Night terrors?!

Night terrors?

i am 13 and have experienced night terrors ever since i was in 2nd grade. Over the past year they have become more extreme. I have a reacuring one where I am about to die. I can never remember why but it feels like my tonuge gets a weird taste in my mouth. Everything seems to be going way too fast and the whole time I am thinking "why am I doing this". I am half awake and I am aware of my surroundings but have no control over my body. Last night I remember thinking I was going to die, and I actualy got out of my bed, walked out into my living room and started pacing around the room scared out of my mind, feeling like I was going to die. The next thing I remember was me sitting on our couch at 4:15 am wondering what just happened. This has happened before where I also went into our living room pacing around yeling for people to save me because I had a feeling that everything in the room as going to come at me. Will i grow out of having these dreams? I have had about 10 of
these dreams

4 weeks ago
my parent know about it. They have always known abnout them. My younger sister who is 7 experiences them too but not as extreme.

can i just say, first off, that night terrors are not necessarily a sign of mental illness. mentally ill people may suffer from night terrors but people who suffer from night terrors are generally not mentally ill.


i am in my thirties and have suffered night terrors and sleep walking since chilhood. like you, i found them intensifying around my early teens.

the fear induced by these is pure, unadulterated; it leaves you confused, on edge, vulnerable. i am usually in bed, just drifting off to sleep when i'm awake and alert and there is something sinister going on.... it starts as a vague uneasiness, i'm not sure, but feeling bad about something...

then it's maybe a shape, hunkered in the corner, or threatening whispers from outside the bedroom door and i am panicking, sitting up, screaming my head off. it scares the 5hit out of your partner.....

sometimes, you can't scream or do anything and your body is paralysed....

anyway, i suffered intermittently all through my teens and early twenties, more so if i was under exam or family or relationship pressures....

then into my twenties they tailed off. not completely, i still get the occasional one. you do tend to learn mechanisms for coping, but every once in a while you get one that is as scary as ever.

there is lots of information available on the net. if i get time, i'll search some stuff out for you and give you some links.

you are not alone with this, many people - men and women suffer with this - as do their families. it is wise to find ways to be able to laugh about it if you can.

good luck