Tuesday's Oprah - Night Terrors

LDuyer · Post by **LDuyer** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:41 am

FYI --

Oprah's website says this Tuesday's program will feature:
"Dr. Oz Investigates Night Terrors"

The website says other sleep disorders will be discussed although it doesn't mention sleep apnea.

Linda

kteague · Post by **kteague** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:44 pm

Hi Linda. Thanks for the "heads up".
Kathy

Julie · Post by **Julie** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:34 pm

Sleep apnea is not sexy, night terrors are!

yorkiemum01 · Post by **yorkiemum01** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 4:36 pm

I have a teenage son who has chronically suffered from 'night terrors', since he was a toddler, so it would be especially of interest to us. When he was 4 yrs old, he unlocked the front door and ended up 3 houses down the road, in his underwear, at 3AM.......and he suffered from these 'terrors' on a very regular basis. We've endured 'child protective services' investigating, remodeling home by using alarms/placed locks high on doors, and had to learn a whole new lifestyle of 'sleeping on the edge' listening for any stirring at night. I certainly have the utmost empathy for anyone living with this affliction.
I'm pleased to say as he's entered into his teens, the 'episodes', as we call them, have dimished tremendously, but the condition never seems to completely go away. He's under the care of a Neurologist, and has had more sleep studies than I, LOL.

LDuyer · Post by **LDuyer** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:07 pm

Interesting, Yorkiemum,
I would guess you know all about it, then.

I know that as a child I did sleep walk on occasion, but nothing like that. The only sleep walking episodes described to me were of me going to the kitchen to make coffee (to be like mommy, I suppose) and of once climbing up onto a dresser to lie down and resume sleeping. lol Apparently it didn't happen often and I never got restless enough to leave the house, thank goodness. Sounds like you've been through quite alot.

Linda

brandyII · Post by **brandyII** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:21 pm

I'd like to see that show on Night Terrors,

My daughter has had them since she was a teenager and the terror part is how I feel when I hear her! Now that I sleep with the machine and ear plugs it's much easier because a blood curdling scream at 3:00 in the morning doesn't do much for one's heart

They say she needs to have a sleep study done but you can never tell when she's going to have a night terror, it's not every night and they're not something you can do on command in a sleep study center.

She was living in a dorm at school and had one and the security guards broke in her door because they thought she was being killed!

We're kind of used to it now and she knows more kids her age who have them, she's 23 now but nothing we've tried so far has helped from neurologists, meds, all down the line! So good luck to any of you who are related to night terrorists, brandyII.

yorkiemum01 · Post by **yorkiemum01** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 4:15 pm

Very true Brandy.......sleep terror episodes can be VERY disturbing, screams and violent outbursts. My son once nearly jumped right out of a second floor window, only to be saved by his older brother at the last second. Its beyond anything most physicians can relate to. Some of my sons terrors..he'd see things coming after him..huddle in a bathtub screaming for me to help him, with me all along by his side. They look into your eyes, but they are not 'there', they're lost in their sleep terror episode. Its far more frightening than 'sleep walking', and I only pray its not passed down genetically. Worries me as he gets closer to college age (we already found out the Military wont accept him) and as he becomes a young man, and marries, trying to explain this condition to a new bride. Certainly is a lifelong journey.

brandyII · Post by **brandyII** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 4:43 pm

Yorkiemum01,

You may see my avatar but it's not my dog but just the one I thought was super cute and when I've posted it before everyone assumes it's mine so I just thought I'd set it straight right away. I know dumb. I do have two dogs but they're rescue dogs, one from Puerto Rico and one from Hurricane Katrina but they don't like to have their pictures shown

Anywho, did you watch Oprah or tape it? I did earlier and was disappointed because they didn't mention any new meds out there that would help. My daughter had been put on an old type anti-depressant but that didn't really help her. They thought it could be brought on by stress too and when you're in college do you have stress?

Anyway sorry to hear about your son's military career affecting it. I was going to go through the channels of getting my daughter a "medical" dorm but she didn't want to be in one and wanted to be near where her friends were, understandably. I think they put some singles aside for those students with medical need.

It's one of those weird things that very few people have to deal with, I know only one other and don't really know what causes them or if they're genetic in some way and of course being moms we tend to put blame on ourselves. Sometimes I'll put it on my husband. He has a habit of falling asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow and there are times when he'd talk in his sleep so I thought that might have something to do with it.

I had one of those experiences with my daughter, and this has only happened one time. I went out in the hall and to use the bathroom, come out of the bathroom, I believe the noise may have caused her to have a night terror, she burst out of her room and with brute force pushed me down the hall and I was very close to falling down the stairs but got knocked down into another room instead. I will never forget that and believe me I think the next month or two I would wake my husband before I went to the bathroom so he could be on guard and that's the truth!!!!!

Fortunately, she hasn't come out of her room since then, and that's been a few years and she does have them on an irregular basis, maybe once a month or so but I do notice during finals etc... she'll have them at that time so it could very well be stress related.

Bed wetting is also considered a sleep disorder and I was one for many years of my childhood but thank God finally, as they say "grew out of it" that was very devastating and I wish they had "Depends" back then, would have saved a lot of grief!

Anyway good luck to you and you son, I know how hard it is and how much you worry about his future but he'll get through it. My daughter tends to spend the night with friends now where before she felt self conscience of it. She's had a few sleepovers prior to where she was in high school and practically gave her little friends a heart attack! So anyway he'll get through it and I bet better for it! Take care brandyII.

deerslayer · Post by **deerslayer** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:03 pm

taped it after your heads up,thanks ....seeing problems of other folks always makes me feel that much more thankful

yorkiemum01 · Post by **yorkiemum01** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:22 pm

Hey BrandiII,
Havent seen it yet, as it airs at 9pm here. The last RX was son was
using was Zyprexa, but he's been taken off of that a while ago due to
kidney failure results in patient history useage. (It was also $300 a month, which was a huge price gouge in my opinion). I chose in 2005 to look into
a more natural route for him, and with the help of my physician, he's currently taking Lexapro (yes, thats RX), melatonin, and a benedryl at night, which has thankfully reduced his episodes to less than 4 a month. (Believe it or not, thats a tremendous improvement over years past, where he'd have 4-5 episodes a night!) One thing that always fascinated me is he NEVER, not ONCE remembered an occurance or event during the sleep terrors. He's improving, and for that, I'm grateful. I give him alot of credit, as with he's always maintained good grades, and gets up for school (5AM) very well. And yes, I still count my blessings, as its not a terminal disorder/disease. For that..I praise the Lord!

yorkiemum01 · Post by **yorkiemum01** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:30 pm

and P.S. BrandiII...Love your avatar..but especially love the fact you
took in pets that NEEDED a home. Thank you for opening your heart, and your home to them.

brandyII · Post by **brandyII** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:33 pm

yorkiemum01,

Wow, that was a lot of money. My God I didn't realize he had them that often, poor thing. I know even if he doesn't remember them you know it has to take a toll somewhere. Well we know it does on you of course. I'm glad this formula seems to be working for him now and reducing the amount of n. terrors he's having. I'm familiar with Lexapro but not melatonin. Does the benedryl make him sleepy?

The show is worth watching, I just wish it had given more info on what to do. Maybe I should go to Oprah's website and see if there's anything to direct me to that doctor. My daughter also watched and could relate to the two women in the audience who had the same types she did. I don't want to "spoil" it for you but watch it and see what you think. I guess I always want to fix the problem and didn't feel like I got the tools from that show. But maybe a sleep study, if she'd do it which so far she won't.

It is amazing I don't remember my daughter's night terror's ever affecting her during the day either but she never had as many as your son has.

She's a very remarkable girl and I'm sure your son is a remarkable boy so maybe it's just happens to those kinds of people.

Anyway best to you and your son, brandyII.

brandyII · Post by **brandyII** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:38 pm

yorkiemum01,

Thanks for the nice note about my dogs. For some reason when you adopt/rescue a dog they seem to be much more affectionate dogs. These two do have some issues due to the fact that they came from bad situations, especially the one from Puerto Rico, they call them "satos" there, but they are very loving dogs to us!, thanks, brandyII.

luckylinda · Post by **luckylinda** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:41 pm

I am very interested in this topic of night terrors.

My oldest daughter began having them at 9 months old. She would scream in the middle of the night and could not be consoled. That feeling of her looking at us, but not really seeing us was so frightening! I almost took her to the hospital, but my more calm husband insisted that I was over reacting. She finally stopped crying and was fine in the morning. As these continued on an infrequent basis, I noticed that when she was over tired, she would have a night terror that night. She was a kid who could never skip her nap, or we would pay for it! Once I became almost obsessive about regular nap and bedtimes, the night terrors disappeared. She is 27 now and no longer has them.

My younger daughter used to do quite a bit of sleepwalking. We have a small three bedroom ranch house and there was one night when I could not find her. It totally freaked me out when I heard a slight noise and found her sound asleep under her bed! It was a trundle bed and there was barely room for her to crawl underneath it.

In our case, I could always associate night terrors and sleepwalking with being over tired. I now realize how lucky we were that nothing more serious developed.

yorkiemum01 · Post by **yorkiemum01** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:45 pm

Thank you for your kind words.
Believe it or not, we're both doing better. Seems with age, his symptoms are much less severe. Also, I never associated my 'snoring' with anything more than chronic exhaustion from dealing with a high maintenance child during the sleeping hours, sleeping on 'the edge', so to speak. My oldest son commented he is sleeping much more fitfully..in college, LOL.
Now that we're all getting a better nights sleep, even with the Teen years here, ,we're coping well together. I'm certainly a more patient parent, and I'm sure ANY teen would appreciate that.

Machine	Mask

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