A night terror is described as a ‘confusional arousal’ - an abrupt awakening from Stage 4 (deep) sleep, where the sufferer often awakens with a blood curdling scream, a racing heart and may act out a terrifying scenario.This usually happens 45-90 minutes after falling asleep, and the terrifying event which caused so much panic is more than not forgotten.
MY NIGHT TERRORS
I started suffering from Night terrors 6 years ago, at the age of 24. Life was great - I’d recently fallen in love and was feeling happy and settled for the first time in many many moons…
For me, a night terror was a near death experience. They gradually increase in frequency so that at its worst I was awakening 3-6 times a night, screaming my lungs out, heart pounding out of my chest. Every night.
It sounds like I would have been going through hell, but for me I would act it out and fall back into a deep sleep. Poor Simon, on the other hand… he describes my strength through one of these episodes as ‘uper human, almost as though I am possessed.’ He has saved me from hurting myself on many occasions, but despite his best efforts I have awoken more than a few times with black eyes, carpet burns and various bumps and bruises.
After suffering for three years, I finally found out what a Night Terror was. It was liberating to finally have a name for this crazy affliction, but treatment was very discouraging. Benadryl, anti-depressants, sleep aids, sleeping with the light on, wearing an eye mask… I’ve never been a fan of medication, and the other options seemed to be coverups of the real problem. Everything I could find said that there is no known cure (or cause) and although in children it usually goes away, adult sufferers will probably never be rid of them.
Yeah right! I was determined - I was not going to put Simon through this every night and there was definitely no life sentence imposed on me.
My first hypnotherapy session was interesting. I think it helped me to relax a bit, and after that I felt a brief improvement. I learnt self hypnosis and practiced it through my first pregnancy. I found that if I used this technique before falling asleep I would (normally) sleep soundly. However, this was not a technique I wanted to have to practice every night forever - it felt like a coverup of the problem - and after Ashley was born I become much worse at self hypnosis (mainly because I would normally fall asleep before I had the chance to get there!) Night terrors gradually returned.
JOURNEY TO RECOVERY
While Ashley was a baby I found myself subconsciously making healthier and healthier food choices. I didn’t eat a bad diet, but neither was it ideal and my limited knowledge of health and nutrition turned into a massive thirst for knowledge. I read book after book on nutrition and decided to embark on a new life direction. I have been studying with the ‘College of Natural Nutrition’ in the Uk by correspondance for a year now. It was through this course that I was introduced to Weston A Price and my fascination around this subject just keeps growing.
At the same time I made a conscious decision to get rid of my Night terrors once and for all. Over the past year I have had numerous sessions of hypnotherapy, cranio-sacral therapy and acupuncture. I have listened to my body and cut out gluten, processed foods, refined foods and recently all sugar (except for a bit of raw honey and the occasional apple). I have increased my water intake, introduced flax oil and cod liver oil and also bone broths, liver and lots of eggs. Next week when I receive my kefir grains I hope to start experimening with dairy again.
My foggy brain is clearing by the day, my night terrors are now a rare occurance and I have more energy and enthusiasm than I remember, despite being 6 1/2 months pregnant. Life is heading in a new and exciting direction.
CANDIDA CONNECTION?
Through my research and craving for answers, Candida has popped up many times. Many of my past symptoms scream candida overgrowth, my acupuncturist talked about my dampness, and I now understand this to be the same thing. This leads me to the true reason behind starting this blog…
I think my Night Terrors are a symptom of Candidiasis. I think other people’s night terrors and probably other sleep disorders may be too. I think when children have this problem, they were probably born with the yeast overgrowth. It is only a theory, but it would give sufferers something to work with and some real hope for a future free of sleep (and numerous other) problems.. I hope to hear from anyone with any thoughts or experience which may feed my curiosity and hopefully spurr my research on here. Google has so far come up with zip. Thankyou for taking the time to read my story, I look forward to hearing your comments.
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