. I couldn't move my body or cause myself to wake up, even though I could see everything around me. It was hazy and dreamlike, but it was my room. I struggled to scream, but I ended up screaming my lungs out. It was so vivid, I had to have been screaming. I finally woke myself up and I was sweating so much my pillow had wet stains.

I stayed awake the rest of the night. I asked my family if they heard me last night and they said they didn't. This has happened to me before, and normally during extremely stressful times. Was it just a panic attack brought on by the nightmare or was it a night terror?

[little*rhino]

It sounds like a night terror sort of scenario. I get them all the time.. sleep walking, talking, terrors, the whole meal deal. The whole reason they are terrifying is because they are so vivid and your brain isn't in fully restful sleep... the grey zone between sleep and consciousness. Weirdness happens there.

The normal sleep paralysis that prevents us from bashing ourselves to pieces in our sleep also malfunctions then... which is why i sleep walk. But it's also why you couldn't breath properly. For some reason, the most common thing between people in night terrors is breathing problems... people can't breath for one reason or another in the "dream" and tend to wake up gasping and in a panic.

i think you were panicked, but i think it's the result of the dream/terror and not simply a panic attack in itself per se. But you are in a loop because the stress makes your brain be unable to gear down as it should and that induces the terrors.

get a simple sleep aid... or ask your doc for clonazepam. It's the typical first drug of choice for sleep related problems

Originally Posted by meccorad

I've been under an unusual amount of stress lately and feeling extremely depressed, so much so that I've been having panic attacks. So last night, I had what I think was a night terror (not just a nightmare) but I wanted to know what others might think it was.

I had one of those dreams where no matter what you can't wake up. You think you're awake only to find that you've awoken from one dream into the next dream and so forth. But eventually it lead to what I think was a night terror. I was still very much asleep and in a dreamy state, but fully paralyzed. I couldn't move my body or cause myself to wake up, even though I could see everything around me. It was hazy and dreamlike, but it was my room. I struggled to scream, but I ended up screaming my lungs out. It was so vivid, I had to have been screaming. I finally woke myself up and I was sweating so much my pillow had wet stains.

I stayed awake the rest of the night. I asked my family if they heard me last night and they said they didn't. This has happened to me before, and normally during extremely stressful times. Was it just a panic attack brought on by the nightmare or was it a night terror?

[Princess_Obsidian]

Greetings,

Perhaps your diet, medication and/or overall lifestyle is playing a part with your sleep troubles.

Have a good one.

[Sabrina]

I suffer from night terrors and it certainly sounds like what I go through. Sorry you had to experience this.