Nightmares? Fear of Sleep?

[Roderick Usher]

I just lisetened to a erally interesting and odd episode of "This American Life" on NPR and it was all about people who fear sleep.

One complained about being scarred by having walked in on friend's parents having sex (and not understanding it) while attending a sleepover. Another confronted his own father about letting him watch THE SHINING with him late at night when he was six years old.

***SIDE NOTE***
Personally I don't know why either of these things would upset any but the most repressed personalities. My own children know about sex and death and the difference between fantasy & reality and they love watching horror movies with me with no ill effects.
******

I tend to have nightmares maybe a half dozen times a year, but being a writer, I appreciate them (after the fact) as a wonderful tool, so I wouldn't consider a problem.

How about all of you?

Nightmares?

Fear of sleep?

[_____V_____]

Other than the occasional once-in-a-full-moon one about big, hairy raging beasts ripping human flesh apart and loud howling...

...none.

I sleep like a log, and through bombs exploding. Maybe its because my whole day makes me tired as heck by the time I hit the pillows.

Most of the nights its a long, dreamless sleep.
And most of the days are nightmares...

[bwind22]

I smoke too much and never remember my dreams, good or bad. *shrug*

[jenna26]

I have awful and VERY vivid nightmares regularly, and no I don't sleep well. I stay tired, but kind of used to it, I just don't like to sleep much, though I am a little better about it now. Usually I sleep better for an hour or two nap than I do at night, and often during the night I find myself waking up every hour or so. I talk and cry in my sleep, sometimes scream (and the first time this happened while living here, it completely freaked my husband out...LOL...because apparently I was babbling pretty incoherently and he couldn't actually tell it was ME for a minute).

I write as well, and it has helped with a story or two....but I can't say I appreciate them. This has been REALLY bad for me at times. And I'm pretty sure why I have them and it isn't because of horror movies :p, but can't really see that I can do anything about it. And I tend to shy away from taking sleeping pills.

[Doc Faustus]

I have nightmares all the time. Right before going to sleep, I always get these terrifying images that I have to fight off to get to sleep completely. Used to have Night Terrors too, but not so much anymore.

[cheebacheeba]

The acid reflux related choking thing is something I'm constantly concerned about...I mean it doesn't stop me sleeping, but I just know it'll happen again at some point.

[urgeok2]

i cant consider my dreams to be nightmares ... even when they are 'scary' i think they are like movies - pretty cool.

i did go through a bout of fearing sleep a while back ... i was getting acid in my throat - plus i was going through the 'dealing with mortality' thing ...


but since i'bve gone back to playing volleyball - getting back in shape - i'm to damn exhausted and distracted to do anything other than sleep like a rock recently.

[Kemal]

Nightmares aren't that bad. Night terrors are worse... for me anyway, when I know I'm dreaming and there's nothing specific or identifiable I'm scared of, but an intense sensation of fear that something intelligent and malignant is near me, something amorphous and without form but somehow real.

Well, those and the zuni doll from trilogy of terror. That thing fucked me up for life.

[cheebacheeba]

Hey Kemal
http://www.yameen-shmal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/lil-wayne-totally-looks-like-trilogy-of-terror-zuni-doll.jpg

[novakru]

I had a series of zombie dreams beginning 6 months ago and they became worse and worse.
I had a harder and harder time fighting them off every time.
The last one I had was 3 weeks ago and the zombies finally caught me and ate me.
Haven't had another one since.

My friend told me it wasn't about zombies at all but the way I have completely lost who I was in marriage so now that the zombies ate me, I can have a "rebirth".

Whatever, it sure as shit FELT real having my flesh devoured.
But while all that was going on, I HATED sleeping.

[Freak]

I can't remember the last time I had a nightmare.Hell I can't even remember the last time I had a dream.

[HostelSaw]

I dont have nughtmares at all. I will however spook myself after a good horror movie, I dont know why I do it but I do. lol

[roshiq]

I have awful and VERY vivid nightmares regularly, and no I don't sleep well. I stay tired, but kind of used to it, I just don't like to sleep much, though I am a little better about it now. Usually I sleep better for an hour or two nap than I do at night, and often during the night I find myself waking up every hour or so. I talk and cry in my sleep, sometimes scream (and the first time this happened while living here, it completely freaked my husband out...LOL...because apparently I was babbling pretty incoherently and he couldn't actually tell it was ME for a minute).


you just reminded me my grandma...she used to talks in her sleep too and I can't forget...once she was sleeping & start babbling, I get close to her to hear clearly what she was actually saying and then...suddenly she slapped me!!! and she slapped me hard! Later she told us that in her dream she saw some kids were trying to steal the cattle from the farm & she ran over & caught them one and starts slapping the kid...!:mad:

Anyway, whether in a simple dream or nightmare, sometimes (rarely) I do a funny thing...."to let know others in the dreams/nightmares that it's just a dream or nightmare, nothing to get so worried about..." And then the other characters reacts very strangely...like it seems they begin to feeling quite uncomfortable or hate to be with me...pretty funny experience.:)

[ferretchucker]

I rarely have nightmares or trouble getting to sleep and any trouble I do have isn't out of fear. Usually it's too hot.


Those things you described, Rod wouldn't scare me or anyone I know.

[urgeok2]

i actually had a dream last night .... i couldnt find my camera bag ... i'd left it somewhere and someone took it ...

now THAT was a nightmare

[Roderick Usher]

most of my dreams are simple "frustration with life" dreams. bad traffic, running late for things, arguments with producers, etc

but as of late, my dreams have been really vivid and typically quite funny

[crabapple]

I just dreamed that I ran over two squirrels--one bright pink and the other bright purple.

[missmacabre]

I usually just repeat the same nightmares I had as a kid over and over again. I'm either stuck in a haunted house, being chased around a really old house with lots of secret passage ways. I always get lost, and I grow older in my dream as I get older irl but the scenario stays the same and I'm just as scared as if I were still 10. Most of the time I have to protect my little brother in these dreams too.

Some of the ones I find most disturbing are one where I am in my old church but everything is different and something is very wrong on some profound level. I start out in a Sunday School classroom, when I get the feeling that something isn't right about religion, and I run away through these secret passages to get to the top of the building to confront God about it (cause you know... God is up. This is dream logic) but when I get there I am terrified and always wake up. I've been having this dream as long as I can remember but I know if must have started when I was about 7 and I looked at a picture of Jesus on the wall and asked how we knew he had blonde hair and the like. I got kicked out of Sunday school class more or less for not just believing everything I was fed.

I have other dreams that actually scare me so much, where I am being chased through a winding, confusing sub division. All of a sudden I realize where I am and I cross the street to see this old, run down hotel. It's fenced in with one of those wire fences, and there is an empty pool outside. As I go in, it's like I step into the past. It's the 70s now, and people are in this resort running around and getting ready to play tennis. I'm whisked away to a girls change room to get my bathing suit on but everyone is staring at me and I feel uncomfortable. I remember every detail of this dream. The macrame plant holders, the hems on people's clothing, even colours (and I don't know if you can even dream in colour). It's the mix of the detail, and the fact that I have this dream only when I notice I gain a bit of weight that makes this nightmare so bad.

[Doc Faustus]

Anybody else have dreams where you know a particular perfectly innocuous object is the scariest/worst thing on earth for some reason? Like there's a pencil sitting on a table and for some reason it's absolutely horrifying?

[urgeok2]

Anybody else have dreams where you know a particular perfectly innocuous object is the scariest/worst thing on earth for some reason? Like there's a pencil sitting on a table and for some reason it's absolutely horrifying?



never ...


most of my dark dreams are of armageddon .. 3rd world war etc .. in particular there are huge airships hovering overhead.

the airplane crash in Knowing had the same feeling as some of my dreams

[jenna26]

you just reminded me my grandma...she used to talks in her sleep too and I can't forget...once she was sleeping & start babbling, I get close to her to hear clearly what she was actually saying and then...suddenly she slapped me!!! and she slapped me hard! Later she told us that in her dream she saw some kids were trying to steal the cattle from the farm & she ran over & caught them one and starts slapping the kid...!:mad:


Wow.....I haven't hit, or slapped anyone....yet....:o But I have hurt myself on rare occasions.

Anyone else here ever experience sleep paralysis? Happened to me once, and I didn't know anything about it at the time. Scared the hell out of me. Really terrifying.

[hammerfan]

Wow.....I haven't hit, or slapped anyone....yet....:o But I have hurt myself on rare occasions.

Anyone else here ever experience sleep paralysis? Happened to me once, and I didn't know anything about it at the time. Scared the hell out of me. Really terrifying.

That happened to me once, when I was around 18. Hasn't happened since then. But, yes, it was terrifying!

I don't normally have nightmares and I have no fear of sleeping. I have strange dreams that cause me to say WTF when I wake up. :D

[_____V_____]

Once.

Couldnt breathe, couldnt move my hands, couldnt roll over, couldnt yell out...nothing. It was as if an invisible power was holding me dead still.
Felt absolutely terrified.
Then slowly (and thankfully), all sensations returned.

[newb]

Back in my early twenties I had a dream that I had to pee really bad....and finally found a urinal to relieve myself. Luckily I wasn't sleeping with anybody that night. :o


the perils of beer drinking

[Posher778]

I actually had one last night. I don't very often, but it's so exciting to have a nightmare, even though the sweaty wake up call is kinda gross. Last night I dreamed the Freddy Krueger came to kill me every night (which is odd that it was a nightmare, because I was never really creeped out by him, even as a kid). The part that scared me though, was the last 'night' of the dream, I was waiting for him to show up so I could try and fight him off again, and Novakru was there (cool huh). She was really scared that he was going to kill her, and I was trying to calm her down a little, when I thought "Nova wouldn't be scared of something like this!?". I looked at her and called her out, and her eyes glazed over red and she turned into Krueger. And ran at me. Whether I lived or died wasn't really relevant. In retrospect, the part that probably made it a nightmare was the deception. It reminded me a lot of the climax of Dog Soldiers, if you remember that infamous scene.

[novakru]

I actually had one last night. I don't very often, but it's so exciting to have a nightmare, even though the sweaty wake up call is kinda gross. Last night I dreamed the Freddy Krueger came to kill me every night (which is odd that it was a nightmare, because I was never really creeped out by him, even as a kid). The part that scared me though, was the last 'night' of the dream, I was waiting for him to show up so I could try and fight him off again, and Novakru was there (cool huh). She was really scared that he was going to kill her, and I was trying to calm her down a little, when I thought "Nova wouldn't be scared of something like this!?". I looked at her and called her out, and her eyes glazed over red and she turned into Krueger. And ran at me. Whether I lived or died wasn't really relevant. In retrospect, the part that probably made it a nightmare was the deception. It reminded me a lot of the climax of Dog Soldiers, if you remember that infamous scene.


Ah, I am the woman of your nightmares.
Very Cool:cool:

[Elvis_Christ]

Back in my early twenties I had a dream that I had to pee really bad....and finally found a urinal to relieve myself. Luckily I wasn't sleeping with anybody that night. :o


the perils of beer drinking

I know a couple of people that have done that exact same thing :D

Thankfully I haven't done that myself.

[roshiq]

Anyone else here ever experience sleep paralysis? Happened to me once, and I didn't know anything about it at the time. Scared the hell out of me. Really terrifying.

Once.

Couldnt breathe, couldnt move my hands, couldnt roll over, couldnt yell out...nothing. It was as if an invisible power was holding me dead still.
Felt absolutely terrified.
Then slowly (and thankfully), all sensations returned.

Agree! I have experienced this 'sleep paralysis' thing several times and yeah...it's truly frightening, every time it scared the hell out of me! The most terrible thing about it is at first you may not realize that you're sleeping/dreaming...but as soon as you get that, the thing started to get worse as exactly V described...it'll make you feel 'paralyzed' and you can't do anything but pray & hope to get wake soon. A total nightmarish experience.:(

[Roderick Usher]

Once.

Couldnt breathe, couldnt move my hands, couldnt roll over, couldnt yell out...nothing. It was as if an invisible power was holding me dead still.
Felt absolutely terrified.
Then slowly (and thankfully), all sensations returned.

Sleep paralysis is the sensation that was once attributed to a succubus and in contemporary mythology is often attributed to alien visitation or alien abduction.

The feeling of consciosness coupled with fear, paralysis and a sense that a weight is bearing down on your chest as if something or someone is sitting atop your chest. I've experienced this a couple of times and it is quite upsetting.

[Elvis_Christ]

What causes it? Are you semi concious but still asleep or something?

[X¤MurderDoll¤X]

I thought wet dreams were blamed on the succubus. I had sleep paralysis once, couldn't move and thought a jealous fat ghost sat on my chest and was crushing me. for a couple days I thought I was crazy, then I saw it on TV.

I have nightmares about 3-4 times a week. each nightmare usually spans like 3 or 4 scenarios

last night I dreamed that these killer mutated badgers were killing people all over the city and I knew I was dreaming so I woke up in the middle of the night and went to the living room. my boyfriend was watching the news and I was like "whoa what are you doing up! don't you have to work in like 3 hours? l had the weirdest..." at this point I was rudely interrupted "shh the news is on" the news was talking about recent mutated badger attacks at a grocery store. I was like "no... this was my dream this can't be happening" and he was like "what do you mean your dream, there has always been mutated badgers" I was like "I think I would remember mutated badgers! it was a dream" he then laughed at me. I was just about to get angry when a mutated badger came crashing through the window and ripped into his throat. that is when I woke up for real.

[Roderick Usher]

What causes it? Are you semi concious but still asleep or something?

it is akin to a minor seizure. Your corpus collusum, the organ that allows both hemispheres of the brain to communicate with each other, misfires. It can be brought about by stress, sleep deprivation, an epileptic seizure or even stimulated artificially... but yes, you are "semi-conscious."

The feeling is that you are awake, but are suffering from an inability to move and a pervasive sense of dread. But the truth is that you aren't quite conscious, you are in a "twilight" state in which your eyes are open and your senses are responding to external stimuli, but your brainwaves resemble those of beta-wave sleep. It is like you are dreaming with your eyes open.

[roshiq]

it is akin to a minor seizure. Your corpus collusum, the organ that allows both hemispheres of the brain to communicate with each other, misfires. It can be brought about by stress, sleep deprivation, an epileptic seizure or even stimulated artificially... but yes, you are "semi-conscious."

The feeling is that you are awake, but are suffering from an inability to move and a pervasive sense of dread. But the truth is that you aren't quite conscious, you are in a "twilight" state in which your eyes are open and your senses are responding to external stimuli, but your brainwaves resemble those of beta-wave sleep. It is like you are dreaming with your eyes open.

Thanks to jenna & V for brought this topic here and thanks to Sean for this valued info.:) In wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis) I found elaborately what Sean has just said about it.
I have experienced enough of this freaky state, now want to get rid of it badly.:mad:

[X¤MurderDoll¤X]

Thanks to jenna & V for brought this topic here and thanks to Sean for this valued info.:) In wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis) I found elaborately what Sean has just said about it.
I have experienced enough of this freaky state, now want to get rid of it badly.:mad:

I don't think you grow out of them or anything. tons of people get it once, if you get it more I think you will have them for life.

[roshiq]

I don't think you grow out of them or anything. tons of people get it once, if you get it more I think you will have them for life.

Noooooo....!:eek::confused::(!

[cheebacheeba]

The sleep paralysis thing just reminded me of something...I'd actually forgotten, because thankfully it hasn't happened in over a year.
On about 3-4 occasions, not close to eachother or anything, I've woken up blind in one eye. My eye isn't closed, but all I see is black/red colour. When I look at it in the mirror the pupil is super dilated. It lasts about 2 minutes then gradually comes back over the next few minutes.
Tell ya, I don't know what's more fucked up, that or the choking.

[X¤MurderDoll¤X]

I used to get weird temporary blindness in my left eye like that. I used to not sleep much/treat my body well and I blame that.

[cheebacheeba]

I've been trying to get at least the minimum recommended at least every night for the past couple of years...I got migraines that fucked with my vision here'n there, but nothing like the complete nothing I got those few times I woke up.
I could understand it if I'd sunk acid or some shit like that...but generally aside from vaping/eating weed I'm pretty healthy.

I'm not sure which eye it was...kind've panics you when you wake up though...

[hammerfan]

Sleep paralysis is the sensation that was once attributed to a succubus and in contemporary mythology is often attributed to alien visitation or alien abduction.

The feeling of consciosness coupled with fear, paralysis and a sense that a weight is bearing down on your chest as if something or someone is sitting atop your chest. I've experienced this a couple of times and it is quite upsetting.


I've also heard it attributed to spirits. When it happened to me, we had a very large cemetery behind our apartment.....I was convinced that a spirit was trying to possess me!

[urgeok2]

about 20 years ago when i was working shits and not sleeping worth a damn during the day - i woke up a couple of hours after falling asleep and for about a minute i didnt know who i was.

i remember rollong back and forth because i didnt know if i should be getting up or staying in bed - or anything.

that was pretty weird .. probably the weirdest sleep thing i've ever experienced.


i'm sure this will be the norm once i hit my 60's

[Posher778]

I thought wet dreams were blamed on the succubus. I had sleep paralysis once, couldn't move and thought a jealous fat ghost sat on my chest and was crushing me. for a couple days I thought I was crazy, then I saw it on TV.

I have nightmares about 3-4 times a week. each nightmare usually spans like 3 or 4 scenarios

last night I dreamed that these killer mutated badgers were killing people all over the city and I knew I was dreaming so I woke up in the middle of the night and went to the living room. my boyfriend was watching the news and I was like "whoa what are you doing up! don't you have to work in like 3 hours? l had the weirdest..." at this point I was rudely interrupted "shh the news is on" the news was talking about recent mutated badger attacks at a grocery store. I was like "no... this was my dream this can't be happening" and he was like "what do you mean your dream, there has always been mutated badgers" I was like "I think I would remember mutated badgers! it was a dream" he then laughed at me. I was just about to get angry when a mutated badger came crashing through the window and ripped into his throat. that is when I woke up for real.


LoL


"SHHH the news is on."

[jenna26]

Thanks to jenna & V for brought this topic here and thanks to Sean for this valued info.:) In wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis) I found elaborately what Sean has just said about it.
I have experienced enough of this freaky state, now want to get rid of it badly.:mad:

Do you have insomnia or any kind of other sleep disorder? Do you sleep on your back? I think sleeping on your back is a bad position for someone that experiences sleep paralysis regularly, and it happens more to people that don't get enough sleep or have odd sleep patterns. There are ways to avoid whatever might be causing it for you personally. :)

I've also heard it attributed to spirits. When it happened to me, we had a very large cemetery behind our apartment.....I was convinced that a spirit was trying to possess me!

Yeah, I felt (or thought I did, whatever) something else in the room, something above me, that meant me harm. I really did think there was something there, I was convinced it was a ghost or something, and NOT a nice one....:p until I heard about this elsewhere.

[X¤MurderDoll¤X]

LoL


"SHHH the news is on."

that was pretty much the moment I started to realize I might be still dreaming.

[roshiq]

...and it happens more to people that don't get enough sleep or have odd sleep patterns. There are ways to avoid whatever might be causing it for you personally. :)


Agree:o

(damn! I thought there would be some supernatural/spiritual causes...:D)

[missmacabre]

Let me start of by saying fuck you Psycom for making me type this for the 4th time now. Stupid IM is making it so I can't type and when I hit backspace I go back a page and have to start typing this again.

Anyway...

If you think sleep paralysis is bad, try sleeping with my boyfriend (don't actually try, he wouldn't appreciate it, but you know what I mean).

He suffers from hypnapombic/hypnagogic hallucinations. It's basically when you hallucinate just as you are falling asleep or waking up. Most people will see a cat or dog in their room and nothing more complex. Now Derek has gone to every sleep specialist around and they can't understand what causes it, but...

He will be having a nightmare, and when he starts to wake up from his dream he sees his nightmare in the room with him still.

The first time I experienced him having one of these hallucination wasn't so bad. We were sleeping and I woke up to him moving his head back and forth a lot. I asked him what was wrong and he sat up straight and seemed to snap out of it. Apparently he was dreaming that a mad scientist was trying to do brain surgery on him while he was still awake but paralyzed, and that the doctor was still standing behind him. From there it just got worse.

He woke up numerous times and yanked me out of bed, ran down the stairs with me and I'm half asleep freaking out thinking there was a fire. Turns out he was dreaming he had to save me from the zombies, what a gentleman. The next time he woke up, ran to the door and closed it. Stood with his back to the door and was stomping his feet on the ground in front of him. In this dream there were poisonous spiders on the floor that he needed to squish.

Every night with him is an adventure.

[Psycom5k]

Let me start of by saying fuck you Psycom for making me type this for the 4th time now. Stupid IM is making it so I can't type and when I hit backspace I go back a page and have to start typing this again.

Anyway...

If you think sleep paralysis is bad, try sleeping with my boyfriend (don't actually try, he wouldn't appreciate it, but you know what I mean).

He suffers from hypnapombic/hypnagogic hallucinations. It's basically when you hallucinate just as you are falling asleep or waking up. Most people will see a cat or dog in their room and nothing more complex. Now Derek has gone to every sleep specialist around and they can't understand what causes it, but...

He will be having a nightmare, and when he starts to wake up from his dream he sees his nightmare in the room with him still.

The first time I experienced him having one of these hallucination wasn't so bad. We were sleeping and I woke up to him moving his head back and forth a lot. I asked him what was wrong and he sat up straight and seemed to snap out of it. Apparently he was dreaming that a mad scientist was trying to do brain surgery on him while he was still awake but paralyzed, and that the doctor was still standing behind him. From there it just got worse.

He woke up numerous times and yanked me out of bed, ran down the stairs with me and I'm half asleep freaking out thinking there was a fire. Turns out he was dreaming he had to save me from the zombies, what a gentleman. The next time he woke up, ran to the door and closed it. Stood with his back to the door and was stomping his feet on the ground in front of him. In this dream there were poisonous spiders on the floor that he needed to squish.

Every night with him is an adventure.

First off, <3.

And second, sorry to hear about that. Though I am kind of envious because I've always wanted to remember my dreams better. And what better way than to continue them while you wake up. though that still sucks.

[Doc Faustus]

Let me start of by saying fuck you Psycom for making me type this for the 4th time now. Stupid IM is making it so I can't type and when I hit backspace I go back a page and have to start typing this again.

Anyway...

If you think sleep paralysis is bad, try sleeping with my boyfriend (don't actually try, he wouldn't appreciate it, but you know what I mean).

He suffers from hypnapombic/hypnagogic hallucinations. It's basically when you hallucinate just as you are falling asleep or waking up. Most people will see a cat or dog in their room and nothing more complex. Now Derek has gone to every sleep specialist around and they can't understand what causes it, but...

He will be having a nightmare, and when he starts to wake up from his dream he sees his nightmare in the room with him still.

The first time I experienced him having one of these hallucination wasn't so bad. We were sleeping and I woke up to him moving his head back and forth a lot. I asked him what was wrong and he sat up straight and seemed to snap out of it. Apparently he was dreaming that a mad scientist was trying to do brain surgery on him while he was still awake but paralyzed, and that the doctor was still standing behind him. From there it just got worse.

He woke up numerous times and yanked me out of bed, ran down the stairs with me and I'm half asleep freaking out thinking there was a fire. Turns out he was dreaming he had to save me from the zombies, what a gentleman. The next time he woke up, ran to the door and closed it. Stood with his back to the door and was stomping his feet on the ground in front of him. In this dream there were poisonous spiders on the floor that he needed to squish.

Every night with him is an adventure.
Happens to me too, but I tend to keep the panic quiet. For awhile, there was a mirror near the bed and I made my girlfriend move it because of all the things I saw in there waking up in the middle of the night. One time I opened my eyes, looked in the mirror and my face was Lon Chaney Phantom of the Opera makeup. It went away in a minute, but I was so groggy and confused, as I tend to be with these things, that I was convinced it was actually my face.

[newb]

damn....you people are fucked up....I sleep like a log.

Try BEER :D

[Psycom5k]

Ya know they are actally kinda lucky, normally people have to pay for such experiences.

[Doc Faustus]

It's where most of my stories come from.

[Paul the Monk]

I keep having this dream where I am falling down either through empty space or down the stairs!:eek: Most of the time I end up kicking the bedposts!:o

[sopater]

I've experienced sleep paralysis, and bringing my dreams into the awakening state. Here's some interesting material on nightmares:

Folktales abound of deadly visions that visit us in our sleep. David Hambling reports on the real-life medical phenomenon.
Text: David Hambling / Images: Xavier Lemmens February 2006

http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/ac31/sopater/fortean_times_889_7.jpg

A man who goes to bed fit and healthy is heard to cry out in his sleep, Nightmare death syndrome
and the next morning is found dead. The same scene is repeated again and again. The doctors cannot find any physical cause for the mysterious deaths, but people mutter darkly about dæmonic beings and deadly dreams. The 11 victims were all Filipino sailors, and the case was investigated by Dr Gonzalo Aponte of the US Naval Hospital in Guam in 1960. The autopsies turned up nothing, but Dr Aponte found that sudden night deaths were well known in the Filipino community. In fact they have been recorded across the entire Far East. According to folklore, the sleeper is attacked by a nocturnal dæmon that squats on his chest and suffocates him. Witness reports bear this out, describing “choking, gasping, groaning, gurgling, frothing at the mouth, laboured breathing without wheezing or stridor, screaming, and other signs of terror.”

In the English-speaking world, we talk about the Night Hag and similar apparitions (see pp38–40). These terrifying beings are glimpsed in the darkness of nightmare, pressing down on their victims and preventing them from breathing. Their attacks, though scary, are generally harmless, whereas the nightmare demons of the Far East can be lethal. In Japan, this type of death is known as pok-kuri; the Filipinos call it bangungot or batibat; and the Hmong people of Vietnam and Laos call it tsob tsuang. In Thailand, the being to fear is the phi am or ‘widow ghost’ who comes to steal away the souls of young men. Some men defend themselves from phi am by wearing lipstick at night, so that the ghost mistakes them for women and leaves them alone.

Although he discovered references to the condition in Filipino medical literature as far back as 1917, Dr Aponte could draw no conclusions about the nightmare deaths. The same condition was later documented among refugees from South-East Asia, and in 1981 some 38 victims had been recorded in the US, most of them Hmong. The term Nightmare Death Syndrome was coined, which was later changed to Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death (SUND) or Sudden Unexplained Death Syndrome (SUDS) (see FT48:25, 55:15). The immediate cause of death was cardiac arrest. But why had the men’s hearts failed when there was seemingly nothing wrong with them? The breakthrough fi nally came from this side of the Atlantic. In 1986, Spanish-born Dr Pedro Brugada came across an unusual pattern on an electrocardiogram, which shows the electrical activity in the heart. The patient suffered from an irregularity in his heartbeat, and he had an ECG trace that looked like a shark’s fin.

The same unusual pattern turned up in two further patients, both men in their forties who had suffered from sudden collapses. Dr Brugada collected several more cases and by 1992 he was certain. The shark-fin ECG pattern, now known as the Brugada Sign, represents an irregularity in the rhythm of the heart. This irregularity can cause fibrillation, when the chambers of the heart pump out of sequence. The circulation of the blood ceases, and if the heart is not stimulated with an electric shock or similar treatment, the results are fatal. This condition – “sudden death with structurally normal heart” – became known as Brugada Syndrome.

Brugada deaths are different from those caused by other cardiac conditions because they are associated with periods of slow heartbeat. Deaths generally occur at night, or when the victim is sitting peacefully, not during strenuous exercise. “The typical patient is 40 years old, in the best moment of his life, very active, very productive, with no previous history of anything, and all of a sudden one night he never wakes up,” says Dr Brugada. SUDS patients showed the same telltale ECG pattern and it was confi rmed that SUDS and Brugada Syndrome are essentially the same condition. 1 In Southeast Asia and Japan it is alarmingly common; in Thailand, Brugada Syndrome (known locally as Lai Tai) is second only to road accidents as a cause of death of men under 40. Although rarer in Europe, it is more evenly distributed among the sexes, whereas in Asia it mainly affects men. An investigation into the genetic basis of the condition identified a mutation in a gene called SCN5a, which controls the flow of sodium ions into heart cells. The regularity of heartbeat is controlled by electrical fi elds generated by this fl ow of ions, and as soon as it fails the heart fi brillates. 2 This mutated gene is characteristic of Brugada patients.

Now we can assess whether patients are at risk from an ECG, and an electrical implant is available for those who are in greatest danger. Drug treatments are also being explored, and one day gene therapy may be available. Modern science seems to have defeated the ancient nightmare demons at last. However, things are not necessarily so simple. In Japan, thousands of elderly people visit the Buddhist temple at Kichidenji, the best known of the pokkuri-dera or ‘temples of sudden death’. What they pray for is to die “suddenly, unexpectedly, without having to suffer from prolonged illness and staying healthy until just before death takes place.” 3 The Japanese are the longest-lived nation in the world, and the prospect of extended illness in old age is not an appealing one. These days, some people see a sudden death in the night as a blessing rather than a curse.

[novakru]

damn, I saw this thread and thought sean was back:(

[Posher778]

I have recurring dreams of Champagne. I'm not sure why, I hardly ever drink, but every one of my dreams for the past few months had champagne in it.

[FreddyMyers]

I usually have really intense nightmares that leave me in a cold sweat. I've always had them and believe that is one of the main reasons why im so into horror. I can usually control the kind of nitemare im gonna have due to the kind of horror movie i watched or book i read. Can anyone else?

[novakru]

Mine is switched. Waking up is the nightmare...sleeping is the beautiful dream:)

[urgeok2]

the other night i dreamed that i was dreaming .. then waking up - remembering the dream .. then falling asleep and dreaming again - then waking up and remembering the dream.

when i finally got up i had no idea if i had slept through it or had actually woken up.

weird as hell