Parasomnia Or Nocturnal Epilepsy? Posted: 02-26-07 19:07pm
I have some quite disturbing episodes in
the night. I wake up with a massive jolt
(usually an hour or two after going to
sleep) and feel violently sick
immediately. I normally try to make it to
the bathroom incase I am ill but often
don't make it as have to lay on the floor
due to feeling so unwell and unsteady and
my head so heavy. My whole body is buzzing
inside (almost like a strong electrical
current in my arms and legs), I feel
incredibly hot inside but my outside body
is cold (but sweat will be dripping down
my neck), my body makes all the motions to
be sick (not dry retching, just throat
convulsing upwards) but I never have been
sick. My breathing isn't abnormally fast.
I normally just lay on the floor and try
to keep as calm as possible until symptoms
past. I feel very disorientated during
this time and think I lose vision/have
disconnected thoughts. I sometimes have
lost consciousness as the buzzing gets
worse (have woken up down the side of the
toilet with bruised head). Then I come
round a few minutes later. I'm very grey
but the symptoms have totally gone (no
nausea, no buzzing, I’m totally with it,
like total calm after the storm) and I so
I just go back to bed to sleep (if I’ve
made a mess on the floor, spilt water, I
just clear it all up and am totally
‘operational’) but I will feel
shattered the next day. I have lost
consciousness on occasions and woken up on
the floor, and friends have witnessed me
shaking, heard my head banging against the
door or heard growling like
sounds/struggling to breath sounds. Often
the day leading up to the bad night I will
feel hypersensitive physically and have a
very bad headache. The 'episodes' are
often near the end of my menstrual cycle.
I had a five day/night sleep study but
didn't have a full on episode in that time
- the hospital diagnosed parasomnia but I
do feel there is more to it than that. On
a normal night without such symptoms, I
will still wake up with scratches on my
face and top body, and family have told me
that my arms literally attack myself even
though my face looks in peaceful sleep. I
think I bite my tongue as sometimes wake
up with blood in my mouth (but never sure
this is just from my gums). Its hard to
know how often I have disturbed nights as
I live on my own. Any views? I'm sure it
affects my daytime health more than I
realise and worry it will worsen if I get
pregnant/damage my baby.