Night Terror

When I was a little girl about 7 or 8 years old, I experienced the onset of my most horrifying night terror episodes. It all began when I was sick with chicken pox. The dreams that came were so vivid and weird. I could even remember clearly the first time it happened. It was so deeply etched  and formed in my brain that I woke up from the first nightmare with a terrifying scream that frightened the whole household. For three succeeding nights, when I woke up, I scarily found myself standing in the middle of the room with family members trying to pacify me. When I awoke, I could not even clear myself from the stupor of being half asleep and half awake trance liked situation. I panicked even more. I jumped up and down, trembled and screamed to come back to reality. It would take awhile for all the distorted senses to fade away. When they were gone, I would calm down until the next episode again. My poor parents were so worried. They did not know what was happening to me.

Now that I am old and have read a few, I learn that most children who have night terrors, have no inkling about their panic behaviors at night. When morning comes, they forget their nightly episodes but subconsciously they somehow know something is amiss. Eventually they outgrow their nightmares and forget about it. Unluckily for me though, I have had good memory. I was consciously aware each time I woke up (which is unsual). I could even recall some of the weird dreams. They were not about people or monsters, more about vast darkness or crumpled spaces, of kaleidoscopic colors and lines, distorted depths and visions, the slow motion of sounds and touches. As I got older, I tried to overcome these eerie occurrences. I pinched my arms and legs, relieved my bladder from its content and drank glasses of water. I prayed. I was scared but I tried my best not to worry or bother anyone else. My night terror lasted on and off until the age of 19 (Which is really unusual).

Nobody knew about these my night time episodes except my family and my close relatives. I just thought of writing it now because maybe somehow, somewhere, somebody can learn a thing or two about my experiences.

P.S. If your child has night terror, do not wake him up, just coach him back to sleep.