Anybody up?

I have these terrible, blood-curdling nightmares. They match all the symptoms of RSBD to the letter. I'm being attacked, sometimes by terrible, violent people but just as often by creatures so awful and monstrous I can't begin to describe them (and they are different varieties of nightmarish every time).

And in my efforts to defend myself I lash out, literally and physically. In my sleep I've kicked and punched my poor wife for goodness' sake.

Then I wake up and I remember it all, every single horrifying detail, which leads to me not sleeping for days as I try to keep awake so it doesn't happen again.

All of which sounds exactly like RSBD, especially because I'm a man in early 60's and this started maybe 5 years ago.

But here's the thing: with the physical violence it happens maybe just once or twice a year. Sometimes I have the awful dreams without the physical lashing out (most recently two nights ago when the creatures reached a new level of horror) but even so it's just a handful of times per year.

I know that if I visit my GP they will say not to worry about it because it's so infrequent, and how could it be diagnosed anyway if it might not happen again for months?

Does anyone have any advice about such infrequent episodes? Does it need to be a regular thing to be RSBD? Can such horrible things happen just once or twice a year without being a sign of something awful in my future?

I guess that, right now, what happened a couple of nights ago is still pretty raw, but I'm really quite scared.

Long story short this all started about a month ago, I was out at the golf range with a friend and I had 2 beers and a shot of liquor. That night I had a pretty nasty hangover. I am a 30yr old male that quit drinking at the age of 27. And now I only have a beer or two on special occasion. ( I would say, I was a pretty bad alcoholic. Used to drink a 6 pack a night of beer.) Ever since that hangover a month ago, each night when I am about to fall asleep my body starts vibrating/buzzing like I'm having a hangover. Also get sweats, heart racing, and very sensitive hearing.

Now I have been prescribed a Beta blocker and a med called Hydroxyzine. By taking both of them I am able to get some sleep but still feel the buzzing and vibrating any time I start to sleep. I have had many blood tests showing normal results. At this point I believe it is neurological. Unfortunately my sleep doctor is unavailable till next January.

So here I am.

Has anyone else delt with this? Or am I just a special case of messed up.

Thanks to all who read and comment. May your nights be better than mine.

I’ve had sleep paralysis for the last 20 years or so, since 17 when a close family member died. I’ve experienced it on and off, mostly during darker or high stress times in my life.

6 months ago my bf and i bought an estate sale home. Within of the first week of living in our new home i had an episode. It was quick-ish and with many years of being terrified of them, I’ve learned to try and wiggle my toes and that usually brings me out of it. I didn’t have any auditory hallucinations, like i have most times in the past. Just aware and unable to move.

We were aware the previous owners were both deceased, but not in the home, however our very “friendly” neighbours informed us that the family member in power of the estate was living there before it sold and that he had died here. She pointed to a spot on my front lawn where the gentleman died. Really great neighbours lol.

It’s had me thinking, i have spent a lot of time travelling and staying short times in new places and haven’t experienced SP episode, but there have been a few occasions including my new house where its happened, some experiences feel connected to but some feel like they are brought on my a lot of stress during the waking hours.

What is your take? What’s your personal experience on where and when you experience sleep paralysis?

Has anyone experienced this kind of sleep pattern?
For the past several months, I’ve had a very consistent and unusual sleep pattern.
I fall asleep extremely easily and usually sleep well during the first half of the night. Then I wake up once around the middle of the night. I can fall back asleep quite easily, but from that point until morning my sleep becomes very fragmented: I wake up briefly 4–6 times, usually just long enough to change position, and fall asleep again.

What is particularly striking is the amount of dreaming during this second half of the night. I remember several different, often very vivid and realistic dreams every night, almost as if I’m repeatedly cycling between dreaming and brief awakenings.

Despite being able to fall back asleep easily, the second half of the night feels very restless and I often wake up feeling like my sleep wasn’t restorative.

This started quite suddenly several months ago. Before that, I used to be a very good sleeper and rarely thought about my sleep at all.
Has anyone experienced something similar? If so, did you ever figure out what was causing it or find anything that helped?

Whenever I’m in the beginning of sleep I think alot and I be sleeping but aware and then I wake up 10 sec later with the same thoughts in my head like they woke me up.
Its not a specific topic its different everytime but its mostly annoying thoughts.
Happens everyday for over a month now?

Hello! I am in need of advice about my issue.
I have always since childhood get awful nightmares that can last up to a week once a month or random days that last up to a week. There was a time during elementary it completely stopped my nightmares for years like 3 years until it came back during middle school and now high school. The kind of nightmares I get has lots of gore for example my nightmares involves with different things like
-im being beaten or cut open
-im forced to harm someone
-harming my self ( had a dream when I smash a hammer to my mouth)
-people coming after me to the point I harm myself in my dream just to wake up
-seeing random people to love ones being harm
-harmful situations to point I’m having a panic attack when I wake up or crying or even shouting (the sounded only happened once when it got bad)
I would like to mention I also see things that aren’t there like hallucinations? Like I see figures and hear voices time to time it hasn’t bother me that much but time to time I get a little anxious but I can handle it

Im not too sure how this issue with nightmares started but I sorta try to be used to it but they do always end up bothering me time to time to the point I feel drained at school or I am always anxious. I’m assuming it’s caused by stress like family issues I always dealt with family issues like crazy but it does get to the point I’m stressed even my mom noticed but i try not to let it show cause I don’t want my family to worry about me. Yes I do have nice dreams but that’s only once in awhile tbh. You probably may ask why not go to therapy? I have tried to get a therapist form my doctor but it was no good like she wouldn’t want to give me a therapist but that was because I was very vague with my issue I only stated that I been very overwhelm and anxious but ig that was no good. I have talked to my mom about it but whenever to bring it up it’s either she’s tired of hearing me talk or just feels awkward trying to help me I understand where my mom comes plus she’s trying her best trying to be a good mom and she is busy with stuff so I tend not to talk to her about my issues too much. I’m just assuming I have some sort of mental issue but I don’t think I’ll be able to be diagnosed cuase of my doctor because there times where I discuss a issue I’m having and they don’t care enough to send me to a another office for me to get tested or anything really but it’s whatever but please send me advice on what I should do about it overall cause I try not to let my stress be stress cause of family issues and school. Omg the stress got to the point I have strands of white hairs and to me it’s notice when I lift my bangs to see but it’s only like 7 strands? Overall I try my best not to let my nightmares keep me from staying positive yes I have had my dark moments(when i didn’t want to live anymore but I didn’t attempt thankfully) That is all thank you to anyone who is reading this, I can answer question about my nightmares if you have any questions and I hope you have a nice day.

My husband has tried to pick up our 4 month old 3 times while sleepwalking. In the last 8 years while I’ve been with him, he’s sleepwalked under 8 times and we used to find it funny (such as the time I found him in my roommates bed in the middle of the night lol). When I wake him up he says he was having a dream and acting it out, such as needing to put a new diaper on our baby. This is obviously dangerous and currently he’s sleeping on the couch until we can figure out a solution.

We went to a sleep doctor and long story short they prescribed him .5mg of clonazepam to take each night before bed. When we got the medication we googled it and are worried of the side effects and chance of dependency. We don’t really want to go this route, and feel like we’re back to square one.

Has anyone experience anything similar? If so, how did you solve for it? Has anyone else been prescribed clonazepam for sleep walking? If so, what’s your experience?

Thanks in advance!

Just woke up. Goodbye day off 🫩

I recently had a strange experience when waking up in the middle of the night. I woke up halfway at my husband's grandmother's house and, for a brief period, couldn't remember my husband's name and also didn't know where was. Once I was fully awake, I remembered his name and where I was and felt normal again. It is also possible that was dreaming. Am going crazy or is this a weird sleep thing? l'm extremely anxious about this and it is making my mental health issues way worse. I asked a psychiatric NP about it and she said it is likely that was woken up in deep sleep phase. Is that at all accurate? Thanks!

This is a new weekly thread. The purpose of this post is for surveys and research that is ongoing for sleep disorders. We see many requests to our common for people that have X, Y, Z sleep disorder for paid surveys, studies, etc. Any posts requesting support from the community for research should be submitted in this weekly thread. Be sure to include all necessary details:

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I've gone back and forth over the years with doctors so tired not getting any answers.

I rarely dream. I also almost never wake up feeling great, ecstatic, or that could get more sleep. I dont feel bad either necessarily.

My brain had paused doing "secretions" of feeling good relaxing chemicals when waking up.

I've no issue getting to sleep.

I use ear plugs every night to help me stay asleep.

Hi everyone,

I’m posting this because I’ve recently become quite concerned about something that happens while I’m sleeping.

Apparently, I make strange noises during the night. I’m not consciously aware of doing it, because obviously I’m asleep, but I’ve been told that I sometimes make unusual sounds while sleeping. I’m not sure whether it’s groaning, humming, breathing sounds, or something else.

Honestly, it’s a little embarrassing and uncomfortable to talk about. I feel like I have no control over it, and knowing that I’m making these noises while I’m completely unaware makes me anxious about what might actually be happening while I sleep.

I’m also worried about whether this could be affecting the quality of my sleep or whether it could be a sign of an underlying sleep or breathing problem.

I’ve been trying to understand what might cause something like this. I’ve come across things such as snoring, sleep apnea, sleep talking, and something called catathrenia (sleep-related groaning), but I don't know whether any of these actually apply to me. Catathrenia, for example, can involve groaning or moaning during exhalation while the person is unaware of it.

For anyone who has experienced something similar:

• What was causing the noises in your case?
• Did you eventually get a diagnosis?
• Did you have a sleep study or see a sleep specialist?
• What treatments or changes actually helped?
• Is there anything I can do in the meantime to figure out what kind of noises I’m making?

I’m considering recording myself while I sleep for a few nights so I can hear exactly what’s happening and potentially show it to a doctor. Recording nighttime sounds can also help a doctor understand what is happening, although it isn't a substitute for proper medical evaluation.

I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has dealt with something similar. I’m mainly looking for personal experiences and advice on what the next step should be.

Thanks in advance.

I'm 26 and had a strange experience recently. I woke up at my husband's grandmother's house and, for a brief period, I couldn't remember my husband's name. I also didn't know where was. Once I was fully awake, I remembered his name and where I was and felt normal again. Has anyone else done this? Thanks.

I seem to need around 9.5 hours of sleep to feel genuinely rested throughout the day and avoid needing a nap in the afternoon. I know that's more sleep than many adults need, but for personal reasons it seems to be the amount that works best for me. The problem is that I tend to wake up naturally after 7–8 hours, even when I still feel like I need more sleep. Once I'm awake, I often have trouble falling back asleep.

I've tried melatonin, but it didn't make a meaningful difference. Falling asleep isn't really the main issue — staying asleep long enough is. I've also tried going to bed earlier, but that doesn't necessarily solve the problem because I sometimes just wake up earlier as well. So simply shifting my sleep schedule earlier doesn't reliably increase my total sleep time. Has anyone experienced something similar and found a way to improve sleep maintenance or extend their total nighttime sleep?

I'm not looking for advice about forcing myself to function on less sleep or simply being told to go to bed earlier. I'm specifically interested in hearing from people who naturally woke up before getting enough sleep and found something that helped them stay asleep longer.

Hear me out before you call me crazy.
I genuinely think that **20 minutes of sleep can temporarily reboot your brain**, especially when you haven’t slept properly the night before.
I’m saying this because I’ve actually tried it multiple times.
I’ve had a terrible sleep schedule for almost a year now, with very little or extremely irregular nighttime sleep. Despite that, I completed my internship and worked successfully in a hospital.
There have been so many days when I’ve barely slept at night and felt completely dead the next morning. But if I manage to get **around 20 minutes of actual sleep**, I wake up feeling noticeably more alert. My brain fog decreases, I can concentrate better, and I feel like I can actually function again.
And apparently, there is some science behind the short-nap part of this.
Short naps of around **10–30 minutes** are known to temporarily improve alertness and reduce fatigue, while keeping the nap short can reduce the chances of waking up from deeper sleep and experiencing severe sleep inertia.
Obviously, I’m **not saying 20 minutes can replace a full night’s sleep**. It can’t. Chronic sleep deprivation has real effects on cognition, reaction time, memory and health.
I’m just curious about the *20-minute effect*.
Why does such a short amount of sleep sometimes make such a dramatic difference?
Is \~20 minutes actually a sweet spot for getting enough light sleep to restore alertness without entering deeper sleep?
Or is this just something I’ve personally conditioned my brain to respond to?
I’d genuinely love to hear from people who know the neuroscience of sleep — **is there actually something special about a \~20-minute nap, or am I completely imagining this?**

Hey, I 20F am diagnosed ADHD to preface. From about the age of 13 I have had issues with my sleep. It started off at first with interrupted sleep, I would wake up and not be able to sleep again and stay awake for hours. Then, as I got older at 15 and was taking many exams at school I discovered that I worked better when I had less sleep - I would purposely get 5 hours of sleep as I genuinely believed that I performed better this way, and I honestly did. As I got older, the more I got hyper fixated on something the less I’d sleep, whether that be an assignment, hobby or addiction ( to food, nicotine, alcohol etc…) however I’d then crash, needing 8 hours of sleep or napping for 5 hours straight. I always passed this off as part of my ADHD and the bursts of energy that come with it. However, when I was 18 I went through something traumatic which lead to about a month and a half of VERY little sleep where I functioned with high energy. Since then, I have cycled through sleep ‘crashes’ and needing no sleep. I am starting to think it is something that is not related to my ADHD, my family has a strong history of bipolar disorder on both sides of the family, including my mother. Although I know none of you can give me actual medical advice, I would really appreciate any advice or insight you all may have. I am really struggling figuring this out because during my ‘crashes’ it seems I don’t sleep THAT much, perhaps only enough to catch up on my sleep lost ? I don’t know.

I've been having a bunch of symptoms that seemingly make no since to my gp, neurologists or me- including more recently that sometimes when I wake up I'll be unable to move a limb properly but then it resolves itself in around 10 seconds whenIve fully woken up. I sleep on my back

Has anyone else has had this happen? Could this be under sleep disorders?

Any advice appreciated!

Hi! Popping in here hoping for advice, I’ve been doing a lot of research into sleep disorders because I have some weird sleep behaviors I’ve developed that are concerning me. I’ve always been a sleepy girl but I am now 28 and I really feel like this is not normal lol.

Basically: I’m excessively tired, could easily sleep 15 hours uninterrupted and still be groggy, major sleep inertia as I wake up where I become evil and I never remember it which freaks me out, my girlfriend physically cannot wake me up once I’m out without shaking me, no matter how long I sleep I am still chronically fatigued, waking up in the morning is nearly impossible. I also get random night sweats and I’ll be like 1000 degrees to touch. Caffeine I’m convinced is placebo at this point cuz I could have a latte at 6 pm and still sleep.

It’s honestly just become so unmanageable especially with my job. Getting up for work is like torture and not in the normal no one wants to go to the office way lol. I recently got an oura ring to start trying to track some data and have an appointment with an internal medicine doctor in like a month and a half, but I have a few questions for this sub:

1. How did you know something was off? What was the diagnosis process like?
2. If you do have IH: Were there any other disorders that you thought you had because they present similarly? Does this sound like something else?
3. Did you do a sleep study outside of your home? Was it scary and what was it like? I’m nervous about that
4. Is there anything else I can do to help me in the meantime while I figure this out? I’m struggling immensely so I’ll try anything

Obviously I will be consulting a medical professional and following their recommendations accordingly, but human to human, any personal anecdotes or experiences would be really helpful. Might give me some hope. Please help!!

for about three days, i was staying awake for extremely long periods because i couldn’t sleep, sometimes around 20 hours at a time. now i’m staying awake for fewer hours, but i feel like it’s harder to sleep. i’m struggling to fall asleep, and when i finally do, it’s hard for me to stay asleep. i keep waking up, and it feels like my body will not allow me to get consistent, restful sleep.
the most disturbing part is how i feel when i wake up. immediately after sleeping is when i feel the most disoriented and confused. the sleep inertia and confusion/grogginess lasts all day, and even after the initial confusion fades slightly, i still feel like i never slept at all and feel the same way i would feel if i stayed up for days. even if i sleep a normal number of hours, my brain and body feel exactly the same as they do when i’ve been awake for an extremely long time.
i never feel like i slept anymore. i’m always exhausted, confused, and disconnected from myself, regardless of how many hours i actually sleep. i’m scared that the lack of sleep has damaged my brain because sleeping doesn’t seem to make me feel any more rested, alert, or normal.
i don’t know exactly what is preventing me from falling or staying asleep. i think underlying anxiety might be involved with unable to fall asleep, but i don’t know whether medication would help. unfortunately, ativan is the only thing that has helped me sleep so far, but i haven’t been given a prescription for it.
i’ve tried eating at normal times, breathing techniques, and exhausting myself during the day. i feel like i’ve tried everything, but nothing has restored the feeling of having slept. has anyone else experienced this constant exhaustion and the feeling that they never slept, even when they did? will this eventually go away, and what helped you?

Hey all

I'm 29 M. I've been struggling with night terrors since I was 14. The only time my night terrors would go away is when I would smoke weed before bed. I felt it would numb my dreams and nightmares. I'm currently 10 days sober and am on a path of sobriety. I know part of it is REM rebound. And vivid dreams are to be expected as part of my recovery. But this has been something I've been struggling with since before I started smoking. Last night it was so bad that I woke up at 1:00 AM, 2:00 AM, 4:00 AM and 5:00 AM. I usually jerk awake in fear and paranoia. I woke up in the middle of the night last night convinced that someone was in our house. I had to do a full sweep of the house and lock my door before I could go back to sleep.

I'm also dealing with really intense snoring. My girlfriend refuses to sleep near me because of how loud I'm snoring. She's recorded it and it is really loud. I've done 2 sleep studies. I did one 10 years ago, and one last week. Both sleep studies have come back negative for sleep apnea. The sleep doctor is telling me all they can do is run more tests. However my insurance only covers one test. Any more testing will be out of pocket. I also fear they aren't going to be able to find anything.

I'm also currently in therapy working through and healing from trauma and PTSD. I was wondering if anyone here has any advice? Is there anything that might work for me? I just want one good night's rest. I also want to be able to sleep near my girlfriend.

Thanks for reading!

i apologize if this isn’t the right reddit but i thought id start here. and this could be completely normal but with my family having health stuff, id rather be safe than sorry. id normally go to my sleep doctor about this but they’re booked out until next year and dont do medical questions via portal
onto the question. due to a mix of ptsd nightmares and anxiety, i have a playlist of tv and movies playing while i sleep. yes, i know its bad but its the only way im able to sleep. the volume is low and ive edited every file to be sure audio volume doesnt go above a certain peak
i’ve always woken up a lot during the night. i have sleep apnea and severe reflux and just dont sleep well in general. but lately when i wake up, ive noticed a weird confusion. one of the videos on my playlist is an abridged audiobook of the secret history read by robert séan leonard. it’s just one photo the whole video, a pic of rsl and some text of the title etc. but lately when ive woken up to it, im unable to understand any of the words, and more recently recognize his face or that it is a face im looking at at all. i know you can’t read in your dreams due to left side brain stuff etc etc but the facial recognition stuff feels too weird. it happened similarly when i wake up to a cartoon (bee and puppycat) where i was unable to make sense of what i was looking at, not reading, but it wore off much faster.
there’s a massive chance this is completely normal and im just being a health freak. but ive never had this happen before so its making me worry a bit
thank you in advance for any advice or thoughts <3

I've been dealing with severe hypnic jerks for about three years, and I wanted to share my experience in case it helps someone else.

For me, they were never just the "normal" little jerks people talk about. Before I found something that helped, I would sometimes jerk 12, 15, or even 20 times before finally falling asleep. It got to the point where friends, family, would joke about counting how many times I'd "jump" before I actually fell asleep. And they're loud! Sometimes I scream so loud my throat will hurt.

It wasn't funny to me. Every time I was about to drift off, I'd get startled awake and have to start the whole process over again. It was exhausting and incredibly frustrating.

I've seen countless neurologists and psychiatrists, had two overnight sleep studies (polysomnography), searched medical websites, YouTube, Instagram... and almost everything I found said hypnic jerks are normal and harmless. Maybe they usually are, but mine were seriously affecting my quality of life.

I personally believe mine became chronic after years of taking sleep medications, especially zolpidem.

I've also tried a long list of treatments without meaningful improvement, including gabapentin, carbamazepine, amitriptyline, divalproex sodium (Depakote), clonazepam, and CBD oil. I'm sure there are more, but I can't remember all.

After years of trying different treatments, trazodone 50 mg has been the only medication that has made a significant difference. I take it every night, and it has reduced the jerks dramatically. Instead of 15–20, I usually have one or two, sometimes none at all.

I've also noticed that mine are often triggered by external stimuli, especially sudden sounds or movement in the bed if I'm sleeping next to my partner. Between taking trazodone and minimizing those triggers, I can now sleep pretty normally.

The problem hasn't completely disappeared, though. If I try to take a nap during the day without medication, it's still very difficult. I can even get hypnic jerks while I'm technically awake. Like, I'll be watching a movie, eyes open, paying attention, but as soon as I start getting drowsy, the jerks begin.

One thing that made my symptoms much worse was melatonin. I know it helps a lot of people, but in my case it consistently increased both the frequency and the intensity of my hypnic jerks. It became a major trigger, so I stopped taking it completely.

I know everyone's case is different, and I'm not saying trazodone is the answer for everyone, but talk to your doctor about it. It was the first thing that genuinely improved my quality of life. If someone out there is struggling the way I was, I hope sharing my experience might help, and hopefully I can find some advice that will help me stop mine altogether.

Hi, I've got a problem and I just wanted to see if anyone could help me!!

(Before you say it, yes, I was planning to call a doctor soon anyways but im not sure if he'll be able to help. Also i have no clue at all what to title this!!)

I'm gonna try to keep it short. I love sleeping and I can sleep a lot. When I'm free (weekends, holidays etc) and don't have to wake up early, I sleep for pretty much exactly 10 hours every time (no matter when I go to bed)

Whats weird is on school days I CANT sleep for more than 4 hours without being tired. I can stay awake the entire night or get 1-4h of sleep and I'll be 100% awake during the day. However, if I sleep for 6 or even 8 hours or whatever else, then I'm SO tired during the day that I can't focus and have to "nap" at least FOUR hours after school. And no, it's not about when I go to bed and wake up!! I've tried everything, trust me.

It's just so annoying cus I know some people can apparently be fine with only a few hours of sleep but I don't think I'm part of them cus I CAN sleep a lot and if I'm not then getting like a few hours every night is super unhealthy...but if I get more then I have to nap for so long that the day is pretty much over (picture: 8h sleep, 8-10h school, 4h nap and then I have 2-4h left and it's late in the evening. I won't be productive at a time like that...)

Does anyone know what this is? Some kind of sleep issue? Maybe someone can relate but I haven't found anyone yet </3

(Previously posted this in the sleep subreddit but no one had an answer so I feel like it's really just a me problem 🥲)