More Spice than Sugar.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Night terrors or just startled? Either way last night was not good.

I am afraid Trey is having night terrors. Not nightmares but Night terrors they are different from what I can read. With his history of sleeping problems and nightmares it wouldn't surprise me. He has been having, we think, nightmares for a while now. It seems to come and go. Last night he got up and came in our room at 11:00. I have been sick so was koncked out so I didn't even know it. When he came in the room JD just picked him up and put him in our bed this is usual but usually happens about 4am or so. He was kicking and rolling so much that JD took him back to his bed and waited for him to get comfy then left him. So at 2 am we are awaken by a thud and Trey screaming bloody murder. JD gets out of bed and walks to the door of our bedroom and sees Trey go running, screaming down the hall at mach 5. Like seriously running faster then a running back. JD calls out to him and he runs back to the other end of the hall. JD grabs him and puts him on our bed the whole time Trey is thrashing and kicking and screaming and crying (UGH I am about to cry typing this, it was awful) trying to get off out bed. At first I thought he fell out of bed and was confused because he thought he was in our bed but when he was awakened he was not so he would be confused and scared. But the more I think about it and remember he didn't seem awake at all. We were trying to calm him down and talk to him and rub his back and get him stil but he was just thrashing and screaming and crying. I even went and flipped the lights on and off a few times to try and wake him up good (It was very dark in our room) this seemed to shock him and calm him a little. Now that I look back on it, it seems like his eyes weren't even open. He settled down some and was able to go to sleep. He basically went from a terrified, thrashing, mess to snoring asleep in moments. Once he was calmed down I stepped into the bathroom (steps away) and when I came back (moments) he was snoring. It was awful. It was like watching your child be torn apart or beaten up by something invisible. Any advice here? Hey I'll take what I can get.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alright I never had this experience with Selena but this is just an idea - come up with something(colored water in jars,fiber optic light of anysort) to put by his bed or closet(anywhwere in his room)that will protect him from any bad things. show it to him & tell him that because of *THIS*(whatever protector you choose)he will safe.Not sure if it will work but try it if ya want - you should have everything at your house & not have to buy anything ya got nothing to loose by trying it.
~ Jen

Karen said...

That is good advice Jen, Actually our mom got a dream catcher for brian when he started having nightmares and it worked like a charm when she told him what it did. But I did talk to the docs at the peds office and I can assure you he is not having night terrors, night terrors are had by severly beaten children who are abused like locked in closests and burned with cigarettes, terrifying stuff like that. But he is having nightmares. Try journaling like I said in a previous blog, but I know that adds more time to an already busy schedule. But when he is having them and running around don't try and wake him, just make sure he doesn't hurt himself, although it seems like he is terrified and sounds horrible he really is still in one of the stages of sleep, where some people stay asleep and have nightmares some people act out their dreams, this can be dangerous (I know of some kids who would open the front door and go walking outside - not trying to scare you, just giving some facts). But I would definetely try what Jen said or something else creative like to tell him about cathing the monsters at night and then throwing them outside or in the trash. A lot about night mares is unknown but one thing that is for sure is that they are psychological. Hope this helps, Love you guys!!

Anonymous said...

You probably know Papa had them till he was a teenager or 10 (something like that) his parents would wake him.
~ Jen

Anonymous said...

Kate I have two cousins who would sleepwalk. One of them would think they were wild animals (lions and bears mostly). He would lash out at people and growl and stuff. Like Karen said their mom would just have to watch him and make sure he didn't get hurt. I know this must be horrible but he did eventually grow out of it. The other cousin would just roam through the house. The worst she did was figure out the door lock and got outside one night before her mom could realize it. Luckly her mom woke up and got to her before she got to the highway. Since that night they put the sound alarms on their doors to keep the kids safe. She also grew out of the sleepwalking. So my advice is door alarms just incase.

Danielle said...

My daughter has the same thing. Nothing seems to cause them, we don't watch scary things, I don't beat her :) but they are scary to go through! The best I have learned is to not touch her because that makes it worse. I hope this is a one time thing for you guys and he will sleep better!

Danielle (bbc)