Night Terrors/Parasomnia (UK)
Question:
Hi all, Hope you don’t mind another newbie post. I’m writing on behalf of a friend who has suffered from adult night terrors for many years. I am trying to find support for her in the UK, even if that only takes the form of a few people she can email. She only has limited access to the net (I’ve found a really good site at www.nightterrors.org ) but can email at work. Can anyone help? I can’t believe the lack of support there is for sleep disorders in general, and reading the posts here I can see that it’s not just an issue in the UK. Karen recently had a really unpleasant consultant’s appointment at which she was told that the problem "didn’t really have much effect on her". When she pointed out that yes, it did, never mind the effect it has on her partner, the consultant said dismissively "we’re not here to talk about your partner’s health". She also had an appalling week in a sleep centre here. I can write more on Karen’s experiences if anyone would find them useful or interesting, but for now I wanted to say hello and ask if anyone knows of any pre-existing support group for this type of sleep disorder. Wishing you all a peaceful weekend, Elizabeth
Response:
"Cosmic the Cat" <cosmicthecatOO…@hotmail.com> wrote: >Hope you don’t mind another newbie post.
Never! :-) > I’m writing on behalf of a friend >who has suffered from adult night terrors for many years. I am trying to >find support for her in the UK, even if that only takes the form of a few >people she can email. She only has limited access to the net (I’ve found a >really good site at www.nightterrors.org ) but can email at work. Can >anyone help?
I don’t know of a better site, but a quick check of the group’s archives generated a lot of hits. The messages are all in newsgroup format so you could easily copy/paste them to her as email. http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&group=alt.support…. One thread I looked at said that some people were able to convert their night terror episodes into Lucid Dreaming, you might want to investigate that a little further. >I can’t believe the lack of support there is for sleep disorders in general,
Believe it! :-( >Karen recently had a really unpleasant consultant’s appointment at which she >was told that the problem "didn’t really have much effect on her". When she >pointed out that yes, it did, never mind the effect it has on her partner, >the consultant said dismissively "we’re not here to talk about your >partner’s health".
Ah yes, good old Doctor Useless. Please let us know if you find anything that helps, the next person here with the problem might benefit. Tom
Response:
Tom Devlin wrote: > "Cosmic the Cat" <cosmicthecatOO…@hotmail.com> wrote: [snipped] > >Karen recently had a really unpleasant consultant’s appointment at which she > >was told that the problem "didn’t really have much effect on her". When she > >pointed out that yes, it did, never mind the effect it has on her partner, > >the consultant said dismissively "we’re not here to talk about your > >partner’s health". > Ah yes, good old Doctor Useless.
HEY! Your use of the term "Doctor Useless" is a violation of my copyright (I think). GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Response:
"Tom Devlin" <tomdev…@ameritech.net> wrote in message
news:df4i0ukhc6ummj01j18r3fg3q6nf3l7u76@4ax.com… > "Cosmic the Cat" <cosmicthecatOO…@hotmail.com> wrote:
<snip> > I don’t know of a better site, but a quick check of the group’s > archives generated a lot of hits. The messages are all in newsgroup > format so you could easily copy/paste them to her as email.
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&group=alt.support…. isorder <snip> > Please let us know if you find anything that helps, the next person > here with the problem might benefit. > Tom
Hi Tom, Thanks for your reply. Actually I didn’t realise it was possible to search on ng archives (D’OH) and your URL has proved to be very interesting, so thank you. The main thing I keep reading over and over again is ‘please help me’ from people who are suffering. I’m compiling a list of things people have tried which have helped, and will keep adding to it… But the key issue, the bit that I can help with at least, I think is support, knowing you’re not the only one out there, having people who understand what you’re going through. I’d still like to get some kind of support network going, even if it’s only by email – so if anyone wants to join, just mail me and we’ll see what happens. I’ll keep posting whenever I find new stuff, Love to you all Elizabeth
Response:
"Cosmic the Cat" <cosmicthecatOO…@hotmail.com> wrote: >Thanks for your reply. Actually I didn’t realise it was possible to search >on ng archives (D’OH) and your URL has proved to be very interesting, so >thank you.
Thank the nice folks at Google, they took over when Deja-News went under. 
>But the key issue, the bit that I can help with at least, I think is >support, knowing you’re not the only one out there, having people who >understand what you’re going through. I’d still like to get some kind of >support network going, even if it’s only by email – so if anyone wants to >join, just mail me and we’ll see what happens.
I looked for a related mailing list but nothing turned up. There is an alt.dreams.lucid newsgroup, the following’s from their FAQ, and a search of their archives might turn up other ideas. |Night terrors are nightmare-like attacks that occur during non-REM |sleep which often involve movement and screaming. Those experiencing |them usually have no dream recall or recollection of the experience. |Young children, about 2% of them, mostly experience this. It occurs |usually within two hours after going to bed. A good way of relieving |these experiences is finding out when these terrors occur, and then |set the alarm clock to 15 minutes before the terrors start. Do this |the rest of the night, for seven days. In most cases does the terrors |>stop. If they start again, then do the program once more. >I’ll keep posting whenever I find new stuff,
Thanks. Tom
Response:
You said your friend had a "consultant’s" appointment – what kind of consultant? I would think that since her problem is sleep related, she should be seeing a "sleep specialist" or "sleep doctor" for help. If that IS the "consultant" you are referring to, she needs to find another one! As far as support, if the sleep doctor cannot steer her in the right direction for a support group, maybe try contacting UK associations or organizations devoted to "sleep" or "sleep disorders" – as opposed to searching for specifically "night terrors" on the internet. Best of luck. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Cosmic the Cat wrote: > Hi all, > Hope you don’t mind another newbie post. I’m writing on behalf of a friend > who has suffered from adult night terrors for many years. I am trying to > find support for her in the UK, even if that only takes the form of a few > people she can email. She only has limited access to the net (I’ve found a > really good site at www.nightterrors.org ) but can email at work. Can > anyone help? > I can’t believe the lack of support there is for sleep disorders in general, > and reading the posts here I can see that it’s not just an issue in the UK. > Karen recently had a really unpleasant consultant’s appointment at which she > was told that the problem "didn’t really have much effect on her". When she > pointed out that yes, it did, never mind the effect it has on her partner, > the consultant said dismissively "we’re not here to talk about your > partner’s health". > She also had an appalling week in a sleep centre here. > I can write more on Karen’s experiences if anyone would find them useful or > interesting, but for now I wanted to say hello and ask if anyone knows of > any pre-existing support group for this type of sleep disorder. > Wishing you all a peaceful weekend, > Elizabeth
