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Re: Are they night terrors?

Posted by Brian on April 08, 1998 at 08:16:23:

In Reply to: Are they night terrors? posted by tj on April 05, 1998 at 16:35:10:

Hi tj,

A most disconcerting sleep disturbance!

Hypnagogic and hypnapompic hallucinations occur at sleep onset and upon waking, respectively. Night terrors are stage 3 and stage 4 pnenomena. Nightmares are dreams occurring in REM sleep. You can narrow down the likelyhood of your disturbances fairly well yourself; an over-night sleep study (polysomnography) conducted by a sleep lab under the direction of a M.D. sleep specialist would pin it down more specifically, and I recommend it.

Meanwhile, stick with the bean bag, and congratulations on finding that device.

As a Licensed Massage Therapist, as well as a Polysomnography Technologist, let me offer these "thoughts":
Stress plays an enormous role in sleep disturbance (see www.sleepfoundation.org), as well as in headache. Its not hard to appreciate how one can exacerbate the other. In women, a third factor commonly present is fibromyalgia, in which sleep is disturbed by frequent intrusions of alpha wave activity. Fear/dread/terror are anxiety manifestations which suggest an unresolved psychoemotional issue, or somatic memory associated with either psychological or physical trauma, i.e. war experience, or motor vehicle accident. Hallucinations and sleep disturbance are cardinal signs of post-traumatic stress.

So I further recommend that you examine your sleep hygiene (sleepfoundation), and seek a qualified Massage Therapist who works with relaxation and stress reduction (E-Mail me and I will give you names of AMTA therapists in your area). A good MT will help you to relax safely, and de-stress through facilitated processing and tactile soft-tissue work (which your "warm fuzzy" remedy seems to indicate). Start with one 1-hour session per week for 3-4 weeks, then re-evaluate. No drugs, and it feels great! Some insurance providers will cover neuromuscular massage if prescribed by a physician.

I encourage you to continue seeking perspectives on your sleep disturbance. As you have alluded, the stress of your problem has cascading effects, and warrants that you give it your continued attention.

Best of luck,

Brian


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